Just back/ fastpass, magic bands report

[jmddcj]

Well we are offsiters who did pay for a throwaway night and I am just reporting our experiences

Our magic bands worked perfectly, I did NOT check in physically at the room, just online. Our bands worked for parking.

Magic Kingdom - CL 8
Arrived 45 min early for RD
Pooh- walked on
little mermaid-walked on
Dumbo- walked on
Barnstormer-wallked on
IASW-5 min wait
PP - had FP+ for 10 (arrived at 10:05, walked on)
Haunted Mansion - 10 min
Snack at Gaston's (demanded by DS)
ETWB - FP+ for 11:00 (waited 10 min)

Pre-selected meals at BOG (waited 10 min) the standby was over 2 hours at this point

Buzz - FP+ for 1:00 (walked on, standby at 70 mins at this point)
Tom Sawyer
Jungle Cruise - standby 30 mins
Pirates - SB 30 mins
secured parade spot in frontierland and had seats directly under the rope.

All in all very succesful, we had no issues!!

Animal Kingdom
arrived 40 min pre RD

EE -SB walked on
Safari - had FP but used SB no wait
changed FP for tough to be a bug
FP Dinosaur (SB wait was 65 mins)
FP Safari
Lunch at Rainforest
FP EE

I was able to change our FP on the fly, we had zero issues with our bands or MDE. Perhaps our situation is unique but I found the whole experience to be a very positive one. Even met a fellow Disboarder in the AK line!

I hope everyone planning a visit has things go as well as we did, we had a blast!

 

[MonorailCentral]

Sounds good! We've had generally good experiences. No, it's not perfect. Yes, I'd love to see some changes. It hasn't ruined our trips at all, however. Glad to hear you had a good experience.

 

[NJ Goofy]

Glad to hear a positive report about the new systems. I agree the system doesn't sound perfect but I think you can still have a great time.

We are going in May and hope we don't have any "computer" issues.

 

[blessedfam]

So you stayed one night at Disney? The rest offsite? And we're able to use free parking for how many days and bands?

 

[ABrement]

Hi! I had planned to check into my throwaway room to get the parking pass, but I won't need it? Do I just show the attendants our magic bands? Thanks for the update!

 

[Wendybird55]

Just out of curiosity - how far in advance did you make FP+ selections?

 

[jmddcj]

We didn't "stay" at all onsite, but had booked the throwaway room to have ability to book FP, I booked FP+ about 30 days out and had no issue getting the times/attractions I wanted, also I changed the times within a week of departure and still no issue.

As far as check-in, we did NOT ever go to the resort, I checked in online and that was it. For parking, at MK they saw our bands and waived us through. At AK the CM stopped us and just asked what resort and waived us by. I can see that alot of this is dependant on the CM at the time and perhaps Disney may change this at any time? But, for us we did not need to personally check in at all

We were able to make FP selections for as many days as we tickets linked to MDE and they were not days of our onsite stay. Hope this helps!

 

[ampc3]

to the OP thanks for sharing, sounds like it went well!
Hoping for the same experience when we go, also booked a throwaway. Wasn't sure we were going to make the trek over to "check in", I think we will take our chances and just do online, I have read several reports now that have said they didn't physically check in.

Just curious if you remember how long the stand by line was for PP at 10, when you used your fp+? (we are trying to save ours for the evening) TIA

 

[jmddcj]

I specifically remember because I always tend to 2nd guess myself whether I made the "right" choice for use of FP. By 11 the wait was at 60 mins....I love PP but, not sure if anything is worth 60+ min wait. I had gotten advice not to use our 3rd FP on Buzz because it is usually not needed. I am sooo glad I did use it. My DS's would have been horribly disappointed when SB was over 60!

There is a part of me that felt guilty walking by all those families with small children waiting forever. My husband response "if they don't plan ahead that's what they get".... This is the same guy who gives me so much crap about my excessive planning....maybe just maybe he gets it? Doubtful tho??

 

[DRDISNEYMD]

Well we are offsiters who did pay for a throwaway night and I am just reporting our experiences

Our magic bands worked perfectly, I did NOT check in physically at the room, just online. Our bands worked for parking.

Magic Kingdom - CL 8
Arrived 45 min early for RD
Pooh- walked on
little mermaid-walked on
Dumbo- walked on
Barnstormer-wallked on
IASW-5 min wait
PP - had FP+ for 10 (arrived at 10:05, walked on)
Haunted Mansion - 10 min
Snack at Gaston's (demanded by DS)
ETWB - FP+ for 11:00 (waited 10 min)

Pre-selected meals at BOG (waited 10 min) the standby was over 2 hours at this point

Buzz - FP+ for 1:00 (walked on, standby at 70 mins at this point)
Tom Sawyer
Jungle Cruise - standby 30 mins
Pirates - SB 30 mins
secured parade spot in frontierland and had seats directly under the rope.

All in all very succesful, we had no issues!!

Animal Kingdom
arrived 40 min pre RD

EE -SB walked on
Safari - had FP but used SB no wait
changed FP for tough to be a bug
FP Dinosaur (SB wait was 65 mins)
FP Safari
Lunch at Rainforest
FP EE

I was able to change our FP on the fly, we had zero issues with our bands or MDE. Perhaps our situation is unique but I found the whole experience to be a very positive one. Even met a fellow Disboarder in the AK line!

I hope everyone planning a visit has things go as well as we did, we had a blast!

~Thanks so much for your review! It sounds like you had a fabulous time at WDW. This gets me even more excited for our upcoming WDW vacation!

Sounds good! We've had generally good experiences. No, it's not perfect. Yes, I'd love to see some changes. It hasn't ruined our trips at all, however. Glad to hear you had a good experience.

The old fp wasn't perfect either -- I found it to be rather restrictive with my touring style -- among other things. There are pluses and minuses to both systems depending on how one tours!

 

[Disneylvr]

Thanks for the report!!!

 

[mlittig]

Nice to read such a positive report

 

[princessophiali]

great report! thank you! one thing caught my eye.. pre-selected meals. how does this work? is this the same thing as adr?

 

[jmddcj]

For the Be Our Guest restaurant, if you have an onsite reservation number you can use this website
beourguestlunch.disney.go.com/Home.aspx

Enter in your reservation number and from there you are directed to pick your time, preselect meals etc for just this restaurant. The wait in standby while we were there was at 2 hours ugh!

It is basically a FP for the restaurant but does not count against your 3 daily FP.
Hope this makes sense???