How's the FP+ situation for off-siters?

[Dallas_Lady]

The last time we stayed offsite was before FP+ and the ability to pre-book fastpasses. We are considering going back to offsite for our next trip, but I'm wondering if only being able to book 30 days in advance vs 60 is really a problem.

 

[roryc]

I am staying offsite and I just booked FP for 18 days from now and I got 7DMT, BTMRR and Splash Mountain on a Saturday. So for me, it wasn't a problem.

 

[msb578]

I couldn't get 7DMT at 30 days, but we're a group of 5 and I didn't play around with overlapping times or anything like that. Everything else at MK was available. This was an MK-only visit.

 

[roryc]

I couldn't get 7DMT at 30 days, but we're a group of 5 and I didn't play around with overlapping times or anything like that. Everything else at MK was available. This was an MK-only visit.

I couldn't get 7DMT either at first, but another poster recommended I split my group of 5 up and I did that with 3 and 2 and was able to get the fast passes within 20 minutes of each other. So try just modifying 1 or 2 of your part of 5 and see if 7DMT opens up. I got a FP for 2 the first time I tried splitting. And I was able to get the other FP for 3 the next day. Fortunately the times overlap, so it's perfect.

 

[BigredNole]

I chose to book a dummy campsite reservation. That unlocked my AP window from 30-days to 60-days. I was able to get everything I wanted for the 7-days. Unfortunately, I can't book any others until I use a day. That means my last few days of the trip will be whatever FPs we can get. By then, we will have done everything we wanted and more.

 

[Klayfish]

I chose to book a dummy campsite reservation. That unlocked my AP window from 30-days to 60-days. I was able to get everything I wanted for the 7-days. Unfortunately, I can't book any others until I use a day. That means my last few days of the trip will be whatever FPs we can get. By then, we will have done everything we wanted and more.

We're in a similar situation. However, we didn't book a throw away room...the cheapest campsite we could find was $140 after tax, etc...was added in, and we decided it just wasn't worth it. So our 30 day window opens up early next week. We've never had a problem getting nearly everything we wanted. Last summer, FEA literally opened while we were there, so we couldn't get FP+ for that...but we rode standby. 7DMT is hard to get (we're a party of 5 also), but not impossible. Other than that, really it's no problem at all. Our upcoming trip is 17 park days (18 calendar days). We're only going to be able to book 7 days worth of FP+ at the 30 day mark. We won't be able to book day 8 of our trip until we've used day 1, so essentially we'll be picking 10 days worth of FP+ at only 7 days out. With the exception of FEA and perhaps the new Pandora stuff, I don't expect any issues whatsoever...we often change FP+ less than 24 hours in advance and easily get what we want.

 

[BigredNole]

My throwaway was $85 I think. I used reward dollars for it. It gets me the 60-day FP window, EMH for both AK and Epcot. So I can go to AK from 7AM to 1AM

 

[Klayfish]

Yeah, if it had been under $100, we probably would have done it. However, the only thing we wanted was the 60 day window. We're getting APs, so we didn't need the free MBs. We aren't rope droppers, nor are we really late night owls, so EMH has no value to us. Just the 60 day window.

 

[100AcreWood]

I booked at 30 days out and the only thing I did not get was Flights of Passage in Pandora.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Dh and I stayed offsite the week before Easter. It was level 10 super crowded the whole time, but we did really well with FP+. We booked our FP+s at 8:00 AM right at 30 days. I would have been online at 7:00 but our power went out due to a storm. I got everything I wanted for close to the times I wanted except for FEA. My 7SMT FP+s were for 11:15 PM. I didn't really want them so late, but at least I got them. Granted, this was all pre Pandora.

A couple of weeks later, the opening time for MK was switched from 9:00 AM to 8:00 AM (opening up a whole new hour of FP+ times), and I was able to switch my 7DMT FP to 8:55 AM, which worked much better for us.

I also randomly found a FEA when I was checking one day. I would have had to give up Soarin' to get it though. I decided to keep Soarin' as it's DH's favorite, and he hadn't ridden it with the new movie yet.

We also used SDFP in all the parks with old magic bands. We found great availability on almost every ride. We'd rope drop, ride 2 or 3 rides then hit a kiosk. The strategy worked very well for us over Easter Week.

 

[kohlby]

I'm a local with an annual pass. I worked quite hard to find a day with two 7dwarfs.I wanted 5 but two had to do. I have been working all month to try to get frozen. I finally got 4, though need 5. I did one at a time in both cases and tried for many different weekend days. I figure I will likely have better luck when I try for a less busy time, even though I tried during several moderate crowd days. I haven't had any issues with getting any others though we never tried any character meets.

 

[BigredNole]

Honestly, we wanted FPs so we can see the new attractions without waiting 2 hours. There is absolutely nothing on Disney property worth waiting that long for. In the 70s and 80s when everything was new technology and cutting edge, it was worth it. Now, it is just parts of different things with a new facade.

 

[candaceg]

We booked our trip with only 3 weeks to go until departure. I was able to get FP for everything we wanted except for SDMT. I got FEA after someone here posted that more times had opened up. We rope dropped SDMT and Soarin'.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

I booked at 30 days out and the only thing I did not get was Flights of Passage in Pandora.

Did you get NRJ instead, or were neither available?

 

[100AcreWood]

Did you get NRJ instead, or were neither available?

We did get NRJ. Looking forward to checking it out!

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

We did get NRJ. Looking forward to checking it out!

Good to know it's possible to get one of them at 30 days. Hoping to FP one and RD the other (as I'm sure everyone else is)

 

[100AcreWood]

Good to know it's possible to get one of them at 30 days. Hoping to FP one and RD the other (as I'm sure everyone else is)

We're not morning people but that's a great plan!

 

[SweetMimi]

We generally don't buy our tickets until we arrive in Orlando. I've never tried specifically for any rides but we always are able to get "good" ride FPs for the group. We just roll through the lines with the FP and scan wait times to hit the other rides we want. We always go in summer due to school so lines don't really bother us...except for Soaring. One year we were in line and it must have had an issue or something because we were in line forever. We haven't even walked that way since .

 

[littlbugmom]

I chose to book a dummy campsite reservation. That unlocked my AP window from 30-days to 60-days. I was able to get everything I wanted for the 7-days. Unfortunately, I can't book any others until I use a day. That means my last few days of the trip will be whatever FPs we can get. By then, we will have done everything we wanted and more.

How is this possible? Booking one night at a campsite you wouldn't even use allowed you to choose FP for your entire trip? Wouldn't they only allow you to book for 1 day?

 

[Brian Noble]

You can do the first two days (check-in and check-out) at 60 days prior to check-in. Then, you have a rolling 60-day window after that, so you can book day 3 two days later, day 4 three days later, etc.

More details in the first post of this thread:
https://www.disboards.com/threads/throwaway-room-update.3539209/

(Note that I don't bother doing this, but I also have an annual pass and several magic bands already. It's your money, use it how you like.)