Please help me to help a Non Planner with their trip..

[6loversofdisney]

He has some questions for me and since I have not experienced the last minute trip, I don't know how to answer...

His questions:

His trip is June 16th....where should he purchase tickets at this point? He wants a deal. I am thinking his only choice would be AAA and I think it may be cutting it too close even for that. My thought at this point is that he has to just buy them there.

He will only be in the parks 3 days.

He wants the top 5 attractions in each park (I think I can handle that one) (I plan to tell him basically anything with a FP (which he obviously doesn't have lol).

He has a teen and a college age child.

He also wants to know the best and quickest ways to get around which I also think I can handle.

Thanks for any help!!!

 

[joannamet]

I would buy tickets online from Disney. He'll pay a little more but he can still try to make some fastpass+ res immediately.

 

[ArwenMarie]

Yeah, I think he should buy them online and try to get some FP+s prebooked...like today . He is going to be there during a very busy week.

Is he going to get hoppers? If not, have him pick a park to cut out if he is only going to have three days.

Make sure he understands how to use My Disney Experience and that he can get a 4th FP at a kiosk after he uses his three.

Good luck helping!

 

[elaine amj]

have tried helping nonplanners a few times. Keeping it simple has been the key for me after seeing too many eyes glaze over.

- No.1 is helping them understand how FP works.
- I ask if they are willing to rope drop and highly recommend it.
- Suggest they make a list of their favorite attractions
- Warn them it will be busy, crowded and there will be lines - but it will be fun.
- With 3 days, choose a park to drop. That will save him $$ on parkhoppers which will be his "deal".
- I often offer a list of rides with the longest lines and suggest those are done before 11am or with FP+. Then I offer a list of fillers that can be done anytime.

They love suggestions on how to save money...but I doubt you'll be able to help him much there with just a week to go.

Assure him there are very limited ticket discounts anywhere - just suck it up and buy online ASAP so he can book some FP+. Even for someone looking for a deal, those FP+ will be worth much more than the tiny bits of money he would save.

So basically I would suggest he:
- buy his tickets online
- book FP+
- do rope drop and cover the attractions he could not get FP+ for.

 

[MommaBerd]

I would like to add that if he decides to purchase on-line, he needs to do so no later than 4 days prior. Otherwise he will have to buy at the park and will not be able to make FP+ ressies. I ran into this with a friend who was last-minute planning. But, don't forget you can also buy from a Disney store if there's one nearby.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[Wendybird55]

As far as getting better priced tickets, if there's a AAA office near him he can get his tickets there. My SIL did that...though she had her trip planned in advance, a couple of weeks before they left she went to AAA office by her and bought park tickets. As soon as he buys them he can link them to MDE to make FP+ selections.

 

[JCHZ]

He has some questions for me and since I have not experienced the last minute trip, I don't know how to answer...

His questions:

His trip is June 16th....where should he purchase tickets at this point? He wants a deal. I am thinking his only choice would be AAA and I think it may be cutting it too close even for that. My thought at this point is that he has to just buy them there.

He will only be in the parks 3 days.

He wants the top 5 attractions in each park (I think I can handle that one) (I plan to tell him basically anything with a FP (which he obviously doesn't have lol).

He has a teen and a college age child.

He also wants to know the best and quickest ways to get around which I also think I can handle.

Thanks for any help!!!

I hope you don't mind if I tag on to this quote, as I'm finding myself in a similar situation for the same time frame. Figuring out too late things are quite different than our last visit, which was in '07. Duh.

We're coming June 15 & 16; park hopper tickets are purchased. Current plan is MK on 16 all day. Wondering how to do AK & Epcot on 15th? Mostly interested in riding Everest a couple of times and currently have FP's for that, Dino's, and the Safari, with a plan to move on to Epcot in the afternoon, but now worried no rides will be available to FP when we get there. Any suggestions? I have never posted to a forum, so please forgive me any errors and make polite corrections where needed

 

[fla4fun]

I hope you don't mind if I tag on to this quote, as I'm finding myself in a similar situation for the same time frame. Figuring out too late things are quite different than our last visit, which was in '07. Duh.

We're coming June 15 & 16; park hopper tickets are purchased. Current plan is MK on 16 all day. Wondering how to do AK & Epcot on 15th? Mostly interested in riding Everest a couple of times and currently have FP's for that, Dino's, and the Safari, with a plan to move on to Epcot in the afternoon, but now worried no rides will be available to FP when we get there. Any suggestions? I have never posted to a forum, so please forgive me any errors and make polite corrections where needed

Well, even with the legacy FP, hopping to Epcot on a summer afternoon would have meant the likelihood of getting a TT or Soarin' FP was very slim - so that much hasn't really changed.

Many people who hop with FP+ do rope drop at their first park and ride without FP+, booking them in the second park instead so they will be assured of the ability to ride in the second park. So you could consider booking FP+ at Epcot instead and hitting AK at rope drop. Or you could plan to ride TT and Soarin' very late in the day when the wait times are a little shorter instead of during the afternoon when you first arrive at Epcot, if there are no FP+ available. Only you know which park and which attractions are the higher priority for your family, so I would book based on which park and attractions are most important to you.

 

[JCHZ]

Thanks. The last time we went was also the first time, so we are definitely novices at all of it. If we choose to do FP's for Epcot, does anyone have any thoughts on how long we would wait for Everest if we got there at rope drop, and the likelihood of riding it more than once?

 

[elaine amj]

You really shouldn't have issues riding Everest at rope drop. Get to the park 30 mins before rope drop and walk fast to be near the front of the pack. And there is a possibility of a second ride. It processes ppl very quickly.

 

[peakesshou]

I ran into this with a friend who was last-minute planning.