FastPass+ Basic Info, Attraction List, and Suggested Priorities--Part I

[bangzoom6877]

Yes. As soon as you use a Fp+, you can rearrange the times for the following Fp+. It's been reported that for your 4th Fp, tiers and repeats don't matter. When we changed times, we found it easier to have the iPad CM make the change for our whole group. I would nicely ask the CM to switch our Fp+ to "right now" and the CM was able to do it every time we asked.

Great, thanks! This is good to know. Even for other times when we are ready to ride an attraction, if FP+ is available earlier that would be ideal!

 

[bangzoom6877]

Is it just me, or is the whole FP+ system overwhelming the first time planning with it? This is our 4th WDW trip I'm planning, and even with our first one back in 2008 I've never been this stressed about planning out our attractions. Part of it is also that I use Touring Plans, and with the current info I'm getting for my personalized touring plan, I can't enter FP+ for any attractions because I haven booked FP+ yet. So, Touring Plans lists the wait times as standby...in other words, with a 45-minute wait for space mountain, but in reality I will have a FP+ for that ride so the wait time will go down once I book the FP+. So it's hard to gauge how it will work in the end.

 

[SRUAlmn]

Since we can't make our FP+ reservations until May 18 I haven't been able to really 'play around' with the system much, so I'm wondering...

We have 2 thrill riders and 2 non-thrill riders, so we're thinking of booking as follows (for example...)

2 FP+ for the thrill riders for Space Mountain
2 FP+ for the non riders for BTM (for the thrill riders to use)

What would be the best way to book this? Should I book Space Mountain for all 4 of us, and then go back into the system and change the 2 non-riders to BTM? Can I leave them in the same one hour time window?

Thanks!!

 

[mcurran]

Is it just me, or is the whole FP+ system overwhelming the first time planning with it? This is our 4th WDW trip I'm planning, and even with our first one back in 2008 I've never been this stressed about planning out our attractions. Part of it is also that I use Touring Plans, and with the current info I'm getting for my personalized touring plan, I can't enter FP+ for any attractions because I haven booked FP+ yet. So, Touring Plans lists the wait times as standby...in other words, with a 45-minute wait for space mountain, but in reality I will have a FP+ for that ride so the wait time will go down once I book the FP+. So it's hard to gauge how it will work in the end.

It is silly how much time and energy that is spent by everyone preparing for their trips, myself included. I think that's an unannounced positive for the mouse house. My trip may not start until September but I was making dining reservations at 180 days and plan to make FP+ reservations at 60. It's made me even more vested in our trip and gets me to check out the Disney website and ap frequently. Increased web traffic and increased vested guests buying into Disney magic is going to show us all that this investment was worthwhile.

 

[mesaboy2]

OP updated to include SWW event FPs. I copped out and punted it over to Josh at EasyWDW. So sue me.

 

[bangzoom6877]

It is silly how much time and energy that is spent by everyone preparing for their trips, myself included. I think that's an unannounced positive for the mouse house. My trip may not start until September but I was making dining reservations at 180 days and plan to make FP+ reservations at 60. It's made me even more vested in our trip and gets me to check out the Disney website and ap frequently. Increased web traffic and increased vested guests buying into Disney magic is going to show us all that this investment was worthwhile.

Very true! How many of us are waiting for our 180-day mark to make our ADRs and be sure we could spend our money at that disney restaurant that we just HAVE to eat at? It does make us eat, think, and sleep Disney.

 

[psimon]

.... It does make us eat, think, and sleep Disney.

You mean we didn't already?

---Paul in Southern NJ

 

[Aliceacc]

To be honest, I'm not really stressing the whole FP+ thing,at least not yet.

My date is May 30. One of these days, I really have to put some thought into which FP+ I'll try for, and figure out ballpark timing.

I figure we'll be in the parks for most of 8 days. We know which rides we love, and which ones tend to get real busy. I'll shoot for those ones, just before/after lunch.

It's the end of the school year. I have 30 Junior letters of recommendation to write, and 300 National Honor Society kids to organize for graduation. I'm testing 170 freshmen on Friday and just assigned each of them a project due in 2 weeks. Next year we're moving to IPads for freshmen, so I still have to finish writing an ebook and figuring out the best use for the technology in my classroom. I also need to ensure that my own kids are in good shape for the upcoming finals and Regents exams, particularly my son in Algebra II & Trig.

Fastpasses are pretty low on the list of priorities. No matter what I pick, we'll have a great time in WDW.

 

[db57me]

It's the end of the school year.

I'm right there with you. Our trip begins June 21, my last school day is June 18. There's a lot to do and deal with between now and then, not the least of which is teenage spring fever.

 

[bangzoom6877]

To be honest, I'm not really stressing the whole FP+ thing,at least not yet. My date is May 30. One of these days, I really have to put some thought into which FP+ I'll try for, and figure out ballpark timing. I figure we'll be in the parks for most of 8 days. We know which rides we love, and which ones tend to get real busy. I'll shoot for those ones, just before/after lunch. It's the end of the school year. I have 30 Junior letters of recommendation to write, and 300 National Honor Society kids to organize for graduation. I'm testing 170 freshmen on Friday and just assigned each of them a project due in 2 weeks. Next year we're moving to IPads for freshmen, so I still have to finish writing an ebook and figuring out the best use for the technology in my classroom. I also need to ensure that my own kids are in good shape for the upcoming finals and Regents exams, particularly my son in Algebra II & Trig. Fastpasses are pretty low on the list of priorities. No matter what I pick, we'll have a great time in WDW.

Yay, end of the school year! Post assessments today for common core English. You know, before the Regents. Oy!

 

[jcarwash]

OP updated to include SWW event FPs. I copped out and punted it over to Josh at EasyWDW. So sue me.

The service around here is terrible! You'll be hearing from my attorney.

 

[MAGICFOR2]

Is it just me, or is the whole FP+ system overwhelming the first time planning with it? This is our 4th WDW trip I'm planning, and even with our first one back in 2008 I've never been this stressed about planning out our attractions. Part of it is also that I use Touring Plans, and with the current info I'm getting for my personalized touring plan, I can't enter FP+ for any attractions because I haven booked FP+ yet. So, Touring Plans lists the wait times as standby...in other words, with a 45-minute wait for space mountain, but in reality I will have a FP+ for that ride so the wait time will go down once I book the FP+. So it's hard to gauge how it will work in the end.

I use TP too, and I'm finding that even when I put "dummy" FP times in, the plan will take them out and say it will save more time not to use them That is really confusing to me, based on the fact that it seems that SB will be getting longer as time goes on. I feel like they don't really have a handle on how this FP+ will shake out yet.... Our trip is next May, so maybe it is a slow park time and won't matter - I just wanted to start planning and see how it would look because we will only have one day in each park.

 

[bangzoom6877]

I use TP too, and I'm finding that even when I put "dummy" FP times in, the plan will take them out and say it will save more time not to use them That is really confusing to me, based on the fact that it seems that SB will be getting longer as time goes on. I feel like they don't really have a handle on how this FP+ will shake out yet.... Our trip is next May, so maybe it is a slow park time and won't matter - I just wanted to start planning and see how it would look because we will only have one day in each park.

Ok, so then TP has not perfected the FP+ addition to the planning. These days I'm starting to think that TP was a waste this time and I should have just gone with easywdw and my trusted DISers. Oh well.

 

[ougrad86]

It is silly how much time and energy that is spent by everyone preparing for their trips, myself included. I think that's an unannounced positive for the mouse house. My trip may not start until September but I was making dining reservations at 180 days and plan to make FP+ reservations at 60. It's made me even more vested in our trip and gets me to check out the Disney website and ap frequently. Increased web traffic and increased vested guests buying into Disney magic is going to show us all that this investment was worthwhile.

I was always invested - always made my reservations first chance I got, and put together itineraries for our park time - I was always an uberplanner, like a lot of us here are. And we discuss - and change - and discuss - and change. That was almost as much fun as the trip!

This need to make the reservations for the actual rides I do not like. Being unable to get FP's for the rides we like I do not like. Not being able to get as many FP's I do not like.

I did get into this with a positive attitude; tried it, did not like it. And increased web traffic is one of the things Disney had trouble with. It was a bear trying to make reservations for 7DMT when FP opened for it. And using the app and WiFi in the park during SB...

Disney magic for me had kind of taken a hit . And I really don't see that investment being worthwhile - people would still come to WDW regardless of how you use FP. And alot of people we saw there still didn't understand how it worked, either you're a planner or you're not.

 

[bangzoom6877]

I was always invested - always made my reservations first chance I got, and put together itineraries for our park time - I was always an uberplanner, like a lot of us here are. And we discuss - and change - and discuss - and change. That was almost as much fun as the trip! This need to make the reservations for the actual rides I do not like. Being unable to get FP's for the rides we like I do not like. Not being able to get as many FP's I do not like. I did get into this with a positive attitude; tried it, did not like it. And increased web traffic is one of the things Disney had trouble with. It was a bear trying to make reservations for 7DMT when FP opened for it. And using the app and WiFi in the park during SB... Disney magic for me had kind of taken a hit . And I really don't see that investment being worthwhile - people would still come to WDW regardless of how you use FP. And alot of people we saw there still didn't understand how it worked, either you're a planner or you're not.

I'm also an über planner. I also enjoy planning the trips and figuring out different ADRs and park plans almost as much as I enjoy actually being at WDW. I always find myself saying that I can't wait to go, but then stopping myself and saying that I'm enjoying the time planning. But I'm just finding it harder to grasp the FP+ strategies. Perhaps this is because this is the first year it is being used in full force by everyone and not just in its testing phase, so there aren't accurate reports yet as to how it will work out for the summer season. Perhaps it's because Touring Plans is trying to get a grasp on the best ways to plan and to add the FP+ strategies to its own software, so that is frustrating me because I see an hour wait for TSMM at a time I am planning to FP+ it, and I really don't know how to continue the plan for the day because I know with a FP+ it will take way less than an hour to wait to ride it. So sometimes I feel clueless and frustrated with the whole thing.

One thing that has helped it to just sit back, take a deep breath and remember that I just live being in WDW, and no matter how much we do each day at the parks, we will be having a great time and making wonderful family memories. Every trip has it's glitches, be it a WDW trip or any other vacation, but we usually laugh about them later on...like the countless times I've been stuck in rain at MK, like DH's first cruise (to Nova Scotia, Canada summer of 2000), where we had literally only 10 minutes of sun the whole five days...and DH vowed he didn't ever want to cruise again (we had to do a lot of indoor activities because of rain and that also meant losing lots of money to bingo). But lo and behold we still laugh about that cruise today...we were on another one, two years afterwards to the Bahamas and he just loved it. And he has been on a few more since then and still loves it.

My point is, I know we get over these vacation glitches. I know I will get over this one (I'm the family vacation planner so I'm the one who is feeling this big change), and I know we will have a terrific time!

 

[bama belle]

Ok, so then TP has not perfected the FP+ addition to the planning. These days I'm starting to think that TP was a waste this time and I should have just gone with easywdw and my trusted DISers. Oh well.

My daily itinerary for our trip is based on Josh's (easywdw) cheat sheets. I've never done a detailed TP before, but with 9 people and FP+, it's just about impossible to not have a plan! Josh actually goes to the parks and tests his plans and has updated them all with FP+ suggestions. I would highly recommend looking at his cheat sheets if you haven't already

 

[Koh1977]

When can you book FP+ for fireworks and parade viewing?

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[Nancyg56]

I have ignored FP+ until now, because I figured it would be a long time until I could plan a trip, so no need to worry. DH gifted me with a F&W trip in October, with a friend of mine, so now I need to get in on this bandwagon! I already have gotten some great suggestions from Robo and Itinkso, but it is clear I also need this thread, and all of the suggestions! I am looking forward to having a little leg up when we get there, so I hope I get the hang of it by the time sign up time rolls around.

I wll head over to Josh's site, and i apologize if this has been asked already, but is this correct? I can schedule 3 FP attractions in MK, with no tier in effect, and I can also book a FP for BOG lunch, that does not count against my 3 attractions? If so, does this window open 60 days in advance as well?

TIA!!!

 

[ses1230]

I have ignored FP+ until now, because I figured it would be a long time until I could plan a trip, so no need to worry. DH gifted me with a F&W trip in October, with a friend of mine, so now I need to get in on this bandwagon! I already have gotten some great suggestions from Robo and Itinkso, but it is clear I also need this thread, and all of the suggestions! I am looking forward to having a little leg up when we get there, so I hope I get the hang of it by the time sign up time rolls around. I wll head over to Josh's site, and i apologize if this has been asked already, but is this correct? I can schedule 3 FP attractions in MK, with no tier in effect, and I can also book a FP for BOG lunch, that does not count against my 3 attractions? If so, does this window open 60 days in advance as well? TIA!!!

It is correct that the BOG FP does not count in your 3 attraction fastpasses. The window opens about 60 or so days prior but can vary. Right now it is only open through the end of June.

I suggest subscribing to one of the big BOG FP threads on the restaurant reservation board, it will definitely be posted when new ones are loaded.

 

[Nancyg56]

It is correct that the BOG FP does not count in your 3 attraction fastpasses. The window opens about 60 or so days prior but can vary. Right now it is only open through the end of June.

I suggest subscribing to one of the big BOG FP threads on the restaurant reservation board, it will definitely be posted when new ones are loaded.

Thank you! Will head there now