FP+ Kiosks and additional FP's

[Laketravis]

Planning FP's can be an arduous task for some. They may schedule their 3 FP's early in hopes of getting additional ones later in the day at a kiosk. Others may plan on hopping to a different park in hopes of being able to obtain additional FP's at a kiosk.

But you never know what's available until you actually get to and use the kiosk. And if there is a line, you have to wait a not easily determined period of time before you can find out what's available.

Your experience could help others decide to either utilize a kiosk to try for an additional FP or simply bypass the kiosk completely and use the SB line of the attraction they want. If they see a line, your experience could help them decide if it's worth getting in the line or not.

So what has your experience been?

• Do you typically encounter a line at a kiosk?
  
  
• If so, how long was it?
  
  
• What were you able to get as your 4th, 5th, and beyond FP?
  
  
• Did you feel the result was worth the effort?
  

 

[Jennasis]

I couldn't find the friggin' kiosks. When I finally did, there was no line...and there also wasn't anything worthwhile left. This was late September.

 

[Anne5555]

We were at MK on a low crowd day. It was probably a level 3-4 on a Friday afternoon before a MNSSHP. I generally could not find a kiosk free immediately but had to wait for one person to finish. Reserved Haunted Mansion and Space mountain as 4th and 5th FP+. Limited choices, but it was nice to be able to book the rides before we walked there and then just get in the FP lanes. In our 3 1/2 day trip, I think that's the only day we tried booking more, but we never stayed at the parks too late (except for returning for Fantasmic after dinner at a resort.)

 

[ArwenMarie]

Last week of August

Kiosks in MK at various spots had really long lines so we didn't bother.

 

[Disneylover99]

Last week of August

Kiosks in MK at various spots had really long lines so we didn't bother.

Exact same week for us. Exact same experience.

Also to add......a few very short lines, that never moved. I bailed.

 

[SmithSmith]

I can't speak to availability. However, I did notice some kiosks during my trip at the end of Sept. The kiosks at innoventions west, Muppets 3D, Pixar place & Philharmagic were empty. The one outside of ToT was packed.

 

[Angel Ariel]

So what has your experience been?

As another PP noted, we found it difficult to *find* the kiosks. The only kiosks we ever found in Epcot were the ones in between the 2 Innoventions buildings, and they were always covered/out of order. We didn't see any in AK at all. We used the one in the corridor b/w Adventureland and Frontierland in MK (only one we used, but we did see the Philharmagic area and the Stitch area). In DHS we only saw the one by TOT.

Do you typically encounter a line at a kiosk?

The Adventureland/Frontierland corridor kiosk had no line at all at 4:30pm(josh also lists it as one of the least crowded kiosk locations). The TOT location did have a line (3:15pm).

If so, how long was it?

TOT's line was maybe 5-10 mins.

What were you able to get as your 4th, 5th, and beyond FP?

Our MK day was a party day, so MK closed at 7. Only FP+ available at 4:30 were iasw, dumbo and philharmagic and they were for the last FP+ window of the night (5:30-6:30pm).

TOT was a normal operating day for DHS, and we were at the kiosk at 3:15pm. No FP+ available for TSMM, RNRC, TOT or Star Tours. We had a couple of options (can't remember what they were), and out of all of them Indiana Jones was the best choice. Given the lack of availability at 3:15, we did not check for any more after we went to the 4pm Indy.

Did you feel the result was worth the effort?

On this particular trip, no.

That said, a large part of that was because of how the trip was structured because of the Wine and Dine 1/2 that DH was running. We did not have an MK day where we were in MK in the morning/afternoon that MK didn't close early. We will remedy that on our next trip.

The second afternoon we were in MK, our last FP+ was unfortunately for 4:25pm. it was A&E, and even that I got from a cancellation thread here. I tried changing it, but couldn't. I was visiting A&E to get them to sign a birthday card for my friend's Frozen-obsessed daughter who was visiting WDW the week after we did. I left her a birthday care package at their hotel before we left for them to get when they checked in, and the card was part of it, so missing that FP+ wasn't an option. If we'd been able to schedule our FP+ to be done earlier in the day, I think we would have had more luck with 4th+ at MK. We will do that as best we can on our next trip.

Weather the night of the 1/2 marathon also threw off some plans (didn't spend time in World Showcase that we expected to during the run's party), and we changed our schedule around to spend more time at Epcot than we planned before arrival.

 

[g-dad66]

Monday, November 10 (day before Veterans Day)
Magic Kingdom
1:15 pm
kiosk at Frontierland/Adventureland breezeway
about 4 or 5 in front of us -- spent less than 5 minutes in line
Space Mountain FP+ available for 4:10-5:10 pm. Haunted Mansion and Pirates of the Caribbean available for sometime between 5:00 and 6:00 pm (don't remember exactly when)

 

[prudence64]

Used the ones at philharmagic and had no wait. Could get haunted mansion and space mountain. Not too much else but it was close to closing for a Christmas party.

Animal kingdom - no wait and could get 4 th, 5th, 6th etc.. For anything we wanted. Rode EE 3 times with fp.

HS - kiosk by muppets. One person ahead of us. Nothing of interest came up for 4th fp but lines weren't terrible anyway.

Epcot - didn't try

 

[Love Tink]

Last week of August

Kiosks in MK at various spots had really long lines so we didn't bother.

Exact same week for us. Exact same experience.

Also to add......a few very short lines, that never moved. I bailed.

So funny. We were there the last week of August and I want to say we never had to wait for anyone at any of the kiosks.

Well - my husband may have had to wait a few minutes. But I know when it was my turn or when we all went together I was always able to just walk up to a machine with no wait. True in every park except AK, where we left early (HOT) and never tried for any extra FP.

We were always able to get more FP, with a surprising number of options. I think this was because crowds were very low. At Epcot we got a Soarin' FP (for five people) at 3:15 in the afternoon when we stumbled on CMs with iPads inside Innoventions. At DHS I think everything but Toy Story was available. At MK we were able to get FP for rides like Buzz or Jungle Cruise that had windows opening within minutes. We were able to get FP late in the afternoon or in early evening for Space Mountain and Big Thunder - an hour or 90 minutes out.

It was much, much better than I expected and I think it was because we were there in such a low crowd week, and because many people at that time still didn't know about being able to book after using your first 3. It was worth the effort for us...partially because it took very little effort.

 

[Mkrop]

We were there from 12/28 to 1/4.

In Epcot, we tried to use the Innoventions East kiosk, but on NYE's at 2pm the only thing left was Captain EO.

When in MK, we had luck at the kiosk at Jungle Cruise, we did wait in line but it wasn't horrible. The one time we went we got Barnstormer for 7:30pm that was the only thing available, this was on Jan 1, we did well with rope drop that day but as the day progressed it got more crowded and there was not much available for a 4th FP . Another time we got Hunny Pots and Jungle Cruise on Dec 30, it was rainy but we were surprised by our success bc this was suppose to be a high crowd day but maybe the rain kept people away, although standby wait times were long.

At AK we went to the kiosk across from Yak and Yeti, originally he said he had nothing for us, and just as we were going to walk away, he said he had a Kali River open for an hour later. We took that. No line for kiosk here

At DHS, we went to the hat for more FPs. There was a decent size line that many did not know where they ended or began. They had RNR for late, it had been closed all day. But by then we had done what we wanted at the park and let it go.

 

[kay1864]

early Jan:
MK: We used the Adventureland/Frontierland corridor; waited about 5-10 minutes.
Lines at Philharmagic area and Stitch area looked kind of long, esp since the people at the kiosks were taking awhile to decide.

DHS: used the one by TSM twice, with almost no line.

**NOTE**: once you have a 4th FP (from a kiosk), you can change it on your phone. No need to go back to a kiosk if you're just changing time or experience.

 

[jeffbear]

Experience in May 2014 ... week before Memorial Day

We never bothered to seek addition FPs other than at the MK. Every other park either had acceptable wait times or we had just no reason in general for more FPs.

1st day in the MK crowds were moderate. We used out 3 FPs before lunch and sought out a kiosk to see about adding more. Frontierland kiosk was crazy busy, so I wandered clockwise towards Tomorrowland and eventually spotted a kiosk with about 5 people in line. In 10-12 minutes time I had another FP for Space Mountain at 3:00-4:00. By the time we got there at close to 4, we were done with attractions for the day so I never sought out any more. The longest I waited in standby that day was about a half hour and we did everything we felt we wanted that day.

2nd day in the MK was the morning of the 24 Hour day and the park was nuts. We went through our morning FPs around lunchtime, same as before. I searched out a couple of kiosks while my family enjoyed an ice cream after lunch and couldn't find one that wasn't swamped. So we skipped adding additional FPs and shifted gears to standby and other stuff. Mine Train was open that day for the first time so we took the standby line for an hour ... totally worth it .. but otherwise enjoyed the 24 Hour day stuff until dinner time. It was a completely different day than our first. One with less attractions and more walking around having a good time.

So ... better or worse than it would have been with legacy FP? Honestly, I have no idea. I didn't feel cheated or annoyed by the system though, and my family had a great time. I think that's all that really matters to me. Our only disappointment n the trip was that my wife never got to ride Splash Mountain because the thing kept going down. Stuff happens and on you go.

 

[Laketravis]

In the sense that the FP+ Kiosks "work" by providing FP's for desired attractions, I've seen several make comments to the effect the FP+ Kiosks work when you don't need them, but don't when you do.

Is that a correct statement?

 

[prudence64]

early Jan:
MK: We used the Adventureland/Frontierland corridor; waited about 5-10 minutes.
Lines at Philharmagic area and Stitch area looked kind of long, esp since the people at the kiosks were taking awhile to decide.

DHS: used the one by TSM twice, with almost no line.

**NOTE**: once you have a 4th FP (from a kiosk), you can change it on your phone. No need to go back to a kiosk if you're just changing time or experience.

Yes, take what you can get at the kiosk and then work on adjusting it from your phone to see if you can get something better.

 

[ktlm]

We were there in October, crowds were fairly low.

We did kiosks at MK, DHS and EPCOT looking for 4th FP+. AK we had no need for one as the only thing we needed or wanted FP+ for was Safari and Everest which we already had and we were okay with only riding each of those once. We never waited more than 5 minutes at the kiosks. The longest wait we had was in Fantasyland. The line looked fairly long when we got in it, but it moved fast and it was only about a 5 minute wait. Other than that, we rarely had more than 2 or 3 groups in front of us. We stacked our FP+ early to attempt to be able to get a 4th FP+ in the parks. The only exception was MK as we had some afternoon times for 7DMT and A&E because that is what we could get, and also did FOF parade.

The very short version:

1. MK- the 4th FP+ and kiosks can be useful. Also, you never know what you might get as people switch things around all day there.

2. DHS- the 4th FP+ was totally worthless

3. EPCOT- the 4th FP+ was only useful because with FP+ where we used to walk on to Figment and Nemo, we found that they now have 30 minute lines for a good part of the day.

The long version with specifics:

1. DHS-- We went to a kiosk around noon to look for a 4th FP+. We were hoping for RNRC as we had used our Tier 1 for TSMM. When we got to the kiosk, they checked to be sure nothing had popped up and we were told there were NO FP+ available for ANY attraction in the park for the rest of the day.
NOTHING- not even the less popular attractions. We were told we could check back and see if something came up. We never bothered.

2. EPCOT --- We checked for 4th FP+ 3 separate days at EPCOT. 2 days we hoped for Test Track as we did Soarin as our Tier one. Day 1- we tried the strategy of using our 1st FP+ (Soarin) and then attempting to move our next 2 FP+ earlier to get to the kiosk. (We had thought maybe we would ride Soarin and then use our 9:30 FP+ if we got there early enough, but we wound up not entering the park until about 5 minutes after opening that day and Soarin already had a 40 minute line by the time we walked there so we rode the land while we waited for the Soarin FP+ to kick in). After riding Soarin, we immediately tried to move the next FP+ up to an early time. The app showed us we were getting a time about 30 minutes earlier- I hit confirm and it glitched and moved our time to 6 hours AFTER our original FP+ time instead of the time it had showed us with no warning. I could not get our original time back, so I marched off to a kiosk to see if I could get help. They told me it was either a glitch or most likely someone else was trying to get the same FP+ at the same time and hit confirm first and it gave it to them and then defaulted me to the next available time with no warning. There was no availability so they could not get us back to the original time. The best they could do was move it up so it kicked in only 2 hours after our original FP+ would have kicked in. We took it. EPIC FAIL. So, we attempted the 4th FP+ in the afternoon and of course there was no TT, Soarin, or Illuminations available. Our only choices were Mission Space or Spaceship earth for around 8:00 or 8:30 that night. We took Spaceship Earth as we had not ridden it yet. The line was about 15 minutes, so we did save some time with the FP+
Our other day we did not mess with our preset FP+ and we were at the kiosk looking for the 4th by 11:15. No TT, Soarin, or Illuminations available. As those were not available, we did not bother booking a 4th as we planned to spend the rest of the day in WS anyway. The 3rd day we tried we had spent the morning at MK and arrived at EPCOT around 1:00. It was a departure day and ME was picking us up around 4:00 p.m. from YC. After grabbing lunch DD wanted to ride Figment. The line was 30 minutes. I went to a kiosk and got a 4th FP+ for Figment that kicked in 20 minutes later.

3. MK- this is by far where we found the 4th FP+ to be the most useful because it has so many more attractions than the other parks to spread out the system users. This was the case even though we were mostly checking for FP+ later in the day. People switch FP+ around a lot there, so you never know what might suddenly pop up. Day 1 our 7DMT did not kick in until 3:00 p.m. so we were not at a kiosk until about 3:10. This was the day I waited 5 minutes in the Fantasyland kiosk. The park closed at 7:00 for MNSSHP. Peter Pan was available for 5:00 p.m. We also saw FP+ available for BTMRR, and Splash. Several others were available as well (no SM, A&E or 7DMT). Day 2, our 7DMT FP+ was not until 5:00 p.m. (not an MNSSHP day). I went to a kiosk right after. No headliners available at that time, but there were for some other attractions. I believe we did POTC. After that we went to the kiosk in Adventureland as we were passing near it. If I remember right JC had a 40 minute wait and I picked up a FP+ for about 10 minutes away. I can not recall specifically, but I think we did more than that last because I recall that if we were near a kiosk and did not have a FP+ I would see what we could get. If there was one in the next few minutes for an attraction nearby I would take it. Sure, I got FP+ for things that only had 15 minute lines- but it only took about 3 minutes to grab the FP+ as I walked by, so I would rather do that than stand in the 15 minute line. Seems like I may have grabbed one after JC for Aladdin's carpets. My only complaint about that is that there are not enough kiosk areas. If you have to walk far to get to the kiosk and then far to get back to the ride, that wastes too much time. That is why other than getting the 4th- we would only look for others as we passed the kiosk. Our 3rd MK day was FOF day and we left after to change for MNSSHP. I think I stopped at the town square kiosks as we were leaving to see if I could pull something for between 6 and 7- and I can't even recall if I did. I think it was pretty slim that day- but I might have pulled one for Pooh or Small World. On our departure day, we had an 11:20 FP+ for A&E that we decided to release at about 10:40 to see if we could get something else (a long story- but we wound up getting to see them through FP+ earlier in the week). There were a ton of things available throughout the day- all the mountains were still available). Our choices were limited because we were moving to EPCOT at around noon before leaving on ME, but we took Buzz. The line was 30 minutes when we got over there so it was a good choice.



All in all, we found the kiosks to be fast and the CMs there helpful. They had a ton of CMs there manning them and usually someone at one of them was either totally confused or totally hacked off and they were trying to pacify them. I would not want to be a kiosk CM! Although the kiosks were pretty fast and easy- they are not in enough areas. Also, even though the kiosks were fast and easy, we still absolutely despise FP+.

 

[DISNEYD14]

** Here is what I found during our trip in October **
Sunday 10/26 MK low crowd day, did entirely Fantasyland with the exception of PP by 12:30pm. Including 3 FP+ Journey, ETWB, 7DMT.

Went to kiosk outside Mickey's Philarmagic after 7DMT and got FP for Buzz , told CM I didn't need assistance as they seemed to be slowing people down with their 'help'.
Turned around a second later and changed my FP for Buzz to PP on my app which was not showing available on kiosk.

Went to lunch with FP+ at BOG , used our 4th FP for PP then walked off, went back to same FP kiosk and did the same. Chose Buzz on kiosk, turned around and changed it to what we wanted through app that wasn't showing available on kiosk.

I'm not sure if we were lucky but that was day 1, continued the same pattern the rest of our 15 day trip.

The only time we ran into problem was at EP, we had to split our 4th FP up, where half the fam did TT and half did Soarin

 

[cindyfan]

Do you have to use your 4th FP before getting a 5th?
And then do you have to go back to a kiosk for the 5th? Or since the 4th is in your MDE app can you then add a 5th on your phone app?

 

[jtowntoflorida]

In August, I don't recall there being long lines, and I seem to remember that there seemed to be decent availability, though we only visited DHS and MK that trip. After that trip, I was relatively satisfied with the same-day availability that FP+ offered.

December was a different story. There were roped off queues set up for most of the kiosks that we saw. The one in FL wrapped around several times--it was crazy. One tip I remembered from easywdw.com was that there are two kiosks in City Hall that few people know about, so I used them to pull additional FP+s twice (on our way into and out of the park--obviously this wouldn't be convenient if you're not coming or going). One time there was no one in front of me so I made my selection right away. The other, there was one person in front of me and both kiosks were being used. The woman in front of me said those groups were there when she walked in, and she'd been waiting for TWENTY MINUTES for them to get done. Luckily for me, one group finished soon after I walked up, and the woman in front of me made her selections quickly, so I only had to wait about 10 minutes total (the group at the other kiosk was still there when I walked away). I also used the kiosks in the Frontierland/Adventureland passthrough once, and had about a 10 minute wait again. I did bypass the kiosks several times due to the lines. On another day, I got a 4th FP+ from my resort concierge rather than wait in the lines.

At DHS in December, there was essentially no wait for a kiosk both times I visited one, but there was also no availability for anything I wanted, and all I was going for was Star Tours. Looking at my touring plan, I must have tried to pull FP+s at around 3:00 on December 15 and around noon December 17th. In fact, because there were no additional FP+s available on the 17th, we decided to hop over to MK and play SOMK instead.

We didn't try for additional FP+s in Epcot or DAK.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Do you have to use your 4th FP before getting a 5th?
And then do you have to go back to a kiosk for the 5th? Or since the 4th is in your MDE app can you then add a 5th on your phone app?

Yes, you have to use your 4th before you can get more, and you have to get any additional beyond 3 at the kiosks.