FastPass+ Anxiety (or I am an idiot!)

[IrishNYC]

How do you play around with it? When I go into MDE and click on FP+ I get a message that "valid admission tickets are required", which I have and are linked in my MDE, plus I am the only person who shows up. I read in the long FP+ thread that this is a common occurrence until midnight of your 60 day mark.

You can't play around with it if you booked a package.

I had the same 61/60 day anxiety. I was so worried that somehow 61 days was really 60 and I'd missed the great A&E window and I might as well cancel the whole trip. I was a hot mess.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

How do you play around with it? When I go into MDE and click on FP+ I get a message that "valid admission tickets are required", which I have and are linked in my MDE, plus I am the only person who shows up. I read in the long FP+ thread that this is a common occurrence until midnight of your 60 day mark.

If you have a package through Disney that includes tickets, you won't be able to play in the system until 60 days. MDE doesn't activate the tickets until then.

For everyone who is freaking out about FP+....seriously, if you don't want A&E, you have nothing to worry about at 60 days. Summer is when onsite resort occupancy is at its lowest rate all year, and there is plenty of availability for everything not A&E, including 7DMT, at 60 days. I just looked, I'm at 51 days out and there are still tons of alternative times available for 7DMT for my family of 4 without having to split up the group into overlapping times. A&E is more tricky, but still available for booking one person at a time. A lot of you are freaking yourselves out for no reason.

 

[Magical Mickey]

I will be booking at 30 days out.....I've decided not to worry :/

 

[tlmadden73]

It's great that you were able to walk right into Crystal Palace ... But I wouldn't advise that people anticipate being able to do that. On the right day with the right crowd at the right time ... It's doable, but there will be many days where you'll be turned away or told that its a two hour wait.

Oh for sure . I think the fact that it was only a small party of 3 of us helped immensely ... and I purposely went there early (5:00 pm ish) ..
Our whole point to go there was to eat around the same time as another group of friends who had an ADR. It worked out great!

My point is that winging it is possible .. IF you don't care and IF you don't have other reservations (like Fast Passes) keeping you to a tight schedule. Since we were "winging it" that afternoon .. we would have been fine with waiting (I was expecting it .. that's why I went so early).

You just have to have reasonable expectations when winging it. Like don't expect to be able to walk up to a popular dinner venue like we did.

Wing it .. with common sense.

 

[MsMagical]

We arrive on the 13th and last night I stayed up to book the A&E because it was "the" request and the parade, which was MY request. When you are 5ft tall, parade watching pretty much sucks with out a designated space - looking forward to not fighting my way through giants (by giants I mean average height adults). And, as long as I was up, I booked the rest with the intention of changing or tweaking them. I found on our last trip that it was easier to change the time of my fp+ than it was to get a new one for some rides.

 

[LaurenT]

Oh for sure . I think the fact that it was only a small party of 3 of us helped immensely ... and I purposely went there early (5:00 pm ish) ..
Our whole point to go there was to eat around the same time as another group of friends who had an ADR. It worked out great!

My point is that winging it is possible .. IF you don't care and IF you don't have other reservations (like Fast Passes) keeping you to a tight schedule. Since we were "winging it" that afternoon .. we would have been fine with waiting (I was expecting it .. that's why I went so early).

You just have to have reasonable expectations when winging it. Like don't expect to be able to walk up to a popular dinner venue like we did.

Wing it .. with common sense.

Agreed. And it doesn't hurt to try, you can always have a perfectly nice meal at Columbia Harbor House if you get turned away.
I had a lunch ADR at The Plaza over Easter week. Stood there chatting with the CM while waiting for our table and watched as dozens of people were told that it would be two hours without a reservation. Most of them just sort of wandered away looking bewildered, but one woman rolled her eyes and said "ugh - Disney" as if it was Disney's fault that she showed up at a table service restaurant in the most popular theme park on the planet during Easter week without a reservation. I guess she was expecting the magic to extend to making extra tables magically appear....

 

[Pemeberly]

If you have a package through Disney that includes tickets, you won't be able to play in the system until 60 days. MDE doesn't activate the tickets until then.

For everyone who is freaking out about FP+....seriously, if you don't want A&E, you have nothing to worry about at 60 days. Summer is when onsite resort occupancy is at its lowest rate all year, and there is plenty of availability for everything not A&E, including 7DMT, at 60 days. I just looked, I'm at 51 days out and there are still tons of alternative times available for 7DMT for my family of 4 without having to split up the group into overlapping times. A&E is more tricky, but still available for booking one person at a time. A lot of you are freaking yourselves out for no reason.

Whew, thanks for making me feel better. Much like the OP, the past 7 trips have been "winging it" trips, and I've always been happy and felt like I got to ride everything I wanted to ride. This is my first Fastpass+ trip, and my first trip with my boyfriend/not with my family. I think hanging around these forums has gotten me overly anxious about FP+. Glad to hear that it's totally possible to get 7DMT and other passes the next morning.

Plus we're going in September and don't need to meet Anna/Elsa. Here's to hoping it goes well.

 

[Ismo]

I had a lot of anxiety the first time I booked FP+, especially since I was responsible for booking them for my brother's family as well. But it all went pretty smoothly and I ended up putting wait to much pressure on it. But it's completely understandable to have anxiety planning a WDW trip.

 

[TheDisGuy]

At 60 days out you will be fine (almost certainly) but this does really just demonstrate the escalated level of anxiety/planning that people are feeling due to FP+. There have been many people reporting the same feelings as you OP, and lots of confusion caused as well whether its the exact whats my 60 day, or its the do I book at 12am or 1am or 2am or what ?

I am sure things will go well, but I will wish you luck anyway.

 

[momof2n2]

At 60 days out you will be fine (almost certainly) but this does really just demonstrate the escalated level of anxiety/planning that people are feeling due to FP+. There have been many people reporting the same feelings as you OP, and lots of confusion caused as well weather its the exact whats my 60 day, or its the do I book at 12am or 1am or 2am or what ?

I am sure things will go well, but I will wish you luck anyway.

Thank you for acknowledging the parts that provoke anxiety for some of us.

 

[denise5374]

If you have a package through Disney that includes tickets, you won't be able to play in the system until 60 days. MDE doesn't activate the tickets until then.

For everyone who is freaking out about FP+....seriously, if you don't want A&E, you have nothing to worry about at 60 days. Summer is when onsite resort occupancy is at its lowest rate all year, and there is plenty of availability for everything not A&E, including 7DMT, at 60 days. I just looked, I'm at 51 days out and there are still tons of alternative times available for 7DMT for my family of 4 without having to split up the group into overlapping times. A&E is more tricky, but still available for booking one person at a time. A lot of you are freaking yourselves out for no reason.

Thank you for this...calms my anxiety some

At 60 days out you will be fine (almost certainly) but this does really just demonstrate the escalated level of anxiety/planning that people are feeling due to FP+. There have been many people reporting the same feelings as you OP, and lots of confusion caused as well weather its the exact whats my 60 day, or its the do I book at 12am or 1am or 2am or what ?

I am sure things will go well, but I will wish you luck anyway.

although not the OP, thanks for this



Only 1 week to go!

 

[opieandy1]

This is the part of the new Disney I do not like. Everything has to be planned out to the extreme over two months out from your trip. Gone are the days that you wake up in The World and decide to go to a park today. Any change of plans requires numerous updates, changes and modifications to what is suppose to be a fun time. But.....in order to get the most of your trip- You Have To Play The Game. We are close to having our Family meeting with White Board, markers, calendar and Park Maps to plan our relaxing vacation.

 

[amlc]

This is the part of the new Disney I do not like. Everything has to be planned out to the extreme over two months out from your trip. Gone are the days that you wake up in The World and decide to go to a park today. Any change of plans requires numerous updates, changes and modifications to what is suppose to be a fun time. But.....in order to get the most of your trip- You Have To Play The Game. We are close to having our Family meeting with White Board, markers, calendar and Park Maps to plan our relaxing vacation.

opieandy1 this is so true and sums up much of the cause of my anxiety over this trip. I'm having fun - don't get me wrong - playing with ADRs is addicting! - but it does add to the pressure. When you are the main "vacation planner" in your family and you're spending a significant chunk of change, you want it to be as close to perfect as possible. Esp. when your whole family only knows DL and how you can usually get a reservation (or walk up) for Blue Bayou same day and the stand by wait for headliners like Indiana Jones is bearable even on busy days, it can be hard to get them to understand how WDW is different. Not necessarily bad, but different. Kind of like how itty bitty Sleeping Beauty's Castle isn't better or worse than big Cinderella's Castle, they are just different but still both magical and beautiful.

What is wonderful is Dis and everyone on these boards. You all have been so helpful to this newbie and I can't thank you enough!!

 

[Mambo Junkie]

I will be booking at 30 days out.....I've decided not to worry :/

A friend of mine was staying offsite and booked her fps at 30 days. With the exception of A&E, the parades and 7DMT, just about everything was available. I was at her house the week before she left (spring break, no less) and was able to switch around her whole fp agenda. She had them running from one end of the park to the other an hour apart, and she had booked Space Mountain, but she told me her son didn't like roller coasters. Er, you DO know what Space Mountain is, don't you?

 

[amlc]

Just finished all my FP+ selections and got everything we wanted (7DMT, EE-in particular)! I think the part that confused me more than anything/could have been clearer from the outset was that you could change the times of a particular FP+ once you had made the initial reservation. For some reason I thought you would have to redo the whole day just to change one but, thankfully, that is not the case. I really liked how the site gives you a little map to show where your selections are - so helpful in making good choices to prevent mad dashes all over the park (like Mambo Junkie's friend).
Phew - now off to bed! I'll have a much more restful sleep tonight than last night, that's for certain!

 

[lauradis]

Its our first WDW trip. I am learning to embrace WDW planning vs. our traditional DL "winging it" methods of touring planning (or lack thereof). We check into BCV on 6/14. I have my ADRs all done, park days planned, FastPass+ strategies mapped out, you name it. I've stayed up until 12am, log in to MDE and try to book my first FP+. Can't do it, nothing happens. I frantically close browser, re log in. Nothing, nada, zilch. Panicking I check Dis and search - what could be going wrong?!?! Why can I only do FP+ for 4/14-5/14?! Check my MDE reservation page to reconfirm that my tickets are there and then I see it...
My Plans - 61 Days to Go!
61 days, not 60 days. Because I forgot that May has 31 days, not 30 and tomorrow at 12 am is when the magic window opens up. And I feel like an idiot. Such meticulous planning and I forgot the basics and the little poem "30 days hath September, April, June, and November. All the rest hath 31...." I learned in elementary school to remember the days of the month. May hath 31 ("hath" what is that?) Oh well
Just thought I'd give you all a laugh. 61 days out from 6/14. Cheers!

Thank you op! That is rather funny, see what crazy Disney planning did to you. Hope you get the ones you want.

 

[lauradis]

Have fun! As a former "winger" who became an uber planner for our last trip (with the addition of fp+) we ended up having a lot more fun when mid week we decided to chuck all the plans, maps, strategies and just wing it. You'll find your groove!

Haha as an uber planner im learning to just wing it when every one else is learning to uber plan... its madness I tell you

 

[lauradis]

It's great that you were able to walk right into Crystal Palace ... But I wouldn't advise that people anticipate being able to do that. On the right day with the right crowd at the right time ... It's doable, but there will be many days where you'll be turned away or told that its a two hour wait.

Yep just call dinning hotline and see whats available around you. Just don't expect Bog or prime eating times.

 

[juliekzp]

In case you haven't seen it, this website is awesome for seeing what FPs are going to be hard to get -- http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=835236

I recently booked a trip 45 days out and was able to get everything at times I wanted (didn't want A&E), including 7DMT (mostly booked up in the morning, but lots of time slots in the afternoon).

 

[maclondon]

yep i had that panic too - first time visitors - no idea how the kids will be up for things and when - so booked late morning/lunch time FP+
will rope drop as well which may render them useless. as we're nearly always going on recommended days.

only evening FP+ i have selected is for our 4th day - around our Mama Melrose Fantasmic package.

we have 5 days on site - 9 off - so I've yet to book the offsite ones -which will be a bit more speculative and probably some evening ones as we will be up for staying out late then