How much luck do you have stalking FP+?

[IWannaBuildASnowman]

Have you ever scored FPs that were previously gone just by obsessively stalking MDE for days on end? Curious. Not that I would do that.

 

[AngiTN]

There is only 1 time I truly stalked and hoped to get a FP. It was while in the park last Friday. DH and I were wrapping up our trip and he decided it would be fun to see Mickey before we left. The line was about 30 min, which was doable but not the way I like to spend my last day in the park. Instead, I started stalking the site while walking around, checking every few minutes to see if a FP opened up in our window before the ME came. Lo and behold it did. Timed perfectly for us to stop, see Mickey, hop the boat to WL and meet the ME shortly after that. Timing was perfect.

 

[yulilin3]

stalking works
I've gotten fp for 7DMT, Wishes, A&E
Most recently I just scored fp for the christmas parade and Christmas Wishes for this Saturday, I got them 2 days ago, I've been stalking for a month since I'm an AP. We are a prty of 2 so I'm sure that helps

 

[Marthasor]

Yes. Stalked 7DMT for a last minute trip in November and was successful. Have also scored same day Wishes FP+

 

[rlduvall]

I had great luck with the elusive 7DMT for my early December trip. I saw availability come and go often through-out the week while I was actually there.

Edited to add: I even saw a FP come up for the Anna and Elsa Meet one day!

 

[FLchick415]

I've only tried it for SDMT, and it worked.

 

[drea21]

Thanks to this thread I just checked for our Jan trip and was able to get Festival of Fantasy Parade and MSEP FP that was definitely not available earlier. They were all available for Jan 18th, as well as some A&E, that's 30 days from now, do they open up more at the 30 day mark for those that can just start to book??

 

[RubySue]

Pretty good luck.
We just did two last minute trips, one in Oct and one in Dec. I was able to get many of our wanted FP+ and ADRs in the 2-3 weeks before the trips. I didn't really stalk. Just checked the app 2-3 times a day and did pretty well.

 

[DaisyNY]

Was able to change times for TSMM first thing in the am yesterday for later in same day...not sure if this is the case but I wonder if they hold some FP+ for day of guests? Good luck!

 

[PoohsFan1]

I only have done it for this trip coming up. I had scored A&E tickets at my 60 day mark for my girls trip with my DDs, then I decided to move around my dates which led me to let go of my FP. DD11 really wanted to see them so I kept watching out for them every couple of hours or so a day. Finally one popped up on our last full day in the parks. I was so happy, and better yet my DD was ecstatic .

 

[AngiTN]

Thanks to this thread I just checked for our Jan trip and was able to get Festival of Fantasy Parade and MSEP FP that was definitely not available earlier. They were all available for Jan 18th, as well as some A&E, that's 30 days from now, do they open up more at the 30 day mark for those that can just start to book??

In your case, that is just because they release the FP for those events at a different schedule that all the others. For some reason they don't let you book those till more like 30 days

Was able to change times for TSMM first thing in the am yesterday for later in same day...not sure if this is the case but I wonder if they hold some FP+ for day of guests? Good luck!

They do not. What you benefit from is folks changing their minds on which park to head to. They drop the FP they have in order to book FP at the other park.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Have you ever scored FPs that were previously gone just by obsessively stalking MDE for days on end? Curious. Not that I would do that.

I had more luck with the a&e/sdmt cancellation threads here than I did with stalking the site.

 

[IWannaBuildASnowman]

Successful! Toy Story FPs scored! I checked probably hourly for yesterday and today, and there they were whoop!

 

[Nuxgwkkw]

First of all, there is a website you can go to that will tell you FP+ availability for high-demand attractions. I think it'll only show availability if a large group of FP+ open up, due to added hours or other changes, as opposed to small groups of people canceling or changing their reservations, so it may not be exactly what you want, but you can try it anyway. I don't have enough posts to be able to post links, but try searching for "latest fastpass+ availability" at a site called theDIBB. Or maybe someone else who knows what I'm talking about can post it in this thread.

I cannot answer your actual question about the viability of stalking MDE, etc. (and it seems like you got them so you don't need more advice anyway!) but I can help explain why drea21 was able to get FP+ for the parades.

I am also going to MK on Jan 18, and (probably because it's the first day of my trip) I was unable to get FP+ for MSEP at the 60-day mark, but I randomly checked the website that I mentioned above and it showed availability, and sure enough I was able to get 5 FP+ for MSEP at the 29-day mark! I had originally heard that FP+ for parades and fireworks opened up at the 30-day mark, but in general I don't think that's the case anymore, because at my 60-day mark it showed that all FP+ were taken for the parades and fireworks on Jan 18, but they were available later in my visit (on days I'm not planning to be at MK). However, it did seem like they had opened up a new group of FP+ at the 30-day mark.

I was confused by this so I searched around disboards to try to figure out what happened, and what seems to have happened is that they opened a new area for FP+ viewing, in Town Square (at the flagpole near the entrance). If I understood correctly, Disney opens this 2nd area on more crowded days, and this 2nd area in Town Square is not as nice as the Hub viewing area (but I assume still better than staking out a spot over an hour in advance). However, some people seemed to think that all MSEP FP+ viewing will be in town square, due to Hub construction, and more FP+ opened up just because it's a bigger area. I don't know which is accurate but it doesn't matter very much to me, as the Hub is unavailable to me now regardless and Town Square will be just fine.

Hope that's helpful!

 

[PSUGuy]

We booked a trip this March less than a week in advance, we know WDW was busy because AllStarMusic was the only Value or Moderate resort with vacancies. We booked on a Sun afternoon for an arrival next Sat. through Disney and immediately started looking for FP+ availability. We took whatever we could get that day and went to MDE daily, usually more than once. and by the time we left we were satisfied with what we were able to pick up. Like most, we go for the 'E-Ticket' rides earlier in the day so it's not like we settled for crap. The Mine Ride wasn't running yet so I can't comment on that but Soarin', TT, EE, Spl. Mtn etc were among those we eventually got FP+ for.

Bill From PA

 

[FLchick415]

I was unusually lucky over the weekend. My 60 day window opened up on Dec 20, but I actually totally forgot until much later in the afternoon. I logged in and was able to score SDMT on the first try.

ETA: Just logged in and there are A LOT of times available for Feb. 20th (for two people), so if you're going that day, I'd get while the gettin's good!

 

[gofordrew]

Saturday I kept checking the app and was able to get Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Space Mountain as our 4th and 5th fast passes (Both had 90+ minute waits all day).

 

[LSUfan4444]

Saturday I kept checking the app and was able to get Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and Space Mountain as our 4th and 5th fast passes

Can you clarify what you mean?

You were checking the app on your phone and when you saw they were available you went to a kiosk to book them?

 

[gofordrew]

Can you clarify what you mean?

You were checking the app on your phone and when you saw they were available you went to a kiosk to book them?

Sorry for not being more detailed. We booked the 4th fast pass at the kiosk for Haunted Mansion. Kept checking the app every few minutes and was able to get Seven Dwarfs instead (Go into app and click change fast pass and it shows whats available). After Seven Dwarfs we booked a 5th fast pass at a kiosk for Buzz Lightyear and checked the app every few minutes and was able to change it to Space Mountain.

Also, the FP+ Kiosk by Jungle Cruise never had a wait while all the others we saw had huge lines.