Please ease my fears!

[JustinS30]

I just booked my first trip in over 10 years. Used to go almost annually. Things have certainly changed, especially this new booking fast passes 60 days out! Some of the things I'm reading make me wonder if I made a mistake booking this. Is it possible to get on rides and actually have a good time with minimal strategizing? I will book my FPs when my date comes around and take advantage of EMH, but how much do I really need to do beyond that? I want to enjoy my vacation not stress over it the whole time! I'm going in October.

Well, IMO that question can vary greatly. It really depends on the areas of interest of your family, time of your visit, and size of your family or traveling party.

I have had several mid-summer trips (including 4th of July) being able to casually accomplish everything, but that was a party of 2. Rule of thumb is the smaller the group the easier it is to manage crowds, get fast passes etc...obviously. Especially if you travel at a busy time of year, I’d say definitely DEFINITELY take advantage of your 60 day booking window for FastPass and 180days for ADR. To take a popular attraction and FastPass with Flight of Passage, you will NEED a FastPass to ride without a 2-3 hour standby line (unless you rope drop but you’re also waiting for rope drop then).

As far as EMH goes, I always avoid them if I’m avoiding crowds. Especially if you have first timers, focus on 1 Park per day, and go to a park that had EMH the previous night, and study several crowd calendar recommendations and you’ll have much more success.

 

[teruterubouzu]

I just got back from my first trip with FastPass+. I understand how you are feeling. For me, the new system feels more stressful and less spontaneous, but we still made it work. We used Touring Plans to help us make the most of our time. It was a huge help and also gave a realistic idea of what we could see in a day. Focus on your must dos and give yourself some time to just relax and take it all in. I am sure you will have a great time!

 

[DisneyTravelers2008]

You are going to have a great time! Don’t let pre booking Fps stress you out. We have done several trips in the past 3 years where we only bought tickets and booked FPs 8 or 6 or 4 or even 1 week out! Here are a few things Id suggest:

• Be aware that Star Wars land opens in HWS in late August so you may see bigger crowds in that park especially. Maybe this will make it easier to ride other things in HWS...a girl can hope!
• Look over the park maps for each park to remind yourself where things are located so you don’t waste time wondering around finding things AND try to ride things that are close to each other (especially at MK where everything is so spread out). Just check Google for park maps
• Use the wait time on the My Disney Experience / MDE app to let you know what to ride next based on wait times.
• Book your FPs from about 10: 30 am through 1 pm each day so as soon as you use all your FPs, you can use the MDE app to book more. You cant book additional FPs until you use or cancel all the ones you have.
• If you don’t have one, buy a portable phone charging bank to charge your phone during the day since the MDE drains your phone battery. I got one for me and one for my daughter on Amazon for about $6- to $8 and they are really helpful
• On days that MK opens at 9 am , they will open the Main Street section for shopping. The bakery is open for breakfast and it’s a good time to get photos of the castle and get a jump start on the day. I think on days that it opens at 8 am, they let you in 30-15 minutes early ,but I am not certain. This is separate from Early Morning magic Hours / EMH…only the Main Street section is open.

Hope some of this helps!

 

[clm10308]

I have never used Touring Plans or crisscrossed the parks to cut wait times. What we like to do is to go late at night. When the park is open until 2am, lots of rides can be had with short waits. I know late nights don’t work for everyone, but that is my favorite time.
When possible, I do plan 2 days for each park and focus on different sections of the park each day, and some times the second day is a shorter day.
If you only have 1 day per park, then picking out must do rides in advance will give you something to focus on.

 

[disney4us2002]

I'm in the same boat. Our last family trip was in 2009. This October it's just me and hubby. My intention in picking October (last fall) was to experience Epcot's Food and Wine and I knew very little about the Star Wars craziness expected. Now I'm sure there will be mobs of people and my hubby will be miserable. The first trip we ever took was in October and it was the BEST! Of course it was also in 1991 and there was a lot less to do and see. I did book some sit-downs and a brunch with the chef thru F & W. Since we're onsite for more than 8 nights, I will attempt to book FP for the top rides towards the end of our stay and hope for the best. Hubby is not much of a coaster rider so I can probably do better with those rides that have single rider lines. He interested in SW so that is something where we have to plan for crowds. I don't think I can make a 6am rope drop. I've read of others planning to be in line by 5am and that is not my idea of a vacation. Good luck to us both! Here's hoping October is fun and not 100 degrees.

 

[GillianP1301]

You don't have to be an uber planner to have an enjoyable Disney World vacation. For some, planning is fun and cuts down stress, so for those people lots of planning is a benefit. If the act of planning stresses you out more than touring with minimal planning will, then just don't have an excessive touring plan. I would for sure recommend figuring out which park you want to visit on which day and booking the 3 fastpasses per day ahead of time. They are free, so it's really silly not to take advantage of them. Don't let them stress you though, if you don't use them, no penalty. You can also try to adjust fastpasses day of if your timing ends up a bit off. I would also suggest booking any table service dining you really want so you know you have it. If you aren't set on any specific dining, then there are always table service options open the day of as long as you aren't picky about the where and what time. And of course there is always quick service is a sit down meal is not your thing. Other than that, if you feel like looking into what rides you want to go on the most to start a list then make that as well. Do just enough planning to get your basics in a plan and enough that you aren't standing in the middle of a park looking at a map with no clue where to go next because that in itself can cause stress.

Most of all, just breath. Take your time in putting it all together, it will work out.

 

[kiford]

It depends on your goals. If you want to get on every headliner with minimal waits and hit absolutely everything else, then you may have issues. There are crowds, no getting around that. But do you need to do that to have fun? Not in my estimation. We find that there are so many things to do and see that we often only hit a few attractions. Granted, we have been several times and we have been going more frequently, but even in previous years, we had a lot of fun sometimes only going on a few attractions.

With the addition of more dining places, the general improvement in CS offerings (beyond the standard "burger" - which I put in quotations because they were so horrible I barely considered them burgers - and fries) to a broader range of options, and the penalties for no-shows, I've had very little issue getting the reservations I wanted and even changing them later or at the last minute. And I'm now willing to eat at a number of CS places whereas a few years ago, I flatly refused after having some of the offerings.

Even now, I book FPs 60 days out and end up cancelling half of them on the day because we either decide to go to a different park, go back to the resort for pool time/room time, or we decide to just do something else in the park. Sometimes all we'll do is the 2-3 fastpasses we have and spend the rest of it just wandering around, sitting in a lounge relaxing, shopping/browsing or hopping onto something that has a low wait time just because that's where we are.

 

[Oozma_Kappa]

I just booked my first trip in over 10 years. Used to go almost annually. Things have certainly changed, especially this new booking fast passes 60 days out! Some of the things I'm reading make me wonder if I made a mistake booking this. Is it possible to get on rides and actually have a good time with minimal strategizing? I will book my FPs when my date comes around and take advantage of EMH, but how much do I really need to do beyond that? I want to enjoy my vacation not stress over it the whole time! I'm going in October.

I go by whatever plans are on the app and do whatever looks fun in between. There is so much going on, and they have expanded a lot from 10 years ago. They make sure you stay entertained no matter what!

 

[Hisgirl]

I believe it depends on how many there are of you. When my hubby and I went in April, we decided to wing it. We had fast passes to every single ride, never stood in line and rode everything we wanted. Just by searching and refreshing. Fast passes kept changing by the minute and we never had to wait for more than five minutes to find what we were waiting for.

 

[LandoBlanco]

We usually plan enough that we make sure our must-do attractions and 1-2 preferred restaurants are booked, but other than that, we leave some room for flexibility. We'll change our dining reservations/fast passes multiple times before a trip. Mainly, it's more of a fun thing to talk about at home before a trip. Sometimes when we actually get in the parks, we'll cancel our meticulously made plans for a whole day if we feel like doing something else.

 

[WRLeGrand]

I just booked my first trip in over 10 years. Used to go almost annually. Things have certainly changed, especially this new booking fast passes 60 days out! Some of the things I'm reading make me wonder if I made a mistake booking this. Is it possible to get on rides and actually have a good time with minimal strategizing? I will book my FPs when my date comes around and take advantage of EMH, but how much do I really need to do beyond that? I want to enjoy my vacation not stress over it the whole time! I'm going in October.

With you having a 10 day trip, if you plan even a reasonable amount you will be able to really get nearly any/all Fast passes you want. Having three of these each day will definitely allow you to go with the flow more, except for these times!

 

[Beer Me]

I’ve planned an entire WDW vacation from my bed in about 30 minutes. It doesn’t have to be difficult. My steps:
- Book the resort based on availability, price and location.
- Buy park hopper tickets for desired number of days.
- Plan which parks I will start in each day. If early extra magic hours I choose that park
- Make ADRs for each day if desired
- Get fast passes for parks i start at each day.

You can do all of this on a phone or tablet in less than an hour. And any of it can be modified so no stress about making a bad plan or whatever. You can still be spontaneous once you are there.

One big caveat- this works for me because I’m pretty laid back about what we do and where/when we eat each day. If there are certain things you absolutely must do at a certain time it may require much more effort.

 

[Kingoglow]

Define what a good time would be for you and your family. Rides? Relaxation? Exploring? Eating? Resort hopping?

If rides are your thing and the focus of your trip, then planning will be a necessity unless you are planning a longer vacation (6+days).

For short trips, utilizing the Fastpass+ system is a big help in accomplishing everything you want to do in a few days.

 

[Grammy4Lizzy]

I will go against most and say - things are not as enjoyable for me with Disneyworld's fastpass system. I FAR prefer Disneyland's (paper tickets, get them when you are there). I don't want to have to plan everything that much in advance. I also don't like the fact that all the good fastpasses are gone by the time my 30 day window opens up (and before people pipe up about hitting refresh on the app all day long - honestly, that would become like a job to me and I'm there for vacation). I am paying for my admission to the parks, and even though I don't stay on property - I feel that I should be treated as a valued guest also. On site guests already get other perks, so why this too?

Anyways, that's my probably unpopular view. I like to be a lot more spontaneous, and I think a good amount of that has been taken away. I far prefer Disneyland, but I don't live on the west coast anymore so it is easier for me to get to Orlando.

The thing is, Disney spent a lot of money to develop this system. They will not go back to the old stuff. You have to adjust and accept. Sorry.
The reason resort guests get this perk is they pay for it in the higher prices for rooms. You too can book at 60 days, just book on property. Or look at the resorts off property that have the perks.

 

[bopper]

The problem with disboards is that you can feel like it will be a disaster if you haven't planned everything down to the minute.

Plan some FPs and some dinner reservations (if you want to eat at sit down restaurants in WDW), and you will be fine.

 

[Chickinvic]

The problem with disboards is that you can feel like it will be a disaster if you haven't planned everything down to the minute.

Plan some FPs and some dinner reservations (if you want to eat at sit down restaurants in WDW), and you will be fine.

While I wouldn't call it a "disaster" not to make plans ahead, it definitely isn't the chilled out place to just be able to go with the flow and still get to do everything that it used to be (or much like OP would have last experienced 10 years ago). I personally am glad I have my memories of how things were before all this.

 

[4evryoung]

The problem with disboards is that you can feel like it will be a disaster if you haven't planned everything down to the minute.

Plan some FPs and some dinner reservations (if you want to eat at sit down restaurants in WDW), and you will be fine.

The most stressful elements can be feeling that having booked your FPs you have to be on a strict timetable, getting to x point at a certain time and then y and z in rapid succession. Remember that for most FPs you have a one hour window, so a 30 minute slippage in the schedule (perhaps because a meal takes longer than expected, or a ride goes down) is not going to destroy your plans for the rest of the day. Plus, if there is a ride you really must do, book it twice on different days so that if the weather, soggy footwear, or just plain tiredness in your group makes you need to give it a miss on the first day, you can catch up with the schedule later in the trip. Don't let the plan overwhelm the general experience, even if you have had to put the plan in place 60 days before your vacation.

 

[disneygirlsng]

The new FP system is SIGNIFICANTLY less stressful and much, much better IMO. Instead of having to run across the park to grab a FP, just to then come back to that same ride potentially several hours later is not my idea of a good time. Also being told a specific hour time frame instead of picking it yourself wasn't fun. You go into each day knowing you have 3 rides set, at times you picked. Then once you get through those, you can easily add lots more. In just the time it takes to walk through the line of one ride, you can have your next FP lined up, easy peasy. It is faaar from being on your phone all day, anytime I see someone say that, it's usually someone who hasn't really ever done it. Pretty much every ride is available for the same day, so not sure about it not being fair for those that aren't staying onsite. You can get way more FPs than you could before, with significantly less effort. Win, win in my book. I couldn't imagine going back to paper, I would stop going.

 

[YawningDodo]

We usually plan enough that we make sure our must-do attractions and 1-2 preferred restaurants are booked, but other than that, we leave some room for flexibility. We'll change our dining reservations/fast passes multiple times before a trip. Mainly, it's more of a fun thing to talk about at home before a trip. Sometimes when we actually get in the parks, we'll cancel our meticulously made plans for a whole day if we feel like doing something else.

This is me every time. I'm already laying out day-by-day plans for January to help me figure out what I want to do for dining reservations, but I know I'm going to completely overhaul those plans at least twice between now and then, and once I'm actually in WDW I'll probably abandon the majority of my plans to go do something else. It's why I'm not going to bother booking more than two ADRs; if I book more I'll just end up cancelling them in the name of spontaneity. I'll just grab any additional dining reservations on the fly and see what I can get.

For me, the biggest benefits of planning are that a.) it's fun and b.) plotting things out is good "practice" for identifying the various options that will be available to me once I get there. The plans themselves aren't important, really; the important part is understanding what options I'm going to have.

The problem with disboards is that you can feel like it will be a disaster if you haven't planned everything down to the minute.

Plan some FPs and some dinner reservations (if you want to eat at sit down restaurants in WDW), and you will be fine.

THIS. I had a lot of the same feelings OP is having back when I set up a two night/one day stop in WDW on a Saturday back in January 2018 on short notice. I was well within even the 30 day window, so I wasn't able to get the FOP FP+ I wanted, and all the talk on these boards had me absolutely convinced that I was going to spend the entire day waiting in lines to ride a scant handful of attractions. And that totally didn't happen! It was much more crowded than I'd ever seen WDW in January and the standby lines were long across the board, but I did all four parks in that single day and rode every ride I set my sights on, and that was with allowing time out for a fireworks dessert party I'd splurged on reserving in advance.

My big takeaways from that experience:

• Take the DisBoards doomsaying with a big ol' grain of salt.
• If you set your expectations reasonably, you won't be disappointed. Expect to wait in at least some lines. That's just how themeparks work.
• By and large, the old strategies still work, even if they don't always work as well as they used to. Rope drop worked, even though I got there only 30 minutes ahead instead of the now prescribed hour+. Getting in line for a favorite attraction right before closing also worked.
• The FP+ refresh method does work, and it's not as onerous as it sounds. You do have to spend time on your phone to do it, but I got almost all of my FP+ while waiting in line or on the bus. I only booked one FP+ in advance but used tons of them throughout the day.
• I still think the Touring Plans style of attraction-by-attraction touring plan is completely unnecessary.

The other thing I'll say is that if you do decide to do table service dining, one of the best times to book it is the day before. Tons of dining reservations get cancelled just outside the 24 hour deadline to do so without having to pay a no-show fee. Being flexible about where you want to eat and being willing to try new things can give you all kinds of openings for last minute dining arrangements.


Edit: Because I don't want to be unnecessarily inflammatory: the Touring Plans style of doing things is unnecessary for me and for people who do well with spontaneous touring. I'm aware that different people are suited by different styles of doing things; I just want to assure the OP that a detailed plan is not the only way to successfully tour!

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

Ok. I’m here with a quick cold shower dose of reality.

While WDW is still a wonderful vacation destination IMO it certainly is not the WDW of 10 years ago. The crowds levels are much, much heavier now, especially in October. I only say this because I would hate for you to show up expecting the Disney of 2008\09.

That being said you do not have to have your trip planned out like you’re executing a military op. We plan very little. In fact, the only thing that dictates any part of our trip is morning EMH - those are a must for us.

Simply decide what is important to you. Table service meals? Book a few ADRs and make it ok to cancel them (24 hrs in advance so you don’t get charged a no show fee). Night EMH is your thing? Great. Take a look at the hours calendar about a month or so in advance when it should be about 90ish% complete.

There is absolutely no reason to stress without a plan or itinerary. In fact, it’s having an itinerary that stresses me out. Once you get off track it’s hard to get back on. So I don’t bother in the first place.

My advice is to read the FP sticky. Check out some reviews in the dining board. Read up on the food and wine offerings. Maybe think about an after hours event, desert party or MNNSHP.

And most importantly relax and enjoy your vacation!