How easy is it to switch fast pass+ attractions day of?

[emilymad]

We just got back. We had issues all week changing our FP+ while in the parks. We could never change to a different attraction at a time that was suitable. For example, we ended up riding Splash in the standby line at rope drop. We then wanted to change our FP+ to a different attraction. We couldn't even get Pirates before late afternoon. Pirates was a walk on at the time. We went to go to a kiosk to try to change the FP+ instead of our phones. The kiosk were down but IT was there. IT thought it was weird and looked into it for us. They couldn't come up with an answer. What happened was that we had to first change Splash to a later time and then change the attraction. Once we changed the attraction we couldn't change it to an earlier time even if we didn't have a conflicting FP. This happened all week in every park.

 

[jsebsirois]

We just got back. We had issues all week changing our FP+ while in the parks. We could never change to a different attraction at a time that was suitable. For example, we ended up riding Splash in the standby line at rope drop. We then wanted to change our FP+ to a different attraction. We couldn't even get Pirates before late afternoon. Pirates was a walk on at the time. We went to go to a kiosk to try to change the FP+ instead of our phones. The kiosk were down but IT was there. IT thought it was weird and looked into it for us. They couldn't come up with an answer. What happened was that we had to first change Splash to a later time and then change the attraction. Once we changed the attraction we couldn't change it to an earlier time even if we didn't have a conflicting FP. This happened all week in every park.

Sorry that you got such a bad experience. Unfortunately, this is the reason why this system is being tested right now... Hopefully, it will be better next time you use it!

 

[delmar411]

We just got back. We had issues all week changing our FP+ while in the parks. We could never change to a different attraction at a time that was suitable. For example, we ended up riding Splash in the standby line at rope drop. We then wanted to change our FP+ to a different attraction. We couldn't even get Pirates before late afternoon. Pirates was a walk on at the time. We went to go to a kiosk to try to change the FP+ instead of our phones. The kiosk were down but IT was there. IT thought it was weird and looked into it for us. They couldn't come up with an answer. What happened was that we had to first change Splash to a later time and then change the attraction. Once we changed the attraction we couldn't change it to an earlier time even if we didn't have a conflicting FP. This happened all week in every park.

That is the game of chess required due to how the system is setup. I have said it before and I'll say it again. The 3 attractions you choose should simply have a 3 column page with each of them at the top and a drop down of all times available. You select 1 time for each column and move on. It is pretty basic but Disney wants it pretty instead of functional.

 

[preschoolmom]

For most rides we had no problems changing times/experiences. However for rides like Soarin', Test Track and Toy Story it was nearly impossible to switch them the day of. In fact by 10am most days of our trip all of these were unavailable for FP+ thru MDE for changing so we had to lose it all together or make it work. We were there 10/11-10/20.

This exactly. We were there from the 19th-25th. Magic Kingdom, it was no problem. Toy Story, Soarin and Test Track = no options whatsoever, even an day or two before. We had a kiddo get sick, and considered switching our days around, and even the day before, we couldn't change Toy Story Mania.

 

[KBoopaloo]

It is strange to me to hear so many people had trouble moving things around. We didn't visit DHS so I didn't have any Toy Story FPPs to move around but as I said, we were there 10/18-10/21, the same time as many previous posters and had no trouble repeatedly getting new times for Soarin or Test Track, often just a couple hours before and always while we were already in the park. Also great luck with Splash and Space. Seems like it is a real crapshoot. Maybe because we were just a party of 2?

 

[Disneylover99]

. Maybe because we were just a party of 2?

Hmmmm....good point, never really thought about that. It probably does make a difference.

 

[scard192]

Great!

Do you remember where the kiosks were?

There is one in Fantasyland in the big yellow tent (can't remember the name) across from Dumbo; CM told where its at the back of the park its not as busy as some of the others. There is one in AK near EE. Those are the only 2 we used.

I think there were maybe 5 at MK.

 

[ktlm]

We were there from Oct 5-13. We found it next to impossible to change FP+ times in the park. A lot of this was because MDE was extremely glitchy and did not work most of the time. We did find that if we competely shut of Wifi, and just used 4G we had a better change of getting it to work, but even then it was spotty at best. If you can actually get MDE to work and get to where you even can change a FP+, then you either have to:

1. change the attraction for the time you currently have and then go in again and move the time; or
2. move the time for the attraction you have to the time you want and then go in again change the attraction

The problem we had was often you could not do either. The attraction you had would tell you there were no other available times, or at 10:00 in the morning would only give you the option to move to maybe 8-9 p.m. (and this was when I could walk to the FP machine for the ride and get a FP that kicked in 45 minutes later for that ride). We also would get a message that there were no other attractions available for FP+ for the park that day when I tried to change the attraction. I think I successfully moved 1 while in the park one day, but short of that- changing FP+ in park the day of, was really hard to do. We did find that MDE worked much better at the resort. I was able to change our FP+ to EPCOT the night before when we decided to change parks for one of our last days. However, while MDE was working, I initially could not get any times at all for Soarin, and only a couple of limited times for Test Track for the next day. I kept messing with it for about an hour that night, and some other things finally came up for both- no clue why there were no times available, and then suddenly there were several times available 20 minutes later.

 

[ktmo]

I didn't have much luck changing FP+ selections day of. The only one that I was able to do was change the time of the Character Spot at Epcot.

We missed our Test Track FP+ (we rode it stand-by so it wasn't a big issue). I wanted to change it to something else, but since the time was passed, no other attractions were available and since it was a headliner, I couldn't move it later in the day. Since, we had already used our Soaring FP+, I couldn't cancel it and pick something else. So, I lost one of our Fast Passes.

At Magic Kingdom, I had Dumbo booked, but again was able to ride it with a regular fast pass the day before. So, I tried to change it the day before and day of with no luck. No other options were available.

I did not like that you couldn't change attraction and time at once. Very cumbersome. I don't think I was able to use all three FP+ in the four days that we were there. If I hadn't been able to use legacy FP, it would have made for a very frustrating trip.

Oh and I got "there is a blip in the system" quite a lot. This impacted my ability to even see our FP+ selections, let alone change them.

 

[ktmo]

Great!

Do you remember where the kiosks were?

There was a station by the restrooms between Aladdin's Carpet and Frontier Land (I think). There is a little cut through to Frontier Land.

 

[mikek]

That is the game of chess required due to how the system is setup. I have said it before and I'll say it again. The 3 attractions you choose should simply have a 3 column page with each of them at the top and a drop down of all times available. You select 1 time for each column and move on. It is pretty basic but Disney wants it pretty instead of functional.

I'm trying to figure why they make it such a PITA to get what you want. I'm wondering if they obscure things like they are so that they have a better chance at aiming you the way they want. Right now some of options at least are afternoon or evening. I wonder if they are afraid that people would just start grabbing all the first thing in the morning ones at 60 days leaving nothing but afternoon/evening for anyone later.

 

[Joanna & Hunters Mom]

We were there in September when not as many resorts were testing and I basically got up each morning and rearranged our FP to what we decided to do each day. I also changed several within and hour with no problems. I sure hope it stays this way.

 

[eeyore29]

If we arrive at an attraction during our scheduled FP+ timeframe, and see that the regular standby line is only 5-10 minutes, can we use MDE on our smartphones to choose a different FP+ for later in the day (based on availability), and just get in the regular standby line? Or must the changes be made prior to the scheduled 1-hour window?

 

[delmar411]

We were there in September when not as many resorts were testing and I basically got up each morning and rearranged our FP to what we decided to do each day. I also changed several within and hour with no problems. I sure hope it stays this way.

It no longer works like that now. Sorry.

 

[ilovemk76]

We did it and still got headliners.

 

[ohboyx3]

I was only able to do that a few times. Tried to switch headliners to different times while in the park and no other times were ever available.

 

[Goldilocks07]

I was just there this past Friday, October 25, I switched out a fast pass from barnstormer to HM with no problems- but I did it in the morning. I would assume that changing things day of gets risky unless you do it first thing. It was easy for us. Good luck!

 

[conandrob240]

We were there Oct 12-21 and I found less availability than I had expected. There were days when there were no other times available for major rides ( Soarin', for example). And if there was availability, it was often limited and, like others said, mostly only in the morning. It was disappointing and made me wonder how hard it is going to be when in full launch.

 

[MaxsDad]

I was just there this past Friday, October 25, I switched out a fast pass from barnstormer to HM with no problems- but I did it in the morning. I would assume that changing things day of gets risky unless you do it first thing. It was easy for us. Good luck!

You changed from one ride that never really needed a fastpass to another that doesn't really need one. Definitely no problem there. The problem is changing fastpasses for popular attractions.

We are here now and I feel like the system is really clunky and not very flexible, I am not a fan of it at all because we like to be flexible when we tour. If I have a fP for soarin and want to go to MK instead for whatever reason, I want to be able to get a comparable FP, not one for Stitch.

I would also like the system to be smarter and know if I have used my FP or not. If I miss my window for whatever, reason, say a sick kid it would be nice if the system could pick up on that and let me reschedule something even if it is past the time. Shouldn't be that difficult.

 

[Samdari]

Yeah, the top tier attractions you will have no chance. Just got back. Switched our Epcot day to Wed last week at the last minute. Went to book FP+ the night before, no Soarin or Test Track available.

The positive news is that I convinced myself they hold some FP+ back for day of booking. I looked at 8:58 am on Wednesday, no Soarin' or Test Track. At 9:01 (park opened at 9) there was suddenly Soarin' availability. I booked it for my entire party, then went back to look to see if any had been released for Test Track. Nope. I did not notice if there were any Test Track FP+ released at 9, or if they were just all gone by 9:03.

Either way, your chances of getting any of the really hard ones day before or later seem pretty slim.