Our Experience Using the "Refresh Method"

[anomamatt]

Problem is for that day, those rides are all booked for FPs! Will that mean getting a day of fast pass with the refresh method will be easier since there is more people using fast pass?

It's *always* (much) easier getting FPs the day of. And the night before. As you get closer, it gets easier (because people are starting to change their plans).

Most likely if you check the night before (via refresh) you will be able to get one of those three for 10am-ish. But otherwise, your plan will work. Just keep trying to modify the 5pm for anything that will work for you. Keep in mind tiering rules will require your first FP to be a Tier-2 if you also have the 6pm for TSM booked.

 

[Mome Rath]

So I have 3 fast passes booked for DHS for 5 pm on RNRC 6 at TSM and 7 on TOT. should I go to DHS that morning and just try to modify the first time to one say at 10 am and then just keep modifying them?

Yes, modify, don't cancel! If you want earlier times, always just try to modify and move up, it seems that for whatever reason the system does better with modifying rather than trying to find something "cold." So, it's the same if you see something you want to ride, but not at the right time, grab it and then try to modify it. The reason you want to try to move them up is so that you have more time and a better chance to get 4th, 5th, etc... passes. However, balance this out with enjoying the park, I limit how long I'll look so I don't always have my phone out. lol

 

[davish562]

Yes, modify, don't cancel! If you want earlier times, always just try to modify and move up, it seems that for whatever reason the system does better with modifying rather than trying to find something "cold." So, it's the same if you see something you want to ride, but not at the right time, grab it and then try to modify it. The reason you want to try to move them up is so that you have more time and a better chance to get 4th, 5th, etc... passes. However, balance this out with enjoying the park, I limit how long I'll look so I don't always have my phone out. lol

Thanks! Say for a ride like RNRC or expedition Everest. Can you usually find a fast pass that is pretty close to your current time with just a few minutes of refreshing?

 

[davish562]

It's *always* (much) easier getting FPs the day of. And the night before. As you get closer, it gets easier (because people are starting to change their plans).

Most likely if you check the night before (via refresh) you will be able to get one of those three for 10am-ish. But otherwise, your plan will work. Just keep trying to modify the 5pm for anything that will work for you. Keep in mind tiering rules will require your first FP to be a Tier-2 if you also have the 6pm for TSM booked.

^if you have any insight to the post I just wrote I would love to hear it from you too!

 

[anomamatt]

Thanks! Say for a ride like RNRC or expedition Everest. Can you usually find a fast pass that is pretty close to your current time with just a few minutes of refreshing?

How many people in your party do you have? More than anything, that will determine it. I have always had very good luck with my usual party of 4, even in the busiest weeks (e.g., Christmas week). I cannot imagine you will have problems finding RNRC or Everest. I have found several sets of both of those in a single day, several times.

That said, nothing with this technique is guaranteed... I can usually get anything easily except SDD and FOP (which usually require finding a drop). But I have had other days where I try to find something that should be easy (like EE) and couldn't find a single one (last time this was due to EE having a lot of down-time and they seemed to not be putting recycled FP into the system).

 

[Mome Rath]

Thanks! Say for a ride like RNRC or expedition Everest. Can you usually find a fast pass that is pretty close to your current time with just a few minutes of refreshing?

I am more conversant with Animal Kingdom, in fact I mess around with it, just testing things out because I can do so from home since I have an AP. AK gets a lot of various times and things popping up quite a bit, even the night before. EE pops up regularly, but as the day goes on, obviously the times get later and later. Definitely check a couple of times the night before, and then in the morning hours. Dinosaur pops up, EE pops up, NRJ even pops up about every 3 min or so but it usually has a later time (usually afternoon). I don't see FoP as much, nor the Safari.

ETA; as an example it is 2:40pm in Florida right now, I got a FP to pop up for EE for 4:25 pm in about 5 refreshes for later today. 2 more refreshes gave me NRJ at 5:25 pm, and Safari at 4:45 pm. That's for one person, and I don't know how busy it is today. And Rockin' came up in Studios for 4:30 pm on the first try.

 

[davish562]

How many people in your party do you have? More than anything, that will determine it. I have always had very good luck with my usual party of 4, even in the busiest weeks (e.g., Christmas week). I cannot imagine you will have problems finding RNRC or Everest. I have found several sets of both of those in a single day, several times.

That said, nothing with this technique is guaranteed... I can usually get anything easily except SDD and FOP (which usually require finding a drop). But I have had other days where I try to find something that should be easy (like EE) and couldn't find a single one (last time this was due to EE having a lot of down-time and they seemed to not be putting recycled FP into the system).

I have 4 people in my party. Can you often get times that are only like 10 minutes away?

 

[davish562]

I am more conversant with Animal Kingdom, in fact I mess around with it, just testing things out because I can do so from home since I have an AP. AK gets a lot of various times and things popping up quite a bit, even the night before. EE pops up regularly, but as the day goes on, obviously the times get later and later. Definitely check a couple of times the night before, and then in the morning hours. Dinosaur pops up, EE pops up, NRJ even pops up about every 3 min or so but it usually has a later time (usually afternoon). I don't see FoP as much, nor the Safari.

ETA; as an example it is 2:40pm in Florida right now, I got a FP to pop up for EE for 4:25 pm in about 5 refreshes for later today. 2 more refreshes gave me NRJ at 5:25 pm, and Safari at 4:45 pm. That's for one person, and I don't know how busy it is today. And Rockin' came up in Studios for 4:30 pm on the first try.

Thanks! So I should book a time for a ride that I want, then just keep refreshing it until I get a time that's like 20 minutes away?

 

[anomamatt]

I have 4 people in my party. Can you often get times that are only like 10 minutes away?

If you refresh enough... but I'd more realistically say that if you spend 5-10 mins refreshing for EE or RnRC, you could find a set of 4 FP that start within the next 20-30 mins.

 

[davish562]

If you refresh enough... but I'd more realistically say that if you spend 5-10 mins refreshing for EE or RnRC, you could find a set of 4 FP that start within the next 20-30 mins.

Awesome! How about rides in the magic Kingdom? Those hard to get?

 

[Mome Rath]

Thanks! So I should book a time for a ride that I want, then just keep refreshing it until I get a time that's like 20 minutes away?

Yes, if it makes sense where you are in the park. But, again, some rides don't "move" as easily as others and it can be harder with a bigger party. You will soon get a "feel" for it if you give it a try. The real reason to try to move something up is so that you can then try for another FP for something else that much sooner. I usually check/refresh when I'm in line for another ride, or at lunch. Pace yourself and see it as a potential bonus rather than getting bummed if you can't get something to pop up. Last time I was in AK I wanted to get another ride on NRJ and absolutely nothing would come up. If a ride is down or they are really busy it becomes harder.

 

[anomamatt]

Awesome! How about rides in the magic Kingdom? Those hard to get?

MK is a wonderland for refreshing... 7DMT is hard to get, mostly because it's a pain to scroll for it, but otherwise there are always ample MK FPs to find.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Thanks! Say for a ride like RNRC or expedition Everest. Can you usually find a fast pass that is pretty close to your current time with just a few minutes of refreshing?

We rode RnR 4 times consecutively on our last visit using refresh. It just kept coming up while waiting in the FP line. One time, we had to wait about 5 minutes for our return time to arrive. The other times we just hopped off and got right back in line. I swear we passed the same groups waiting in the standby line all 4 times.

We wait until later in the evening for Everest. That line gets so short that you can ride as many times as you want, no FP required.

 

[Remy is Up]

There are generally no fps that are unattainable day of. Some take a bit more work or time in other FP lines but in general and this is based on the past 5-6 trips over the past year, we have had zero issues riding whar we wanted to ride using a fp

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Yes, if it makes sense where you are in the park. But, again, some rides don't "move" as easily as others and it can be harder with a bigger party. You will soon get a "feel" for it if you give it a try. The real reason to try to move something up is so that you can then try for another FP for something else that much sooner. I usually check/refresh when I'm in line for another ride, or at lunch. Pace yourself and see it as a potential bonus rather than getting bummed if you can't get something to pop up. Last time I was in AK I wanted to get another ride on NRJ and absolutely nothing would come up. If a ride is down or they are really busy it becomes harder.

Absolutely 100% try it out yourself @davish562 and see how well you can get it to work for you. Not everyone has the same success. And sometimes it varies. For some reason I can't get much of anything to pop in the morning at AK. Once the noon witching hour arrives, I can get EE with a window in the next 20-30 minutes in a couple minutes of refreshing. Before noon, can't get a party of 1 with 15 mins of refreshing.

 

[MomDoc_99]

We did not do a lot of refreshing on our most recent trip for a variety of reasons, but the times we did do it, it worked great! It also works very well if you choose to go to a park in the rain - it rained on our 2nd AK day; we didn't have a lot of options so we went anyway. We were able to move our evening FoP up to mid afternoon and get 4th and 5th FP's for Dinosaur and Navi, each with less than a minute of refreshing. We could have gotten another FoP but my husband was done with the rain by that time (late afternoon).

 

[sherilaine]

Wow this is so helpful. I have been dreading the idea of the FP+ coming from Disneyland where the MaxPass is so wonderful and allows you to plan your day as you go rather than planning in further in advance than most people plan their next dentist appointment!!

I haven't read this entire thread but I will make sure I do before we go!

 

[Chami]

I wanted to thank you all for the information about using FastPass. We were able to refresh and get the rides we wanted at the times we wanted. We couldn’t believe that people would stand in line an hour when we just refresh for a few minutes and get a FastPass.

There were only 2 of us, so I am sure that helped. Though we didn’t go crazy with it, we were able to hop onto our favorites when we had some extra time.

 

[JETSDAD]

Wow this is so helpful. I have been dreading the idea of the FP+ coming from Disneyland where the MaxPass is so wonderful and allows you to plan your day as you go rather than planning in further in advance than most people plan their next dentist appointment!!

I haven't read this entire thread but I will make sure I do before we go!

It's funny, one of the reasons I'm hesitant to do DL is that I can't use the FP system the same way as I can at WDW.

 

[mesaboy2]

Wow this is so helpful. I have been dreading the idea of the FP+ coming from Disneyland where the MaxPass is so wonderful and allows you to plan your day as you go rather than planning in further in advance than most people plan their next dentist appointment!!

I haven't read this entire thread but I will make sure I do before we go!

It’s an entirely different system that requires a different mindset. I enjoy DLR’s FP system too.