Big FP+ News: Starting 2/19 New DHS Tiers, MFSR FP+ Added, READ POST #1

[Brett Wyman]

I'm going to guess Slinky will still be the harder to get-the queue is uncovered and nothing interesting going on. And in my opinion, a better ride than MFSR. Although I enjoyed Smuggler's , it was more of a glorified Star Tours, and Slinkyt Dog was so much ore fun, albeit shorter.

I think in the short run at least SDD will slightly be easier to get. People love the new thing.

 

[Fido Chuckwagon]

This! Even with bathroom right before getting the MFSR queue, after about a 55 minute wait for a 1 hr queue, my son HAD TO GO NOWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!! I can tell you, it was not fun having to "excuse me" our way all the way back down that winding narrow queue to the outside. Luckily, my husband waited back for us with our other kids at the CM check at the top of the queue just before the chess room, and the CMs were kind enough to let us return via the fastpass line to join him. We ordinarily wouldn't ask, but we had waited almost the entire hour, and it was a bathroom emergency... but that was soooo stressful and I never want to do it again.

Fastpass will make such a big difference to my sanity!!!!

I once had to get out of a 10 minute peter pan fastpass line with her. We had gone just before getting into the fastpass line, we got right up to the merge, and then she had to go NOW. The cm was nice enough to let us go and then come back to the same point in line.

 

[SMRT-1]

This has made planning our upcoming May trip a bit easier. However, I find it very disconcerting that they changed FP+ inside of 60 days. With MMRR still an unknown, and RotR potentially in flux, I'm now worried that they might make changes to FP+ for one or both of those rides after our FP+ window opens, and we will lose our 60+10 advantage, possibly resulting in missing out on those rides. The previous tier changes for SWGE were in place more than 60 days before they went into effect, so why did they implement this change less than 30 in advance?

Overall I agree with most people's assessment of this change -- good news for planners staying on-site. Bad news for off-site guests, 4th+ app refreshers, and MFSR standby.

 

[Lovetherodent]

SDD must have opened up as people swapped for MFSR. Now...to get better times! (and maybe change an ADR or think about how quickly I can get from DHS to the GF).
This thread is a lifesaver!

 

[YawningDodo]

My heart leapt into my throat when I read the Disney Tourist Blog headline about this--so glad it's not going into effect immediately! I feel bad for everyone inside their 60 day window for February and scrambling to adjust to the change. And, selfishly, I'm glad I get to do MFSR before they implement FP+ and the standby line gets absolutely insane for it--and glad that I still get to game the FP+ system and pick up afternoon FP+ for ToT after I've churned through my tier 2 requirements. Overall I don't think this is a bad change for next year's visit, but since I'm going literally tomorrow I was really stressed for the 2 seconds in which I thought I'd have to change all my DHS strategy.

 

[Tanooki]

We are within our 60-day window and I'm so glad I browsed on Facebook and saw this news! I was able to get MFSR twice (although I got one on arrival day that we will probably cancel since it's very unlikely we'll make it to the park after a 2-day drive…) and I just changed a Frozen sing-along FP that was made "just because" to a TSMM. I'm very happy with all these changes Here's to hoping they now release FP for MMRR, which actually opens during our vacation!

 

[CastAStone]

SDD is older

By 14 months...most people (not most DISers) have done neither. It took 5 years for 7DMT’s FP availability to start improving, and then just barely.

 

[DrummerBoy523]

My only concern now is that they won't be giving boarding passes for rise of the resistance now and it will be a 3 hrs wait :/ . Do you think this is a possibility after Feb 19.?

Nope. I think the Boarding Groups are here to stay.

 

[cakebaker]

My heart leapt into my throat when I read the Disney Tourist Blog headline about this--so glad it's not going into effect immediately! I feel bad for everyone inside their 60 day window for February and scrambling to adjust to the change. And, selfishly, I'm glad I get to do MFSR before they implement FP+ and the standby line gets absolutely insane for it--and glad that I still get to game the FP+ system and pick up afternoon FP+ for ToT after I've churned through my tier 2 requirements. Overall I don't think this is a bad change for next year's visit, but since I'm going literally tomorrow I was really stressed for the 2 seconds in which I thought I'd have to change all my DHS strategy.

Our trip is in March so I had all my selections made. It really wasn’t a big deal to make the changes. Dropping FPS I didn’t even want to get TOT, RRC and all the other rides that are now tier 2 was fun! I didn’t have to switch our schedule much at all. But,I was in super early, availability was plentiful.

That said, when they add the train to the mix, I may lose my mind. lol

 

[marchingstar]

because of the timing of my trip, i’m really disappointed in this news. i made my fp selections at 60 days, now my trip is within the 30 day window and our star wars plans are dramatically changed. what a disney thing to do to offer resort guests access to FPs at 60 days, only to change the rules at <30 days.

so, i could use some advice: the 19th is our first HS day, and by the time I saw this news there were no remaining FPs for SR (no surprise!). we’re also planning on HS on the 21st. how would the experts approach things now? rearranging our schedule will be tricky. we have the droid depot scheduled for the 19th, and planned on spending most of our day in the star wars area. Would the FP change be a reason we should try to adjust our plans? should we accept that the standby line will be longer and tough it out? any suggestions or insights very much appreciated!!

 

[yorkieteacher]

Our trip is in March so I had all my selections made. It really wasn’t a big deal to make the changes. Dropping FPS I didn’t even want to get TOT, RRC and all the other rides that are now tier 2 was fun! I didn’t have to switch our schedule put at all.

That said, when they add the train to the mix, I may lose my mind. lol

I am glad you had a better experience changing things for your March trip than I did-our HS day is March 4 (opening of MMRR), and I kept getting the error screen on my iPhone MDX app and laptop MDX-it took me 30 minutes to modify mine from TSMM and two throw aways to TSMM, MFSR and a split between ToT and RnRC, which we had been counting on as fourth FP's.

 

[mort1331]

And just to think couple of years ago DHS was the ugly stepsister that no one was taking out

 

[yorkieteacher]

because of the timing of my trip, i’m really disappointed in this news. i made my fp selections at 60 days, now my trip is within the 30 day window and our star wars plans are dramatically changed. what a disney thing to do to offer resort guests access to FPs at 60 days, only to change the rules at <30 days.

so, i could use some advice: the 19th is our first HS day, and by the time I saw this news there were no remaining FPs for SR (no surprise!). we’re also planning on HS on the 21st. how would the experts approach things now? rearranging our schedule will be tricky. we have the droid depot scheduled for the 19th, and planned on spending most of our day in the star wars area. Would the FP change be a reason we should try to adjust our plans? should we accept that the standby line will be longer and tough it out? any suggestions or insights very much appreciated!!

I would try to rope drop Smuggler's Run-most people have been doing this after getting their RotR boarding passes. But now, lots of people who did snag MFSR FP's will head to TSL for Slinky Dog.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

This reminds me of 2013/early 2014 with the FP+ roll out, with changes happening without warning keeping people on their toes. Disney does change things inside their planning windows and add things without much or any warning. With there still being question marks at DHS (ROTR and MMRR) I would definitely advise anyone within 60 days to keep a look out for changes. Especially those visiting after March 4th. You never know.

 

[recmouse]

I think in the short run at least SDD will slightly be easier to get. People love the new thing.

Yesterday was my 60 day FP day. I wasn't able to get SDD yesterday and only took TSM because I didn't really care too much about what else was available. When I heard the news today I hopped on got a SDD and TT!

I've been going on sporadically since then to see if I can get an earlier SDD and nothing is available. There are still plenty of times available for Smugglers Run... I've been on it twice and found it disappointing both times so I don't think it's as popular as Disney hoped.

 

[blistex]

So have we speculated yet whether there's any chance of MMRR opening up earlier than planned, like say hypothetically, the 19th? Because otherwise, well, what's with the 19th? It's kind of a random line of demarcation. (Mostly I'm bummed we're missing MMRR by a mere 11 days so this is a little fantasizing on my part.)

 

[Kevin42565]

because of the timing of my trip, i’m really disappointed in this news. i made my fp selections at 60 days, now my trip is within the 30 day window and our star wars plans are dramatically changed. what a disney thing to do to offer resort guests access to FPs at 60 days, only to change the rules at <30 days.

so, i could use some advice: the 19th is our first HS day, and by the time I saw this news there were no remaining FPs for SR (no surprise!). we’re also planning on HS on the 21st. how would the experts approach things now? rearranging our schedule will be tricky. we have the droid depot scheduled for the 19th, and planned on spending most of our day in the star wars area. Would the FP change be a reason we should try to adjust our plans? should we accept that the standby line will be longer and tough it out? any suggestions or insights very much appreciated!!

I’m with you. We’re within our 30 day window too and there weren’t any fastpasses for MFSR available during either of our two Hollywood studios days.

It’s disappointing that this announcement couldn’t have been done a few days ago so we’d still be between 30-60 days so resort guests got first shot at it.

Now I’m hoping they extend park hours to 7am so we can rope drop and get off the ride by 9am before the Fastpass crowd shows up and extends the line even longer.

Speaking of advanced notice, I wish they could announce park opening times with more notice. They’ve been moving up the HS park opening with two weeks lead time. Wish they could do at least a month’s notice.

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I’m with you. We’re within our 30 day window too and there weren’t any fastpasses for MFSR available during either of our two Hollywood studios days.

It’s disappointing that this announcement couldn’t have been done a few days ago so we’d still be between 30-60 days so resort guests got first shot at it.

Now I’m hoping they extend park hours to 7am so we can rope drop and get off the ride by 9am before the Fastpass crowd shows up and extends the line even longer.

Speaking of advanced notice, I wish they could announce park opening times with more notice. They’ve been moving up the HS park opening with two weeks lead time. Wish they could do at least a month’s notice.

Speaking of those openings, since they’ve been slowly extending the hours, keep an eye out for when your dates get extended. That’s another chance for you to snag whatever FP you missed out on.

There will be FP available for the extended hours.

 

[Grumpy by Birth]

And just to think couple of years ago DHS was the ugly stepsister that no one was taking out

Used to be a half day park for us (unless long lines meant it took us all day to see everything). Either way, it was easily our least favorite park. Now with SWGE, TSL, and MMRR opening, we're spending two days there on this trip!

 

[Kevin42565]

Speaking of those openings, since they’ve been slowly extending the hours, keep an eye out for when your dates get extended. That’s another chance for you to snag whatever FP you missed out on.

There will be FP available for the extended hours.

Thanks for the information. Have they been giving out 7am fastpasses this month?