Feeling much better about trip

[sonofanarchy]

I know I've been a Debbie Downer on here since the advent of FP+ and all the issues with the MDE app. And I'm not apologizing for it, because lord knows, when it first rolled out, it really sucked. However, since Disney added the no limit FP after the first 3 and having read some reports of people saying it's going pretty well, I'm definitely feeling much better about our upcoming vacation. Our ADR's have worked out pretty well, so that's a big plus. Right now, the biggest (and only) hurdle will be Friday night picking out our FP+ selections. I know where we'll be on what days, but not knowing how it will look or what to do on the website, has me a bit nervous. I kind of feel like I'm waiting to get tickets for a concert going on sale at Ticketmaster, and hoping that I'll get the best seats possible.

For those that have used it, how easy is the FP+ selection process on the website?

 

[jen2207]

In a word...... Easy

We were there for Spring Break, and prepared for the worst. And it really turned out to be a great trip for us. I hope the same for you!!

 

[morethananyonex]

The selection process is kind of a pain, less so if you don't get error messages. Sometimes things still go through with errors, sometimes they don't. I found certain ways "in" to the FP+ booking area caused errors while others didn't, like changing it from your itinerary vs from FP+ button. Can't remember now which one was less error prone. This was a while ago though, so hopefully it's running better.

Instead of picking 3 attractions and then picking 3 times, you pick 3 attractions, prioritize them (which doesn't really matter IMO) and then choose one of the options Disney spits out. I found the best way to handle this is to choose FP+ times as far away from the ones you want as possible. After that, you can go in and modify them one by one, moving them to the times you want. So if you want 3 back to back in the morning, choose the option Disney shoots out that has mainly afternoon and evening times.

 

[sonofanarchy]

There are 6 in our party. Are you choosing FP for each individual person, or all 6 people? In other words, if 3 of us want to ride Space Mountain and 3 want to ride Buzz Lightyear, do we get the option to pick individual attractions for each member? I'm assuming that's probably a yes, but does it really complicate things?

See, my thinking is, I really need to rush through it, to make sure we get everything we want and the times we want. Is that the case?

ETA: I can already see I'll need to call Disney tomorrow. As of right now, even logged into MDE, which has our resort reservations linked, I can only book 30 days out.

ETA2: Actually, that's probably right. It's only showing me 30 days out right now because I don't have any on-site resort reservation until July. OK, I'm talking to myself now. Time for this vacation to get here quickly.

 

[morethananyonex]

There are 6 in our party. Are you choosing FP for each individual person, or all 6 people? In other words, if 3 of us want to ride Space Mountain and 3 want to ride Buzz Lightyear, do we get the option to pick individual attractions for each member? I'm assuming that's probably a yes, but does it really complicate things?

See, my thinking is, I really need to rush through it, to make sure we get everything we want and the times we want. Is that the case?

You can do either or. For our family, we had some attractions we wanted to ride together and some we didn't so we found it was easiest to book the initial 3 together and then modify anything we needed to split up for afterwards.

You don't need to worry about rushing through it. Nothing sells out 60 days in advance (or even comes close) with the exceptions being Anna and Elsa and 7DMT. We don't really know how those 2 behave enough yet to say it's safe to hold off on getting them. I would get those quickly if you want them, possibly towards the end of your trip if you have issues finding it at the beginning, and leisurely schedule the rest of the trip. You would be fine leaving the rest until a week before, or possibly even the night before.

ETA: In response to your edits, yup, that's normal, don't worry. You won't be able to book 60 days in advance until 60 days before your check in date.

 

[jen2207]

There are 6 in our party. Are you choosing FP for each individual person, or all 6 people? In other words, if 3 of us want to ride Space Mountain and 3 want to ride Buzz Lightyear, do we get the option to pick individual attractions for each member? I'm assuming that's probably a yes, but does it really complicate things? See, my thinking is, I really need to rush through it, to make sure we get everything we want and the times we want. Is that the case?

No need to rush. I made selections at 60 days. I changed them several times before we left, and several more times while we were there. I also traveled with 6 people. Sometimes we did things all together. Sometimes we split up - DH and older kids did SM, while lil guy and I did Dumbo.

 

[aleksandr]

We just returned from a trip where I was expecting the worst--mostly because of an autistic child and the changes to the GAC. We made good use of our 3 FP+ selections per day and the new DAS card worked great too.

There are two downsides I could see to FP+. One is that it seems to create lines where none existed before. For example, the last week of April is typically a slower week. The past 3 years I've never seen a situation where a ride like Journey into Imagination with Figment is anything but an immediate walk-on. Now that this is a FP+ ride, there was a wait. Granted, it was only 5 minutes, but I can see how this can escalate at busier times. SSE was another one where I don't recall there ever being more than a 5 minute wait for Standby, but is now around 15 minutes. Again, not unbearable, but I can see where this could translate poorly in busier seasons.

The second is that you can no longer go on two "E-ticket" (for lack of a better term) rides via FP+. Again, using Epcot as an example, you can't select both Test Track and Soarin' together. Which leads you to end up picking FP+ for stuff that you wouldn't ever need FP+ for--the aforementioned Journey into Imagination, or Turtle Talk with Crush, which leads to the situation described above.

All-in-all though, all the doom and gloom I've been reading for the past few months was nowhere to be seen last week and we had a decent trip overall.

 

[evilqueenmindy]

As long as the website is being cooperative, the fast pass choosing part is easy. The part I found frustrating (and you may have already worked this out) was that our group (also of 6) is loose family, spread out all over the state, everyone with their own AP's, and varying degrees of planning interest or computer savvy. So getting all these people signed up for MDE, linked to their passes, and then linked to me so I could make the FP+ was an experience I never want to repeat.
I will say though, after finally getting everyone squared away, the FP+ worked like a charm for us, and I've made a few day trips since our big trip in Feb and have had no issues getting FP+ even the day before.

 

[jeffbear]

The selection screens and options are a little clunky to say the least but after awhile you get the hang of it. Just let the stupid thing pick some options for you and then change them. That'll save you some time.

 

[handicap18]

I went in at 60 days and booked fast passes for all 6 in our party. Everyone doing the same thing. Times were all over the place. I'm now less than 30 days out and I can't tell you how many times I've changed things.

I've also split out a few in our party. For example, I did a FP+ for all 6 of us for Indian Jones. Well there is no way my DD, has any interest in that and neither does DW. So I split them off to do Playhouse Disney at almost the exact same time as Indian Jones.

I'm still not sure what to do with my 2 boys and father-in-law while DW, DD and I do the meet & greet for Cinderella and Rapunzel. Maybe tomorrow land speed way.

I've found that editing FP+ times and splitting people up was really pretty easy.

 

[bjam12]

What has everyone's experience been trying to secure an A&E FP on day 60?

 

[T4K]

What has everyone's experience been trying to secure an A&E FP on day 60?

I had to do it at midnight for the 3rd day of my trip 60 days out.

 

[katt789]

It's all laid out nice and easy on the website, I had no problems using it or the app to book, change, or copy fast pass selections.

Don't be too worried about getting what you want, the hot ones are SDMT and Anna & Elsa meet and greet, aside from that I've always been able to select what I want even up to a few hours prior!

 

[ampc3]

personally I found the whole selection process a pain. If I had not read up on some tips, I would have just excepted what they gave me and took it's word it didn't have other times etc..

with that said, for me, I found it the easiest way to book, was to take the selections that were as far away from the times that I really wanted. Then go back in under modify and select the times that I did.

 

[Madame]

People have put videos on how to go through the FP+ booking on Youtube. I found it very helpful to have a visual instead of going in and fumbling through it.

 

[mom2rtk]

Just wanted to say I'm loving the Godzilla avatar! If Disney had opted to build Godzilla-land, even my non Disney loving sons would have been clamoring to go. We're looking forward to the new movie!