Refresh FP vets

[dlavender]

I've read on here a lot where people are confident in their abilities to get almost any FP they want by refreshing, refreshing, and refreshing some more.

I'm trying to land the "holy grail" of FP's....7DMT and FEA.

Looking at March 23,24,25 for a party of 5. I realize its in the midst of the Spring Break crowds, but I'm hoping to have a change in luck with these FP's and looking for some input.

I've only spent about an hour so far, but no luck on any date for either one.

For those that seem to have better luck, do you wait until closer? Is two weeks out still too soon to strike gold?

Or do I have to take a vacation day and just refresh for 8 hours?

 

[Duck143]

I've found that the refreshing trick works best at the last minute. So pretty much day of or day before. People tend to change up their plans more at the very last minute while they'e actually on the vacation.

 

[Klayfish]

It's waaaaay too early to be doing it now. You may get super lucky, but unlikely. If you're looking for March 23, 24, 25, you're likely to get it on March 22, 23, 24 or 25. 99% of the ones we get are less than 24 hours out. Of those, probably 75% are less than 2 hours out.

It's such a "mindless" activity that I do it while standing in other FP+ queues. And no, it doesn't keep me with my "face in my phone". I am an active participant in family conversations. As I've mentioned before, my kids actually like it when I do it, because to them it's sort of like spinning a prize wheel.

You should have little trouble getting FEA or 7DMT. You may find it easier to split your party up into 2 and 3, but we're a family of 5 and I usually don't have to split us.

 

[disneyvoice]

You really need to do it the day of. What you are hoping for is the FP become available as others cancel them because their plans changed. So once you use your 3rd FP start "refreshing" to look for the 4th. I will add that I have never been successful doing this for FoP, and that includes days that other people have reported easily getting multiple additional FPs for FoP. So somehow I am literally doing NOTHING but refreshing over and over continuously for HOURS while we stand in other lines but others search once and get it. I truly have no idea why it never works for us.

 

[dlavender]

I was hoping to score them earlier, to help nudge DW into the trip. lol

"look, we already have the hard to get FP's, we have to go!"

But it seems as if the consensus is to wait until the day before at most.

I'll keep plugging away here and there, but may not get the FP's until right before, if lucky.

Thanks for the input!

 

[dlavender]

You really need to do it the day of. What you are hoping for is the FP become available as others cancel them because their plans changed. So once you use your 3rd FP start "refreshing" to look for the 4th. I will add that I have never been successful doing this for FoP, and that includes days that other people have reported easily getting multiple additional FPs for FoP. So somehow I am literally doing NOTHING but refreshing over and over continuously for HOURS while we stand in other lines but others search once and get it. I truly have no idea why it never works for us.

I've never had any luck with getting any hard to find FP day of.

Probably refreshed for the most 30 mins at once, however.

But I give up and move on when I'm in the parks.

 

[pitpat]

On Monday, 3/5 at 4:30pm we got a FEA FP for 4 for 8:25 that night. So we were able to get a perfect spot for Illuminations against the fence in Norway when we came out.

 

[cigar95]

On the day of, after 11am, try searching at 7 and 37 minutes after the hour. There are sometimes FastPass "drops" at those times. It's hard to predict, and the patterns are irregular, but "something" magical happens at those times.

 

[Klayfish]

I've never had any luck with getting any hard to find FP day of.

Probably refreshed for the most 30 mins at once, however.

But I give up and move on when I'm in the parks.

Keep trying. Even during the literal busiest week of the year, Xmas to NYE, we got tons of same day FP+. It took a lot more work than it does during any other time of the year, no doubt, but we still got them.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I was never able to get 7DMT last minute. I did score FEA as a 5th and TSMM 3x in one day, although I know they aren't doing FP right now. On that day there was also the chance for RnR as a 4th. It was MLK weekend, so it was busy.

The other night I was helping a friend and saw FoP for the next day. Honestly, a lot of it is luck and persistence.


ETA: If park hours extend there will be more FPs added at some point. Not sure if they've already extended them for your week.

 

[Strawberry15]

We just got back and had some success with it last minute. On Sunday, at MK, we had a group of 10 who wanted to ride Splash Mountain together. With 2 of us refreshing we were able to get all 10 fast passes within one hour. It did take quite a bit of refreshing, but I only did it while standing in line for another ride.

 

[dlavender]

Keep trying. Even during the literal busiest week of the year, Xmas to NYE, we got tons of same day FP+. It took a lot more work than it does during any other time of the year, no doubt, but we still got them.

I know it varies, but how long do you usually refresh for? 1 hr at a time? Or just randomly here and there?

 

[KittyKitty]

I'm trying to land the "holy grail" of FP's....7DMT and FEA.

Looking at March 23,24,25 for a party of 5.

This may have been asked already but do you already have a tier 1 FP for the days you are looking at for Epcot,FEA? If so, you are blocked out of seeing FEA fp's, since you are only allowed 1 "tier 1" FP per person. (Does this make sense?)

I've heard of other guests breaking up the group to see if 2 ppl,3 ppl, etc can be reserved with overlapping times.

 

[dlavender]

This may have been asked already but do you already have a tier 1 FP for the days you are looking at for Epcot,FEA? If so, you are blocked out of seeing FEA fp's, since you are only allowed 1 "tier 1" FP per person. (Does this make sense?)

No I have no FP's booked right now.

 

[DavidNYC]

When we talk about refreshing - we’re always talking about getting additional FP day of. That’s not a prebooking strategy as inventory changes far far far less frequently until day of.

 

[Iya]

I've read on here a lot where people are confident in their abilities to get almost any FP they want by refreshing, refreshing, and refreshing some more.

I'm trying to land the "holy grail" of FP's....7DMT and FEA.

Looking at March 23,24,25 for a party of 5. I realize its in the midst of the Spring Break crowds, but I'm hoping to have a change in luck with these FP's and looking for some input.

I've only spent about an hour so far, but no luck on any date for either one.

For those that seem to have better luck, do you wait until closer? Is two weeks out still too soon to strike gold?

Or do I have to take a vacation day and just refresh for 8 hours?

I only refresh the day of in the park and usually have good luck. I was able to get a FP+ for Mine Train for 2 later in the evening, after already using one. I never tried for FOP, since I knew it was futile.

 

[Iya]

This may have been asked already but do you already have a tier 1 FP for the days you are looking at for Epcot,FEA? If so, you are blocked out of seeing FEA fp's, since you are only allowed 1 "tier 1" FP per person. (Does this make sense?)

I've heard of other guests breaking up the group to see if 2 ppl,3 ppl, etc can be reserved with overlapping times.

You aren't blocked from seeing them. You can't book another tier 1 without giving up the current tier 1 FP+.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I know it varies, but how long do you usually refresh for? 1 hr at a time? Or just randomly here and there?

I know you didn't quote me, but I refresh constantly while waiting.

 

[Klayfish]

I know it varies, but how long do you usually refresh for? 1 hr at a time? Or just randomly here and there?

When we're in the park, pretty often. Like I said, it's such a mindless activity, that it's easy to do. We have our first 3 set for the day, and we set them for as soon as we arrive and back to back to back. So if we get to the parks at 9:45am (we never rope drop), I have them for 9:30, 10:30, 11:30. From there, unless it's a ride that doesn't need or have FP+, everything we do is done via same day FP+. So I'll do it while we're standing in line for a ride, eating lunch, etc...

 

[dlavender]

When we talk about refreshing - we’re always talking about getting additional FP day of. That’s not a prebooking strategy as inventory changes far far far less frequently until day of.

I get that.

We just don’t want or need the other FP’s. Just wanting to keep it open to snag one of the above.