Nov Trip..How much harder can this get?

[Mambo Junkie]

I'm not going to worry about ADRs next time because they're too restricting. Also by the time you get ADRs and fps, there isn't much free time to do other things because you're too worried about missing your window. I hope to pick up a few fps and see what pops up as far as ADRs. I also avoid free dining like the plague. That helps.
Like someone said, try smaller parties. Don't distress too much. Last year they kept adding fp times so a lot of late comers were able to score some, even A&E. We also cancelled quite a few hard to get ADRs and fps at the last minute because we found it wasn't fun. Also, with little ones, we thoroughly enjoyed our FoF parade fp and will do it again. Didn't need the Wishes and Illuminations fps and hated the Wishes Tomorrowland Dessert party. Total waste of time and money. (for us) The only reason we booked it was to see Tinkerbell fly overhead and it rained. Boo.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Try again at the 45 day mark. I haven't tried this myself (because I didn't know this trick) but supposedly, that is when quite a few people cancel their vacations. Good luck.

By the way, if you can do any of the parties (Halloween or Christmas), most rides are a walk on during those events. And Mine Train has a much shorter wait.

 

[Davey Jones II]

No offense taken. We can definitely live without the MSEP and Wishes fast passes--they were nice to haves. We will likely split up at various points. But this is the first time my immediate family (mom, brother, sister, spuses and kids) will have been on vacation together as a group ever and there were certain experiences we wanted to do together. A&E for the little girls and 7DMT were two of those things. We'll figure it out. I just have chronic planning fatigue.

No need to have a FP for the parade. 30 minutes before the parade, just grab a good viewing spot in Frontierland or Liberty Square. If you're sitting right behind the rope, you'll have a great view. In front of Country Bears is my favorite.

 

[IL2WDW]

Part of that is because of free dining and RO discounts which causes people to stay onsite that would usually stay offsite. I think the crowds will be moderate, nothing like Christmas but certainly won't be able to walk on rides. I'm still not stressing too much.
Edit: I just checked midweek, taking out the weekends and there is lots of availability, yes a few of the resorts have no availability but most do.

I too was starting to wonder if that week before thanksgiving was going to be busy. It is our first time visiting in November and hope to have lighter crowds than spring break (when we usually visit).. thanks for checking

 

[SarahInMN]

BOG dinner is tough to get- and not everyone has a concierge staff to assist. I am glad you posted, though, as we are going in December and we only booked the trip a couple of weeks ago- which is last minute these days... We were going to wait until closer to when we get there to have the concierge staff assist us- but will call them after 'breakfast rush' tomorrow instead of waiting and see if they can work some magic.

We didn't have the concierges to assist us - if we did, I'm guessing it would have been no problem. The website wouldn't let me book it, I assumed it was because of a split stay, and I called DVC member services. I got lucky with a really nice CM who went above and beyond in terms of her diligence and her patience.

 

[alopez926]

This to me makes it soo not fun. You're planning a vacation. It shouldn't take checking your app multiple times a day. This should be fun, it should be building the anticipation of a great time. But it sounds like it isn't and the new system sets people up to fel like they somehow lost before they even started playing. OP i feel your pain. the old way you just went to the ride when you got there and got your FP now you have to play with your phone all day in the hopes of getting what you want.

I wish you good luck.

Thanks so much for your kind words. You've captured exactly how I feel. I know we will have a great time, but I do feel like the system beat me this time, even though I stayed up late and got up early to book things and followed every other planning tip I knew, and it's not a great feeling. Thankfully, I haven't had as many issues on our other trips (even the ones with FP+) or I would have stopped going a long time ago.

 

[Angel Ariel]

My FP+ window opens tonight for our party of 8 and I cannot get Wishes, Mine Train, A&E, or MSEP as they are all gone according to the DIBB on the dates we will be in MK. I have spent countless hours getting ADRs for our group since Day 180 and I'm not changing our park days now because I don't want to lose them. I'm so worn out by this whole process.

I'll keep this rant short. I know we can't always get everything we want in life and sure, we can wait standby for 7DMT and A&E (which will drive me mad). But so disappointed that this trip has been a misery to schedule since Day 180 at 6AM when technology failed followed by customer service dropping my 7AM call twice. I have lots of first-timers coming with me this trip and I wanted everything to be smooth sailing.

I definitely need a Disney break and will spend my money elsewhere until the new lands open up. Planning a vacation should be a lot more fun than this!

Vent over. Thanks for listening.

I'm sorry to hear how hard it has been for you in the planning process. we were frustrated by the preplanning for our November trip last year too. We did end up having a great time while we were there, despite the frustration prior. I hope you will find that to be true for you as well!

 

[Accident]

Try again at the 45 day mark. I haven't tried this myself (because I didn't know this trick) but supposedly, that is when quite a few people cancel their vacations.

I second this but want to mention that some people have to pay the balance at 30 days and your 45 day mark may not be there 45 day mark. Checking overnight if your a night owl or early morning starting about 60 days out and you might start to get some of them. I would stop about 30 days before your trip but start up again right before you get there and while your there. This is when last minute changes to everyone schedule happens.

 

[5kidsmommy]

I too was starting to wonder if that week before thanksgiving was going to be busy. It is our first time visiting in November and hope to have lighter crowds than spring break (when we usually visit).. thanks for checking

Yeah it's my first November trip too and I was a little worried about crowds too but yeah it looks like the weekends will be busy but not the weekdays. We will checking out on Friday the 20th because it goes from low crowds to heavy crowds on Saturday and I want to avoid that. Hoping the crowd calendars hold true.

 

[IL2WDW]

We are checking out on the 20th also in hopes to avoid the holiday crowds. My daughter and I can't wait to see the Christmas decorations

 

[MataHari22]

I am also going down about the same time. 11/12-11/20. Make my FP+ tonight, will see how it goes. I'm used to going down in October. I know everyone keeps saying that the fall is getting busier and busier. Last year when I went down, crowds ended up being a little lower than projected, so I was lucky. Hoping for luck this year with my trip. I don't want A&E, but I would like to get 7DMT and Wishes. Hoping everything goes ok tonight.

 

[IL2WDW]

I am also going down about the same time. 11/12-11/20. Make my FP+ tonight, will see how it goes. I'm used to going down in October. I know everyone keeps saying that the fall is getting busier and busier. Last year when I went down, crowds ended up being a little lower than projected, so I was lucky. Hoping for luck this year with my trip. I don't want A&E, but I would like to get 7DMT and Wishes. Hoping everything goes ok tonight.

We still have a few days before we get to select FP+.. let us know how it goes. I too do not want A&E but would like 7DMT and Peter Pan (my favorite ride)

 

[5kidsmommy]

We still have a few days before we get to select FP+.. let us know how it goes. I too do not want A&E but would like 7DMT and Peter Pan (my favorite ride)

I've been keeping an eye on the fast pass availability tool on dibb and it seems like 7DMT is available most days, although A & E does have some days where it's not available. My daughter doesn't care to see A&E as we saw them back when they were at EPCOT and that was enough for her. I'm not super worried about any FP+ because if they aren't available we'll just wait in the line at a quieter time. I'm really letting so much stress go on this trip. I want to have fun, so we're eating at restaurants my daughter wants and we have 6 days so I'm not worried about riding everything we want to ride. The only thing is I need to ride Big Thunder at least 4 times, then the trip will be perfect.

 

[IL2WDW]

I've been keeping an eye on the fast pass availability tool on dibb and it seems like 7DMT is available most days, although A & E does have some days where it's not available. My daughter doesn't care to see A&E as we saw them back when they were at EPCOT and that was enough for her. I'm not super worried about any FP+ because if they aren't available we'll just wait in the line at a quieter time. I'm really letting so much stress go on this trip. I want to have fun, so we're eating at restaurants my daughter wants and we have 6 days so I'm not worried about riding everything we want to ride. The only thing is I need to ride Big Thunder at least 4 times, then the trip will be perfect.

Good luck! For me I would rather not stand in line for the mine train for an hour . We were lucky to be there for the soft opening back in May 2014 ... and I would love to get into BOG but if that doesn't happen... We will find other places to eat.We don't really go to disney to eat but I guess we still need to ..lol.

 

[5kidsmommy]

Good luck! For me I would rather not stand in line for the mine train for an hour . We were lucky to be there for the soft opening back in May 2014 ... and I would love to get into BOG but if that doesn't happen... We will find other places to eat.We don't really go to disney to eat but I guess we still need to ..lol.

Oh I won't wait in line for an hour, I'll keep an eye out for a slow time, maybe we'll do rope drop. We do have a couple pre-park ADRs (one at BOG and one are CP) and we are going to a weeknight Christmas party, I am confident we will be able to find a slow time to ride it.

 

[MataHari22]

We still have a few days before we get to select FP+.. let us know how it goes. I too do not want A&E but would like 7DMT and Peter Pan (my favorite ride)

I did ok for the most part. I did get 7DMT, but not for the times I was hoping. Which is fine, I'll figure out how to adjust my day. I did get Wishes on 11/18. I'm very grateful.

One of my FP+ on my MVMCP day, is too early. I have jungle cruise from 2:40-3:40, but I cannot get a better time. Tried to change the experience and get a better time, that's not working out either. On the attractions where the times are not great, I will see if I can modify them in the coming days. But, it's ok, if not. It'll work out ok. I hope. Lol.

 

[maxiesmom]

This to me makes it soo not fun. You're planning a vacation. It shouldn't take checking your app multiple times a day. This should be fun, it should be building the anticipation of a great time. But it sounds like it isn't and the new system sets people up to fel like they somehow lost before they even started playing. OP i feel your pain. the old way you just went to the ride when you got there and got your FP now you have to play with your phone all day in the hopes of getting what you want.

I wish you good luck.

To be clear, with the old way you went to the ride when you got there, hoped there were Fast Passes left and IF there were hoped they worked out with what you had planned for the rest of the day, went on other rides, and then went back to the first ride and then got on.

OP--Keep checking. I couldn't get 7DMT for my first day in the park. But I checked every so often and was soon able to snag it!

 

[disneycraz]

So envious! Nothing available for 11/11 or 11/12 for 7DMT - not even for one, never mind 8. I've checked the app and the website. We always go mid-week for our trips and have never had a problem before as long as we got online 60 days out to book. Obviously, it didn't work out for us this time.

My 60 day window is today, I was up after midnight to book our FP's, and also was not successful for Mine Train. Not that I was looking for A/E or Parade, but these were also not available. This is just a long weekend trip for us, my goal is to see all things Christmas, so I'm not too upset about it. We are also going in just 3 weeks for a week, and I was able to get Mine Train for that trip. I'm also wondering if it's going to be extremely crowded in November. Time will tell..

 

[LetsTalkWDW]

Does this make sense?

If someone cancels their 10-day trip at their 45 day mark. Then (with overlap) that could actually be 55 days (45+10) before your trip, so for cancellations, some FP+ reservations might appear at your 55 days out (and 54 and 53 and so on). For the first day of your trip and then the 2nd and so on.

 

[cel_disney]

I have them for the 10th, we leave on the 11th. Those are both weekdays though so I don't know why they would be so much busier. Do you have ADR's or something that is affecting it? If they overlap they won't show you available FP sometimes. Really I would just keep checking though, they open up all the time.

November 11th - Veterans Day - is a school holiday juts about everywhere. With the Wine and a Dine Race the weekend Prior and the last week of Food And Wine and No School - it shouldn't be surprising that these days are all very busy. We are going 11/3-11/9...the jersey week crowds seem far more manageable than the Veterans Day crowds!