My husband didn't believe me about FP+

[lugnut33]

I gave up 7 of the 8 A&E & 7DMT fastpasses I had for our vacation. At 60 days out I just solely made FP+ picks for A&E & 7DMT, not knowing which days we were really going to be in the MK or which days the weather might influence the park we wanted to go to. That seemed like the fair way to do it for me.

 

[cakebaker]

I gave up 7 of the 8 A&E & 7DMT fastpasses I had for our vacation. At 60 days out I just solely made FP+ picks for A&E & 7DMT, not knowing which days we were really going to be in the MK or which days the weather might influence the park we wanted to go to. That seemed like the fair way to do it for me.

That's a smart way to do it if you can find availability. We booked A&E for 2 days, cancelled one once we got our schedule set. We booked SDMT for every day we went to the MK during our trip, at least 4 or 5 times and used every one of them! I don't think of it in terms of fair or not fair. We're entitled to book 3 a day for every day we have tickets for. You're only limited by availability and we just haven't ever had an issue in the 3 trips we've taken so far.

Obviously, availability wasn't an issue for you either.

 

[lugnut33]

Not an issue right at 60 days, right at midnight. Plus I wasn't trying to work around any ADRs.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

Same-day FPs will be available for most attractions, but unlikely for a number of headliners. Are there any specific attractions you want to know about?

This. You can also change them on the fly with your smartphone.

 

[itchin2go]

Not an issue right at 60 days, right at midnight. Plus I wasn't trying to work around any ADRs.

What time of year was your trip? Trying to guess at availability for my March 2016 trip ....

 

[Robo]

What time of year was your trip? Trying to guess at availability for my March 2016 trip ....

WHEN in March?

 

[lugnut33]

What time of year was your trip? Trying to guess at availability for my March 2016 trip ....

We were there Aug. 15-23rd. It was busy, but I expected that.

 

[mom2rtk]

WHEN in March?

Good point. That can make a big difference.

 

[itchin2go]

WHEN in March?

March 6th - 12th ....

 

[BeachClub2014]

I gave up 7 of the 8 A&E & 7DMT fastpasses I had for our vacation. At 60 days out I just solely made FP+ picks for A&E & 7DMT, not knowing which days we were really going to be in the MK or which days the weather might influence the park we wanted to go to. That seemed like the fair way to do it for me.

I think this underscores part of the issue with the FP+ system. FP's are a limited, and perishable commodity. If too many people intentionally "overbook" the FP's then it reduces the available pool for others, contributing to their frustration. Under the old system this couldn't happen. Although the FP's were also limited and perishable, you couldn't tie them up in the future on an if/come.

 

[nat8199]

I definitely DO NOT consider Disney a relaxing vacation. A relaxing vacation is one that you have a hotel booked and a rough plan of stuff to do and can sleep when you want, etc. Disney is months in advance picking which parks on which days, planning where you'll eat and predicting what rides you'll feel like doing when, and making sure you're up early to get to parks for RD. If you don't do these things, you can't eat where you want, won't get fp for the times you want them and /or will wait in ridiculously long sB lines. Universal is SOOOOO easy in comparison. I just went to WDW in June with my son and we DID have a great time, but it could never be in the category of "relaxing vacation".

I am jumping a bunch of pages here, but I really do find that having done all the work ahead of time, Disney is very relaxing. I am also having to do a lot do the same planning for universal, just without planning the FP+. I still have touring plans for it and am going to wake up early for Harry Potter.

 

[cakebaker]

I think this underscores part of the issue with the FP+ system. FP's are a limited, and perishable commodity. If too many people intentionally "overbook" the FP's then it reduces the available pool for others, contributing to their frustration. Under the old system this couldn't happen. Although the FP's were also limited and perishable, you couldn't tie them up in the future on an if/come.

But you could work the system in such a way that you collected fp's to use later and in doing so depleted the supply much quicker. And if you chose not to use your fp, it did not go back into the system and no one got to make use of it. I've ready many posts with people talking about just how many fp's they managed to collect in the morning to be used later in the evening. Sure, there were stories of people who gave theirs away, but I seriously doubt that was commonplace.

At least with FP+, if you're considerate and cancel them, others get to pick them up. I'm sure any of the most popular attractions are picked up and don't go to waste.

 

[Mkrop]

But you could work the system in such a way that you collected fp's to use later and in doing so depleted the supply much quicker. And if you chose not to use your fp, it did not go back into the system and no one got to make use of it. I've ready many posts with people talking about just how many fp's they managed to collect in the morning to be used later in the evening. Sure, there were stories of people who gave theirs away, but I seriously doubt that was commonplace.

At least with FP+, if you're considerate and cancel them, others get to pick them up. I'm sure any of the most popular attractions are picked up and don't go to waste.

I read more stories of people just letting FPs go then actually cancelling, and even the advice to just book them and if you dont use them no big deal. That takes spots from others.

Where in the FP- days I read way more stories of people pixie dusting guests on their way out of the parks if they could not use their FPs.

I know one trip we tried to cancel our FP+s bc we knew we were not going to make it to the park, not feeling well, and the system would not cooperate and cancel them. With FP- we would never have been there to take them from someone else.

We always gave away FP-s if we could not use them, we never took them out of the park

 

[mesaboy2]

I read more stories of people just letting FPs go then actually cancelling, and even the advice to just book them and if you dont use them no big deal. That takes spots from others.

Where in the FP- days I read way more stories of people pixie dusting guests on their way out of the parks if they could not use their FPs.

I know one trip we tried to cancel our FP+s bc we knew we were not going to make it to the park, not feeling well, and the system would not cooperate and cancel them. With FP- we would never have been there to take them from someone else.

We always gave away FP-s if we could not use them, we never took them out of the park

I consistently advise not to cancel prebooked FPs, because if someone does and changes their mind and wants them back it's a pain to get them. If the system were more user-friendly I would advise otherwise, but it isn't.

 

[cakebaker]

We always gave away FP-s if we could not use them, we never took them out of the park

A system where guests are dependent on the kindness of others for a fp is hardly an efficient way to distribute.

I think the argument that people booking fp+'s they don't need and it's depleting the supply is weak at best. I doubt many want to just let them go without cancelling thereby giving up one of their 3 fp+'s for the day. It's much more likely they do as we did- book, then cancel and replace.

You can only book 3 a day and all 3 have to be different. With the limited availability of A&E, I doubt there are many who are able to book multiple fp+'s over the course of their vacation. If there are, then availability is not nearly as tight as one might think. If someone can get one for every day of their trip, it's hard to reason that others can get none.

While there are some truly valid reasons not to like FP+, this isn't one of them.

 

[Robo]

You can only book 3 a day and all 3 have to be different.

 

[cakebaker]

I have no clue what that means, but that's ok.

 

[Mkrop]

A system where guests are dependent on the kindness of others for a fp is hardly an efficient way to distribute.

I think the argument that people booking fp+'s they don't need and it's depleting the supply is weak at best. I doubt many want to just let them go without cancelling thereby giving up one of their 3 fp+'s for the day. It's much more likely they do as we did- book, then cancel and replace.

You can only book 3 a day and all 3 have to be different. With the limited availability of A&E, I doubt there are many who are able to book multiple fp+'s over the course of their vacation. If there are, then availability is not nearly as tight as one might think. If someone can get one for every day of their trip, it's hard to reason that others can get none.

While there are some truly valid reasons not to like FP+, this isn't one of them.

Now it is a system relying on people cancelling them and people are saying they arent they are just letting them go.

We never needed FPs for Spaceship Earth and yet we are booking them, we booked one for Figment and we didnt want to ride it, but we did, so yeah we book FPs all the time for things we dont really want bc we have to book 3, thus taking away spots for people who might really want to ride the ride

 

[Lucius Best]

At least with FP+, if you're considerate and cancel them, others get to pick them up. I'm sure any of the most popular attractions are picked up and don't go to waste.

A system where guests are dependent on the kindness of others for a fp is hardly an efficient way to distribute.

I think you just accidentally argued against yourself.

 

[cakebaker]

Now it is a system relying on people cancelling them and people are saying they arent they are just letting them go.

What relying on others cancelling means is that even if you're unable to get a fp+ at first, you still have a chance at securing one when and if someone changes their selections. We made literally dozens of changes to our choices leading up to our trip. I'm sure we're not alone.

I read very few posts from people saying the intentionally did not cancel their fp+'s they decided not to use. So we'll just have to disagree on the frequency with which that happens.

We never needed FPs for Spaceship Earth and yet we are booking them, we booked one for Figment and we didnt want to ride it, but we did, so yeah we book FPs all the time for things we dont really want bc we have to book 3, thus taking away spots for people who might really want to ride the ride

I doubt seriously if anyone choosing SE or Figment cost anyone else from getting one. These are not hot tickets. lol