Help! My trip planning brain isn't working!

[MikkiMom]

Tomorrow is the day I need to book our FP+ reservations for our Thanksgiving trip. Our last trip was 4 years ago so there was none of this thing of having to reserve FPs in advance. We know it is going to be packed with crowds but this is the only time we can fit in a trip. And it's been so long we are dying to go. But this reserving attractions in advance is stressing me out. Even my teenage son doesn't understand why we can't do it the old way with just grabbing the paper FPs as we go.

Normally I could plan out at least what parks to do on what days. We've always used Park Hoppers, doing one park in the morning, taking a mid-day break, and then going to the same or a different park early evening/late afternoon. This time though I just can't seem to make any decisions about what parks to do on what days. Got a stressful situation going on at work that I guess is frying my brain! And taking my trip research time away! LOL Any advice on what parks to do on what days during that week? I guess with the crowds it might be moot but wasn't sure how it was lately with the new Pandora area at AK and not much to do at HS right now.

Thanks for letting me vent and for any advice you can offer.

MikkiMom

 

[kmb584]

Tomorrow is the day I need to book our FP+ reservations for our Thanksgiving trip. Our last trip was 4 years ago so there was none of this thing of having to reserve FPs in advance. We know it is going to be packed with crowds but this is the only time we can fit in a trip. And it's been so long we are dying to go. But this reserving attractions in advance is stressing me out. Even my teenage son doesn't understand why we can't do it the old way with just grabbing the paper FPs as we go.

Normally I could plan out at least what parks to do on what days. We've always used Park Hoppers, doing one park in the morning, taking a mid-day break, and then going to the same or a different park early evening/late afternoon. This time though I just can't seem to make any decisions about what parks to do on what days. Got a stressful situation going on at work that I guess is frying my brain! And taking my trip research time away! LOL Any advice on what parks to do on what days during that week? I guess with the crowds it might be moot but wasn't sure how it was lately with the new Pandora area at AK and not much to do at HS right now.

Thanks for letting me vent and for any advice you can offer.

MikkiMom

Oh dear! Don't get too stressed! Have a look online for crowd calendars. Touring Plans offers a paid subscription, but I use any of the numerous free ones scattered about the web. They aren't definites as crowds can be unpredictable, but they do at least provide a good rationale as to why visiting park A is better than visiting park B on any given day.

From a personal standpoint, I would steer clear of MK on Thanksgiving Day (if you're going to be in WDW by then) as it does attract proper holiday crowds like no other. I like Epcot on holidays. A lot of people stream in, but it's large and can disperse the crowds better, in my opinion. AK used to be our solid "go to" holiday park, but with the opening of Pandora, I'm sure the lower-ish crowds will be no more!

 

[luvallprincesses]

I'm also making FP+ tomorrow at 7 am (if the system is working!) First, you could check out park hours / event hours to pick your park days. Decide if you will utilize the Extra Magic Hours designated parks or stay away from them. You could use a crowd calendar site to help you decide which park, if you think they are reliable (the jury's out on that).

It doesn't sound like you have reserved any meals to schedule around?

If you still want to take the afternoon breaks (we usually do too), then you probably want to make your Fastpasses starting mid to late morning (maybe 10-11, 11-12, 12-1), then after queuing at the last ride, go on your phone and reserve your 4th FP for the time when you think you'll return to that, or another, park after your break.

I'd suggest you watch a recently-made YouTube video of how to use the site to make FP+, since you have no experience with that.

If you are interested in getting a Flights of Passage fast pass, you're going to want to schedule it for 4 or more days into your trip and it should be the first FP you try that get tomorrow morning. Other tough ones to get are Seven Dwarves Mine Train, and maybe Frozen Ever After.

And after doing all of this, Disney will add more hours in a few weeks (later evenings and maybe some earlier mornings especially MK) which will open more fast passes, and then you get to go shuffle things all around anyway. Good luck tomorrow morning getting what you want!

 

[cake_my_day]

I planned my park days based on the FP that was hardest to get (FoP). Once I got that one nailed down, I planned around that. Epcot on Thurs due to Food and Wine fest. MK on Monday for dessert party (non MNSSHP night). My advice would be to plan what's most important to your group first and then fill in from there.

 

[LuvMyEAR]

Let me the first to offer my sympathy! I can honestly say I'm not an enthusiastic FP+ fan. But, it is what it is... so us Princesses must suck it up and make the best of it. Don't fry your brain or out too much pressure on yourself. The trip is what you ALL make of it, not how perfectly you can plan every moment.

Take a stab at your park day schedule and grab what you can and know you have done your best. Try to get morning time slots as much as possible, because you may be able to get more later in the day. Even if you are serious rope-droppers, fast passes are good for an hour, so you might squeeze in a couple fave attractions before you start on your FP+ reservations. Of course, if you are getting FPs for ROL or Fantasmic, those are evening ones and that limits you to no further FP options that day, since you won't have used up your allotment until the hour of those shows. With extended park hours that week, though, you might aim to get 3 evening FPs in one park and spend the earlier part of the day in another park.

My biggest beef about the current System is the rigidity. If you have a 4-day ticket, you can book 4 days worth of passes, but you cannot see if there's FPs available on a fifth day that would make it worth your while to cancel a day's worth in one park and go another day instead. In order to know if you can get more suitable bookings on another day, you would have to cancel all your FPs on one of your other days first, and risk losing the ones you did snag. Yeah... not a fan here. We have fallen into another Catch-22, booking a late afternoon FP in MK on the day we are doing MNSSHP. Instead of being counted against our party ticket, it is being counted as one of our park days, so I have not been able to get any FPs for our last park day.

Such is life. I will be in WDW with my family and while this kind of thing may make me grind my teeth a bit, everyone should be plagued with this kind of problem, right?

Do your best, forget about the rest. Concentrate on the overall experience and making some amazing family memories"

 

[srwarden1928]

The best advice I can give you is this. On FP day, book your fastpasses in this order: 1. FOP; 2. SDMT; 3. FEA; 4. everything else MK; 5. HS; 6. everything else EP; 7. everything else AK.

 

[sdomino11]

Let me the first to offer my sympathy! I can honestly say I'm not an enthusiastic FP+ fan. But, it is what it is... so us Princesses must suck it up and make the best of it. Don't fry your brain or out too much pressure on yourself. The trip is what you ALL make of it, not how perfectly you can plan every moment.

Take a stab at your park day schedule and grab what you can and know you have done your best. Try to get morning time slots as much as possible, because you may be able to get more later in the day. Even if you are serious rope-droppers, fast passes are good for an hour, so you might squeeze in a couple fave attractions before you start on your FP+ reservations. Of course, if you are getting FPs for ROL or Fantasmic, those are evening ones and that limits you to no further FP options that day, since you won't have used up your allotment until the hour of those shows. With extended park hours that week, though, you might aim to get 3 evening FPs in one park and spend the earlier part of the day in another park.

My biggest beef about the current System is the rigidity. If you have a 4-day ticket, you can book 4 days worth of passes, but you cannot see if there's FPs available on a fifth day that would make it worth your while to cancel a day's worth in one park and go another day instead. In order to know if you can get more suitable bookings on another day, you would have to cancel all your FPs on one of your other days first, and risk losing the ones you did snag. Yeah... not a fan here. We have fallen into another Catch-22, booking a late afternoon FP in MK on the day we are doing MNSSHP. Instead of being counted against our party ticket, it is being counted as one of our park days, so I have not been able to get any FPs for our last park day.

Such is life. I will be in WDW with my family and while this kind of thing may make me grind my teeth a bit, everyone should be plagued with this kind of problem, right?

Do your best, forget about the rest. Concentrate on the overall experience and making some amazing family memories"

Touring Plans now offers fastpass availability searches. I haven't played around with it in the way you suggest, because our travel dates are always set in stone, but I believe you should be able to see the availability for the dates around your schedule if that's of interest to you. Hope that helps!

 

[LuvMyEAR]

Thank you, thank you, thank YOU!

Love this board and the wealth of info that people like you share. I am off to. Jew Touring Plans now.

Touring Plans now offers fastpass availability searches. I haven't played around with it in the way you suggest, because our travel dates are always set in stone, but I believe you should be able to see the availability for the dates around your schedule if that's of interest to you. Hope that helps!

ank

 

[LuvMyEAR]

Oh dear... typing on Phone on bus. I am off to view Touring Plans. Very embassarasing previous comment.

 

[sharadoc]

Plan to be at Magic Kingdom Extra Magic Hours the night before Thanksgiving. It's always been great, usually chilly.

 

[luvallprincesses]

@MikkiMom how did you make out booking FP?

 

[MikkiMom]

@MikkiMom how did you make out booking FP?

It was slow going. I don't like how rigid it is. Especially the whole tier thing where I chose my first FP for tier one and then I have to have 2 more from the other tiers for that day and that park before I can select another one. And the tier 2's are not really anything I'm worried about. Maybe because we've been to the parks so many times, I'm like if I get to do it I get to do it. I just wanted to make sure we could get our must dos for the new attractions we've never experienced like FOP.

Which brings up another question - we have to have the 3 FPs before we can get a 4th one. But do you have to actually use the 3 FPs since some of them are just okay rides for us. Or just let the time elapse?

Couldn't get FOP at first then a couple of days ago someone on Facebook said some more FPs had been released for it. So we were able to snag one of those. Otherwise we would be getting to AK way before rope drop to zoom over to FOP. I'm just hoping me & my fat calves will be able to ride. We're not eaters of big meals so we only have 2 dining reservations so far. We like to snack our way around the park as we go. And boy has Disney food gotten a lot more expensive since our last visit. I think what is hard for us is knowing that this is a very busy time so we should have ressies for things. When we are used to going when it's just medium size crowds or less.

 

[MikkiMom]

Plan to be at Magic Kingdom Extra Magic Hours the night before Thanksgiving. It's always been great, usually chilly.

With how warm it's been this late into fall, I'll be interested to see what the weather ends up being like while we are there!

 

[MikkiMom]

My biggest beef about the current System is the rigidity. If you have a 4-day ticket, you can book 4 days worth of passes, but you cannot see if there's FPs available on a fifth day that would make it worth your while to cancel a day's worth in one park and go another day instead. In order to know if you can get more suitable bookings on another day, you would have to cancel all your FPs on one of your other days first, and risk losing the ones you did snag."

I agree with that. We got our FPs and then later I wanted to see if any new ones opened up for attractions we would prefer instead or at different times. But it didn't let me do that unless I canceled one that I had for that day. I didn't want to do that in case I lost the one I canceled and there was nothing else I wanted. Also we have 5 day tickets but if I can get FPs for the rides I want on day 6 of our trip we would change our rest day and go on that day instead. But I don't want to cancel my FPs let's say on day 4 unless I know I can get want I want on day 6, if that makes sense. Guess we'll just see how it goes once we get there. The point is we'll be on a vacation together as a family and away from the craziness of work and this world (hopefully) for awhile!

MM

 

[luvallprincesses]

@MikkiMom

This post from the FP+ Sticky Addendum may answer your question about letting the Tier 2's expire:

Making a second Tier 1 FP+ within the same Park:
(test credit to @marciemi)

There are several ways to make a second Tier 1 FP+ within the same park. Most important to know though, only booking 1 Tier 1 (and no Tier 2’s) will NOT allow you to make another Tier 1 FP+ once you use the first one. You will get a message telling you that you are limited to one Tier 1 a day. So you have to “use” the Tier 2’s somehow.

Obviously, if you have an interest in using the Tier 2 rides, you can simply ride 2 Tier 2’s. Once you have scanned at the third ride (in whatever order), you can then book another Tier 1 if available. However, at Epcot especially, all the good Tier 1’s can be gone early in the day and the Tier 2’s frequently aren’t necessary to use a FP+ for. So your goal may be to be able to make a second Tier 1 as early in the day as possible.

You can book your Tier 2’s as early as possible, and simply tap your bands at the attractions and not actually ride. This can frequently allow you to move up your later Tier 2 (or replace it with an earlier available one). So for example, you could book the following as an example:

9:05-10:05 Spaceship Earth
10:20-11:20 Soarin’
11:30-12:30 Pixar Films

As you walk in the park, scan the band immediately at Spaceship Earth right at 9am as you work back to (let’s just say) Test Track. As you walk (or while you wait), try to then move the Pixar Films FP+ to around 9:15-10:15. After TT, walk by Pixar and scan there as you head to Soarin’. In this case, as soon as you scanned at Soarin’ at 10:15 (5 minutes early is allowed), you could attempt to book a second Tier 1 for (for example) Soarin’ again later in the day. If you hadn’t been able to move the Pixar earlier (to before Soarin’), you could try again as soon as you scanned at Soarin' to move it to as soon as possible. So again if you scanned there at 10:20, you might be able to get a 10:45 which you could go tap at right after riding Soarin’ and book the next Tier 1 at that point.

But what if you don’t want to deal with riding or tapping at Tier 2’s at all? The other alternative is to simply schedule your two Tier 2’s before your Tier 1 and let them expire before you get to the Tier 1. This would allow you to book another Tier 1 as soon as you tapped at the first. This option is particularly useful for the Frozen Ever After FP+’s (which begin at 11am). So you could schedule two at 9am and 10am and be eligible for another Tier 1 as soon as you scanned at FEA. During this time, you could sleep in, ride some of the Tier 1’s with shorter lines then (whether TT or Soarin’), or even begin your morning at another park with EMH before hopping to Epcot.

HOWEVER, it is important to use the correct method illustrated in post #5 below in order to do this. You simply can’t just cancel your Tier 2’s (or it will reflect you didn’t have them) or attempt to use the “Modify” option on MDE. You must book these FP+s as if they were new FP+s for the day. I have tested this multiple times, both at Epcot and HS, using both AP’s and MYW tickets and they all follow the same steps. The example in post #5 is from HS, but you’d do the same for Epcot.

 

[luvallprincesses]

@MikkiMom Here is the Post #5 the previous post refers to:

Instructions for making a second Tier 1 FP+ within the same Park (with pictures):
I was testing a couple different things. “Helen” was my test person for the new Tier 1; while “Eric” was my test for booking for another park (as shown in post #6). Helen had the following FP+ booked:

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y290/marciemi/2014 Trips/2015/FPP Testing/IMG_9860.png

(Ignore the second Star Tours which was for Eric only).

So we arrived at the park shortly before noon, and worked our way over to RnRC. Note that neither the Muppets nor Star Tours FP+ for Helen at 9:05 and 10:10 had been used. As soon as we scanned at RnRC, I started to make changes while we waited in the FP+ line. I first selected the FP+ option from the main (popup) menu. It then showed me that some of my party was eligible for additional FP+:

http://s7.photobucket.com/user/marciemi/media/2014 Trips/2015/FPP Testing/IMG_9861.png.html?action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=36&action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=37

I chose “View Eligible Guests” and then selected Helen and then Continue:

http://s7.photobucket.com/user/marciemi/media/2014 Trips/2015/FPP Testing/IMG_9862.jpg.html?action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=39&action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=37

I then selected today’s date and the park I was in (HS):

http://s7.photobucket.com/user/marciemi/media/2014 Trips/2015/FPP Testing/IMG_9863.png.html?action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=34&action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=37

http://s7.photobucket.com/user/marciemi/media/2014 Trips/2015/FPP Testing/IMG_9864.png.html?action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=29&action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=37

It then showed me available FP+, but also gave what could be interpreted as an error message telling me “You may only plan 1 of these per day” in regards to the Tier 1.

http://s7.photobucket.com/user/marciemi/media/2014 Trips/2015/FPP Testing/IMG_9865.png.html?action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=26&action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=37

But it still showed me the times available for the Tier 1’s as well:

http://s7.photobucket.com/user/marciemi/media/2014 Trips/2015/FPP Testing/IMG_9866.png.html?action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=30&action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=37

So I selected Toy Story Mania for 2:20 and confirmed it:

http://s7.photobucket.com/user/marciemi/media/2014 Trips/2015/FPP Testing/IMG_9867.png.html?action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=31&action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=37

This gives the following message:

http://s7.photobucket.com/user/marciemi/media/2014 Trips/2015/FPP Testing/IMG_9868.png.html?action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=32&action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=37

At this point, I could still see the original two Tier 2’s on my home screen but could not change them. When I clicked on one of them, I got the following message:

http://s7.photobucket.com/user/marciemi/media/2014 Trips/2015/FPP Testing/IMG_9869.png.html?action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=33&action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=37

http://s7.photobucket.com/user/marciemi/media/2014 Trips/2015/FPP Testing/IMG_9870.png.html?action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=27&action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=37

http://s7.photobucket.com/user/marciemi/media/2014 Trips/2015/FPP Testing/IMG_9871.png.html?action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=28&action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=37

And when I went back to the home screen and refreshed, those original two Tier 2’s were gone and the new Tier 1 was there:

http://s7.photobucket.com/user/marciemi/media/2014 Trips/2015/FPP Testing/IMG_9872.png.html?action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=25&action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=37

(Note the Tier 1 I was still in line for still showed at this point, but would disappear shortly, and “Eric’s” Tier 2 still showed below).

I then went in and cancelled the FP+ since I didn’t intend to use it:

http://s7.photobucket.com/user/marciemi/media/2014 Trips/2015/FPP Testing/IMG_9873.png.html?action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=24&action=Copy&k=shared.media&o=37

Next I tested booking a FP+ from one park while in another – see post #6 below!

 

[Anabelletoronto]

I found printing out the maps of the parks and planning a tentative daily plan helped me time my FP. I didn't want to have fantasyland FP 10-11 and again from 1-2 and a tomorrowland one in the middle if I could avoid it.
I know you already booked but this is just a general idea if someone else is booking soon me are a newbie like me who hasn't been to DW in a million years. Back when I went there wasn't even AK or HS and definitely no FP. Lol