Fastpass+: procrastination pays off?

[Slayd]

So DW and I have never been fastpass users until FP+. Yesterday, we forgot to make FPs before visiting DHS. However, the main reason was 24 hours ahead of time RNRC, TSMM, and Star Tours were all completely taken, so we didn't bother making any for any ride.

Yesterday we planned on heading home early to pick up the kids, and were a little bummed we wouldn't be able to ride our favorite attractions, as we would only be at the park for peak hours. I checked to make FP reservations and discovered that there were new FP times everytime I refreshed. I don't keep up with he Theme Parks Strat board but I'm sure other people do this. However, what's interesting is the FP selections I ended up with:



We started looking for FP at 1:15, and got FPs to ride both Star Tours and RNRC within an hour...and in overlapping timeframes. I expected technical difficulties but had none. We got on both rides. I suspect we could have continued doing this, but we ended up leaving after our second FP.

Obviously I'm thinking this will be our new strategy. If you can't plan months ahead of time, it seems to me you might as well wait until you get to the park. This specifically works great for us Floridians who sometimes don't know we're going to the parks until the morning of.

 

[mom2rtk]

I guess it depends. Do you feel lucky?

 

[Slayd]

I guess it depends. Do you feel lucky?

Yesterday I sure did! 15 minutes of refreshing (starting at 1:15), I got RNRC at 6pm, 4:30, 3:50, 3:10, and 2:45 before getting the ones shown. That's not counting the ones I passed up. There must be hundreds of cancellations per minute to end up with so many different times every time I refreshed. But we live a few miles down the road from the parks, so we aren't normally on the same planning page with the out-of-state people.

 

[brennicksmom]

So DW and I have never been fastpass users until FP+. Yesterday, we forgot to make FPs before visiting DHS. However, the main reason was 24 hours ahead of time RNRC, TSMM, and Star Tours were all completely taken, so we didn't bother making any for any ride.

Yesterday we planned on heading home early to pick up the kids, and were a little bummed we wouldn't be able to ride our favorite attractions, as we would only be at the park for peak hours. I checked to make FP reservations and discovered that there were new FP times everytime I refreshed. I don't keep up with he Theme Parks Strat board but I'm sure other people do this. However, what's interesting is the FP selections I ended up with:

View attachment 162881

We started looking for FP at 1:15, and got FPs to ride both Star Tours and RNRC within an hour...and in overlapping timeframes. I expected technical difficulties but had none. We got on both rides. I suspect we could have continued doing this, but we ended up leaving after our second FP.

Obviously I'm thinking this will be our new strategy. If you can't plan months ahead of time, it seems to me you might as well wait until you get to the park. This specifically works great for us Floridians who sometimes don't know we're going to the parks until the morning of.

That is woncerful news to me, as we just started planning a vacation yesterday for in 40 days!!

 

[DavidNYC]

Just back from a week and LOVED being able to get the add'l FP from the phone because, as you noted, if you check frequently lots of things pop up. We never saw add'l Toy Story at DHS but saw everything else at one time or another. At MK, we pretty much found everything available as a 4th FP at one time or another within a couple hours other than 7D and the character greetings. I also can't tell you how many times I'd book something for 2-3 hours later but then click on "modify" after a few minutes and find a time an hour earlier! At MK in particular because of the number of FP rides, if you're somewhat flexible and make smart use of the pre-booked ones, you'll be able to do a lot. Also LOVED being able to book my 4th FP at a different park. I'd always been a supporter of the new system but this upgrade and the new interface making it much easier to select times really kicks it up several more steps. I think you're going to be seeing a lot fewer FP+ hater posts from here on in!