Our Experience Using the "Refresh Method"

[JETSDAD]

I agree that the earlier you can start the better because you have a lot fewer people competing with you for dropped FP's. With tiered parks we like to have our first 3 FP's used in the first hour. For MK it doesn't matter as much because you don't have to worry about tiers.

 

[anomamatt]

With tiered parks we like to have our first 3 FP's used in the first hour.

On many occasions, I pre-book only one FP (a Tier-1 FP) in a tiered park. You can use up a lot of FP that way...

And on this topic, if you are not arriving in the first park hour, you can pre-book a tier-2 and let it expire (and it will count as one of the two Tier-2s needed). Then you do your pre-booked Tier-1. Pull another tier-2, do that (or tap it off) and then hunt for more Tier-1s...

 

[Tiggerlover91]

On many occasions, I pre-book only one FP (a Tier-1 FP) in a tiered park. You can use up a lot of FP that way...

And on this topic, if you are not arriving in the first park hour, you can pre-book a tier-2 and let it expire (and it will count as one of the two Tier-2s needed). Then you do your pre-booked Tier-1. Pull another tier-2, do that (or tap it off) and then hunt for more Tier-1s...

I thought letting it expire was not a good idea. As the system doesn't "read" it as gone and then you'll have trouble with your additional FPs.

 

[JETSDAD]

I thought letting it expire was not a good idea. As the system doesn't "read" it as gone and then you'll have trouble with your additional FPs.

It should work but doesn't always. We made a quick trip this week and were going to get to Epcot in the evening so set a couple of AM FP's. They expired just fine and we were able to make multiple Tier 1 FP's in the evening.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

It should work but doesn't always. We made a quick trip this week and were going to get to Epcot in the evening so set a couple of AM FP's. They expired just fine and we were able to make multiple Tier 1 FP's in the evening.

I understand. I think for me, I'd rather just tap into the Mickey head and not go on the ride than to let it expire if I choose to not do the ride while I'm there. It'd be just my luck I'd lock myself and son out of extra FPs for letting one expire.

 

[JETSDAD]

I understand. I think for me, I'd rather just tap into the Mickey head and not go on the ride than to let it expire if I choose to not do the ride while I'm there. It'd be just my luck I'd lock myself and son out of extra FPs for letting one expire.

We've had it not work before and then had to add easy to get FP's and tap those to burn through the tier 2 rides so I do understand not wanting to count on it. Epcot is so easy to burn tier 2's if it doesn't work so figured it was worth trying to let them expire.

 

[anomamatt]

I thought letting it expire was not a good idea. As the system doesn't "read" it as gone and then you'll have trouble with your additional FPs.

My personal experience with this is that it almost always works to let one pre-expire. But there are rare times where it sticks around and needs to be cancelled.

You can always tap one off near the end of its window. Or just have a contingency plan for grabbing a second tier2 if you wind up needing to cancel the expired one.

 

[mamaofsix]

Agree. While party size does have impact, I don't think it's as big as we think. I've searched for 1, 2, 3, and 5 regularly and there is some difference but often it's not dramatic. Searching for 2 does not guarantee me a good outcome on difficult to get FPs. I searched for TT with my daughter tonight. Each of us looking for a party of one at the same time. No luck in about 15-20 mins on constant searching (and since there were two of us that's really more like 40).

I think the impact of party size is more with large parties (greater than 5) I seem to see lots of people having success with refresh if they have a group of 5 or less. We are a party of 10, and refresh does not work for headliners like FOP or 7DMT. A lot of the stress in scoring fp's on these boards are people who travel with other families / extended family. If you have 10 or 12 in your party and don't score a fp at 60 days, it's pretty much impossible to get one using refresh. You can try breaking it up into small groups for overlapping times, but this is also tricky/time consuming. I'd rather just get up a little earlier and rope drop than have to be on my phone constantly trying to refresh with minimal results...In the parks this past November we were shocked to see how many people just walked around with their noses in their phones - completely missing what was happening around them and ignoring the family/friends they could have been bonding with. Even my teenagers were surprised by it. No thanks, we'd rather just have a plan ahead of time and keep our phones tucked away.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I think the impact of party size is more with large parties (greater than 5) I seem to see lots of people having success with refresh if they have a group of 5 or less. We are a party of 10, and refresh does not work for headliners like FOP or 7DMT. A lot of the stress in scoring fp's on these boards are people who travel with other families / extended family. If you have 10 or 12 in your party and don't score a fp, it's pretty much impossible to get one using refresh. You can try breaking it up into small groups for overlapping times, but this is also tricky/time consuming. I'd rather just get up a little earlier and rope drop than have to be on my phone constantly trying to refresh with minimal results...

That is true. Large is subjective.

When we went with my brothers family, my SIL and I searched in parallel so that made looking for overlapping times easier but then we were still looking for parties of 4 and 5 which are largish.

 

[Remy is Up]

I also agree it's an individual choice. Generally it is just 2 or 3 of us so refresh works great will be more interesting to see how splitting the group in a larger group works

 

[emmabelle]

We did well this past week with refreshing. Got Test Track, Soarin, TT and Toy Story.

 

[cakebaker]

I’ll only be looking for 2 on our May trip, so hope we get good results. Hopefully I get the headliners with FP+ (FOP, SDD and SDMT), I seriously doubt I’ll see a lot of those using refresh.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

I’ll only be looking for 2 on our May trip, so hope we get good results. Hopefully I get the headliners with FP+ (FOP, SDD and SDMT), I seriously doubt I’ll see a lot of those using refresh.

Why wouldn't you see those refresh? The ONLY one I've heard some have had problems picking up again is SDD. I've seen plenty of posts here of DISers talking about getting SDMT, FoP, and sometimes SDD in a refresh while in the parks.

 

[cakebaker]

Why wouldn't you see those refresh? The ONLY one I've heard some have had problems picking up again is SDD. I've seen plenty of posts here of DISers talking about getting SDMT, FoP, and sometimes SDD in a refresh while in the parks.

Hopefully, I do, just not banking on it. It really depends on crowd levels during our trip.

 

[Klayfish]

Hopefully, I do, just not banking on it. It really depends on crowd levels during our trip.

I don't see why you wouldn't. We got a ton of them during Xmas week, which is the busiest time of year. In fact, we had more success that week than we did in summer. I almost wonder if it's easier when the crowd is larger because there are more people using the system...i.e. changing plans.

 

[Disneylover99]

I don't see why you wouldn't. We got a ton of them during Xmas week, which is the busiest time of year. In fact, we had more success that week than we did in summer. I almost wonder if it's easier when the crowd is larger because there are more people using the system...i.e. changing plans.

I agree. I also think maybe people see the wait times during Christmas week and they don’t even try to refresh because they assume extra fp’s will be impossible.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Why wouldn't you see those refresh? The ONLY one I've heard some have had problems picking up again is SDD. I've seen plenty of posts here of DISers talking about getting SDMT, FoP, and sometimes SDD in a refresh while in the parks.

I have had problems getting many of the headliners on 5 level days (FEA, 7DMT, Navi, and even EE) for many different party sizes. Yesterday I couldn't get any Tier 1s at Epcot when normally Soarin is a breeze. And I have spent many hours poking this system. There are people here who never have any difficulty getting headliners but that is not universally the case. It seems to be more person dependent than time of the year, party size, or any other known variable (it may be something on the back end of MDE). If you have not used it yet it could go either way for you. If you assume you can get headliners with ease and can't, it may be a very disappointing experience.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I would also not forget the likely influence of available park hours on FP refreshing success at any given moment in time.

Let's pick Thursday 12/27/18 (just for kicks) this past year. MK was open 16 hours, Epcot 13.5 hours, DHS 12 hours, and DAK 14 hours.

Compare Thursday 5/17/18 (made up for comparison purposes), MK was open 13 hours, Epcot 12 hours, DHS 12.5 hours, and DAK 13 hours.

Or Thursday 2/7/19...MK was open 11 hours, Epcot 12 hours, DHS 11 hours, DAK 11 hours.

Every one of those hours adds or subtracts massive amounts of FPs to the system. Refreshing is a great tool every day of the year, you just have a lot more supply and a lot more guests in the system changing plans when hours are longer (and you can keep working it later in the day). I know this is obvious to some extent, just worth remembering the hours variability over certain times of the year.

 

[Klayfish]

I agree. I also think maybe people see the wait times during Christmas week and they don’t even try to refresh because they assume extra fp’s will be impossible.

Good point.

Shhhhhh.....let's just let everyone believe those extra FP+ are in fact impossible to get. Move along, nothing to see here.

 

[Babsy]

What was the timing that you used? Did you start night before? Morning of? Were you trying all day? I had decent luck with refreshing last trip for a party of six, but I felt like I was constantly on my phone. Would love to know any tricks to minimize that. Our next trip is a group of 11.

We just arrived back home last night. Used refresh a LOT last week, with variable success. we did get headliners on refresh on multiple occasions - FOP, NRJ, Soarin', TT, 7DMT and lots of other regular attractions. One night we decided to change the park that we had rebooked FP+ for and started over for the next day. We found everything we wanted easily. Very surprised! It seemed that when I wanted to make changes the night before, it was easier for us than day of. That may not be typical as it only involved a couple of nights, however.

I used the refresh method as late as two years ago and it worked extremely well for all attractions including headliners. This past late November I was not able to obtain fast passes for any of the headliners in any of the parks. That was disappointing because my planning strategy was based on obtaining fast passes for the headliners using the refresh method. I had decided at the time to base my strategy next visit on using sixty day fast passes for the headliners and refresh for everything else. Maybe I just was not persistent enough but not even a single time did I find one of the headliners with an opening. I must have been unlucky but this was my experience.

We did have one day when I wasn't able to get anything that I wanted, when I wanted it! After so much luck on the previous days, it was a little disappointing ting. we couldn't even get Buzz Lightyear!!!

I might add that if you don't travel with a data pkg this will be hit and miss. I tried this technique just using WDW free wifi in the parks and zeros. While it may be a no brainer for US guests or locals to travel with data, some international guests find their home country/tethered cell phone company's roaming pkgs to be wildly prohibitive. Just a FYI for international guests to either 1) keep their expectations in check or 2) really do some pre-trip research to see if they can find an affordable data pkg that works for them. One tip I would offer is to try this in your WDW hotel room before leaving for the park. Wifi in room is stronger than in park. Must be the traffic.

This is a really good point. We are from Canada so I purchased a package up front to use. Prices are VERY EXPENSIVE otherwise, and we have no luck getting on line with Disney's WiFi. I drained my package of data in the first few days, then started on the one that I purchased on DH's phone! This refresh method used a huge amount of data!

For those reading this post who have not used refresh before, just be careful. It does not work this easily for everyone in every circumstance. Do not chuck your 60 day FPs and your RD strategy until you have tried this in the parks. A lot of people cannot get headliners in 3 refreshes. Some people cannot get headliners in 300 refreshes. I love refreshing, but I never depend on it for getting headliners - those are pixie dust for me. It took me a half hour of constant refreshing to get FEA for a party of 2 last year. Definitely try it out, definitely appreciate all it can get for you, but don't depend on it being easy until you know that's how it works for you.

ABSOLUTELY!! definitely start with what you can book at 60 or 30 days. Then use refresh to get extras or to make changes as needed. I think of refresh as Bonus FP+ that may or may not be possible. On one day during our recent trip, it didn't work well at all. On another day, it was OK, but not great. Other days, it was golden.