same day FP+ for the most popular attractions ARE available.

[disney world dreamer]

i have one day left on my ticket from my vacation last week and since it does not expire until 14 days after first use i decided to play around to see what same day FP+ attractions are avaialble.

at 11:30am today i was able to book A&E, SDMT, and space mountain at MK.
sure it wasn't the greatest times (A&E 3:50pm-4:50pm or 10pm-11pm and SDMT 8:30pm-9:30pm) but my point is that they are still available.
if you have a young child that wants to do A&E that you don't think can make it all day then take a break and go back or something.

i also just checked epcot and i could get soarin for 7pm-8pm, 7:35pm-8:35pm, or 8pm-9pm.

i checked HS and unfortunately TSMM is not available same day BUT i checked for tomorrow and there are plenty of time slots.

i just wanted to post this so that people could see that all hope is not lost if you don't get your FP+ right at 12am or 1am 60 days out.

as long as you are willing to be flexible with your times its possible to get even the most popular attractions same day.

heck had i gone on at 8am vs 11:30am i probably would have had more luck.

 

[Love Tink]

i have one day left on my ticket from my vacation last week and since it does not expire until 14 days after first use i decided to play around to see what same day FP+ attractions are avaialble.

at 11:30am today i was able to book A&E, SDMT, and space mountain at MK.
sure it wasn't the greatest times (A&E 3:50pm-4:50pm or 10pm-11pm and SDMT 8:30pm-9:30pm) but my point is that they are still available.
if you have a young child that wants to do A&E that you don't think can make it all day then take a break and go back or something.

i also just checked epcot and i could get soarin for 7pm-8pm, 7:35pm-8:35pm, or 8pm-9pm.

i checked HS and unfortunately TSMM is not available same day BUT i checked for tomorrow and there are plenty of time slots.

i just wanted to post this so that people could see that all hope is not lost if you don't get your FP+ right at 12am or 1am 60 days out.

as long as you are willing to be flexible with your times its possible to get even the most popular attractions same day.

heck had i gone on at 8am vs 11:30am i probably would have had more luck.

Shall we send the young child in by his or herself?

 

[PollyannaMom]

I wonder if people are booking "insurance" FastPasses at the 60-day mark and then dumping the extras at the last minute? Then people who are saying they're gone at 30 days out, and people who are saying they're available day-of, could both be right?

 

[Mikie]

I wonder if people are booking "insurance" FastPasses at the 60-day mark and then dumping the extras at the last minute? Then people who are saying they're gone at 30 days out, and people who are saying they're available day-of, could both be right?

It's definitely possible for the "all Gone at 60” and "still available day of" people to both be right. In fact, often the person who grabs a FP at 5 days out IS the person who couldn't get it at 60 days and has been stalking ever since. People cancel trips, change park days, rearrange plans all the time, plus the speculation that maybe extra FPs are released day-of.

 

[PurpleKomodo]

It is also important to remember that right now is not a peak time to go. As we approach summer and crowds increase, it may not be the same story.

 

[itchin2go]

This site would disagree, but then they are searching for 4, not 1.

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showpost.php?p=10123554&postcount=1

 

[MakiraMarlena]

yep they are usually available...but you can't count on them.

The Dibb site does show TSMM available for today right now (for 4)

 

[itchin2go]

i have one day left on my ticket from my vacation last week and since it does not expire until 14 days after first use i decided to play around to see what same day FP+ attractions are avaialble.

at 11:30am today i was able to book A&E, SDMT, and space mountain at MK.
sure it wasn't the greatest times (A&E 3:50pm-4:50pm or 10pm-11pm and SDMT 8:30pm-9:30pm) but my point is that they are still available.
if you have a young child that wants to do A&E that you don't think can make it all day then take a break and go back or something.

i also just checked epcot and i could get soarin for 7pm-8pm, 7:35pm-8:35pm, or 8pm-9pm.

i checked HS and unfortunately TSMM is not available same day BUT i checked for tomorrow and there are plenty of time slots.

i just wanted to post this so that people could see that all hope is not lost if you don't get your FP+ right at 12am or 1am 60 days out.

as long as you are willing to be flexible with your times its possible to get even the most popular attractions same day.

heck had i gone on at 8am vs 11:30am i probably would have had more luck.

You know, in pondering this, it occurred to me that this is one very good reason for limiting people to 3 pre-booked FPs a day. When you only have 3 FPs available to you, if you're not going to use one, you have a huge incentive to cancel it and book something else. Then someone else has a chance to snap up that FP that you're not going to use.

 

[Angel Ariel]

i have one day left on my ticket from my vacation last week and since it does not expire until 14 days after first use i decided to play around to see what same day FP+ attractions are avaialble.

at 11:30am today i was able to book A&E, SDMT, and space mountain at MK.
sure it wasn't the greatest times (A&E 3:50pm-4:50pm or 10pm-11pm and SDMT 8:30pm-9:30pm) but my point is that they are still available.
if you have a young child that wants to do A&E that you don't think can make it all day then take a break and go back or something.

i also just checked epcot and i could get soarin for 7pm-8pm, 7:35pm-8:35pm, or 8pm-9pm.

i checked HS and unfortunately TSMM is not available same day BUT i checked for tomorrow and there are plenty of time slots.

i just wanted to post this so that people could see that all hope is not lost if you don't get your FP+ right at 12am or 1am 60 days out.

as long as you are willing to be flexible with your times its possible to get even the most popular attractions same day.

heck had i gone on at 8am vs 11:30am i probably would have had more luck.

As with everything related to touring wdw, availability depends on when you go. We did not find this availability in November. There was no same day availability for a&e, sdmt or tsmm. I'm not talking there were times, they just didn't work - there were *no* times to choose from for those attractions on the days we were in those parks.

Rest assured, that lack of availability did not ruin our trip in any way. But because of our experience, I always caution to book ahead what one really wants because same day availability is not guaranteed.

 

[LaurenT]

I am sure the time of year is playing a part, but FP's do become available as people change their minds - and that can happen any time. I did reserve 2 A&E times for my August trip last year ... I had no intention of doing the M&G twice, but I wanted to make sure that I could still get my kid in if something happened and we couldn't make the first one. As soon as we did the M&G, I changed the second one scheduled two days later for something else. I'm sure someone got lucky when they logged in and found a last minute set of FPs for A&E!

 

[itchin2go]

As with everything related to touring wdw, availability depends on when you go. We did not find this availability in November. There was no same day availability for a&e, sdmt or tsmm. I'm not talking there were times, they just didn't work - there were *no* times to choose from for those attractions on the days we were in those parks.

Rest assured, that lack of availability did not ruin our trip in any way. But because of our experience, I always caution to book ahead what one really wants because same day availability is not guaranteed.

I never saw A&E either. I may have seen SDMT, but at a bad time and for one person only. Availability at a time when you have to be somewhere else, or for not enough people is technically "availability", but it does you no good.

 

[kenny]

Agreed it all depends on timing. During slower times I am sure they are available just like wait times will be minimal

We were there over easter and day of was limited. We tried changing times of some of our eticket rides but nothing was available. Rolling 4th FP was extremely limited also. Best available for 4th was pirates buzz and jungle cruise.

On a sader note it really stinks that u actually need a FP now on those rides. Those were all basically walk ons or very minimal waits before fp+

I can't remember the last time pirates had a 50 min wait

 

[Angel Ariel]

I am sure the time of year is playing a part, but FP's do become available as people change their minds - and that can happen any time. I did reserve 2 A&E times for my August trip last year ... I had no intention of doing the M&G twice, but I wanted to make sure that I could still get my kid in if something happened and we couldn't make the first one. As soon as we did the M&G, I changed the second one scheduled two days later for something else. I'm sure someone got lucky when they logged in and found a last minute set of FPs for A&E!

Of course random fp+ will become available as people cancel - but, as my point was, it isn't a guarantee. I, personally, would not expect to find same day availability, or rely on it, for the most popular attractions like those mentioned. I'd be thoroughly happy if I found them as the OP did, but I wouldn't plan my vacation expecting it to happen. I would suggest prebooking any of these superheadliners that one considers a "not miss" attraction.

 

[WillAustin]

Crowd level really matters a lot.

 

[momof2n2]

Crowd level really matters a lot.

And size of party... My family of 8 is not likely to have Much success. FP+ definitely favors smaller families/groups. We didn't see that with FP-

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Size of party is pretty important. I can get a ton of stuff for only one person on pretty short notice...but unless I'm mistaken, I don't think my kids would be down with just me riding 7DMT while they had to wait.

 

[Ambear]

Thanks for sharing OP! I'm glad to know I can at least attempt to check to see if there are available fps I might want to change to if I feel like altering my day.

 

[IBFW]

I don't see any reason to assume that FP+ allocation is static. Meaning there could be algorithms at play at any given time that determine distribution dynamically.

Could FP's be freed up because somebody trades their A&E for It's a Small World? Perhaps, but not in considerable nor predictable volumes. Disney built themselves a nice little Demand-O-Meter that begins showing them minute by minute demand starting at 60 days out and I see no reason they wouldn't adjust distribution based on demand.

Suppose the initial default FP distribution is 50% of attraction capacity. But the day before or the day of - if all have been distributed - the algorithm allocates an additional 5% of capacity during strategic times of the day based on a variety of loading factors in other areas of the park.

The increased amount of FP's distributed could also be accounted for in a changing Standby Line to FastPass Line admittance ratio that CM's must follow. For instance, today at 2pm it could change to 10 standby admitted for every 40 fastpass admitted because the amount of FP's distributed for between 2pm and 3pm was increased this morning.

 

[Angel Ariel]

Crowd level really matters a lot.

And park hours. Crowd levels weren't 9s and 10s when we were there, but it was party season, so there were shortened hours. That really seemed to make a big difference this year.

ETA: FTR, TP reported that the observed crowd levels for the days we were there (resort wide, not park-specific), were 4, 6, 6, 6, 6- so, not slow,but not crazy busy either.

 

[WillAustin]

I don't see any reason to assume that FP+ allocation is static. Meaning there could be algorithms at play at any given time that determine distribution dynamically.

I'd think that is more likely than not. It's interesting to watch the change log on that availability site and see how it comes and goes over time.