Just Booked FP+ for Christmas...

[PlutoTheDog89]

Just figured I'd vent my experience then look for feedback on my selections.

My Experience
I'm not gonna complain—I got everything I wanted, but the process wasn't as seamless as I remember.
To start, only Disney could get me out of bed early. I swear, I work up four times between 5:15am and 6:45am worried I overslept. At one point, I woke up at 6:49 right before my alarm and thought my clock said 8:49. Crazy enough, my initial thought wasn't "I'm gonna be very late for work," it was "I missed our FP+ window!" On a side note, I genuinely feel bad for those on the west coast. That's utterly ridiculous. Staying up until 12am on the east coast stinks, but it's not terrible. Waking up at 4am on the west coast is cruel.

The Okay
Now, maybe it's because the last two years I've booked everything through the MDE app, but this year I had my laptop. It was different. For one, you no longer select your three then get provided with three different options. Instead, you choose those in your party, select a park, then the attraction, then you can narrow it down by "morning," "afternoon," "evening," or select based on a certain time. I wasn't sure how much I liked this, but it grew on me. It's very similar to the ADR process now (selecting breakfast, lunch, dinner or a specific time.) After you select the particular attraction, you can keep selecting FP+ for that day, move to another day or finish.

The Bad
What I didn't like was that it did not filter results based on your previous selections. I'd book Thunder Mountain then find a great time for 7DMT, only to be told that it falls within my Thunder Mountain FP+ window. That was kind of aggravating. You kind of need to write everything down now, whereas in the past, it would only provide you with times based on your schedule. It even used to book around your ADRs. It wasn't perfect, but if I had a 7pm at Primetime, it would give me options around that.

The Good
Because you now select one attraction at a time, gone are the days of booking a "throwaway" FP+. We usually book Dinosaur, but it's one of those attractions that if we don't have time to go on, we don't care. In the grand scheme of things, that's really unfortunate, because it's taking away from someone else's FP+. Now, if you don't want 3 FP+, you don't use your 3rd; you only book 2.

All in all, a pretty successful morning. I still need to tinker with Thursday, December 29th. That's our late DHS day and right now it's due to close at 8pm. I highly doubt that happens and once the hours get extended, I'll switch some things around.

Okay, so here's the FP+ we got and how it'll work within our schedule. I'm basing my wait times/times on the past few years:

Sunday, December 25th:
- Get to MK for Rope Drop (scheduled at 8am; should be 7am EMH)
7:15am-7:45am: Ride Spaceship Earth standby
7:45am-8:05am: Ride Buzz Lightyear Standby
8:05am-8:30am: Pirates of the Caribbean
8:30am-9:00am: Photos by the castle/Main Street
9:20am: Breakfast at Crystal Palace
10:25am-11:25am: Thunder Mountain FP+
11:30am: Line up for the parade at Frontierland
12:15pm-1:15pm: Jingle Cruise FP+
1pm: Castle Show with characters
1:20pm-2:20pm: 7DMT FP+
~2-2:30pm: Leave the park and head back to the resort
~6pm: Leave Beach Club to Magic Kingdom; Monorail to GF
8:00pm: Watch Wishes from Narcoossee's
8:30pm: Narcoossee's Dinner

Monday, December 26th:
Most likely sleep in this day, then head to Disney Springs.
~12:30-1: Lunch at D-Luxe Burger
~2pm: Head back to Beach Club
~4pm: Walk over to EPCOT
4:30pm-5:30pm: Character Meet & Greet FP+ (should I switch this since we have a Disney Visa?)
5:40pm-6:40pm: Frozen Ever After FP+
7:05pm-8:05pm: Spaceship Earth FP+
8:30pm: Dinner at Rose & Crown
Finish the night with Illuminations

Tuesday, December 27th:
8:00am: Head toward Magic Kingdom, en route to Kona
9:35am: Breakfast at Kona
~Enjoy the Poly for a little. May or may not have a Dole Whip~
~12pm: Head back to Beach Club to relax a bit
~3:00pm: Head to Animal Kingdom
3:55pm-4:55pm: Expedition Everest FP+ (Really hoping to ride after dark)
4:45pm: Dinner at Yak & Yeti
5:50pm-6:50pm: Kilimanjaro Safari FP+
Hopefully then we watch Rivers of Light, enjoy the Tree of Life, maybe grab a drink and head back to Beach Club

Wednesday, December 28th:
We actually plan on going to Gaylord Palms today to see their ICE exhibit.
We'll get back to Beach Club around 12:30-1pm.
~2:30pm: Head toward MK en route to Poly.
4:45pm: Dinner at 'Ohana
After, we'll probably head to Trader Sam's for a drink
Hopefully get back to MK by 7pm for the Frozen show, although it won't hurt us if we don't (see Dec. 30th)
8:00pm: Watch Wishes from Main Street, then head to Tomorrowland
8:00pm-9:00pm: Buzz Lightyear FP+ (incase we don't get to it Xmas)
9:00pm-10:00pm: Haunted Mansion FP+
10:00pm-11:00pm: Thunder Mountain FP+ (Hopefully synced to 2nd Wishes show)
^ Fit in Philarmagic at some point, possibly Small World

Thursday, December 29th:
**Tentative plans. at the moment, DHS is scheduled to close at 8pm. If/once hours are extended I'll move stuff around.
~Wake up a little later.
~12pm: Head to EPCOT for breakfast. Dedicate a few hours to World Showcase & eating around the world.
4:00pm: Split a pizza and some apps at Via Napoli
Take the boat over to DHS... here's what we've got at the moment:
5pm-6pm: Star Tours FP+
6pm-7pm: TSMM FP+ (will push this back depending on hours/Jingle Bell show)
7:05pm-8pm: Tower of Terror (looking to ride this later)
I'd also like to think we'll get in Fantasmic at some point.

Friday, December 30th:
~Breakfast at Boardwalk Bakery, then head to DHS
10:00am-11:00am: Rock 'n' Roller coaster FP+
11am-12pm: Tower of Terror FP+
12pm-1pm: Frozen Show FP+
We'll look to fit in the Great Movie Ride, as well as that holiday improv show if it's still there.
Head back to Beach Club ~2. Stop by the room to grab warmer/cooler clothes, etc.
4:50pm: Dinner at Beaches and Cream
~6:00pm: Head to MK
7pm: Hopefully catch the Frozen castle lighting
8pm: Wishes
- Ride things like People Mover, Small World, etc.
10pm: Castle Projection Show
Stay on Main Street for midnight fireworks
12am: Midnight fireworks
12am-2am EMHs: Goofy Coaster, Peter Pan, Pooh, etc.

Saturday, December 31st:
Head to Disney Springs. Breakfast at WPE and hang there a while. If it's super nice out, we'll go back and head to the pool at Beach Club.
8:15pm: Dinner at Yachtsman
~10:30pm: Walk to EPCOT for fireworks
12am: HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Sunday, January 1st:
Today we check out. Our flight isn't until 7pm, so we'll check out then head to EPCOT to eat and
12pm-1pm: Test Track FP+

 

[mom2rtk]

I think the window opening time really depends on personal preference. If you're a night owl already, the old time was much better. For early birds, the change is a nice improvement.

I think the reason they did it was so that if problems came up, staff was available to help right away instead of having to wait hours for the staff to be there.

 

[untitan]

Thanks for posting. We are visiting at a similar time. I hadn't considered the possibility of hours being extended earlier/later.

I have all morning FP+ scheduled thinking that I can get my family to rope drop every day, but I really need to schedule a couple late days of FP+ like you have done. I'll probably schedule my HS and AK days as evening visits.

 

[ArielSRL]

I've heard (and seen in June) that the VISA Character line can get long...so if you want to meet the characters with a guaranteed short wait, hold onto the Character FP. On the first day you are going to MK but you mention Spaceship Earth at RD. I'm assuming its an error and you mean Space Mtn.