Fastpass+ Woes...

BrittanyWalsh

Earning My Ears
Joined
Sep 16, 2014
Messages
24
I'm getting really nervous about booking out fastpasses on Monday. The only thing my daughter wants to do is hug Anna (and Elsa of course). I have a feeling I'm not going to be so lucky to get fastpasses. Any tips other than sucking down a pot of coffee and biting the "bullet" at 12 am?
 
Remember any time change you have as that will effect what time it starts. Where we are, ours starts at 11:00 p.m. It is nice. While I hate it and FP+, I do much prefer the 11:00 p.m. FP+ time to the 5:00 am ADR time.

Be on a minute or two before the time and then keep refreshing until it opens up for you to book. Go to your last MK day first- if A&E are not available it probably will not even let you click on them, instead it will have a note that all FP are distributed or they are unavailable- move immediately to another day. If you can click on them- move fast. Click the 3 FP+ activities you want. When the options come up, move fast to click on the option with the A&E time that is best for you and lock it in--- you can move everything else later. If you don't lock it in fast, you can lose it. We found out the hard way that just because it gives you the option- doesn't mean when you hit confirm you will actually GET that option. Be sure to look after it is locked in to be sure it actually gave you the A&E - last year I clicked the A&E option for all 3 of us and apparently too many people were booking it at the exact same time and when I looked it had given DD A&E, but given DH and I Mickey (which we did not request at all) at a completely different time. I managed to get one of us an A&E that overlapped with DD (after about 3 hours of messing with it that night) and spent the next several weeks trying to get another to overlap. Once you have confirmed your A&E are locked in on that date- then don't worry about moving the other FP+ activities that day to where you want them- instead go directly to the MK day you would prefer A&E and see if you can get them for that day. You can go back and adjust the other activities later- the main thing is to get that A&E locked down. In my experience at 60 days out, the only things that have given me any issues are A&E, 7DMT, TSM, and FOF. TSM it has been about the time of the FP+, not the availability. You should not have any trouble going back after you get A&E locked in the way you want it and adjusting times for the other activities, and if one of them is a parade or night show- that isn't adjustable anyway.

Good luck!!!! I hope you get it!!! If your booking date is next Monday- doesn't that mean you are arriving to WDW on a Friday? If that is the case, at 60 days out you have a great chance at A&E. I don't think you will have any problems. We booked FP+ recently when coming in on a Friday and A&E was available every single MK day of our trip. That is because most people come in on Saturday or Sunday. You may have no trouble at all with a Friday arrival. When we came in on Saturday was when it was a battle to get A&E- and that was the trip when DH and mine got switched when I hit to confirm them for the day. The people that have the most trouble are the ones that come in on Sunday- by that time the people arriving on Friday or Saturday have A&E booked for most, if not all, of the next week.
 
are you staying onsite and booking all of your FP's tonight? If so, one strategy is to book FP for your end dates first and try to get it. Another strategy is to boon FP for one of you, then see if an overlapping window is available for the others/ you would t have an entire hour to get in line but that's ok. Good luck!
 

I am in the same boat as the OP - booking A&E is THE critical FP+ for our family.

So @ktlm - just so I have this right, I have to choose my 3 FP+ but there will be a toggle or something that I can click to say "all members of party" or something? Tell me I don't have to do this four separate times - we'd never be together!

(your story scared me, can you tell? LOL.)
 
I've haven't yet had to pick my fastpass. When you're picking the FPs to "lock it in" do you need to pick all 3 rides you want to FP for that day or is it a ride at a time?
 
I am in the same boat as the OP - booking A&E is THE critical FP+ for our family.

So @ktlm - just so I have this right, I have to choose my 3 FP+ but there will be a toggle or something that I can click to say "all members of party" or something? Tell me I don't have to do this four separate times - we'd never be together!

(your story scared me, can you tell? LOL.)

I've haven't yet had to pick my fastpass. When you're picking the FPs to "lock it in" do you need to pick all 3 rides you want to FP for that day or is it a ride at a time?

Eviebug, Are all your family members linked in MDE (they automatically are if they are in your reservation and do not have their own accounts)? If so, you can do everyone at the same time. When you click on FP+ PRIOR to midnight (or whatever time it kicks in for you), you will only see your name. Don't panic. When you hit refresh as the magic time arrives, you should see everyone in your party listed. You then click on every name that you want to book the same FP+ for and hit next. It will then take you to a list of attractions. You pick your 3 on that list. Then it gives you option for those 3 (assuming they are available) to be scheduled. One option scheduling the page will be showing, and then there are tabs that give you Option 2; and Option 3 that you can click if the first times that come up aren't where you want them. Typically one of the options will place the 3 early in the day, one afternoon, and one late in the day. (I can't remember if there are just 3 options or if there is a 4th- I know there are not more than 4). Once you decide which option you want, you hit confirm (or whatever the button says). It then should assign you those FP+. Look to make sure you got what it told you that you were going to get--- that is where it screwed us up. We hit confirm and instead of giving us what it showed we were getting- DD got A&E and DH and I got something else. I have not seen anyone else report on the disboard of that happening to them- so I would bet it is rare. I wouldn't stress out about it- just be sure to look once they are confirmed instead of just assuming it was giving you what it was supposed to give you.

Once the 3 are in place, you then can move times, change attractions etc. At 60 days out, other than A&E and 7DMT, you can pretty much move any other ride at MK to any time you want it. Get those locked in where you want them and then worry about anything else. DD wants to ride 7DMT every day at MK, so I do FP+ for all or MK days first before messing with anything at the other parks. Doing it that way, I have not had an issue with getting anything at the other parks, other than having to put TSM at a slightly different time than I really wanted.

Mudbug- as set out above, you pick your 3 at once -then you can move anything around or change attractions. You can pick just 1, BUT unless something has changed, used to if you only picked 1 or 2, instead of 3, there was no way to go back and pick the others without dumping everything you had and starting over. They could very well have fixed that, but I wouldn't take the chance. Just pick the 3, get an option set, and then you can change the other 2, to better times or different attractions. If you are just trying to tighten up the times, or trying to switch the order of 2 a trick I have learned is to move one totally away from where you want it to make room for the other and then move it back.

For example, let's say they give me:

A&E 9-10
SM 10:05 to 11:05
PP 11:10 to 12:10

I don't want to have to leave Fantasyland to go over to Tomorrowland and then come right back. The system is not going to give me an earlier time for PP, while SM is there. I would move SM to something like 4:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Then I would move PP to 10-11. Then I would move SM to 11-12.

Hope this helps!
 
. (Awesomely helpful info truncated)

Hope this helps!

That helps so much! Thank you!

One last question if I may - the procedure you outlined is by day? I am assuming..

I get the logic of last day first for headliners.. Our last day is a Saturday, I wonder if that's better or worse for availability?
 
Thank you soooo much! You were much clearer than other posts I have read and now I understand! Extra thanks for the tip for getting them close together time-wise.
 
That helps so much! Thank you!

One last question if I may - the procedure you outlined is by day? I am assuming..

I get the logic of last day first for headliners.. Our last day is a Saturday, I wonder if that's better or worse for availability?

Yes, you do one day at a time. You can pick any day- you don't have to go in order. The idea of going for the last MK day of your trip first for A&E, is that all the people arriving in the days before you that have already booked their FP+ will have booked them up the first days you are there, and may be leaving before you are leaving. For example, we are going from Friday to the next Sunday. Other people likely are going from Saturday to Saturday. If you are arriving on a Sunday- by the time you are able to book FP+, everyone arriving on Friday and Saturday and staying that whole week have already booked up things for that week before it is your turn. If a bunch of those people are flying out the next Saturday or Sunday and not going to the parks those days, you have a lot better chance of getting A&E on those days. If you are staying and will be in the park the next Monday- when all the others booking the couple of days before you can are leaving Saturday and Sunday, then A&E should be pretty open on Monday. I think I would try that Saturday first (if it is your MK day)- I would think it would be better for availability at the 60 day booking window, because you will have people booked for that week that leave before then, or that fly out that day and are not in the park.

You do not need to worry about this for any headliner meets/rides other than A&E and possibly 7DMT. (I'm not counting FOF, ELP, Wishes, Illuminations- those would be ones that book fast as well- they are also things that if you don't get them- there are plenty of places to watch those and you will be fine). Most others will not be an issue. If I were not getting A&E or 7DMT- I would just start at the first day of my trip and go in order until the end. Because we do A&E and 7DMT, the way I do it is that I go to my last MK day and book A&E and 7DMT, then I go to my first MK day and see if I can get them then. (Then because DD wants to ride 7DMT every day at MK- I do any other MK days). A&E is the priority, so that is my focus. Then if 7DMT is not at times I want it, I will try to move that one where I want it first, because I know that will book up fast. At that point, once I have A&E and 7DMT in place, I might go ahead and adjust everything else on those MK days before moving on--- or I might book all my other days first and then come back and adjust them. Once I have A&E and 7DMT in place, I can just go back to the earliest day of my trip that I have not done FP+ yet--- OR if I really want TSM at a particular time, I will do DHS next. For every day other than the ones I hit first for A&E and 7DMT- I will get that day totally arranged and everything moved into my optimum time slots before moving to the next day. Once I have everything booked, if I was able to get A&E for that first day, and don't need it for the last day- I will go back and change that to a different attraction on the last day.

I never stick with the option times I picked. I always tweak my times and get things closer together or more where I think they are where we will be in the park at a certain time. I also find that typically I am having to move at least one, because it will put it at the same time as an ADR. When I did it recently, I think it took me about an hour or a little more to get everything set. If you just take one of the options and keep the times it gives you, you can probably be done in about 10 minutes.

One other tip, is I would either have a print out of your ADR list- or something else with a screen with you that has them up. I had my ADRs up on MDE on my phone and used my PC to pick FP+. You will need your ADR times, to be sure you move your FP+ where they don't interfere with them.
 
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I would suggest going on YouTube and searching for a few videos on how to book fastpasses. It had been 1 1/2 years since I had done it and watching the videos helped so I was familiar with what the screens looked like and where I had to click.
 
Thanks Guys, this helps and yes I am booking my 60 days out. Still a little skiddish but hoping for the best. We have never been to Disney and the Fastpass system is a little confusing to wrap your head around once you start looking at the logistics (but the way it is presented looks easy!) I felt like I was gearing up for war when I went to make our ADRs at the 180 day mark...:crutches:And I still didn't get BOG. Still stalking for that one...lol But life does go on and there are worse things that could happen. (Like not going to WDW at all!!!:sad:)
 
ktlm gave fabulous directions and advice! If you are visual like me and want to see what it looks like, here is a link to a great thread over on the easywdw.com forums.

http://www.easywdw.com/forums/showthread.php?21568-New-Examples-of-Booking-and-Modifying-FP

And, remember, while FP+ is ideal. You can always wait in the line if you don't get the FP+. The lines are long, but nothing like the craziness when they were in Epcot. Back before FP+ I waited over an hour to meet Tink and her fairy friends with DD. I know people waited a really long time for Rapunzel in the past as well.
 
ktlm gave fabulous directions and advice! If you are visual like me and want to see what it looks like, here is a link to a great thread over on the easywdw.com forums.

http://www.easywdw.com/forums/showthread.php?21568-New-Examples-of-Booking-and-Modifying-FP

And, remember, while FP+ is ideal. You can always wait in the line if you don't get the FP+. The lines are long, but nothing like the craziness when they were in Epcot. Back before FP+ I waited over an hour to meet Tink and her fairy friends with DD. I know people waited a really long time for Rapunzel in the past as well.


I waited forever (maybe 75 min?) for Rapunzel in 2011. I'd really like to avoid that since now I have two kids to amuse in long lines. I realize the FP is not the only way but I'd rather wait in a ride queue than a featureless M&G line. But we will do what we must!:charac2:
 
I agree with all the PP's - you will have a much better chance snagging A&E at the end of your trip!
 
:dancer:Once again thanks for all the help! I auctually got us a fastpass on one of the last days we are at MK. :dancer:
 
This is our 1st time using FP and ADR. Wasn't life a lot easier when you could just arrive at a park, choose your ride then eat your food when and where you wanted? We are wingers not planners!
 
Just some encouragement...I booked "last night" at 12 am & got everything I wanted including 7 Dwarfs Mine Train for a group of 10! I went for 7DMT, like others said, on the last day of my vacation & got it without issue. I also got TSM. The only things that were already unavailable to me pretty much immediately were the evening MK shows & parades, i.e. wishes, etc.
 


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