My 60 day FP experience

[CeruleanMoon]

Well, I just did it! Booked my very first FP's this morning at 7am. Interestingly enough, the FP I expected to be the hardest (Navi, 7DMT, TT) were all easy. Got the exact times I wanted no problem, even for Navi which was at day 60+1. I was surprised though that Thunder Mountain already had limited morning choices (day 60+5), and I had to pick times that were not my faves for Nemo, Spaceship Earth, PP, Beauty and the Beast and Kali. PP is understandable, but Nemo?

The best part though, is that I went back an hour later and modified the times on 5 of my ride choices and this time, the times I wanted were there! That seemed odd, but a happy surprise. I knew the modify trick was recommended while in the parks, but I didn't expect it to work only an hour later. Makes me wonder if for some reason I wasn't seeing all the available time slots the first time around.

Another oddity. One hour and twenty mins past 7 am and already Kilimanjaro, Star Tours, Indy and Beauty and all listed as having run out for the day. But they still have plenty of times all day long for ToT and RnR?

For the record, all our park days except one are listed under Disney's "Value" season.

 

[Gentry2004]

I had a similar experience - needed to later modify some lower demand attractions because I couldn't get what I wanted at first. I've tweaked a few more times since, but now that I'm approaching 30 days out, I think I need to lock everything in because the options will disappear quickly once I'm 30 days out.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

The best part though, is that I went back an hour later and modified the times on 5 of my ride choices and this time, the times I wanted were there! That seemed odd, but a happy surprise. I knew the modify trick was recommended while in the parks, but I didn't expect it to work only an hour later. Makes me wonder if for some reason I wasn't seeing all the available time slots the first time around.

Yes. This happens a lot. Not sure why but if you don’t get the times you want on the first roll thru on your FP day, take another pass. I might just be that since there are so many FPs available it’s just showing you a subset of the available times.

Another oddity. One hour and twenty mins past 7 am and already Kilimanjaro, Star Tours, Indy and Beauty and all listed as having run out for the day. But they still have plenty of times all day long for ToT and RnR?

For the record, all our park days except one are listed under Disney's "Value" season.

That’s odd. I have often wondered if they don’t sometimes sprinkle in some additional FPs day of based on crowd patterns. I’ve been refreshing and sometimes see rides go from no availability to having 3 times displayed and wondered if it’s a timing fluke and 3 people just dropped their FPs or if maybe Disney is moving FPs around from different databases or adding in new ones.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

For some reason it never shows all the available times up front. I always just choose something close and then immediately go in to modify and get pretty much any time I want. Glad it worked for you too!

 

[Princess_Lisa]

Yes. This happens a lot. Not sure why but if you don’t get the times you want on the first roll thru on your FP day, take another pass. I might just be that since there are so many FPs available it’s just showing you a subset of the available times.



That’s odd. I have often wondered if they don’t sometimes sprinkle in some additional FPs day of based on crowd patterns. I’ve been refreshing and sometimes see rides go from no availability to having 3 times displayed and wondered if it’s a timing fluke and 3 people just dropped their FPs or if maybe Disney is moving FPs around from different databases or adding in new ones.

I believe (based on my experience making FastPasses) that when you refresh it holds those handful of timeslots it shows you and noone else can see them until you either choose one or cancel/timeout. Its quite possible that right at 7 AM there are so many people online doing FastPasses that some easy to get rides might appear less available due to the number of people who have times on hold while they're making a decision. I've never had an issue getting times for anything other than FOP within a 60 Day rolling window (60+0), but I wasn't on MDE at 7 AM either. Some (FEA, 7DMT, NRJ) may not make it to 30 Days. Most everything else you can get at 30 Days.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I believe (based on my experience making FastPasses) that when you refresh it holds those handful of timeslots it shows you and noone else can see them until you either choose one or cancel/timeout. Its quite possible that right at 7 AM there are so many people online doing FastPasses that some easy to get rides might appear less available due to the number of people who have times on hold while they're making a decision. I've never had an issue getting times for anything other than FOP within a 60 Day rolling window (60+0), but I wasn't on MDE at 7 AM either. Some (FEA, 7DMT, NRJ) may not make it to 30 Days. Most everything else you can get at 30 Days.

A very good point. Yes, the system does hold the FPs it shows you for a period of time so that may well explain it.

 

[CeruleanMoon]

I believe (based on my experience making FastPasses) that when you refresh it holds those handful of timeslots it shows you and noone else can see them until you either choose one or cancel/timeout. Its quite possible that right at 7 AM there are so many people online doing FastPasses that some easy to get rides might appear less available due to the number of people who have times on hold while they're making a decision. I've never had an issue getting times for anything other than FOP within a 60 Day rolling window (60+0), but I wasn't on MDE at 7 AM either. Some (FEA, 7DMT, NRJ) may not make it to 30 Days. Most everything else you can get at 30 Days.

That must be it. Otherwise, it doesn't make sense that rides like Nemo and Spaceship Earth were already showing limited choices at 7:03am, yet at 8:20am they were suddenly showing more choices again.

My experience with restaurant reservations was similar. I found that if I simply chose to see "morning," "afternoon," or "evening" times, the choices were limited or sometimes not available at all, yet if I chose an actual time from the drop-down menu, all sorts of times were listed. I wonder now if FPs work the same way. When I first made my choices, I just selected, "morning" or "afternoon," yet when I modified, the drop-down menu was filled in with the last time I had chosen. And lo and behold, tons more choices were there!

I'm still surprised though that Indy and Star Tours are showing as completely gone at 63 days out! Beauty and the Beast has one time slot left. All I can think of is that since TSMM no longer is offering FPs, all those spots that used to be filled by TSMM people are now going to ST and Indy. ToT and RnR are still showing plenty of slots. Must be all those people with little kids who are too small for big rides are now looking for something to replace TSMM - and Star Tours and Indy would fit the bill.