FastPass+ Basic Info, Suggested Priorities, And Strategies--Part II

[chekhovgirl]

Ok, here's my .02.

When they first had the Wishes! FP a few yearss ago, DH and I used it and it was great! Plenty of room, great views ... it was perfect!

Now, however ... not so much. Several hundred people crammed in a too small space, standing room only and the view is consistently blocked by lamp posts and the phones/ipads/video cameras of others. It.Was.Awful.

To answer your question, yes, as soon as you get that Wishes! FP+, your FP+'s are done until after you use the Wishes! one.

@Robo Once again I bow down to your expertise and I will NEVER waste a FP+ on Wishes! again ... unless they change the system to make it worth it again.

That's too bad! Now I don't have to feel bad about booking it, though!

 

[Wood Nymph]

Wow, good to know that will work for rides...I'm assuming that you had FP+ reservations but used the old cards to check in...right?

Yes, I had made fastpass reservations on MDE using our active tickets. We entered the parks with our MB's then used the expired cards for the fp lines of the rides. I wanted to test it out to see if the expired cards worked for fp's, and it did.

 

[DisneyBabies]

That's too bad! Now I don't have to feel bad about booking it, though!

Glad I could help!

If it was two years ago, I'd have said go for it, but it simply isn't worth it anymore. Until they cut the # of FP+'s by at least 1/3 (1/2 would be even better), it's not worth wasting the time and FP+.

 

[chekhovgirl]

Glad I could help!

If it was two years ago, I'd have said go for it, but it simply isn't worth it anymore. Until they cut the # of FP+'s by at least 1/3 (1/2 would be even better), it's not worth wasting the time and FP+.

That's exactly when we did it- two years ago!

 

[subtchr]

I did it the third week in December, and at the back of the area, it was great. Yes, there are some light poles, and of course people crowded against the fence at the front of the area, but I still thought it was a lovely experience, much better than being crammed together on Main Street, with people truly blocking your view because they are less than a foot from you. I leaned against the back fence (so closest to Casey's/Crystal Palace), and there was no one right around me. A couple pics:





I did the same thing at the Illuminations FP area, just hung at the back with lots of open space around me:

 

[KilroyWasHere]

For onsite guests without a package (room-only), the 60-day prebooking window will not appear until the 60-day mark, assuming valid tickets are attached to the account. Before this point only a 30-day window (beginning at the current day) will be active, again assuming valid tickets are attached to the account. It is possible to practice booking FP+s using this 30-day window.

Is there someone who could help clarify the bullet point quoted above? I thought FP+ booking window was 60 days and I am not sure what "Before this point only a 30-day window (beginning at the current day) will be active, again assuming valid tickets are attached to the account. It is possible to practice booking FP+s using this 30-day window" means.

We have onsite reservations for May and will buy our AP at the end of this month beginning of next.

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[doconeill]

Is there someone who could help clarify the bullet point quoted above? I thought FP+ booking window was 60 days and I am not sure what "Before this point only a 30-day window (beginning at the current day) will be active, again assuming valid tickets are attached to the account. It is possible to practice booking FP+s using this 30-day window" means.

We have onsite reservations for May and will buy our AP at the end of this month beginning of next.

Thanks in advance for your help!

If you have tickets registered in MDX, then you always have a rolling 30 day window in which to make FP+ reservations, regardless of future on-site reservations. During that time, you can play with MDX and making FP+ reservations (although you should cancel them when done).

Once you reach 60 days from your on-site check-in, the window in which you can make FP+ reservations expands from the current date, all the way to the check-in date and the through the reservation to the check-out date.

 

[KilroyWasHere]

Sorry that I'm not fully getting this... It sounds like you are saying if I purchase/link tickets @ 90 days out from check-in, I can actually book fast passes 90 days in advance? Or are you saying the rolling 30 day window is just a test enviroment, so to speak?

Thanks for the help!

 

[hiroMYhero]

Sorry that I'm not fully getting this... It sounds like you are saying if I purchase/link tickets @ 90 days out from check-in, I can actually book fast passes 90 days in advance? Or are you saying the rolling 30 day window is just a test enviroment, so to speak?

Thanks for the help!

A linked ticket allows you to book FPs within the open 30 day window. That means you'd have to use them between now and the next 30 days.

When you are exactly 60 days from checking in at a resort, you can book your FPs for your resort stay.

At any given time you can book FPs with any attached ticket media - 30 day window or a 60 day window dependent upon a resort stay.

 

[doconeill]

Sorry that I'm not fully getting this... It sounds like you are saying if I purchase/link tickets @ 90 days out from check-in, I can actually book fast passes 90 days in advance? Or are you saying the rolling 30 day window is just a test enviroment, so to speak?

Thanks for the help!

I actually am not sure where you are getting 90 days from. So let's do an example. Let's say you have an on-site reservation for May 1st for 4 nights (check out on May 5th), and you already have your tickets and registered them in MDX.

Once you've registered the tickets, you can make FP+ reservations right away but only for the 30 days starting today, January 20th. So you can book FP+ for today, tomorrow, etc. up through February 19th. TOMORROW, that shifts a day, and you can then book FP+ for February 20th. And so on...the assumption is that since you have the tickets, you could show up AT ANY TIME and enter the park. The tickets are not tied to a timeframe (at least most...there are some restricted tickets). Just because you intend to use the tickets for the May trip, doesn't mean that Disney knows that, or that you won't change your mind and take an early trip, and get new tickets for later.

But then, on March 2nd, 60 days before your May 1st check in, you go into MDX and suddenly you can see that you can not only book FP+ through April 1st, but April 2nd, April 5th, April 23rd, etc. - all the way through May 5th. You have a 60 day window PLUS the length of your stay now.

So, even though you may not intend to use your tickets in the 30 day window now, you can in fact play with the system so you know how it works by booking FP+ for days within the next 30 days.

 

[KilroyWasHere]

I got it now. I was getting lost in some of the wording of the original quote and forgetting that a ticket can be used at any time.

Thanks for the help!

 

[DisneyBabies]

I did it the third week in December, and at the back of the area, it was great. Yes, there are some light poles, and of course people crowded against the fence at the front of the area, but I still thought it was a lovely experience, much better than being crammed together on Main Street, with people truly blocking your view because they are less than a foot from you. I leaned against the back fence (so closest to Casey's/Crystal Palace), and there was no one right around me. A couple pics:

I did the same thing at the Illuminations FP area, just hung at the back with lots of open space around me:

We went at the end of September and were at the back on the right side and it was wall to wall packed. The fence was two "rows" behind us and we were packed in there like sardines. If I could have reached my arm behind me to try to touch the fence, it would have been just a few inches away. CM's were calling out for people to move forward, but since no one anywhere near us moved, I have to assume they had no where to move to. We were all trying to give one another as much space as possible, but when you have people that close together ... literally inches from one another, shifting their weight every few minutes, you wind up bumping into others; we were lucky that everyone was tolerant and didn't make a big deal out of it. But we saw and heard quite a few guests complaining to CM's after it was over; we didn't complain as we knew the CM's couldn't do anything about it, but we did put the information in the letter we sent to Disney after the trip.

In the end, some will have a good experience with it and others will not. For us, knowing how much nicer it was 2 years ago and how fabulous it was before they got rid of the Rose Garden (that's where we used to watch from), compared to how absolutely horrible it was this time, it is no longer worth it. At least if you are on Main Street, you expect to be squished. Although it doesn't say guests will be limited in the FP+ area, the fact that the area is FP+'d implies that it will be and it is obvious that they are not limiting it as (some people think) they should be.

 

[subtchr]

We went at the end of September and were at the back on the right side and it was wall to wall packed. The fence was two "rows" behind us and we were packed in there like sardines. If I could have reached my arm behind me to try to touch the fence, it would have been just a few inches away. CM's were calling out for people to move forward, but since no one anywhere near us moved, I have to assume they had no where to move to. We were all trying to give one another as much space as possible, but when you have people that close together ... literally inches from one another, shifting their weight every few minutes, you wind up bumping into others; we were lucky that everyone was tolerant and didn't make a big deal out of it. But we saw and heard quite a few guests complaining to CM's after it was over; we didn't complain as we knew the CM's couldn't do anything about it, but we did put the information in the letter we sent to Disney after the trip.

In the end, some will have a good experience with it and others will not. For us, knowing how much nicer it was 2 years ago and how fabulous it was before they got rid of the Rose Garden (that's where we used to watch from), compared to how absolutely horrible it was this time, it is no longer worth it. At least if you are on Main Street, you expect to be squished. Although it doesn't say guests will be limited in the FP+ area, the fact that the area is FP+'d implies that it will be and it is obvious that they are not limiting it as (some people think) they should be.

Interesting, I wonder what caused the difference in our experiences? I could walk around, and there were several yards between people in the back half of the area (similar to the open space in my Illuminations pic). It could be that they are limiting the numbers more, or it could be that for whatever reason people gravitate more toward the right area than the left. Or I could have just gotten lucky! We could hope it's the first, but who knows?

 

[MelDane]

Thank you everyone on this thread for all the help. We were able to book all the fast passes on the days we wanted with no issues for our upcoming Easter Trip.

 

[tripleup05]

Hopefully a quick question or two...

My FP+ booking window opens on Feb 1, and I just logged into MDX to make sure our tickets were linked up. I noticed that we have a bunch of old magic bands and cards out there under our account by clicking on My Magic Bands and Cards. Am I safe to assume the FP+ reservations will be linked to the new ones they are sending, and not any of the old bands/cards? Also, when I click on My Disney Experience>FastPass+>New Fast Pass+, it only shows my wife's name (the head of the account) and there is nothing for myself or our two kids. I realize we can't make reservations until Feb 1, but I'm concerned that when I log in on Feb 1 it will still only show my wife.

Thank you for any input!

 

[hiroMYhero]

Hopefully a quick question or two...

My FP+ booking window opens on Feb 1, and I just logged into MDX to make sure our tickets were linked up. I noticed that we have a bunch of old magic bands and cards out there under our account by clicking on My Magic Bands and Cards. Am I safe to assume the FP+ reservations will be linked to the new ones they are sending, and not any of the old bands/cards? Also, when I click on My Disney Experience>FastPass+>New Fast Pass+, it only shows my wife's name (the head of the account) and there is nothing for myself or our two kids. I realize we can't make reservations until Feb 1, but I'm concerned that when I log in on Feb 1 it will still only show my wife.

Thank you for any input!

~ FP are linked to your MDE account, not to a specific ticket. Any MB that is linked to each person's profile will provide the link to the FPs.

~ your complete family will show up when you are exactly 60 days out from your check-in day when your FP booking window opens.

 

[ougrad86]

Yes.
And, THIS is the reason why choosing to use a hard ticket to differentiate between multiple tickets in your MDE is no guarantee of which ticket will actually be deducted.
(Like not wanting to use a Hopper ticket on a given day, so the guest uses a hard ticket [that is a non-hopper] to enter a park instead of a MagicBand.)

That attempt will not necessarily result in the non-hopper ticket being deducted, as the system MIGHT
use the Hopper instead... since both of those tickets are active in the guest's MDE account.

Wish we had seen this before our trip. DS had an old non-exp ticket that was one day short. When I called Disney, she had me purchase a non-MK ticket. It automatically showed up in MDE, but she said just scan the ticket instead of your MB when you enter the park and everything will be fine. So our last day, we arrive at MK in the pouring rain on our way to our ADR at BOG, and they claim DS does not have an MK ticket. So we had to go to GS (and wait in the rain in a non-covered area). Luckily, when we finally got up to the window she understood completely and just filled ot an exception form so we did not have to shell out extra money for that ticket. Barely made our ADR, and had trouble finding our friends (the ADR was in her name) since they had been told not to check in without us, so they wandered off somewhere to stay dry. Not a great start to the day, but after lunch the rest of the day was awesome!

 

[mbh106]

We haven't been to WDW since 2012, so the new Fastpass+ has me overwhelmed and freaking out a bit for our trip in 5 months. After reading the first few posts of this thread, I feel a little bit better about my understanding of how it all works though. I was wondering if there are any same-day Fastpasses available during the first couple of hours a park is open for the most popular attractions or are they usually all distributed ahead of time? For example, my kids are only interested in tier 1 attractions at HS. However, since you can only get one advance Fastpass for those attractions, could we just get our one advance Fastpass for a tier 1 as early as possible, then get a second fast pass for the same or another tier 1 attraction from a kiosk right after, or would they likely be gone?

 

[Robo]

We haven't been to WDW since 2012, so the new Fastpass+ has me overwhelmed and freaking out a bit for our trip in 5 months. After reading the first few posts of this thread, I feel a little bit better about my understanding of how it all works though. I was wondering if there are any same-day Fastpasses available during the first couple of hours a park is open for the most popular attractions or are they usually all distributed ahead of time? For example, my kids are only interested in tier 1 attractions at HS. However, since you can only get one advance Fastpass for those attractions, could we just get our one advance Fastpass for a tier 1 as early as possible, then get a second fast pass for the same or another tier 1 attraction from a kiosk right after, or would they likely be gone?

You can't get another FP (commonly called a "4th FP") until after you have used (or let expire -or cancel-) the other 3.

 

[mbh106]

You can't get another FP (commonly called a "4th FP") until after you have used (or let expire -or cancel-) the other 3.

But what if you only select one advance fast pass?