How many people book FP?

[b5sgqueen]

I can across this story the other day.
https://travelupdate.boardingarea.c...868.203705398.1548173134-889275995.1541706936

Essentially, the author bought same day passes for AK ans was upset that there was no FOP, River Journey or Safaris FP available. In the comments, he says that it's not fair to be shut out from FP opportunities if you are checking at 10am the day off. Though he does mention that he got some FP, just not for those three.

I guess that leads me to my question, does everyone book FP in advance or is there a portion(significant or small) of people who simply do not book FP or assume that they will have a wealth of options the day of?

Reading these boards has me primed with a FP strategy and the expectations, but it would seem odd that someone who hasn't read would not anticipate any FP in advance.

 

[JETSDAD]

There are people who either don't know about FP's or think it is a paid feature. I hear it every time I am there. We were stopped going through the Space Mountain FP line by someone in the SB line. They asked us about FP's and how to get them. I personally do not understand spending that kind of money and not doing some research but there are plenty of people who do not.

 

[Klayfish]

The author was clearly completely uneducated and did no research.

No, not everyone books FP+ in advance, because like the author of this story, they don't bother to spend any time learning. Believe me, I'm pretty much the opposite of a "planner", so I'm not saying people need to spend hours studying and planning. But just a basic functional understanding helps a TON. I see so many people in the parks who just walk up to the FP+ queue and try to walk on. They are bewildered when the CM explains FP+ to them.

 

[DisLiss]

When it is just DH & I, we don't worry about FP in advance. We tend to go at the least crowded times and we don't have any "must-do" rides. If we stayed in WDW for a week and never rode FOP, we'd just shrug and say "Maybe next time." I mean, you never know when you may not got to ride a favorite, and we tend to have pretty old school favorites. I love Haunted mansion and he loves Spaceship Earth and the People Mover.

With our kids, we ask them ahead of time to choose 3 favorite things in each park and we do our best to make sure they each get to hit ONE of those 3 things. (We like to go into vacations with the idea that if we have reasonable, simple expectations we will most likely get what we expect and maybe a bit more. We don't like to stress ourselves with a lot of expectations.) So, yes, with the kids, we will do our best to have some FPs booked ahead of time in order to try to get at least one of their favorite 3 things in each park.

 

[NJ Goofy]

We end up meeting people on every trip that have no idea how the FP+ system works. They usually end up asking us a bunch of questions and we politely try to educate them. Most people on these boards are not your average Disney consumer, they are much more educated on Disney planning. I saw a fact somewhere that at any particular time at WDW almost 70% of the guests are 1st timers, so that is probably one of the reasons. I do agree with the PP's that even with a little research you should be able to figure out FP planning.

 

[DisLiss]

I think some people who have never been to WDW before could be surprised by how much planning can go into it. Especially if they tend to normally vacation in places where planning just means arriving at the hotel and grabbing some brochures to chose from over the next few days. They may very well have the idea that you arrive someplace and you'll be able to participate in whatever is happening there.

 

[wdw&sonny]

Most frustrating thing is we all know people who say they are going to WDW for the first time. We offer our advice. They don't listen. They return frustrated that they couldn't do this or that, it was crowded, hot and expensive and they will never go again.

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

Someone in my office just got here an hour ago after being at a conference in Orlando earlier this week. They decided to go to Epcot yesterday and he had asked me a couple questions before he left, but not much. So they showed up and bought same day tickets and didn’t have any clue about how to do Fastpasses. It worked out for them because they aren’t big riders and mainly wanted to do the food and art festival. They were able to get Fastpasses for the two of them for the rides they did want to ride. But he did say that he should have asked me more questions before going.

 

[otten]

The author was clearly completely uneducated and did no research.

No, not everyone books FP+ in advance, because like the author of this story, they don't bother to spend any time learning. Believe me, I'm pretty much the opposite of a "planner", so I'm not saying people need to spend hours studying and planning. But just a basic functional understanding helps a TON. I see so many people in the parks who just walk up to the FP+ queue and try to walk on. They are bewildered when the CM explains FP+ to them.

We did a spur of the moment one day visit to Magic Kingdom a few years ago. First trip ever. Information about fast pass came with our ticket confirmation. If people can’t even look at the information provided to them at the time of purchase that’s their own fault.

 

[ksinniger]

I just made FP reservations today for a co-worker who is taking her brother and nephew at the end of next week. She sent me their preferred list of rides, and it of course included FOP. I had to gently let her know that those were likely gone 2 months ago. She did the research and understood, but got frustrated with setting up MDE so never finished. She falls in the category of someone who visited WDW in the "good old days" when there weren't even paper fastpasses.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

I've known about FP since the paper ones and I used them EVERYTIME we visited. Had people back then ask about them too and wonder why we were so lucky to get to go through "that line". When the FP reservation system came around I read up on for my 2015 trip. I didn't utilize it very well as I didn't do the research that I've done these last few months since coming back to the Dis for our June trip. The things I've learned from @JETSDAD and @Klayfish have been invaluable and I'm VERY thankful! Still.....I know when we go in June....there's going to be that person who walks up behind us in the FP line and try to tap in with their magic band or ticket and wonder why theirs is blue and not green. There will also be those people who ask those questions out loud in the SB line. As it was already said, how in the world do you come to Disney and not do ALL your research. FP is mentioned nearly 80% of the time in one aspect or the other on the Disney website itself.

 

[GoingSince1990]

I still remember my very first Fastpass ride. Kilimanjaro Safaris, December 1999. Stumbled upon the machines, thought “this is pretty cool” and got our return times.