Offsite since FP+

[Pembo]

We discovered the beauty of offsite a few years ago. We planned our park days around the EE schedule and had a great trip.

With FP+, are there any new disadvantages to offsite?

 

[Planogirl]

I've been asking tons of questions and so far the only disadvantages I can find is the inability to get FP+ for Anna and Elsa and the 7 Dwarves attraction, and it being far more difficult to be able to eat at Be Our Guest. We'll find out if this is true in a few months.

 

[Cherryb]

I'm staying offsite and going in two weeks ('slow season'), when I tried for FP+ I was able to get 7DMT with no issues, they gave me 3 options. Three options were in the afternoon.

A&E was not available, but I have never been interested in those, so I didn't care.

And if you know what dates are you going you can try booking Be our guest as soon as you can in MDE, I was able to find some available spots in Feb but my problem was that my trip was not written in stone so I dind't book those times. The only downside to that is that they may overlap with your FP+ selections when booking but I think that if it is a must do for you then give it a shot.

Also keep track of the cancelling posts .

 

[disneysteve]

We were there in August and stayed offsite, as we almost always do. I booked a few FPs in advance just to test out the system basically and to get Mine Train FPs (which I did). I hated every minute of it as the new system is seriously flawed and guest-unfriendly, but no more so for offsite guests than for onsite guests. Nothing about the system would change my mind about staying offsite.

They definitely are steadily moving toward policies and procedures that favor onsite guests - earlier booking windows, onsite exclusives like Be Our Guest for lunch, etc. If that trend continues, I'm not really sure what we'll do. We don't want to stay onsite. We like the lower price, greater amenities, and great convenience of staying offsite. FP+ has already made the experience of visiting Disney significantly worse. If they further alienate all of their offsite guests, that may turn us off from returning.

The one thing that was a disadvantage was only being able to book FPs one day at a time, so every night at midnight, I had to go on to see what was available as the next day of our visit opened up.

 

[Planogirl]

We were there in August and stayed offsite, as we almost always do. I booked a few FPs in advance just to test out the system basically and to get Mine Train FPs (which I did). I hated every minute of it as the new system is seriously flawed and guest-unfriendly, but no more so for offsite guests than for onsite guests. Nothing about the system would change my mind about staying offsite.

They definitely are steadily moving toward policies and procedures that favor onsite guests - earlier booking windows, onsite exclusives like Be Our Guest for lunch, etc. If that trend continues, I'm not really sure what we'll do. We don't want to stay onsite. We like the lower price, greater amenities, and great convenience of staying offsite. FP+ has already made the experience of visiting Disney significantly worse. If they further alienate all of their offsite guests, that may turn us off from returning.

The one thing that was a disadvantage was only being able to book FPs one day at a time, so every night at midnight, I had to go on to see what was available as the next day of our visit opened up.

Oh yes, I forgot about that. That is a pain.

There are no available times for Be Our Guest for Spring Break. I did somehow get 'Ohana though which will make DS happy.

 

[jm106]

I found having to book each day a pain.
I was lucky in that I got 7DMT in October for our group of 4 and I got it same day, different time for friends group of 4, about 2 weeks prior. No A&E though. I also got BOG dinner about 2 weeks out. Persistence!

We didnt bother buying magic bands and once we got used to not putting cards away until after second scanning, all was fine. One tip- When we got memory maker, I was so excited to have the videos of the kids on ToT and 7D. However, with out MB, you dont get videos and I learned it after we got home

 

[jcota]

I thought that you had the ability to book 30 days out if you were staying off site

 

[jm106]

I thought that you had the ability to book 30 days out if you were staying off site[/QUOTE



you do however the popular rides are gone long before then since on site can book 60 days.

 

[KristinU]

On the BOG lunch thing - we stayed onsite over Christmas and I missed the day I was supposed to log on and get FP+ for BOG for the day it would have worked best for us. Waah, but whatever, not the end of the world. We planned to eat at Columbia Harbor House instead since we like that hummus sandwich there.

So we are at MK that morning (very early, we went for rope drop) and in our wanderings we saw a CM outside of BOG, so I asked if they were taking standby or if it was all FP. He said there's standby and the best shot would be right when they opened at 10 or 10:30 (I wish I remembered exactly). We thought that seemed too early and continued on with our plans for CHH. Then a bit later we found ourselves right by BOG at about 10:45 and decided that sure, we were just about ready for lunch and let's see how long the wait is. They said 15 minutes, so into the line we went! We ended up waiting maybe 10 minutes before ordering. This was December 27th, one of the busiest times at WDW and we still got to eat there at a fairly normal time.

So don't lose hope on BOG if you're willing to have lunch on the early side!

 

[disneysteve]

I thought that you had the ability to book 30 days out if you were staying off site

you do however the popular rides are gone long before then since on site can book 60 days.[/QUOTE]

We were able to book Mine Train 30 days out. The problem is you need to literally do it at midnight. Sorry, but I'm asleep well before that. I actually stayed up a couple of nights purely to try and get FPs. Any system that requires that is flawed in my opinion.

Also, offsite guests can only book one day at a time. So today, January 23, I could book FPs for 2/22. Tomorrow, I could book for 2/23. Sunday, I could book for 2/24, and so on. So if you want to book 7 days of FPs, you need to be up at midnight every day for a week. Sorry but that just doesn't sound like fun to me.

 

[robinb]

you do however the popular rides are gone long before then since on site can book 60 days.

I think it depends on when you go. If you're there on 7-10 crowd days you may not be able to get all of what you want at 30 days. I you're there at a quieter time you should be fine.

 

[jm106]

I think it depends on when you go. If you're there on 7-10 crowd days you may not be able to get all of what you want at 30 days. I you're there at a quieter time you should be fine.

True, I'm sure crowds plays into it. I went in October, on 5 days and couldn't get those popular rides/ADRs but it's also been a few months so maybe popularity has too. I was on at midnight at midnight for MK fast pass and at 6 am for ADRs at 180. No luck with the choices I wanted until much closer to the trip.

 

[Brian Noble]

If you're there on 7-10 crowd days you may not be able to get all of what you want at 30 days.

We went during Christmas (the 19th through the 26th) this year. We had no problems getting anything other than A&E, and extra FP+ availability for that was released in a big chunk after the 30-day mark so we ended up getting it anyway. There was a block of 7DMT that was released a few days before our 30-day mark which was still around when we booked. I didn't even do bookings day-by-day, but did my MK days early (for 7DMT) and all of the rest of them at the same time when the entire stay was open. I easily got Soarin', TSMM, etc. though our priorities for this trip were centered on holiday offerings, not the "regular" attractions.

We did not get a BOG lunch FP, but we've eaten there before for dinner so no big loss.

 

[100AcreWood]

So like the MDRs, you really have to know which park you're going to each day and then stick with it. There's really no need to park hop then. Once you have those reservations you're almost stuck, right?

 

[disneysteve]

you really have to know which park you're going to each day and then stick with it.

This is one major thing we hate about the new FP system. We don't know what park we will be in each day 30 days in advance. That just isn't how we function. So being able to book FPs in advance holds zero appeal for us. With the old system, we could get our FPs on the fly during the day in the park. Now, it is difficult or impossible to do that. It really puts guests who aren't commando planners at a serious disadvantage.

 

[Pembo]

This is one major thing we hate about the new FP system. We don't know what park we will be in each day 30 days in advance. That just isn't how we function. So being able to book FPs in advance holds zero appeal for us. With the old system, we could get our FPs on the fly during the day in the park. Now, it is difficult or impossible to do that. It really puts guests who aren't commando planners at a serious disadvantage.

I typically know what park we're going to since I plan to not go to the EMH park when we stay offsite. But I found it weird to "book my ride" in advance. I was still trying to figure out how to schedule my meals ahead.

Glad I'm not the only one who doesn't plan everything down to the minute...

 

[100AcreWood]

I agree this does put guests who are more spur of the moment at a disadvantage. I always go in with a plan but we don't book many MDRs (maybe 1 or 2 in a week). It's nice to be able to say, I feel like going to EPCOT today instead of MK. Oh well. Just a minor rant. Looking forward to trying out the new system this year.

 

[disneysteve]

I typically know what park we're going to since I plan to not go to the EMH park when we stay offsite.

Glad I'm not the only one who doesn't plan everything down to the minute...

We are also careful to avoid the EMH park but that still leaves 3 other choices each day.

It's nice to be able to say, I feel like going to EPCOT today instead of MK.

We decide which park to do each day based on various factors: the weather, what we've already accomplished on our trip, what we still want to accomplish, how tired we are, etc.

 

[Brian Noble]

For our Spring break trip last year, we planned about half of our park days the night before or even early the morning of. It worked out okay.

 

[robinb]

True, I'm sure crowds plays into it. I went in October, on 5 days and couldn't get those popular rides/ADRs but it's also been a few months so maybe popularity has too. I was on at midnight at midnight for MK fast pass and at 6 am for ADRs at 180. No luck with the choices I wanted until much closer to the trip.

I think there is a "happy medium" between crowd levels and park hours. The time between September and mid-December is a fairly quiet time, but the MK has parties many nights and it closes early. Those extra missing hours makes a huge difference. When I went around Christmas it was more crowded but the MK was open 6-7 hours longer.