going to need to book fp's last minute...advice??

[jenny-d]

Hubby and I will be chaperoning for our kids band trip to wdw in November. I'm freaking out because I'm always such a planner and have all fp's lined up the day we can book them! Problem #1...we are staying off site which I've never done before! Problem #2...I don't think they are giving us our park tickets until we get on the bus! Is there any chance I will be able to get any fast passes at that point for the next 4 days we will be in the parks? Does anyone have any experience with this type of situation? Will each kid need to set up their own MDE account once they get on the bus and have tickets in hand, link their tickets and then try to book fast passes? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[hiroMYhero]

@subtchr chaperones large groups who visit WDW. She has a lot of valuable tips. You can PM her if you'd like, or, she does check in every so often.

 

[subtchr]

Hubby and I will be chaperoning for our kids band trip to wdw in November. I'm freaking out because I'm always such a planner and have all fp's lined up the day we can book them! Problem #1...we are staying off site which I've never done before! Problem #2...I don't think they are giving us our park tickets until we get on the bus! Is there any chance I will be able to get any fast passes at that point for the next 4 days we will be in the parks? Does anyone have any experience with this type of situation? Will each kid need to set up their own MDE account once they get on the bus and have tickets in hand, link their tickets and then try to book fast passes? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Hi, Jenny! As @hiroMYhero mentioned, I am a tour director for a company that creates trips for high school bands, choirs, and orchestras. We travel all over, but of course Orlando is our clients' most popular destination!

First of all, you are smart to realize that your trip with the band will not be the same as a family trip. Your schedule is not your own, due to the group's performance schedule, plus the reality of getting several busloads of people moving the same direction! But the Disney Performing Arts CMs are the best, and the kids always have a blast!

As far as tickets and advanced planning, do you have a travel company organizing your trip? I can't speak for other companies, but here is how we do it. We order tickets several months before the trip, and when they arrive at our office, we assign tickets to all the individual travelers, creating a spreadsheet and letting the guests know what their ticket numbers are, so they can link them to their MDE accounts. We have an online registration and payment system, and we upload the ticket numbers to each traveler's account. You do not need an actual ticket to book FP, just the ticket number linked in your MDE. We do not pass out the actual physical tickets until we arrive at the first park, to minimize the chance of loss. (Misplaced tickets can be easily replaced, but it still takes time, so we do what we can to avoid that!)

We encourage each student to create an MDE account, or it's fine if one student wants to create an account and add friends he or she will be touring with. Although we give the "how-to" email and a link to planning info to each traveler over a month in advance, I am always surprised how many people do not have everything set up before we set out on the trip! No worries, though, we spend a lot of time on the overnight bus trip setting things up for those who have not already done so.

Let me know if you have any questions for me!

 

[jenny-d]

@subtchr thank you so much for the information...it is very helpful. We do have a travel company organizing the trip so hopefully they have a system similar to yours!

 

[TexasPrincess1]

Hi,
I do not have the experience of managing a large group at WDW, but I want to give you some reassurance.

First, I want to speak towards getting fast passes the day of: I just returned from WDW, and it was easy for us to add on the 4th fastpass for the day and to move around fastpasses as needed. Also, remember that people's plans due change so keep checking fastpasses for those harder to get fastpasses. Also, I want to mention that we stayed at a Disney Springs hotel, and we were able to get everything we wanted at 30 day mark without a problem with the times that we wanted. Of course, ymmv depending on a whole number of factors, but I wanted to reassure you that there is hope!

If possible, rope drop as much as possible. I found that very helpful at all of the different parks.

There is definitely a rhythm of the crowds to the rides throughout the day. Studying crowd schedules and ride wait times will help, too!

You can still plan out your day and your touring plan in a logical way.

Good luck! Have fun planning!