Last minute trip no fastpasses...

[mommy2allgirls]

So my parents are surprising my sister and I and all of our kids on Christmas Eve with a trip to Disney. It's a very last minute trip that my parents and the husbands have been planning since November. We are staying off property and arrive on either the 27 or 28. We don't all have tickets yet so not everyone has made fastpasses. Is this trip going to miserable with no 60 or 30 day fastpasses made? The last time we went was November 2013 so the fastpasses have changed an awful lot since then.

Any tips

 

[SplashMo]

Which days are you going for and what does your park schedule look like? You will want to rope drop each park.

 

[anniemae]

May the odds ever be in your favor.......




Like a pp said, plan to do rope drop. We are not rope drop people, but i have heard you can get a lot done in those few hours. Also, pack a good attitude. Know going in that it will be crowded. Just enjoy, do what you can and have a great time!

 

[Aurora0427]

So my parents are surprising my sister and I and all of our kids on Christmas Eve with a trip to Disney. It's a very last minute trip that my parents and the husbands have been planning since November. We are staying off property and arrive on either the 27 or 28. We don't all have tickets yet so not everyone has made fastpasses. Is this trip going to miserable with no 60 or 30 day fastpasses made? The last time we went was November 2013 so the fastpasses have changed an awful lot since then.

Any tips

You need to be at the parks before rope drop. If your party has any interest in riding 7DMT, you need to be at Magic Kingdom by 7:30 and head straight there. Today it had a 75 minute wait by 8:30am. You will probably be able to get some fast passes, just maybe not the big rides like Soarin, Peter Pan, TSMM ETC ETC

I high recommend www.easywdw.com. I would follow his park recommendations and ROPE DROP

 

[hops&dreams]

In the days between Christmas and New Years with no fast passes? I just checked touring plans's crowd calendars- 10's overall that whole week.

I think if you're planning on riding one or two rides a day (with a whole lot of waiting in line), then you may realistically be able to do that. If you're expecting to ride headliners or more than 5 rides each day, then I think that's not gonna happen.

Have you seen what crowds during that week look like?

Sorry to be a downer, but I'm just trying to prepare you for what to realistically expect.

 

[SillyInventor]

Miserable or not depends on your advance expectations. If you expect to do a lot of rides with little waiting then it will be a very miserable trip.
However if you expect to have a good time with your family in The World, no matter what you will be doing and enjoy the ambiance and an occasional ride, then you will have a great trip.
So just be realistic in your expectations and you have a great trip.

 

[Octoberbaby]

We were there Thanksgiving week and although that is different than Christmas, it was still crowded. We did have FP also. I tried to change several days around last minute and found that 48-24 hours before, there were still some FP for late in the evening. The only time I couldn't get any at all was when I tried to change last minute on the same day. I think if you do rope drop and try to get FP maybe 24 hours in advance you could have some luck. But RD alone would be your best chance and really, you don't HAVE to ride everything to have a great time. We discovered new things that we've never experienced before on our last trip. I have been to WDW over 30 times and NEVER tried some of the things that we got to experience over Thanksgiving. It was nice actually to slow down and see all of the details.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Be patient. The parks are open late. Even on the busiest days, people get tired and leave early. Late night fast passes go unused and the standby lines move very quickly. Posted wait time are often greatly exaggerated which will cause even more guests to give up and head for the shops and/or exits.

Note- this strategy won't work on New Years Eve until after midnight.

 

[mommy2allgirls]

Be patient. The parks are open late. Even on the busiest days, people get tired and leave early. Late night fast passes go unused and the standby lines move very quickly. Posted wait time are often greatly exaggerated which will cause even more guests to give up and head for the shops and/or exits. Note- this strategy won't work on New Years Eve until after midnight.

Thank you! That's good advice and we will definitely use it.

 

[SplashMo]

They also close so be sure to arrive early and not leave...

 

[JimmyV]

If you have never been during Christmas season before, you might want to shift your focus away from the parks (or at least away from the rides that you typically do) and concentrate more on the atmosphere. Resort hop. Check out the decorations. Walk around the parks and try to absorb the small details. If you do this, you won't be miserable. If you wait 90 minutes for 7DMT and then head over to Space Mountain and wait 90 minutes there, and then head over to Peter Pan and wait 90 minutes there, then yes, you risk being miserable. So try to use your gifted vacation as an opportunity to see WDW from a different vantage point. So try to do as much as you can after arriving very early for Rope Drop. And try to do things late at night. But in between, don't force the issue. Use that time to find other forms of magic.

 

[Hopefully]

If you have never been during Christmas season before, you might want to shift your focus away from the parks (or at least away from the rides that you typically do) and concentrate more on the atmosphere. Resort hop. Check out the decorations. Walk around the parks and try to absorb the small details. If you do this, you won't be miserable. If you wait 90 minutes for 7DMT and then head over to Space Mountain and wait 90 minutes there, and then head over to Peter Pan and wait 90 minutes there, then yes, you risk being miserable. So try to use your gifted vacation as an opportunity to see WDW from a different vantage point. So try to do as much as you can after arriving very early for Rope Drop. And try to do things late at night. But in between, don't force the issue. Use that time to find other forms of magic.

Great Advice!!!
I hope you have a nice trip

 

[mommy2allgirls]

Thanks everyone! I've been at Christmas several times but not since the start of fastpasse+, though we did go at Thanksgiving last year

 

[mjhannaf]

You can still enjoy the parks! Come early and stay late (with a midday break away from the parks).

Wait times are usually lowest at:

1) Rope drop
2) 1.5 hours before closing (if closing 11pm or later)
3) During fireworks/parades
4) During normal lunch hours (11-1pm)


Also, check out my signature for a cool site that you can use in the parks to help monitor wait times.