Been a Couple Years - Need a Little Refresher for a 2/2020 Trip

[starjazz]

Oh my gosh, guys. Its been a few years since we did this, and I have not been active on my beloved Disboards. I need the full update!! The refresher course!

We're ready for Star Wars, so we're planning a trip for Feb 2020. I caught a bit of the Pandora craziness, so I'm assuming getting FPs will be similar. But I'm just gonna throw out questions, and if you feel like answering any or all, great. Thanks to you Dis'ers! Always appreciate the help around here!

1. Remind me of the timing stuff. Assuming we're staying on site, when will I need to have my reservations locked in to ensure I get the earliest shot at FPs? What are those 180, 90, 60, 30 day booking milestones? I just can't recall.

2. How's Pandora these days? Still a madhouse? That will all be new to us as well, so we'll want to be sure we secure FPs and good times for AK.

3. How's the resort scene looking these days? Last time we went, we stayed at Pop which was good for our group of 10 because we all got rooms next to each other and they accommodated all of our requests. I'm assuming with this skyliner dealio that Pop may not be the best option. We'll have 10 again, so we're considering a couple of cabins at the Fort, which we did on one of our trips and really enjoyed, or perhaps something new. We're not big spenders, and have done nice offsite condos, but just figure its gonna have to be onsite this time around.

4. We haven't experienced tiered pricing on the tix, but I'm hoping Feb is still a "relatively" low time. Though with GE, I'm sure it'll be busier than normal.

5. Gosh, what else do I need to know? Last time we went everything was about the Frozen Ride, 7DMT, and the night show at AK (which was having trouble getting up and running).

I'm sure I'll think of more, but I just needed to open the conversation, ya know, cuz I love me some planning, so a year out seems about right! ;-)

 

[Tempty]

1. 180 days is when you can book your Advanced Dining Reservations, 60 days is when you can start booking FPs
2. Pandora is still a madhouse but not nearly as bad of a madhouse as it has been
3. I've never stayed at Fort so I can't speak on this, Pop is great though! Just stayed there last October. But you're right, the skyliners are likely to change that
4. February should be a "low" time BUT with Star Wars Galaxy's Edge coming, that could be thrown out the window
5. What else do you need to know... hmm. If you're driving or renting a car, there are now resort parking fees which vary based on the tier of resort you stay in. Be Our Guest is not worth the hype. Slinky Dog Dash is a hot commodity right now, so if you want to do that you'll need to be on it with the 60 day FP booking window. Flight of Passage is also still up there with the "lucky to get a FP even at the 60 day mark" type. Mobile ordering is great, and you'll need to incorporate it to make the most of your time there. Consider rope dropping but ONLY if you're naturally an early riser, because if you try to rope drop but you're a "don't talk to me until I've had 4 cups of coffee" type person you will be miserable, and your family will be miserable too lol

That's all I can think of at the moment

 

[starjazz]

1. 120 days is when you can book your Advanced Dining Reservations, 60 days is when you can start booking FPs
2. Pandora is still a madhouse but not nearly as bad of a madhouse as it has been
3. I've never stayed at Fort so I can't speak on this, Pop is great though! Just stayed there last October. But you're right, the skyliners are likely to change that
4. February should be a "low" time BUT with Star Wars Galaxy's Edge coming, that could be thrown out the window
5. What else do you need to know... hmm. If you're driving or renting a car, there are now resort parking fees which vary based on the tier of resort you stay in. Be Our Guest is not worth the hype. Slinky Dog Dash is a hot commodity right now, so if you want to do that you'll need to be on it with the 60 day FP booking window. Flight of Passage is also still up there with the "lucky to get a FP even at the 60 day mark" type. Mobile ordering is great, and you'll need to incorporate it to make the most of your time there. Consider rope dropping but ONLY if you're naturally an early riser, because if you try to rope drop but you're a "don't talk to me until I've had 4 cups of coffee" type person you will be miserable, and your family will be miserable too lol

That's all I can think of at the moment

All the kids in our group will be 10+, so hoping we can skip the Slinky Dog madness - doesn't sound worth it unless you have little littles.

What's Mobile ordering? Like, use the app to order your meal for advance reservations?

We'll probably rope drop if necessary - likely DHS, I'd guess. Maybe AK. Probably going to try the night scene now that the kids can handle slightly later nights. We've never done much of that because they're always so zonked. I have to imaging GE is going to be gorgeous at night!!

Hey, when's the Star Wars hotel open up?

 

[Tempty]

Mobile Ordering is for quick-service/counter-service restaurants usually; you place your order in the app, skip the line (which can shave off a good 30 minutes of your time, depending on the line), and go directly to the mobile order pickup spot to get your food. It doesn't cost any extra money, but you also can't use gift cards with the app yet so if that's a factor then consider that. It cannot be used for table service restaurants (yet, lol)

The Star Wars Hotel is set to open in 2020 from what people have been saying, but I don't remember what time of year they said. Probably fall 2020, I'm guessing
But right now the hotel discussion is mostly theories rather than facts lol

 

[starjazz]

Awesome! So, speaking of the App, how's that working? Last time we went it was still pretty glitchy, but you could get same day fast passes for the group if you were diligent, refreshed a lot, etc. I recall the wait times were usually not all that accurate, and we ended up using the Touring Plans app for wait times more often.

What about EasyWDW? People still using that for planning? I remember Josh was very helpful, but it was starting to change right around the time we went last. Is that legit to ask here? Lol.

 

[FCDub]

1. 120 days is when you can book your Advanced Dining Reservations, 60 days is when you can start booking FPs
2. Pandora is still a madhouse but not nearly as bad of a madhouse as it has been
3. I've never stayed at Fort so I can't speak on this, Pop is great though! Just stayed there last October. But you're right, the skyliners are likely to change that
4. February should be a "low" time BUT with Star Wars Galaxy's Edge coming, that could be thrown out the window
5. What else do you need to know... hmm. If you're driving or renting a car, there are now resort parking fees which vary based on the tier of resort you stay in. Be Our Guest is not worth the hype. Slinky Dog Dash is a hot commodity right now, so if you want to do that you'll need to be on it with the 60 day FP booking window. Flight of Passage is also still up there with the "lucky to get a FP even at the 60 day mark" type. Mobile ordering is great, and you'll need to incorporate it to make the most of your time there. Consider rope dropping but ONLY if you're naturally an early riser, because if you try to rope drop but you're a "don't talk to me until I've had 4 cups of coffee" type person you will be miserable, and your family will be miserable too lol

That's all I can think of at the moment

It's 180 days for dining.

 

[SG131]

So dining is actually at 180 days not 120. To get fastpasses for pandora it's usually best to plan that at least a few days into your onsite stay, especially with a group of your size. I'm not sure what the ticket costs were because I have a pass, but February is becoming a very busy time. Avoid presidents weekend at all costs if you can. I was in Animal Kingdom yesterday and the wait for the safari was 95 min most of the day, never saw it below 65. And FOP was 3 hours.

I personally like slinky dog and I'm an adult. There are people of all ages that want to ride so I wouldn't count it out, especially with a new toy story movie coming out.

I love pop and I think it's great that the gondolas will provide alternate transportation. They try to accommodate room requests, but it seems to be getting harder and harder to do especially with hotels running at full capacity. If you book three rooms, people in three adjacent rooms would all need to be checking out on the same day for you guys to fill in there. With it being such a large there is a chance you could end up pretty far from each other. I'm not sure what the chances of nearby rooms at the fort would be.

 

[Tempty]

Eh the app is so-so still lol
Personally I've never had any issues with it, but a ton of people have had FPs disappear, members of their party disappear from the app, etc.
The wait times still aren't super accurate (showing 60 minute wait when it's actually 30 minutes, etc), but I haven't used the TP app so I haven't had that to compare with. But yes, you can get same-day FPs and I've done that before, on the bus to said park I've gotten a same-day FP lol

I can't speak on EasyWDW as I've never used that either actually haha

 

[Tempty]

Shoot, sorry about that
I knew it was 180 days, dumb brain didn't hit the right number lol
Let me go ahead and fix that!

 

[starjazz]

February is becoming a very busy time.

So, if Feb is becoming busier, are there any other times that are slower? I mean, I'm aware of the old adage that there's never a down time, but a few years ago, early Feb was DEFINITELY slower than most other times of the year. We've been over Spring Break and over Summer, and it wasn't even close.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

So, if Feb is becoming busier, are there any other times that are slower? I mean, I'm aware of the old adage that there's never a down time, but a few years ago, early Feb was DEFINITELY slower than most other times of the year. We've been over Spring Break and over Summer, and it wasn't even close.

Week after Labor Day is still a pretty low crowd time. But ... your trip could be interrupted by a hurricane (Irma hit during Labor Day week.) September is peak hurricane season. So there’s a trade off there.

 

[starjazz]

Week after Labor Day is still a pretty low crowd time. But ... your trip could be interrupted by a hurricane (Irma hit during Labor Day week.) September is peak hurricane season. So there’s a trade off there.

Yeah, I mean if its between Sep and early Feb, I'll probably stick with early Feb. We've had good weather and crowds in the past going the first week in Feb. I'm just assuming for at least a year after SWGE opens, everything will experience an uptick in volume. Thanks for the help!

 

[SG131]

This year at least summer is anticipated to be the "slow" season crowd wise. Though disney reduces staff and doesnt run rides at full capacity so the wait times still aren't good. I'm not sure what SWGE will bring, but generally people are more willing than in the past to take their kids out of school and less willing to fight through the summer heat. The app is touchy, most of the time its tolerable, but one particular day I couldn't get online to view/modify my fp for at least 4 hours so make sure you have a screen shot or a schedule written down some where so you know where you're supposed to be. It's also been about 25% of the time in the morning when its time to make ADR or FP that the system won't work. Usually it's functional again in about 20 minutes. Their IT is definitely lacking........

 

[starjazz]

Wow, Summer is slower season, eh? I was noticing as I browsed the resort calendars that summer is a cheaper time, too, so that jives.