Our view of FP+, SWW, and the Disney magic!

[TigrLvsPooh]

I think you must be my soul mate! This is exactly how I feel after ever trip, some people just don't get it.
Loved reading your thoughts! Hope you can get back again soon!!

 

[kaelalala]

sooo happy to see that you enjoyed everything so much! It's so easy to get wrapped up in all the negativity online sometimes - it makes positive posts like this such a breath of fresh air thank you for sharing!!

 

[kharrison705]

Thanks for sharing! I've been looking forward to our trip and was a little worried about FP+, but I am finally starting to let that go. Every time I read another positive FP+ experience it makes me feel like we can still do everything we want to do without a huge ordeal. Just have to get a game plan together for the inevitable toddler meltdowns that will happen

 

[jodeeb]

Thanks for posting this! Such a positive, yet honest perspective.

We are just over 2 weeks from our vacation and I am so excited I cant stand it. We are staying at CR and didn't think about walking to MK, but it sounds a lot less stressful then waiting for Monorail at times.

Our ADRs and FP+ are booked. Normally by this point of the game I just kick back and count the days down in bliss.

This time I am double guessing our fast pass plan. We are planners, but once we are in the park, we are flexible and go with the flow. Now with FP+ and the new strictness on Canceling ADRs(we always called at least few hours ahead and never over book) I'm stressing when I am usually sitting back, reviewing my plans and getting all excited.

I like this post because it gives your honest perspective. It sounds you tour like us.

I do have a question. If we have early FP+ set up in a park and we end up sleeping in and not using them, do they expire and are marked as used even though we didn't use them?? So say if we had our three back to back in MK 9:00, 10:00 & 11:00 and we don't get into the park until 12:30. Do we then start using the forth rolling FP+ because I went past my original pre scheduled FP+ slot or do I get to reschedule the original 3 reserved FP+?

Mean while I am going to sit back a try not to worry. So glad you posted.

 

[FLchick415]

If you miss all of your prebooked FPs, it's my understanding that you can just go in and reschedule new times for them

 

[ashleymrush]

I want to add a thank you to the list too. It's so nice to see positive reviews. I'm hoping to be able to add my own in a report one month from now. So much negativity was happening on the boards for so long and seemed to be done by people that hadn't yet experienced FP+ yet. We're finally starting to see great reports with positive experiences and it is a breath of fresh air. We'll be taking our DS5 and DS2 and I really think that FP+ is going to be great for us. (I'm aware it may not work for everyone but I think it will for us.)

I saw that you also had a 2 year old. How did that go? Any tips or tricks to share since you are fresh off your trip?

 

[rastuso]

The negative/realistic folks are just being reasonable.

You can think positive thoughts for the next month, but that won't change the fact that there is no way on God's green Earth that you will have a trip in Mid June like the trips people are having in Mid May. And that's what us negative Nelly's are saying. You should not plan on getting anything good except your first 3 FP+s. You MIGHT get some, but you should assume none, so when reality sets in, you can keep your positivity going, maybe.

- Positive!

Serenity now, insanity later.

-Jason

 

[wdwlver]

Question for the OP: when you state that you rode Soarin twice and lost count of TT rides, what time of day was that? That was really amazing. We go in summer tho and wait times are long from park opening. Which did you fp? And how did you manage multiple TT rides?

 

[lugnut33]

Thanks for the nice trip report OP.

 

[MrInfinity]

We are just over 2 weeks from our vacation and I am so excited I cant stand it. We are staying at CR and didn't think about walking to MK, but it sounds a lot less stressful then waiting for Monorail at times.

This is by far the biggest benefit of staying at the CR. In the mornings we'd walk since it was cool... on a midday trip we usually took the monorail.

This time I am double guessing our fast pass plan. We are planners, but once we are in the park, we are flexible and go with the flow. Now with FP+ and the new strictness on Canceling ADRs(we always called at least few hours ahead and never over book) I'm stressing when I am usually sitting back, reviewing my plans and getting all excited.

I changed my FP+'s around so many times leading up to the trip. Honstly... ppl way overthink it. When you get there you use them, you get a few more, you find short lines and things to do... it's just the anticipation that makes ppl feel like they need to have their FP's exactly perfect. You really don't! The only ones that matter in advance are A&E or SDMT. Everything else was easy to change.

I didn't like the cancellation policy, as I had to pick the day before if we wanted to keep a ressie. One time we wanted to just skip a res but felt we had to go to it. Don't get me wrong, I think Disney needs this policy or ppl will double, triple, quadruple book things like the old days.

I do have a question. If we have early FP+ set up in a park and we end up sleeping in and not using them, do they expire and are marked as used even though we didn't use them?? So say if we had our three back to back in MK 9:00, 10:00 & 11:00 and we don't get into the park until 12:30. Do we then start using the forth rolling FP+ because I went past my original pre scheduled FP+ slot or do I get to reschedule the original 3 reserved FP+?

Yeah not a problem you just switch it for something else!
EDIT: You *could* use your rolling 4th at this point... but you'd be better off changing your original one than using your 4th since you can change the original from your phone. But on the other hand you could run up and get a Tier-1 if you wanted whereas if it's a Tier-2 you missed, you could only reschedule that for another Tier-2.

Mean while I am going to sit back a try not to worry. So glad you posted.

Yep. You'll have a blast no matter how much you plan or change things now.

 

[MrInfinity]

I want to add a thank you to the list too. It's so nice to see positive reviews. I'm hoping to be able to add my own in a report one month from now. So much negativity was happening on the boards for so long and seemed to be done by people that hadn't yet experienced FP+ yet. We're finally starting to see great reports with positive experiences and it is a breath of fresh air. We'll be taking our DS5 and DS2 and I really think that FP+ is going to be great for us. (I'm aware it may not work for everyone but I think it will for us.)

I saw that you also had a 2 year old. How did that go? Any tips or tricks to share since you are fresh off your trip?

Yes... one of the nicest features of FP+ was not running for tickets. I practically never had to split up our family, unless it was deliberate like some ppl wanting to do one thing while others do something else. FP+ felt more relaxed than old FP. At times it felt scheduled, cuz some rides would take longer than you planned, and so we'd have to rush out of the MS post-ride toys to make our TT fp... and you don't want to miss those good ones. Other times, you'd have time to kill between FP slots. So there was a bit of scheduled-ness to it, but the downtime was easily filled in getting slushies or looking around at things, or even bathroom breaks. We were on a bathroom break after practically ever ride (4 kids).

The 2-year old was fine! He loved the rides I thought he would... Buzz, Astro, TTA, Mermaid, Belle, Dumbo, he even road the Barnstormer! He would crash in the stroller for 30 min here and there. Parking your stroller was as always an ordeal... you have to use the designated areas, and they have valet guys who will move your stroller there if you do it wrong. His favorite thing tho had to be seriously the Sea Monster parade. (CR water pageant). Every time... Sea Monster! Sea Monster! DHS was fun for him to see the Star Wars guys (we're big SW fans) but the rides there for the little kids are slim.

Stroller via monorail was very easy. You roll right on. On busses you had to collapse it.

 

[MrInfinity]

You can think positive thoughts for the next month, but that won't change the fact that there is no way on God's green Earth that you will have a trip in Mid June like the trips people are having in Mid May. And that's what us negative Nelly's are saying. You should not plan on getting anything good except your first 3 FP+s. You MIGHT get some, but you should assume none, so when reality sets in, you can keep your positivity going, maybe.

I choose my trip dates like this for a reason. You get what you opt for! I would still have a blast if I went in June. If you have a stay you think you won't enjoy I'd be happy to go on your behalf.

And honestly, on opening day of SWW... we rode ST x4, RRx2, ToT, TSMM, DisJr, Muppets, did JTA, and staked out for the motorcade and fireworks. You just have to use all the tools at your disposal. That day was mobbed. Surely worse than a mid-week summer day. It was so busy that it certainly reaffirms that I would not choose to go in the summer and have every day be that crowded.

I agree you won't get much good at DHS... but at EC you can and will get a Maelstrom if you want. And at MK there was lots to go around all the time. Tho we hardly ever used FPs on SM or BTMRR cuz we'd hit these at Rope drop and ride standby, saving our FP's for things the whole family could do.

We easily rode Space 3x in a row at RD, followed by BTMRR / Splash repeatedly at 2nd RD (extra magic hours). I imagine these strategies will still work in the summer -- just to a lesser degree.

 

[MrInfinity]

Question for the OP: when you state that you rode Soarin twice and lost count of TT rides, what time of day was that? That was really amazing. We go in summer tho and wait times are long from park opening. Which did you fp? And how did you manage multiple TT rides?

A day would be like... RD Soarin. I'd ride w kids. DW and 2- would ride Living, hold RS ticket. Then we'd meet up. Then she'd ride and get to take 2 kids with. I'd go set up breakfast at Sunshine. She'd come out, we have breakfast ready and eat. Then we went over to Nemo, hit that FP for all of us. Then Turtle talk, didn't need it (got on in the first group easily) so switch this for Imagination. Then went over to Imagination and rode that, which was nice to have the FP for cuz it was 20 min otherwise. Then went over to TT and rode that via FP... making sure to get a RS so that the other adult could then go on and take a couple kids back. At this point while she'd go on the ride, I'd wander over to the FP kiosk and was surprised to see Maelstrom. So *I* didn't personally get on that many times, but I'm ok w riding a few times... our kids got to go extras. The following day at EC, we Rope dropped (after Akershus breakfast) and Fast Passed TT, and even waited standby a couple times (about 30 min, it was pretty early). Didn't do Soarin this day, but I'm from Cali and have done Soarin there tons of times.

(there were other ppl in our party besides just us and we were switching the kids off left and right so it's hard to say exactly how many times each got on).

TT sign said 40-70 min most times we looked at it. I imagine it would be tougher in the summer of course! We're talking midweek May day here. I imagine if TT was your goal you could just do standby and get on several times in the day w/o a problem simply by being there early. By midday it was 70 min.

 

[DisneyFive]

Awesome post OP!! Thanks for sharing, and super happy that you had such an amazing time. Gives us ALL something to look forward to.

BTW, totally agree about Akerhus. It is a great way to see a bunch of princesses all at once though, instead of paying way more OOP or 2 credits on the meal plan for CRT. The food is very, very so-so. I like weird foods, and do like some of the stuff on the buffet though. The main courses are pretty bad.

Dan