FP+ times left for late in the day?

[jenne]

I will be heading down for spring break - 3/8-15th. We are staying offsite and I like to park hop. We are always there for rope drop, and I think I will be able to get the rides I want in the morning without using the new FP+ because I want to be able to get use them in a different park later in the day. What are the chances of there being any FP+ times left at MK after 8pm for any of the decent rides like Space M, BTMRR and Buzz? I won't be arriving at the MK until 8 so will they all be gone by then? If I understand the new system correctly, I can't book MK FP+ while I am at AK.

 

[Amanda999]

Hi!

I was at HS and MK Wednesday Feb. 19 (not as crowded as mid-March?).

My experience was this:
*There were plenty of times available for everything the first 1 or 2 hours of the day. (Maybe longer - didn't check often after that until 2pm.)
*Around 2pm Space Mtn and BTMRR only had very late times, but most other things at MK were fine. Didn't check other parks.

I learned this because I have an iTouch (no cell service). While I had 3 wifi bars from 8am to 2pm, I never could get MDE to work (to change FP+ times - I knew we were running late). So, we only ended up being able to use ONE FP+ (that we had booked 60 days prior! the lines to use the FP+ kiosks never seemed worth it: minimum 10 minutes, and my kid would howl - he understands waiting 30 minutes to ride Goofy Barnstormer, but not 10 minutes at a ATM looking machine.)

So, my experiences aren't everyone's, but thought it might help.

My main lesson learned: bring a smartphone with CELL service (do NOT rely on wifi). I asked many, many people waiting in lines with me if their MDE was working, and all said yes, but ALL said via cell service, not wifi.

 

[jenne]

Thanks for the imput with the FP+ availibility. That is disappointing to hear about the wifi, though. I am Canadian, and I like to be able to turn off the data roaming while I am in the States. I was planning on being able to use the free park wifi, but from a number of different reports I am getting, I won't be able to depend in it.

 

[JimmyV]

From our President's Day experience, if you arrive at RD and see a CM with an i-Pad in the first half hour of park opening, you should be able to get anything you want. By 11:00, options will be way more limited. The only FP+ that we could not get was ETWB. We were working with a CM at 8:20 a.m. on a day when the MK opened at 8:00, and were told that the only available times were 7:30-8:30 p.m. (during our ADR) and 9:15-10:15 p.m. (too late...while we don't have a young child, we wanted to experience the attraction when other young children would be there, and at that hour, we were afraid of what the demographic of participants would be.) I had a piece of paper with all of our choices written down with the exact times that we wanted. (When staying off site, it really is like putting a puzzle together, so it is best to have things narrowed down, but with the ablitly to be flexible). The CMs were all surprised that I was so prepared, but were also skeptical that I would be able to get what I wanted with such precision. But to their amazement (but not mine), we got everything we wanted, at exactly the times we wanted, except for Belle. As with everything else related to WDW, it pays to be early, and it pays to do your homework. And do not count on kiosks or CMs to be of much help from mid-day on. The lines to use kiosks or i-Pads was insane when we were there. As an off-site guest, you cannot use your smartphone to make changes on the fly, so try to get what you want the first time. Any mid-day changes will cost you a lengthy trip to the penalty box, known as the kiosk lines.