Crowds - FP+ - the whole WDW experience

[bladiator]

Yet, as I say often, a bad day at WDW beats the heck out a good day anywhere else.

Sex and beer has something to say about this.

 

[ww52]

I said:
I don't want to hear my granddaughter rave about a ride or attraction and hear anyone say "gee - I wish WE could have seen that!"

And belledreamer responded:
Please forgive me for saying so, but that's a TON of pressure to put on yourself... And it's okay to not experience every ride or attraction; it's all the more reason to go back!

My clarification -
I mean I'd rather not have anyone say "gee - I wish we could have seen HER reaction" - meaning the reaction of the the 4 year old.

All is good - I'm not putting too much pressure on myself - just trying to find the balance. You see - the fact that Disney allows ride reservations 60 days out (and experimenting with 90 days out?) implies it's needed - right? And those saying how great it is - the implication is "if you get the ones you want".

So where is the pressure coming from? From Disney and from those saying how great this whole FP+ thing is.

It doesn't work well with a large crowd - I certainly see that. But splitting up the large crowd because FP+ doesn't work well with a group this large? What does THAT say? Don't go with a large group? Act like you guys just coincedentlly met there? Of course we won't do everything together - but we actually need to decide that 2 months from the day?

Obviously.

Bottom line - we absolutely HAVE to work out a FP+ plan WAY in advance. And make sure it's flexible so if/when we see we can't get all we want, we have a plan B (and C and D etc)

That's step 1. Then I guess step 2 is revising it. Throughout the 60 days? Even though as some say few FPs become available until the actual day (which makes sense). So in the parks, IF there is something important we want to see that we don't' have passes for - we'll have people constantly refreshing the app instead of enjoying the experience.

Sorry - at least for a large group I see this as stress on SOMEONE - whether it's me or not. And the reality is - someone (probably several someones) will say "this didn't work out like I thought". Because how can it? We're not going to split up ALL the time.

Sure - it's OK not to experience it all. This will be our 9th trip. And as I've said, simply being there with my granddaughters will be magic I haven't experience in nearly 30 years when my kids were that age.

All I'm trying to do is maximize the chances of seeing the attractions we decide are most important. Pans B, C, D etc will still be wonderful.

But the fact we need plans A, B, C D etc is WAY different than 7 years ago (and we had a group of 7 then and it all worked out fine without FP+).

Face it - Disney is simply creating a need to stay on site; and now creating a need for a concierge so they can convince those that can afford it to give them even more.

Universal IS actually better in terms of seeing all you want. It's just that Disney itself is so much better. I suspect at some point Universal will start advertising their convenience vs the implied need to plan your Disney trip 60 days out.

 

[MainMom]

kwdw - I like your style. I've always planned that way - and it's how we're doing it again. Actually, my oldest is doing most of the planning - though we discuss it together. I've sort of passed the torch to him since he has the two small children to consider.

So -
1) Done
2) Done
3) Still confused and using Touring Plans we're seeing in some cases it's best to save our 3 advance ones for the park we go to after naps.
4) Question - can we change our advance FPs in advance of the day?
4a) Question - can we change one or more of our 3 advance FPs ON the day? If we get to the park and see the standby line is short for a ride we have a FP, can we dump that and get another? Or do we still have to wait until the last of the three is used or expires?

Thanks everyone for all the help and moral support!

I planned a trip for my extended family of 11. We did not have little ones, but we did take afternoon breaks and then park hop since we were there in July. My strategy was to book FP’s & ADR’s at the first park because I knew that we were all most likely to make it to that park in the morning. I was unsure how everyone would be after a break. Maybe some would be too tired, want to go to a different park, stay and swim, whatever. I had the mornings heavily planned (rope drop every morning) and the evenings loose (dinner on the fly, night time show.) It turned out that 5/6 nights we all did the same thing, but one we did not.

Also, my group of 11 stayed together the entire time except for 1 evening. We all knew that if someone wanted to sleep in or swim extra and not come to the park that was fine. If some of us wanted to split off that was fine too. We just agreed that no one was going to be mad for these choices. It just turned out that we all wanted to stay together and it worked great. There is nothing wrong with staying together if your family can handle it and has similar touring styles. Mine did, they trusted me to plan, understood the importance of rope drop, etc.

It was one of the best trips I have been on.

 

[nco91590]

Keeping a large group together and on the same page for days at a time has been challenging since the dawn of time. I don't think it's unique to WDW or any better/worse with FP+. Ever try ducking into a French cafe looking for a table for 15? Lol.

You've got some great advice for your trip. Enjoy!

 

[ww52]

Sorry for the rant/venting. I'm out.

Except to again thank all you wonderful people here!

 

[Amelia :)]

I don’t find it stressful, I find it fun. I like thinking about what rides I’m going on and where I’m eating. Some people must have very calm lives/jobs is booking a few fastpasses is the most stressful part of their day, Disney planning is what I do to relax

 

[DisneyDoucet]

We just booked through a TA (my cousin) and this is a first for me as I love to do the planning myself, but this time around I have less time to plan with a 1 year old. We took her in October for my last minute birthday trip and had nothing planned since it was so last minute we just winged it for our short stay. I am having some issues letting go of the planning lol

Hoping our crowds aren't too bad....Dec 15th-21st.

 

[qman6975]

I’m torn on this one.

On one hand I am not a fan of having to plan out my trip two months ahead of time, I liked sitting at breakfast at the resort and trying to figure our what we were going to do for the day. Some times we’d go out to the bus stop and take the first bus that came along.

Having said that, knowing before I arrive that I’m guaranteed to experience the “super headliners” is awesome. Plus, we set our fast passes for late morning/early afternoon so we can hit the parks early when they are relatively quiet or sleep in and still do everything we want.