SDFP: CHANGES COMING!! Beware the 7th of June?!

[hiroMYhero]

I was wondering, has anyone reported back what has happened to them if they have tried to use a ticket that has FP's prebooked but hasn't been used for admission. If I hadn't read this thread I wouldn't have known about this when entering the parks. I'm sure there may be many who still don't!

The only noted change due to the TOS is that this can't be discussed on the thread.

All future posts in this thread regarding FPs booked using tickets not used for admission will be deleted.

 

[Floridaglen]

The only noted change due to the TOS is that this can't be discussed on the thread.

All future posts in this thread regarding FPs booked using tickets not used for admission will be deleted.

Oops, sorry about that

 

[marciemi]

I just wanted to note one slight change I noticed today when making a SDFP (still testing!) for someone who was already on my MDE. In the past, when I've scanned a card that was linked to my MDE at some point (friends/relatives/kids expired AP's, etc.), it has just opened the process the way I showed in the pics on the first page of this thread. This time when I scanned my son's (his AP expired in August and we didn't renew), it just pulled up all the regular FPP's I had made for my party for the day. I had to scroll down to the bottom of those to see the message that some members of my party were eligible for additional FPP's and then choose that and then select my son (and today I had to unclick another person who only had 2 FPP's booked for the day that it said was also eligible). After that it worked the same and I could select 3 for him (I only chose one and just used it to test). Just adding this in because it threw me for a loop and I was afraid it wasn't working (and I use the system regularly!).

I later tested with a card I had that wasn't linked to my MDE (an old one day DQ ticket) and it worked as normal.

So I guess just a heads up that if you use Phantoms for bands on your main MDE (or borrow bands/cards from people who were linked to your MDE at some point) you may need to scroll through all your actual FPP's to select those people to make the SDFP's for. Sorry I didn't take pics - I was trying to figure it out and then left before thinking of it!

 

[twoolle]

Thanks for the heads up @marciemi . I borrowed 2 bands from my in laws for our next trip. They are linked with me in MDE. I wonder if it would be easier to "unfriend" them from MDE so I don't have to do this extra step. We already have 6 in our family so the list gets quite long. I also borrowed 2 more from my parents but "unfriended" them last year when planning that trip.

I planned to take a screenshot of our FP times from the kiosk and not look it up in MDE.

 

[Lisa F]

Has anyone here ever tried to manage more than one set of SDFP? I am traveling solo with my kiddo, so it is only 2 people to manage. I am thinking of borrowing his grandparents admission cards to use for SDFP purposes also. I would not be using them all the time - really the only time it might be useful is to grab an extra Tier 1 in epcot (I'm thinking Illuminations viewing) and in the MK where there seem to be so many FP+ available throughout the day (I have things like 7DMT, Peter Pan and the Mountains all prebooked on various days). For HS I am planning to do morning EMH for the tier 1 stuff anyway and the rest of the stuff I'm doing later in the day is walk on, and if RoL is released I would drop all of my FP+ there for a RoL FP+ and utilize SDFP as insurance for tier 2 attractions. In AK I am doing the same, morning EMH and I have safari, tough to be a bug and festival of the lion king booked and not sure I even need to have the last two but holding them anyway... I won't need any additional SDFP there.

so anyway given that I'd probably use a third set at most in Epcot to grab a viewing spot for Illuminations and in the MK to pick up things like small world, pirates, jungle cruise, barnstormer, magic carpets and maybe buzz lightyear over 3 different visits... and given that I am only keeping track of 2 people... and given that I have not yet reached senility... am I setting myself up for more hassle than it is worth? I've asked to borrow their cards because I think it might be easier to keep track of than using a third set of magic bands... for our primary SDFP bands we are doing christmas decorations on them to keep them apart from our primary bands.

 

[marciemi]

I just looked up the last time I used SDFP seriously which was 9/17 for my son and his GF who were trying to cram everything in all 4 parks into a 2.5 day trip. That day was MK and it looks like I used 9 sets of FPP's total (all for 2 people) - some were regular FPP (so DH & I made FPP's that the two of them used while we just hung out, plus of course theirs), plus a ton of SDFP's. So it's certainly doable. I used different colors on my spreadsheet to help coordinate which ones were my priority for when I got to the kiosks. We had an early morning BOG so I popped into Town Hall and grabbed the critical ones before that while they did pics on Main St. and then after breakfast I spent more time coordinating at the Philharmagic kiosks. Attaching the spreadsheet which may confuse you more. I use mostly cards but some MB's and all just have names written in Sharpie and I handed them what they needed each time. With just two of you it's pretty easy. Just take that extra 30 seconds before you walk over to the line to make sure you have the right thing, and carry a pen to mark down changes from the kiosk rather than relying on phone pics if that's easier for you. My spreadsheet (looks like I can't attach an excel file so just took a page snip of it):

 

[HatboxHaint]

Just wanted to report I successfully deployed SDFP in my MK touring last week. A big thanks to @hiroMYhero @ScrapYap and @marciemi !!!!!

 

[hiroMYhero]

Just wanted to report I successfully deployed SDFP in my MK touring last week. A big thanks to @hiroMYhero @ScrapYap and @marciemi !!!!!

I'm glad the FPs helped with your WDW/Hurricane Matthew trip!

 

[tgbanks3]

I swear I read the first post multiple times. But for those with packages, it's best to buy/borrow cards/MBs and NOT link them to MDE (I don't want to add a bunch of 2 year olds to my MDE). The only downside to this is that I won't be able to look on MDE/app to see when the times of the FP are. So I'll need to take a picture of the kiosk screen. Am I correct in this? So no worry with aliases on MDE, etc?

 

[ScrapYap]

I just wanted to note one slight change I noticed today when making a SDFP (still testing!) for someone who was already on my MDE. In the past, when I've scanned a card that was linked to my MDE at some point (friends/relatives/kids expired AP's, etc.), it has just opened the process the way I showed in the pics on the first page of this thread. This time when I scanned my son's (his AP expired in August and we didn't renew), it just pulled up all the regular FPP's I had made for my party for the day. I had to scroll down to the bottom of those to see the message that some members of my party were eligible for additional FPP's and then choose that and then select my son (and today I had to unclick another person who only had 2 FPP's booked for the day that it said was also eligible). After that it worked the same and I could select 3 for him (I only chose one and just used it to test). Just adding this in because it threw me for a loop and I was afraid it wasn't working (and I use the system regularly!).

I later tested with a card I had that wasn't linked to my MDE (an old one day DQ ticket) and it worked as normal.

So I guess just a heads up that if you use Phantoms for bands on your main MDE (or borrow bands/cards from people who were linked to your MDE at some point) you may need to scroll through all your actual FPP's to select those people to make the SDFP's for. Sorry I didn't take pics - I was trying to figure it out and then left before thinking of it!

That had me scratching my head (and PMing you!), too. That extra "unselect" step is a little confusing. CMs at kiosks generally don't understand the change or are unaware of it. This could be an interim type glitch. If we're still seeing in a month or so, I could change the first post to recommend putting phantoms on a separate MDE. Not sure which way is less confusing at this point. And the next kiosk system update might change the situation.

 

[ScrapYap]

Thanks for the heads up @marciemi . I borrowed 2 bands from my in laws for our next trip. They are linked with me in MDE. I wonder if it would be easier to "unfriend" them from MDE so I don't have to do this extra step. We already have 6 in our family so the list gets quite long. I also borrowed 2 more from my parents but "unfriended" them last year when planning that trip.

I planned to take a screenshot of our FP times from the kiosk and not look it up in MDE.

You can't remove them from your Family & Friends list if they have MBs or cards or ADRs, etc. You'd have to phone guest services and ask them to do it. You could wait until a couple of weeks before your trip to decide. This extra step might be eliminated with the next kiosk update.

 

[ScrapYap]

I swear I read the first post multiple times. But for those with packages, it's best to buy/borrow cards/MBs and NOT link them to MDE (I don't want to add a bunch of 2 year olds to my MDE). The only downside to this is that I won't be able to look on MDE/app to see when the times of the FP are. So I'll need to take a picture of the kiosk screen. Am I correct in this? So no worry with aliases on MDE, etc?

All MBs do have to be linked to some MDE, so if you buy them (rather than borrow) you'll have to set up a separate MDE if you don't want to see the phantom profiles on your primary MDE. If you're borrowing the bands, then just don't become friend/family with the MB lender via MDE.

 

[BK2014]

Is SDFP better suited for people who are going to spend most, if not all day, in the same park? My plans have me generally at one park for the morning, and then hopping to another park in the evening after taking a break in the early afternoon. And I understand that you can only book SDFP at the park you are currently located. So, if I am at MK in the morning, am I likely to be able to find any SDFP for that same morning? Or would the availability generally be for the afternoon/evening? I am trying to decide if investing in additional MBs is worth it given our touring style.

 

[twoolle]

You can't remove them from your Family & Friends list if they have MBs or cards or ADRs, etc. You'd have to phone guest services and ask them to do it. You could wait until a couple of weeks before your trip to decide. This extra step might be eliminated with the next kiosk update.

Hmmm maybe I am confused because we all had separate resort reservations last year and just linked together in MDE. They are not going this year. There is a place in MDE if you choose to edit a friend you can choose not to share plans anymore. Then it removes them from your F&F list. I did this for my parents so I didn't have extra names on my already Long list.

 

[ScrapYap]

Hmmm maybe I am confused because we all had separate resort reservations last year and just linked together in MDE. They are not going this year. There is a place in MDE if you choose to edit a friend you can choose not to share plans anymore. Then it removes them from your F&F list. I did this for my parents so I didn't have extra names on my already Long list.

You're right - if they have their own MDE you can remove them. It's if you manage their profiles you can't remove them yourself - such as a phantom.

 

[SBWB48]

Has anyone here ever tried to manage more than one set of SDFP? I am traveling solo with my kiddo, so it is only 2 people to manage. I am thinking of borrowing his grandparents admission cards to use for SDFP purposes also. I would not be using them all the time - really the only time it might be useful is to grab an extra Tier 1 in epcot (I'm thinking Illuminations viewing) and in the MK where there seem to be so many FP+ available throughout the day (I have things like 7DMT, Peter Pan and the Mountains all prebooked on various days). For HS I am planning to do morning EMH for the tier 1 stuff anyway and the rest of the stuff I'm doing later in the day is walk on, and if RoL is released I would drop all of my FP+ there for a RoL FP+ and utilize SDFP as insurance for tier 2 attractions. In AK I am doing the same, morning EMH and I have safari, tough to be a bug and festival of the lion king booked and not sure I even need to have the last two but holding them anyway... I won't need any additional SDFP there.

so anyway given that I'd probably use a third set at most in Epcot to grab a viewing spot for Illuminations and in the MK to pick up things like small world, pirates, jungle cruise, barnstormer, magic carpets and maybe buzz lightyear over 3 different visits... and given that I am only keeping track of 2 people... and given that I have not yet reached senility... am I setting myself up for more hassle than it is worth? I've asked to borrow their cards because I think it might be easier to keep track of than using a third set of magic bands... for our primary SDFP bands we are doing christmas decorations on them to keep them apart from our primary bands.

We were at Disney about 2 weeks ago and for 2 adults (presumably it shouldn't be too much different for you and your kiddo) with 3 sets of FPs (our advanced and two additional sets based on bands we got from relatives) to manage, it didn't prove to be too difficult honestly. The first day may have been a little rough since I had to get used to locating kiosks and in general, navigating the process of remembering to take pictures and which pictures corresponded to which set of bands. After the first day, and once you find a system that works for you - fortunately, the other bands we had were different colors so wasn't hard to remember which set was which, and then remembering the first picture taken is always for the "red" bands and second for the "blue" - it became a breeze and we actually manage to get Tier 1s like Soarin and Test Track more than once on a couple occasions AND after we hopped to Epcot in the afternoon (likewise with the Tier 1s at HS), but we went in with expectations in check, so it was a nice surprise. MK worked the best given the abundance of availability. Quite frankly, I don't think we waited more than 10 minutes for anything, including both FPs and standby, so it worked wonderfully.

Back to the original question, it wasn't difficult to manage more than two sets at all, again, once you find a system that works well. I actually found myself remembering my SDFPs more so than my advanced ones lol. And in the rare instances where we scanned the wrong band, CMs don't even bat an eye

Hope that helps.

 

[twoolle]

You're right - if they have their own MDE you can remove them. It's if you manage their profiles you can't remove them yourself - such as a phantom.

Thank you!

 

[Koz]

Quick question

We just decided to add an extra day to our stay, but at a different WDW property. New magic bands are issued, and they are assigned to the 5 members of our family who are on the original booking. Once those magic bands are issued and assigned, and I correct in assuming that even if we "deactivate" them and declare them as lost, that they have no value as SDFP? I was hoping to be able to avoid buying new Magic Bands upon arrival @ WDW to use for SDFP.

Thanks as always for your help and response!

 

[NaughtyDog]

Quick question

We just decided to add an extra day to our stay, but at a different WDW property. New magic bands are issued, and they are assigned to the 5 members of our family who are on the original booking. Once those magic bands are issued and assigned, and I correct in assuming that even if we "deactivate" them and declare them as lost, that they have no value as SDFP? I was hoping to be able to avoid buying new Magic Bands upon arrival @ WDW to use for SDFP.

Thanks as always for your help and response!

If you book the new reservation under the same My Disney Experience account as your other reservation and use the same profiles then the new bands are dupicates and can't be used for a SDFP.

Instead, use a new email address and create a new My Disney Experience account with new profiles for each family member.

This will only help you if you are more than 30 days out because if not, you won't get your bands until check in, which is on the last day of your trip.

 

[Koz]

If you book the new reservation under the same My Disney Experience account as your other reservation and use the same profiles then the new bands are dupicates and can't be used for a SDFP.

Instead, use a new email address and create a new My Disney Experience account with new profiles for each family member.

This will only help you if you are more than 30 days out because if not, you won't get your bands until check in, which is on the last day of your trip.

Ahhh thanks. Too late. Everything is linked in terms of original traveling party and original reservation. Screwed up on that one as I simply asked my travel agent to add the extra day for us. Looks like I will have to purchase new bands upon arrival @ WDW, and we are 23 days out. Thank you for responding!