Fastpass plus availability for Elsa and Anna

[Love Tink]

I'm arriving in WDW on 8/28 and my 60 day fastpass window opened today. I am in the UK, so I didn't manage to log on at midnight (5 am here). I booked all my fastpasses this morning at 10 am (5 am US time) and got everything I wanted at the times I wanted (such as 9 am for 7DMT on two different days).

I logged on just now (8 pm UK, 3 pm US time), and A&E are available anytime from 11 am until 11:30 pm on 8/31. So, for a trip in very late August/early September, availability looks very good. I guess this is a function of the demand being less for this time of year than the high summer season that many of you are trying to book for.

My trip is from August 25-31 and my MK days are August 27 and 29.

When I went in at 1:00am on Wednesday, there were no time slots for A&E at all for the 27th and four time slots available for the 29th, all 6:30pm or later. By the next morning, all time slots for the 29th were gone. Nothing has opened since, at least not when I happen to check.

Are people still needing to stager their times for A+E? Like 12:00-1:00, 12:05-1:05, etc. We have a group of 3 (and then 2 kids under 3 who don't need tickets/FPs) so I'm wondering if I'll need to stager it still.

As I said, I read a lot of advice about staggering times. However, doing so means you have to break your group up and check for individual times. So, for example, I currently have 7DMT, ETWB and Splash Mountain all for good times. To check for A&E I have to break up one of those reservations and risk losing it, just to check on the off chance I can piece together a working set of A&E FP. If there is an easier way of doing it, I haven't figured it out.

I have seen a lot of comments of people saying they are glad they have boys, so they can avoid the A&E scramble. Well, I have three boys, but they want to meet A&E. I honestly did not predict that at, within moments of window opening, it would be all but sold out. Bummer.

 

[syrscuba]

We were on at midnight last night, 8/29 was unavaiable (SB), managrd to get 3 on our 2nd MK day (9/1). Did not expect this based on recent posts. Labor day weekend may be busier than expectrd.

 

[mesaboy2]

We were on at midnight last night, 8/29 was unavaiable (SB), managrd to get 3 on our 2nd MK day (9/1). Did not expect this based on recent posts. Labor day weekend may be busier than expectrd.

Seriously doubt it. I wouldn't base crowd predictions on FP availability any more than I would ADRs--it's just not a good predictor.

 

[DisneyKidds]

It baffles me how user experiences can differ so much. How can some people have such difficulty, with no availability at exactly 60 days out, while others have no problem whatsoever? There has to be an explanation. If you are in the 'I had trouble' group, keep checking and don't give up hope.

Me? I'm not in the trouble group. I made my FP+ reservations about 45 days out for our trip arriving on 7/28. Got A/E on the days I wanted, at the times I wanted. Party of 5. I didn't schedule it in my initial selection for our party of 12. I booked Tomorrowland Speedway as one of the initial FP+, knowing that the girls would rather do A/E. Once I adjusted the time for that FP+ to accommodate our schedule, I then went in and changed the experience for the 5 ladies. If you are having trouble, try not booking A/E as an initial selection.....maybe somehow availability is different when you are changing an experience???? Good luck all.

 

[Rileygirl]

I started booking my fp+ about 35 days out, just being lazy about the whole thing I guess. I tried for a/e when booking the three pack, it kept giving alternates. So I gave up, and book something else. Once I did that, and started switching things one at a time, I got a/e pretty easily. Not sure if that was just dumb luck. But i just noticed the previous poster kinda said the same thing, maybe it's a strategy to employ.