Is there a specific FP+ 101 thread? Window approaching and starting to tremble....

[NewbieMouse]

I've gleaned bits an pieces about FP+, but was wondering if there is a specific thread/resource you would suggest to understand what I need to know about FP+ as a first timer. Our booking window begins on Tuesday, so I need to spend the weekend getting up to speed

 

[siskaren]

http://www.disboards.com/threads/fa...ed-priorities-and-strategies-part-ii.3326057/

The first two posts are the most important.

 

[MichelleWDWfan]

Best advice I can give (I'm an annual passholder)
Schedule your fast passes for first thing in the morning. One for 9, one for 10, one for 11.
Once you use those first 3 fast passes in the parks, you can go to the Fast pass kiosks in the parks and get more fast passes
One at a time, all day long!

When scheduling your fast passes online, & pick the 3 attractions, you will see, you can pick one of several time schedules.
It doesn't matter which one you pick because you can go back into the Fast pass screen and modify them all.

To modify and change your fastpasses:
Click on the my disney experience logo, then on fastpass+.
By clicking on the Middle Link "Update fastpass+"
You can then change the times or even change the ride or attraction.

After using those first 3 in the parks:
1. You go to a kiosk, pick another ride or attraction....then go ride that attraction
2. Go back to a kiosk and pick another ride or attraction...then go ride...
So on and so forth.

If you schedule your fastpasses for later in the day or even evening....you can not get any additional fastpasses until those original 3 are used.
This is why I always schedule mine for 9a, 10a, 11a. And I always tell people the same.
It's the best way to get as many fastpasses as possible when in the parks and avoid standing in long lines.

Even if you park hop...if you used your first 3 fastpasses in the morning park, you can go to the kiosks in the next park and get more fastpasses.

 

[NewbieMouse]

http://www.disboards.com/threads/fa...ed-priorities-and-strategies-part-ii.3326057/

The first two posts are the most important.

Just so I understand, if my checkin day is May 8th, the window will open up Wednesday March 9th at midnight, which for me (Mountain time), means I should start booking my FP+ at 10pm on Tuesday, March 8th?

 

[NewbieMouse]

Best advice I can give (I'm an annual passholder)
Schedule your fast passes for first thing in the morning. One for 9, one for 10, one for 11.
Once you use those first 3 fast passes in the parks, you can go to the Fast pass kiosks in the parks and get more fast passes
One at a time, all day long!

When scheduling your fast passes online, & pick the 3 attractions, you will see, you can pick one of several time schedules.
It doesn't matter which one you pick because you can go back into the Fast pass screen and modify them all.

To modify and change your fastpasses:
Click on the my disney experience logo, then on fastpass+.
By clicking on the Middle Link "Update fastpass+"
You can then change the times or even change the ride or attraction.

After using those first 3 in the parks:
1. You go to a kiosk, pick another ride or attraction....then go ride that attraction
2. Go back to a kiosk and pick another ride or attraction...then go ride...
So on and so forth.

If you schedule your fastpasses for later in the day or even evening....you can not get any additional fastpasses until those original 3 are used.
This is why I always schedule mine for 9a, 10a, 11a. And I always tell people the same.
It's the best way to get as many fastpasses as possible when in the parks and avoid standing in long lines.

Even if you park hop...if you used your first 3 fastpasses in the morning park, you can go to the kiosks in the next park and get more fastpasses.

Thank you for this! So even if I am planning to hop (go to one park first thing in the AM, take a break, and then move to another in the PM, it's best to reserve the first three at the morning park?

 

[AZMama2016]

Just so I understand, if my checkin day is May 8th, the window will open up Wednesday March 9th at midnight, which for me (Mountain time), means I should start booking my FP+ at 10pm on Tuesday, March 8th?

Yes - I'm on MT and my FP window opened today, March 5. I was able to log on at 10 pm March 4 and get my FPs.

 

[MichelleWDWfan]

Thank you for this! So even if I am planning to hop (go to one park first thing in the AM, take a break, and then move to another in the PM, it's best to reserve the first three at the morning park?

You are so welcome!
Different people will suggest different ideas.
That is my suggestion..to reserve the first 3 online for the morning park.
Personally, I would not want to go to a park and not be able to use fastpasses.
Standing in long lines is not a good way to tour the parks.

So if you schedule your first 3 for the morning park, you will use those 3 and get more at kiosks before leaving that park.
Then when you go to your 2nd park you can go to a kiosk and start getting fast passes for that park.

There are certain rides, that as a 2nd park, the fast passes would be gone for the day...
For example in Magic Kingdom - Seven Dwarves Mine train. At Hollywood Studios - Toy Story Midway Mania
These should be pre scheduled fastpasses online, because the chances of getting them as extra fast passes at a kiosk would be rare.
they are such popular attractions.

 

[Hopefully]

Thank you for this! So even if I am planning to hop (go to one park first thing in the AM, take a break, and then move to another in the PM, it's best to reserve the first three at the morning park?

This is definitely a personal opinion. We do it differently. We arrive before rope drop & do many of the headliners in the first 90 - 120 minutes with minimal lines. We never schedule any FP + for that time. We either use our FP's after that in that park during the busiest hours or we hop & use them in the second park.

 

[Robo]

Best advice I can give (I'm an annual passholder)
Schedule your fast passes for first thing in the morning. One for 9, one for 10, one for 11.
Once you use those first 3 fast passes in the parks, you can go to the Fast pass kiosks in the parks and get more fast passes
One at a time, all day long!

While that can be a good way to book FP+, just know that
there can be more reasons to NOT necessarily do that than there are reasons TO do that.

A few are:
It is far easier to ride attractions in the morning without long lines than it ls in the afternoons.
If you park hop, it depends on at which park you start your day as to which park will benefit most with FP.
If you want a hard-to-get FP for an evening event, you may need to book that event in advance.

These are just a few factors that make booking FP+ more complicated than just getting 3 in the first 3 hours. If only it WAS that simple!

 

[siskaren]

Just so I understand, if my checkin day is May 8th, the window will open up Wednesday March 9th at midnight, which for me (Mountain time), means I should start booking my FP+ at 10pm on Tuesday, March 8th?

Yep.

 

[Paigesmom2013]

I was just there this week and have to say it was very annoying standing in line to get that 4th or 5th fastpass after you used the first three. I ended up in line behind people who had no clue...

I hear they might let you do 4th and subsequent fastpasses on your phone in the future. This needs to happen!

 

[MichelleWDWfan]

Agree it can be very annoying waiting in that kiosk line especially when you are behind folks not familiar with the kiosk.
Luckily there are CM's there to help.
I am also hoping that they go with getting an additional 4th FP using your app on your phone. That would be nice.

 

[Mambo Junkie]

My window opened last night. Some of the things I did to prep for it were:

Go to the fp site and play with the calendar/selections to be able to click with ease. It also familiarizes you with where the attractions are in the list you're going after.

I made a list, by order of importance/popularity. For instance, my first day at the parks is May 4, but I went for May 5th first because that particular day had harder to get fps than other days. Next, I went to Sunday, May 8 because that day had the next most popular. Then I went for the rest. My vacation starts in the middle of a week, and my first choice (Thursday, 5th) at midnight already had a couple of fps no longer available (A&E, MSEP). Move to a later date in your vacation to get harder to get fps. Saturday and Sunday (7th and 8th) had everything available.

Another thing I did to prepare was to check the wait times to determine the fps I really needed. I also checked the 30 day window to see what was readily available (most of the time) at 30 days vs what was almost always unavailable. I basically went in, grabbed what I wanted, then went back in and modified the times before moving on to the easier to get fps.

I made my list in alphabetical order. I also had the dining times listed so I could work around them It just made it easier to make decisions. I also listed times for any shows we want to see, to make sure I didn't do something like get Toy Story Mania in the only time frame we have to see Indiana Jones. Some shows have limited show times.

I also was able to go back in and modify fps to get another for my granddaughters. On Wednesday, we are going on Pirates, Splash and Space Mts. The girls are not tall enough for Splash and Space so I modified the times first, then changed it altogether to the Magic Carpets, which we will do while the grownups are riding Splash.

Those are the sort of thing which will help you make decisions and the process will go smoothly. While some fps can be modified very easily much later, there are a few that, once a few days have gone by, become very difficult to change.

 

[Duckiedee]

My window opened last night. Some of the things I did to prep for it were:

Go to the fp site and play with the calendar/selections to be able to click with ease. It also familiarizes you with where the attractions are in the list you're going after.

I made a list, by order of importance/popularity. For instance, my first day at the parks is May 4, but I went for May 5th first because that particular day had harder to get fps than other days. Next, I went to Sunday, May 8 because that day had the next most popular. Then I went for the rest. My vacation starts in the middle of a week, and my first choice (Thursday, 5th) at midnight already had a couple of fps no longer available (A&E, MSEP). Move to a later date in your vacation to get harder to get fps. Saturday and Sunday (7th and 8th) had everything available.

Another thing I did to prepare was to check the wait times to determine the fps I really needed. I also checked the 30 day window to see what was readily available (most of the time) at 30 days vs what was almost always unavailable. I basically went in, grabbed what I wanted, then went back in and modified the times before moving on to the easier to get fps.

I made my list in alphabetical order. I also had the dining times listed so I could work around them It just made it easier to make decisions. I also listed times for any shows we want to see, to make sure I didn't do something like get Toy Story Mania in the only time frame we have to see Indiana Jones. Some shows have limited show times.

I also was able to go back in and modify fps to get another for my granddaughters. On Wednesday, we are going on Pirates, Splash and Space Mts. The girls are not tall enough for Splash and Space so I modified the times first, then changed it altogether to the Magic Carpets, which we will do while the grownups are riding Splash.

Those are the sort of thing which will help you make decisions and the process will go smoothly. While some fps can be modified very easily much later, there are a few that, once a few days have gone by, become very difficult to change.

Newbie questions....

Go to the fp site and play with the calendar/selections to be able to click with ease.

How much ahead of time are you able to do so? Is this the actual Disney Site or a "Practice" site?


but I went for May 5th first because that particular day had harder to get fps than other days.

Harder because of the actual day during the week? Because of the park you were visiting? Or the choices you had for the day?



check the wait times to determine the fps I really needed. I also checked the 30 day window to see what was readily available (most of the time) at 30 days vs what was almost always unavailable. I basically went in, grabbed what I wanted, then went back in and modified the times before moving on to the easier to get fps.

Where did you look for this info?


While some fps can be modified very easily much later, there are a few that, once a few days have gone by, become very difficult to change.

Any you can think of in particular?


Thank you so much for your help!

 

[FlightlessDuck]

There's an entire subforum.

http://www.disboards.com/forums/everything-fastpass.197/

 

[dkrauss]

This is definitely a personal opinion. We do it differently. We arrive before rope drop & do many of the headliners in the first 90 - 120 minutes with minimal lines. We never schedule any FP + for that time. We either use our FP's after that in that park during the busiest hours or we hop & use them in the second park.

I like the statement above. When we plan FP's we also plan a RD arrival (or close to it). We'll have 7DMT, PP, and Splash Mtn scheduled for the afternoon.........then when we arrive early in the morning.......we'll wait maybe 20-30 min at 7DMT.......then off to Frontier Land via Peter Pan's flight. The lines at SPMtn haven't usually been to bad around 10:30am. Now we have FP's we can use later (remember to think how'll you will tour the park to get this to be walk efficient) for rides that can be tougher to get in the afternoon! This plan works well in HS especially with the lines for TSMM

It realy is a personal choice.......but the RD plan hasn't failed us yet!

Doug

 

[NewbieMouse]

I am reconsidering a day where I plan on being in MK in the AM (for EMH) and then hopping to EPCOTin the evening. I originally booked FP for later in the am at MK, but am now considering changing it to FP+ at Epcot instead. I think the only way to change this entirely is to cancel at the MK FP+, but I want to make sure. I remember reading somewhere "NEVER CANCEL....". Is this my only option? I'd hate to cancel and then find out that everything I want at EPCOT isn't available.

 

[siskaren]

Go to the fp site and play with the calendar/selections to be able to click with ease.

How much ahead of time are you able to do so? Is this the actual Disney Site or a "Practice" site?

If your tickets are not part of a package, you can book FPs for any date up to 30 days out from the current date. It is the actual site, so make sure to cancel them so that someone else can have them.

 

[Robo]

If your tickets are not part of a package, you can book FPs for any date up to 30 days out from the current date. It is the actual site, so make sure to cancel them so that someone else can have them.

And, just starting the obvious...
If your tickets ARE purchased as part of a WDW Resort Package, you cannot "play with booking" until your 60-day-in-advance window opens, for real.

 

[ArielSRL]

Thank you for this! So even if I am planning to hop (go to one park first thing in the AM, take a break, and then move to another in the PM, it's best to reserve the first three at the morning park?

Most will advise you to schedule for the second park, not the first. You can get many attractions done with little to no wait at rope drop, therefore not needing FP first thing in the AM.