I just had a postive MDX, FP+ and phone experience

[k_hase]

Thought I share, as it seems many of us (including me) expect the worst from MDX/FP+/phone service.

Background. DVC members, trip booked for my immediate family plus parents. My immediate family tickets are in MDX, are showing as linked and active, all good. My parents are Florida residents who don't live near Orlando. In the past I have just purchased their Florida Resident Discovery Ticket when I arrived (they show their ID, I pay...). But with FP+ I wanted them to have tickets beforehand.

Of course, I can't buy them myself because my billing address is not Florida and of course my parents don't have a credit card, because, you know, old people, cash, etc etc.

First call, a few days ago, hooked me right up. Let my buy their tickets with my NY billing address, gave me the numbers to put in MDX, all is good. I added the tickets with no problem, linked to them to my parents names and invited my father (because I thought you had to do that to link everything...foolish I now know, letting some cash-only old folks into email and the like...)

Today I go to book FP+ to find that my father is listed twice and my mother not at all. I reassign the ticket but then FP+ won't book her. I call. Wait maybe 5 minutes, not long anyway. A very nice lady goes into my account, sees the problem (likely my Dad clicking away at his own account, taking himself off and then putting himself on or something), fixes it immediately, then walks me through the monumentally easy process of matching our whole party of FP+. Basically, once a person is linked to your party/reservation you just choose copy, then who to copy from, then who to copy too and done.

I had two pleasant and knowlegable CMs, pretty much have the FP+s I hoped to get (although, and here's my tiny complaint--I tried to change one event for my parents to another one, but the other doesn't show as available, even though when I try to rebook the whole day or whole party it does show...I'll try again tomorrow and am not worried) and find the website and app not to bad as these things go.

But I have one question: I'm booking these 63 days out (I was waiting on my parents tix...should have taken care of that earlier) and there was pretty much not one FP available in the AM, Is that normal?

I mean, its okay. I have to reevaluate how we tour parks. I'm still on my old method, and we'll still do RD and I'm actually really happy to know that none of hte running to get a FP is going to be necessary anymore. I'll report back after our trip.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

Sounds awesome! Thank you for sharing your experience!

I still believe that there are just a few kinks to work out, but I think Disney is working diligently to address them.

Good vibes!

 

[JimmyV]

A perfect example of a "glass half full, glass half empty" view of FP+. You describe your (successful) efforts in getting everything copacetic, and it was no small task. But it all worked out. But now compare that to the "effort" that you would expended to get everyone FP-s under the old system. How many calls to tech support and how many clicks of a mouse would that have taken to get everyone on the same ride at the same time? Sometimes I can't help but think that a lot of this success is tantamount to Rube Goldberg admiring one of his inventions and proclaiming: "It worked!"

 

[k_hase]

Oh, I agree, under the old system it would have been much easier to know we all on the same ride!!! However, I'm a planner anyway and like MDX for clearly showing on the app my hotel, tix , and dining, (I used to make my own excel spreadsheet and then used other file apps to view that during the day, so this is more seamless for me).

Planning FP is good and bad. As I said, I'm happy about not rushing at RD to get coveted FPs. I'm not thrilled by the limits to three and one park; we were avid users, particularly when travelling with my elderly parents who don't go on anything anyway!! It meant extra passes for those of use who do go on rides. I suppose the same is true now, but I still feel a bit stifled.

My internal planning nerd really likes that I can see what I'm doing everyday long before that day comes. This is from a person who had a field in the spreadsheet labeled "free time" with a list of possible activities. Also, a field labeled "nap." So, MDX and me? Pot and Kettle.

 

[kay1864]

I'm booking these 63 days out (I was waiting on my parents tix...should have taken care of that earlier) and there was pretty much not one FP available in the AM, Is that normal?

My guess is the system didn't assign you morning times as a default, since crowds are low in the first hour. If you want to see if morning times are available, you can do a Change on one of your FP's. (Don't worry, it won't take effect until you hit Done) It will show you all the available times for that attraction.

 

[disneybirds]

They give you 4 choices for your FP+. If any of the four aren't to your liking, then I would pick the one that has times completely different than the ones you want. For example, if you want morning times then I would pick evening times. You can then move them one by one to the time slot that you want. It takes some time and patience, but this is how I do it.

You can always copy your FP+ to your parents once you get their tickets. I had to do that and it was very easy. Some of the times were off by 5 or 10 minutes, but it worked out.

 

[k_hase]

That's exactly what I've already done!! It was easy.

Of course, now, I'm analyzing the various permutations of switching FPs and times. If my parents won't ride anything (and they won't, they go to shows, maybe get on Jungle Cruise and Small World, but not much else) I can use this to my advantage.

For example, we are all booked at HS for ST, TSM, and TT. Yeah, they won't go on any of those. So I'm going to rebook their FP for RRC, another TSM, and another TT. Then between the four adults and the one kid, their will be opportunities for two rides for some of us.

(Note, my son is a preschooler, the RRC and TT are for me...I have an reluctanct rider in my son, and I'm hoping he'll warm up enough for TSM twice, heck once would be an accomplishment, but he loves the characters and fireworks, so he get joy from the trip, just not mommy's flavor of joy).

Of course the report on long FP lines has me worried too. My kid is not a fan of crowds. Fireworks, yes, people and fast motion, no.

 

[barney4liz]

First call, a few days ago, hooked me right up. Let my buy their tickets with my NY billing address, gave me the numbers to put in MDX, all is good. I added the tickets with no problem, linked to them to my parents names

I asked this on another thread -- so you were able to buy Florida Resident tickets and link them to your MDE even though the actual tickets must be picked up at the Park? And you can select FP's for your parents' tix?

I was told by a CM at WDW Tix that I could not do that in advance. We want to buy tix for our guest, my daughter's BF, and link them to our plans, including FP, in advance.

 

[k_hase]

I asked this on another thread -- so you were able to buy Florida Resident tickets and link them to your MDE even though the actual tickets must be picked up at the Park? And you can select FP's for your parents' tix?

I was told by a CM at WDW Tix that I could not do that in advance. We want to buy tix for our guest, my daughter's BF, and link them to our plans, including FP, in advance.

I called once to ask, and was told to just buy them online and I would get an order number that would allow me to add them to our reservation (they are on my room reservation too). When I went online, I was stopped at the payment page because my CC billing address was not Florida. So I called and explained my problem (I buy these four day florida passes for my parents every year, they are residents, they aren't very close to Orlando, and they don't have a CC) and the phone CM hooked me right up, gave my the confirmation number and while I was on the phone typed it into my MDX.

THe problem with linking was either my Dad mucking around after I invited him to share our MDX page or an internal one. The account showed two Dads and no Moms, then when I re-added Mom, her ticket wouldn't show as valid, presumable because I had already linked it once.

TLDR: Call again. I had absolutely no problem.

 

[barney4liz]

TLDR: Call again. I had absolutely no problem.

Thanks so much I will try again!

 

[Mom2Stitch]

You said you are booking at 63 days out-I thought it was 60 days? Have I missed something-I'm counting days until I can book our FP+ on Monday-would love to get this part out of the way.

 

[k_hase]

You said you are booking at 63 days out-I thought it was 60 days? Have I missed something-I'm counting days until I can book our FP+ on Monday-would love to get this part out of the way.

I wasn't expecting to be able to, my booklet/reservation info say 2/26 but when I went on today to investigate and preview what I would be doing (cause I seriously dislike being unplanned) I found that it let me do it. I'm not sure why--I have existing tickets that have been used before and a DVC ressie. I know when I poked around last week buying the tix for my parents it wouldn't let me in.

Even when I called I didn't get side-eye or anything, they just fixed the ticket that wouldn't work.

Sorry...I guess the moral is to try early and often.