FP Return Times on Disneyland App

[wareagle57]

I've been trying to track return times at different times of the day to get a good idea for our trip. But I've been noticing that a lot of the time every ride in the park will show the "Sorry, FP is not available right now" even when I know they should not be done distributing yet based on the time of the day.

What I'm curious about it is: Is this an issue with the app, or does the entire FP/MP system frequently go down in the parks for hours at a time? If it's just the app, if I have MP will I still be able to see return times and book them once I'm in the park?

I've also noticed you can't see return times in the morning for the park that opens 2nd, but I was told once you scan in in the mornings, you can book your first MP for either park, even though neither are open yet. Is this true?

 

[mom2rtk]

Which attractions are you seeing the message on? Have they started making FP unavailable when the ride is down?

 

[wareagle57]

Which attractions are you seeing the message on? Have they started making FP unavailable when the ride is down?

I will see it on ALL rides. Even when they are not down and show a wait time. It's not often, but it seems to happen at least every couple of days for an hour or so at a time. And I've never been able to see return times for the parks before they open, but it's probably designed that way. Still I have the question of if/how I can make a MP reservation for the not yet open park once I'm in the open one before rope drop.

And yes, FP is unavailable when the ride is down. But I think that's always been the case.

 

[ktlm]

We were there last week. I think it is probably a glitch in the app that you are seeing. I doubt you will have that happen with MP-- it ran very smoothly for us and we used it for 5 days. Also, last week FP was definitely still available on MP for rides that were down. One day TSM was down and we were standing right by it, and MP was letting me book it for later. FYI- while you can't have FP for the same ride-- if your ride FP turns into an anytime multiple attraction pass because the ride is down- then you can book another one for the ride you originally had. We booked a new later one for TSM and then used our original TSM (now a multi) for RSR - unfortunately it was our last day and TSM did not come up before we left the parks so we never got to use that TSM FP-- it was down for hours.

We did have a strange thing happen though. Our friends joined us one day and they also had max pass. We would try to get on together at the exact same times holding our phones next to each other to line up our fast passes, and we would get completely different times for FPs on many attractions, and I am talking at least an hour or two apart, not a few minutes. More than once, they did not overlap at all. It was very strange. It is not like either of us had an overly large group. It did not happen every time, but it happened several times. Sometimes if we both exited out and tried again- we could get the same earlier times to come up.

 

[starshine514]

We did have a strange thing happen though. Our friends joined us one day and they also had max pass. We would try to get on together at the exact same times holding our phones next to each other to line up our fast passes, and we would get completely different times for FPs on many attractions, and I am talking at least an hour or two apart, not a few minutes. More than once, they did not overlap at all. It was very strange. It is not like either of us had an overly large group. It did not happen every time, but it happened several times. Sometimes if we both exited out and tried again- we could get the same earlier times to come up.

I think part of that is the fact that people can cancel MP reservations. I've seen a MP return time very close, only to go back and add an extra party member and have it hours in the future. I think MP comes up with the earliest reservation that can accommodate the party size, and with cancellations that can change from second to second.

Also, you can add your friends to your MP party or vice versa to schedule FPs together.

 

[ktlm]

I think part of that is the fact that people can cancel MP reservations. I've seen a MP return time very close, only to go back and add an extra party member and have it hours in the future. I think MP comes up with the earliest reservation that can accommodate the party size, and with cancellations that can change from second to second.

Also, you can add your friends to your MP party or vice versa to schedule FPs together.

I would have thought that the first time it happened, but the second time it happened we looked outside of max pass at the FP return times and the general return times were showing the earlier time- and one of us was getting max pass much later than you could have walked up to the machine and gotten a time. It was strange. I think it is glitchy-- I would say if it seems like the FP they want to give you is not in line with where it should be to exit and try again.

 

[wareagle57]

We were there last week. I think it is probably a glitch in the app that you are seeing. I doubt you will have that happen with MP-- it ran very smoothly for us and we used it for 5 days. Also, last week FP was definitely still available on MP for rides that were down. One day TSM was down and we were standing right by it, and MP was letting me book it for later. FYI- while you can't have FP for the same ride-- if your ride FP turns into an anytime multiple attraction pass because the ride is down- then you can book another one for the ride you originally had. We booked a new later one for TSM and then used our original TSM (now a multi) for RSR - unfortunately it was our last day and TSM did not come up before we left the parks so we never got to use that TSM FP-- it was down for hours.

We did have a strange thing happen though. Our friends joined us one day and they also had max pass. We would try to get on together at the exact same times holding our phones next to each other to line up our fast passes, and we would get completely different times for FPs on many attractions, and I am talking at least an hour or two apart, not a few minutes. More than once, they did not overlap at all. It was very strange. It is not like either of us had an overly large group. It did not happen every time, but it happened several times. Sometimes if we both exited out and tried again- we could get the same earlier times to come up.

At what point does a FP become a multi-use FP? If it goes down ANY time during your return window? Or if it is down at the end of the window? Does a multi FP work for any ride in the current park or both parks? And I assume it is good at ANY time? Would a good strategy be trying to book FP for rides that go down often like Incredicoaster or Indy and then using them for RSR, GotG, ect?

Last time we were there under the paper FP days, we had a FP for RSR and it went down while we were in line. We thought we could only use it on RSR if it happened to come back up again later. Could we have actually redeemed it for another FP at another attraction?

 

[SeaDis]

I've been trying to track return times at different times of the day to get a good idea for our trip. But I've been noticing that a lot of the time every ride in the park will show the "Sorry, FP is not available right now" even when I know they should not be done distributing yet based on the time of the day.

What I'm curious about it is: Is this an issue with the app, or does the entire FP/MP system frequently go down in the parks for hours at a time? If it's just the app, if I have MP will I still be able to see return times and book them once I'm in the park?

I've also noticed you can't see return times in the morning for the park that opens 2nd, but I was told once you scan in in the mornings, you can book your first MP for either park, even though neither are open yet. Is this true?

My guesses on your original questions from experience:

1) If every ride has "Sorry, FP not available", I think either
a) Your app has stale data/lost connection. Best to close app and restart for a fresh connection. I find myself doing this several times a day-- sometimes just as habit to make sure I am getting fresh data. Next time it happens, try closing app and see what you think.
b) The system is down. But this seems less likely to be happening for hours at a time. I never saw more than 5-10 minutes of glitch or system lag over a few days of use.

2) For the park that hasn't opened yet, I don't think you will see FP return times in the app until park opening (i.e. watching from home). But once you purchase MP and enter the park, to book a FP it takes you to a different page that lists return times for all rides; I think it's called "Choose an Experience". You click on the ride/return time from that page and book your FP. In other words: that page is not available on the app, at home, or without Maxpass. You can see screen shots of the process (and that page) at Disneyland Daily, and others.

Again, my guesses!

 

[NorthernCalMom]

I wonder if there is a problem with the app right now. I just checked wait times &, according to the app, there are rides that give out FP return times which have already passed. I checked at 9:30am. Buzz showed a return time from 8:05 to 9:05. Anybody know what’s going on here???

 

[NorthernCalMom]

Actually, just checked again, and now the times seem more realistic (Buzz instant, Guardians 10:35). So whatever it was, seems that they fixed it. And, no, I did quit & restart the app before my 9:30 check, so that wasn’t it. Weird...

 

[ktlm]

At what point does a FP become a multi-use FP? If it goes down ANY time during your return window? Or if it is down at the end of the window? Does a multi FP work for any ride in the current park or both parks? And I assume it is good at ANY time? Would a good strategy be trying to book FP for rides that go down often like Incredicoaster or Indy and then using them for RSR, GotG, ect?

Last time we were there under the paper FP days, we had a FP for RSR and it went down while we were in line. We thought we could only use it on RSR if it happened to come back up again later. Could we have actually redeemed it for another FP at another attraction?

I believe it is if it is down anytime during your return window. We had several times last week that a ride went down and we got a multi. I can't remember what ride it was, but I know that we had one where the ride was down and then the ride came back up when we were still well within our window. We were right next to the ride when it re-opened, so we got in the regular line immediately and it was short because the queue had been cleared. When we got off, we debated whether we should use the FP to ride again, or use it for something else, but wound up using it for something else that was either out of FPs, or did not have any left until very late. Worked out great because we got a very short regular line in our FP time without using our FP and then had our FP available for something else immediately. I remember thinking "Well, this is one time I'm glad a ride went down".

It only works in the same park. So, if you had a CA FP that turned into a multi you have to use it at CA. Likewise, if you have a DL that turned into a multi, you have to use it at DL and you can't use it at CA.

The multi is good for the rest of the day.

Well, it would be a big gamble to just hope that the ride went down during your time and turned it into a multi, but we did have several turn into multis, and sometimes we used them for a harder to get ride or a ride with a longer line at that particular time. For example, I can recall having RSR turn into a multi. After it came back up the line was over 2 hours long. The FP line looked to be pretty long too and the CM estimated probably 20 minutes. The single rider line was 10 minutes, so we all just did single rider for RSR and then we used our FP for TSM (DD rode GOTG once with a FP earlier and then refused to set foot on it again- and I think that was the day I already had an Incredicoaster booked).


I don't know how it works with paper. We used Max Pass every day this trip. At WDW, with their FP+ (which I hate) it works the same way as Max Pass (which I loved)- where you get a multi. Seems like with the paper it is, or at least was, for the same ride only, but I don't know if that has changed. Are they even doing paper anymore, or when you scan your ticket into the FP machine, does it just go onto your ticket now? I know that with Max Pass--- I could show my phone, but we could also pull out our tickets and scan them even though they were booked on the phone. If it is all electronic- I wonder if it would go multi even if you are not on Max Pass?

 

[wareagle57]

I believe it is if it is down anytime during your return window. We had several times last week that a ride went down and we got a multi. I can't remember what ride it was, but I know that we had one where the ride was down and then the ride came back up when we were still well within our window. We were right next to the ride when it re-opened, so we got in the regular line immediately and it was short because the queue had been cleared. When we got off, we debated whether we should use the FP to ride again, or use it for something else, but wound up using it for something else that was either out of FPs, or did not have any left until very late. Worked out great because we got a very short regular line in our FP time without using our FP and then had our FP available for something else immediately. I remember thinking "Well, this is one time I'm glad a ride went down".

It only works in the same park. So, if you had a CA FP that turned into a multi you have to use it at CA. Likewise, if you have a DL that turned into a multi, you have to use it at DL and you can't use it at CA.

The multi is good for the rest of the day.

Well, it would be a big gamble to just hope that the ride went down during your time and turned it into a multi, but we did have several turn into multis, and sometimes we used them for a harder to get ride or a ride with a longer line at that particular time. For example, I can recall having RSR turn into a multi. After it came back up the line was over 2 hours long. The FP line looked to be pretty long too and the CM estimated probably 20 minutes. The single rider line was 10 minutes, so we all just did single rider for RSR and then we used our FP for TSM (DD rode GOTG once with a FP earlier and then refused to set foot on it again- and I think that was the day I already had an Incredicoaster booked).


I don't know how it works with paper. We used Max Pass every day this trip. At WDW, with their FP+ (which I hate) it works the same way as Max Pass (which I loved)- where you get a multi. Seems like with the paper it is, or at least was, for the same ride only, but I don't know if that has changed. Are they even doing paper anymore, or when you scan your ticket into the FP machine, does it just go onto your ticket now? I know that with Max Pass--- I could show my phone, but we could also pull out our tickets and scan them even though they were booked on the phone. If it is all electronic- I wonder if it would go multi even if you are not on Max Pass?

The difference at WDW is that the multi passes are restrictive as to which ride you can use it for. If you had a buzz FP and it went down, you couldn't use it at 7 Dwarves Mine Train or Peter Pan. Or if Dinosaur went down, you couldn't use it for Flight of Passage. It sounds like it is much more useful at DL. I agree it's a bit of a gamble, but most of the ones that seem to close a lot (Indy, IC, RSR) are the ones I'd probably want to use to ride multiple times anyway. I assume there is no limit to how many multi FP you can hold, so you can use them whenever and wherever you want them (in the correct park.)

I've used this strategy in WDW before with rain. If I know it's about to pour down in the late afternoon when FP availability is low, I'll book for something like Dumbo or Jungle Cruise and get an anytime FP I can use on Splash or Space later.

 

[Winnowill]

I don't know how it works with paper. We used Max Pass every day this trip. At WDW, with their FP+ (which I hate) it works the same way as Max Pass (which I loved)- where you get a multi. Seems like with the paper it is, or at least was, for the same ride only, but I don't know if that has changed. Are they even doing paper anymore, or when you scan your ticket into the FP machine, does it just go onto your ticket now? I know that with Max Pass--- I could show my phone, but we could also pull out our tickets and scan them even though they were booked on the phone. If it is all electronic- I wonder if it would go multi even if you are not on Max Pass?

There are, strictly speaking, no "paper" FPs any more. The paper you get is just a reminder - the FP is attached to your actual ticket. So, yes, people using traditional FP rather than MP would get the Multi-Experience conversion, too - I just don't know how they'd know they had it.

 

[heybets30]

ktlm - we had the exact same thing happen with us. We were able to get RSR MaxPass FPs together (well, 4 mins apart), however, almost every other ride was a significant amount of time apart ... 1-2 hours. It was crazy. And the time on the app was never the time we actually saw when we'd go to pull them. Lesson learned, we should've joined all our passes together.