Was offsite last week and found the FP+ situation challenging. The other thread on offsite FP+ strategies (http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3243745) has some good ideas. I'll start with some "lessons learned" and then go on to the issues for those interested.
Lessons learned
1. Don't expect to get FP+ for TSMM or ETWB and don't expect to necessarily get good times at certain low capacity attractions like Speedway. This might not be true if you are at the front of the pack at rope drop but getting to a kiosk at 9:15-9:30 (we tried skipping the front of the park kiosks and did find kiosks/groups of CMs with iPads further in with no wait but didn't get to them until 9:15 or so) we were shut out TSMM and ETWB. They may still be releasing same day FP+ slots for fully booked attractions at 8:45
2. Be persistent with the FP+ CM on moving times and switching things until you get times that are good for you. Most of the CMs will try to rush you through and some present the preset options as the only thing available. Review the posts on how FP+ scheduling works so you can "help" the CM get you the times you want. Only 1 out of the 6 CMs that helped me was very accomodating and actually quite adept at doing this for me.
3. Related to #2, try to have a firm idea of what you want for FP+ - rides and times - perhaps with a separate backup plan if you hve TSMM or ETWB in your plans.
Issues
I was glad to see while we were there that they are testing offsite access to FP+ pre-booking because day-off only in the parks is a really poor experience. You don't know what attractions you are going to get and whether the times you get will fit in with your plans. Having to stop, gather tickets, get your FP+ , and adjust your plans really interupts for flow of the morning even if you find kiosks or CMs with no line. You cannot change your FP+ times or rides on the go without waiting in what most often was a significant line. This was our first trip as a family to WDW and I just had no idea how many bathroom and snack breaks we were going to need, how long it would take us to walk from place to place or complete sections of the park. We ended up crossing the MK two different times to use our FP+ times and abandoned several of them at various parks because we just were in the wrong place at the time. As noted above, only 1 of the CMs that helped us book FP+ was particularly helpful. I would have been happy to spend the time to do it all myself in advance. Although our party of 6 was linked on MDE we NEVER came up that way so all 6 cards had to be scanned each time. The CMs were often talking about glitches and system issues although fortunately, except for having to rescan the cards once after 4 of the 6 were in, we actually seemed to avoid any real glitches.
So as my brother-in-law who was with us said, yes, FP+ is better then nothing, but offsite needs pre-booking (it can be 30 days instead of 60) and access to MDE to make changes on the go, and hopefully both of that is coming before summer.
Lessons learned
1. Don't expect to get FP+ for TSMM or ETWB and don't expect to necessarily get good times at certain low capacity attractions like Speedway. This might not be true if you are at the front of the pack at rope drop but getting to a kiosk at 9:15-9:30 (we tried skipping the front of the park kiosks and did find kiosks/groups of CMs with iPads further in with no wait but didn't get to them until 9:15 or so) we were shut out TSMM and ETWB. They may still be releasing same day FP+ slots for fully booked attractions at 8:45
2. Be persistent with the FP+ CM on moving times and switching things until you get times that are good for you. Most of the CMs will try to rush you through and some present the preset options as the only thing available. Review the posts on how FP+ scheduling works so you can "help" the CM get you the times you want. Only 1 out of the 6 CMs that helped me was very accomodating and actually quite adept at doing this for me.
3. Related to #2, try to have a firm idea of what you want for FP+ - rides and times - perhaps with a separate backup plan if you hve TSMM or ETWB in your plans.
Issues
I was glad to see while we were there that they are testing offsite access to FP+ pre-booking because day-off only in the parks is a really poor experience. You don't know what attractions you are going to get and whether the times you get will fit in with your plans. Having to stop, gather tickets, get your FP+ , and adjust your plans really interupts for flow of the morning even if you find kiosks or CMs with no line. You cannot change your FP+ times or rides on the go without waiting in what most often was a significant line. This was our first trip as a family to WDW and I just had no idea how many bathroom and snack breaks we were going to need, how long it would take us to walk from place to place or complete sections of the park. We ended up crossing the MK two different times to use our FP+ times and abandoned several of them at various parks because we just were in the wrong place at the time. As noted above, only 1 of the CMs that helped us book FP+ was particularly helpful. I would have been happy to spend the time to do it all myself in advance. Although our party of 6 was linked on MDE we NEVER came up that way so all 6 cards had to be scanned each time. The CMs were often talking about glitches and system issues although fortunately, except for having to rescan the cards once after 4 of the 6 were in, we actually seemed to avoid any real glitches.
So as my brother-in-law who was with us said, yes, FP+ is better then nothing, but offsite needs pre-booking (it can be 30 days instead of 60) and access to MDE to make changes on the go, and hopefully both of that is coming before summer.
