Fastpass + SUCCESS during Christmas time

[McKelly]

Made ours too and got everything except the FOTS fireworks. Maybe they will not even offer that? What does everyone think? Do you think it will come out eventually?

 

[Divaofdisney]

I had great success also- booked mine last Friday. I would highly suggest as many have already commented for those still needing to book- to start backwards with last day and move from there. There is more availability that way and your chances of getting times and attractions you want is so much greater. I could have easily gotten A&E but it wasn't a major pull for me my kids are grown now well 17 and 25 and I figured there were moms out there who would have wanted this alot more than us even though we all love Frozen esp. me, lol!!! We were able to get everything we wanted pretty much and are very happy with our selections. Best of luck to those booking soon.

 

[db8mommy]

We did our Christmas trip FP ressies on Thursday at 11pm and got everything that we wanted as well - A&E, 7DMT, etc. I had to go out of town right after we made the reservations, so I didn't do much tinkering that night.

When I got to work Monday morning, I sat down with MDE and changed up times a little to fit our needs better - I was able to switch up times with LOTS of choices for A&E on the 25th, move TSMM away from naptime for the 18-month old and getting our 3rd FP for the night of MVMCP to fit within the 4-7 range.

Can't wait!!! Happy planning, ya'll!

 

[pad406]

More success here. Wasn't interested in A&E but there was availability over our dates (20th to 27th). Did them at 8:45 this morning, so glad I didn't get up at 5.

 

[LynJ]

Stayed up until midnight, and the system opened up with no problems. Was able to get A&E as early as Dec. 25, which surprised me. I figured it would have to be on our last day, but it was only 5 days in. Lots of availability for 7Dwarves and our other priorities.

Now, the only question is how long the standby lines will be for our non-FP+ activities. We're hoping to get standby for meeting Mickey, meeting Cindy/Rapunzel, Dumbo, Tomorrowland Speedway, Buzz, and a few others.

 

[smitty0705]

Hope I have the same success as most of you tonight!

 

[Disneylover99]

Hope I have the same success as most of you tonight!

I quickly booked this morning and I just went in and rearranged a bunch of times and changed a bunch of fp experiences. There seemed to be a ton of availability for everything.

Good luck!

 

[smitty0705]

Good luck!

Thank you!

 

[famy27]

As Bill and Ted would say, "Strange things are afoot at the Circle K." I am shocked that there is so much FP availability for Christmas week, when Labor Day week was a bit of a nightmare. I don't think hours can explain it all, as we had a few midnight close (with 2 am EMH) days where there was still not much available.

I looked at our five days over Labor Day (and taking out EMHs where you can't get FPs anyway), and here are the number of additional hours the park is open for the five days after Christmas compared to Labor Day weekend

AK: 8 hours
HS: 4 hours
EP: 7.5 hours
MK: 13 hours

And I'd argue that there are really only a few additional MK hours when you're talking about A&E. Most of the additional time is the 11 pm to 1 am time period. I highly doubt that most people with little kids would be really excited to get FPs for 12:45 am, so I'm guessing most of the people who reported success in this thread got A&E and SDMT FPs for reasonable daytime hours. If that's the case, then I am really doubting the "parks are open longer theory."

My personal suspicion is that they held back FPs in the fall for some reason. I don't think they dumped a ton extra in for the holidays, as long FP lines would not be their goal. We had no problems get FPs for June on crowd level 8 days, but we had issues in August and September when the crowds weren't supposed to be above 5s. I saw lots of similar reports, and it seems like FP availability is suddenly good again. I don't know if they were testing something behind the scenes in the fall, but it sure felt like it.

 

[smitty0705]

As Bill and Ted would say, "Strange things are afoot at the Circle K." I am shocked that there is so much FP availability for Christmas week, when Labor Day week was a bit of a nightmare. I don't think hours can explain it all, as we had a few midnight close (with 2 am EMH) days where there was still not much available.

I looked at our five days over Labor Day (and taking out EMHs where you can't get FPs anyway), and here are the number of additional hours the park is open for the five days after Christmas compared to Labor Day weekend

AK: 8 hours
HS: 4 hours
EP: 7.5 hours
MK: 13 hours

And I'd argue that there are really only a few additional MK hours when you're talking about A&E. Most of the additional time is the 11 pm to 1 am time period. I highly doubt that most people with little kids would be really excited to get FPs for 12:45 am, so I'm guessing most of the people who reported success in this thread got A&E and SDMT FPs for reasonable daytime hours. If that's the case, then I am really doubting the "parks are open longer theory."

My personal suspicion is that they held back FPs in the fall for some reason. I don't think they dumped a ton extra in for the holidays, as long FP lines would not be their goal. We had no problems get FPs for June on crowd level 8 days, but we had issues in August and September when the crowds weren't supposed to be above 5s. I saw lots of similar reports, and it seems like FP availability is suddenly good again. I don't know if they were testing something behind the scenes in the fall, but it sure felt like it.

There must be something going on. I am happy to report that this evening I was easily able to get the FPs I wanted for Christmas week, including 7DMT and A&E and had choices of multiple times on multiple days.



The availability seems much more plentiful than I had been lead to believe, prior to reading this thread. Christmas weekers, don't give up hope!

 

[brittsmum1998]

Just finished mine. We have four people arriving on Sunday Dec. 21st. Had no problems getting what we wanted. Kept telling the kids "don't expect to get everything you want" what a surprise for them.

 

[courtneybeth]

It seemed odd that there was so much availability for the week of Christmas. Everything I wanted was available and there were so many open times for all activities. We're aware that it's crowded so we're going to enjoy things that we haven't done yet... PARADES! Managed to also get the "regular suspects" for rides too, but really, we've never seen parades and it'll be the first time in about 20 years that I've seen the Electrical Parade. Reminds me of being a kid and watching it with my mom at Disneyland.

I managed to score a FP+ for Anna and Elsa at 720pm on Christmas Eve, which gives me an hour to get through the line before having dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table! Time to find a pretty dress to wear since I'm going to be partying with Princesses... including A&E!

 

[insectreflection]

Just wanted to chime in, share my good fortune and give hope to those still waiting. Going Dec 21st thru 28th, FP+ window opened tonight. Got pretty much everything we wanted. Didn't get Anna & Elsa on our first 2 nights, but got them twice after that (might not keep that 2nd one, will post in the cancellation thread if I don't). I was flexible going in, but still pleasantly surprised given the horror stories I've read and the time of the year I was going.

Good luck!

 

[Dawnlight]

Tonight's the night for me!

I'm happy to hear the good results and hope the same happens for me tonight.

I'm aiming for FP for the mountain rides at MK, as we aren't interested in A&E (blasphemous, I know!) and not sure about the 7DMT (seems like very mixed reviews and a lot of hype for not a lot of bang). May still try 7DMT for one of our 2 days at the park; I guess it's better to aim for the later day than the first.

Not sure about parades; is it really necessary to FP parade viewing?

 

[FrozenOlaf]

Booked my FP+ today. Got everything we wanted. A&E not available on my first MK day 23 Dec (as expected) but plenty of availability on 28 Dec (my last day). Managed to get 12pm parade on 23 too!

As what other posters have noted, there are lots of slots to choose from for the other rides. All the best for those who are going to book FP+ soon!

 

[courtneybeth]

I live 1 mile from Disneyland and go about 1-2 times per week - so for me, riding the rides aren't a big deal when I got to Disney World since it's become a 1-2 time per year adventure for us. Many of the rides are similar between Disney World and Disneyland that we don't mind waiting in line or just deciding to skip it.

After careful consideration with how busy the park is going to be that week (think wall-to-wall people) and the little standing room area at MK, we decided to reserve for the parades so that we could enjoy the "little things" that we never get to do. It's going to be a relaxing vacation this time - parades, shows, and enjoying the resorts.

It works for us. May not work for you....

 

[disney*mom*82]

My family will be at WDW Dec 21-Jan 3, so last night my PF+ window opened. I was nervous, as Ive never made FP+ before and I know the time we are going is busy, but it worked out great! I am hoping since many of us havent had a problem getting our FP+ that the lines wont be crazy!

I was able to get the 7dmt both MK days, Anna and Elsa on Christmas day (was available our other day, but I figured once is enough!), TSMM (both days we are there), Test Track, Soarin, etc. The only thing I didnt get but wanted was Fantasmic! but it was up to tier 1 now and I had read it was a tier 2. I have a F! lunch booked, so we are fine!

 

[courtneybeth]

I have a F! lunch booked, so we are fine!

Good choices with the FP!

You will most definitely be fine with a good seat. We got there a few minutes before the "lines" opened up and went right into our little roped off section last year. We took the row of benches right in the very front, as it's very similar to our Fantasmic at Disneyland. It was great! No "big hairs" in front of us and no one really wanted to sit near us because it was "too close" for them. Score!

Guess they'd never seen the Disneyland version where you're literally standing on top of people around the river!

 

[robinb]

Good choices with the FP!

You will most definitely be fine with a good seat. We got there a few minutes before the "lines" opened up and went right into our little roped off section last year. We took the row of benches right in the very front, as it's very similar to our Fantasmic at Disneyland. It was great! No "big hairs" in front of us and no one really wanted to sit near us because it was "too close" for them. Score!

The first few rows are miserable in December because it's chilly/cold and they get quite wet. We usually go to the later Fantasmic and never have a problem getting seats.

 

[Dawnlight]

It all went mainly effortlessly last night while booking!

I was able to get what I wanted with the suggested times, then went in to change a few to more desirable times that fit better with our ADRs.

Disney has a lot to improve as far as their website goes; I really feel like it could benefit from a more interactive approach- for example, on the map where it pinpoints the attractions that have been fast passed, they should have a hover feature where other attractions, dining, etc. show up. For people who are not familiar with Disney parks, it would help to plan as far as walking distance and such.