September Trip - FP+ Can't Bring Me Down!

[jhaig]

We are going in Sept 2014 and I am already trying to convince myself to have a better attitude about this whole FP+ thing.

We are usually at RD at each park since we are early risers. I figure that being at RD in September we should be able to do pretty much whatever rides/characters we want in the first couple of hours and wait in relatively short standby lines until lunch. After lunch, hit the hotel for a nap/swim, then back to the parks for dinner.

At this point our FP+ selections will be set up for the evening for whatever park we decide to go to.

Yes, it would be nice to have more FP+ selections available per day, and yes it would be even nicer to be able to use FP+ in more than one park per day and actually justify the cost of a park hopper on my tickets. But we're hoping that, maybe by September, some of these issues will be improved and that Disney will listen to their paying customers' concerns and adjust this whole program to make their guests happy (and still make their own wallets fat of course).

After all, any day at WDW is better than most days anywhere else

 

[ArwenMarie]

Sounds like you have a good plan!
Enjoy!!

 

[glocon]

jhaig- I think that is the same kind of plan I would make. It makes the most sense. I wonder when afternoon FP+ will be near impossible to make because this will be most peoples plan.

I think it is smart to start making plans now- are emh announced for your dates yet? You have plenty of time to decide which parks you will be in during the afternoon hours so you will be ready and can be one of the first to start making your reservations at 60 days.

Hope it all goes well! Let us know your plans.

 

[DISNEY CHICKIE]

Excellent plan! We are going in September too and we basically have the same idea! We are hoping maybe Disney will change the FP+ rule to allow hopping by then!

Enjoy your trip!

 

[PrincessJo]

We were in WDW the first week of January, including New Year's Day.

We were able to ride everything with hardly any wait times. We arrived at the parks later in the morning, used all of our FP+ and then rode everything else later... after most of the other people had left.

It's NOT bad AT ALL. It sounds like you already aren't listening to all of the doom and gloom. Good for you.

You're going to have a wonderful time!!!

 

[jhaig]

It sounds like you already aren't listening to all of the doom and gloom. Good for you. You're going to have a wonderful time!!!

Nope, no gloom. Just pixie dust from here....

 

[jhaig]

......but still, more FP's please!

 

[raven69david]

Yes, it would be nice to have more FP+ selections available per day, and yes it would be even nicer to be able to use FP+ in more than one park per day and actually justify the cost of a park hopper on my tickets. But we're hoping that, maybe by September, some of these issues will be improved and that Disney will listen to their paying customers' concerns and adjust this whole program to make their guests happy (and still make their own wallets fat of course).

Actually, you can make your FP+ selections now and still change parks while hopping. Lets say you're at MK and decide to go to Epcot, you can take your FP+ reservation that you had at MK and then change it to another, if available, at any other park you're hopping to. The MDE app will let you do this on-the-fly. It's very convenient and is a BIG PLUS for us since we park hop alot.

 

[Shaden]

In sept it shouldn't really be an issue. Standby will be very short, and you will get to do a ton.

For someone to say "it isn't bad at all" is ridiculous, but during your TIME of vacation, it shouldn't be an issue.

Go, enjoy, have a great time.

 

[connie1042]

We are a group of about 15 people. Five different groups. From ages 62 down to 6. I plan peoples trips and give a class on all thing Disney. Or I use to. I have been to the world the first week of Dec 2013, and used the bands. Had no trouble, loved not getting up for rope drop at Epcot. Before tiering. We did not do any big mountains or TOT. It will be a challenge to link everyone together. Fastpass is 60 days out, so we have a lot of time for that. Right now I am working on 5 different groups of dinning reservations that have to be made in March! It will all be fine, just alot of work before hand.

 

[jhaig]

We are a group of about 15 people. Five different groups. From ages 62 down to 6. I plan peoples trips and give a class on all thing Disney. Or I use to. I have been to the world the first week of Dec 2013, and used the bands. Had no trouble, loved not getting up for rope drop at Epcot. Before tiering. We did not do any big mountains or TOT. It will be a challenge to link everyone together. Fastpass is 60 days out, so we have a lot of time for that. Right now I am working on 5 different groups of dinning reservations that have to be made in March! It will all be fine, just alot of work before hand.

All the hard work will be worth it...

 

[Disneytam]

We just got back yesterday and had no problems with fastpass. We did the same thing that you are planning to do and it worked out well for us. We would go to one park in the morning and ride what we wanted until about noon and then we would back to our hotel,swim and relax and then go to another park in the afternoon with our 3 FP+. It was a pretty quite week except for 2-7 thru 2-9 with the cheer leaders. We rode all the headliners a couple of times and never waited longer than how long it took to walk to the attraction.
On Saturday it was raining very hard and we went to DTD in the morning and got back later than we expected so I went to the concierge desk to ask about changing our toy story mania fastpass to a latter time. They didn't have any FP available so she gave us an extra FP which was really nice. This was at about two in the afternoon.
Our magic bands worked for all the parks and charging without a single problem.

 

[carrie1626]

We are going in Sept 2014 and I am already trying to convince myself to have a better attitude about this whole FP+ thing.

We are usually at RD at each park since we are early risers. I figure that being at RD in September we should be able to do pretty much whatever rides/characters we want in the first couple of hours and wait in relatively short standby lines until lunch. After lunch, hit the hotel for a nap/swim, then back to the parks for dinner.

At this point our FP+ selections will be set up for the evening for whatever park we decide to go to.

Yes, it would be nice to have more FP+ selections available per day, and yes it would be even nicer to be able to use FP+ in more than one park per day and actually justify the cost of a park hopper on my tickets. But we're hoping that, maybe by September, some of these issues will be improved and that Disney will listen to their paying customers' concerns and adjust this whole program to make their guests happy (and still make their own wallets fat of course).

After all, any day at WDW is better than most days anywhere else

This will work to your advantage!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Btw, I felt the same way last Dec and the whole FP+ hysteria I read about here was baloney. I loved it, it worked perfectly. I even had the audacity to tell every CM I had contact with how much I loved the Magic Bands

 

[jhaig]

So now that Disney has adjusted the fast pass plus program, should I just stick with my touring strategy for September? Stick with RD and do short standby lines and use FP for the mine coaster and maybe the Frozen characters?

 

[dotcomgirl18]

So now that Disney has adjusted the fast pass plus program, should I just stick with my touring strategy for September? Stick with RD and do short standby lines and use FP for the mine coaster and maybe the Frozen characters?

There are two ways you could go about this...

1) Leave your plan as it is. Book FP+ for your evening park. But book your FP+ times for early on in your evening park. (If you plan to get to the second park around 2pm, book your 3 FP+ for the first few hours starting as close to 2pm as you can.) This way once you use all 3, you can start using your fourth rotating FP+.

2) If you plan to stay in the first park up until early afternoon, you could book your FP+ for the first park instead. 11am-2pm is the time when FP+ is most advantageous, as this is when the lines will get longer. You could book a 10am-11 FP+, an 11-12, and a 12-1. This frees up your fourth rotating FP+ to become available earlier. You could then use FP in your second park of the day.

I personally lean towards option 1. But only if you plan to be at rope drop at the first park. But everyone will have their own opinion!

 

[jhaig]

There are two ways you could go about this... 1) Leave your plan as it is. Book FP+ for your evening park. But book your FP+ times for early on in your evening park. (If you plan to get to the second park around 2pm, book your 3 FP+ for the first few hours starting as close to 2pm as you can.) This way once you use all 3, you can start using your fourth rotating FP+. 2) If you plan to stay in the first park up until early afternoon, you could book your FP+ for the first park instead. 11am-2pm is the time when FP+ is most advantageous, as this is when the lines will get longer. You could book a 10am-11 FP+, an 11-12, and a 12-1. This frees up your fourth rotating FP+ to become available earlier. You could then use FP in your second park of the day. I personally lean towards option 1. But only if you plan to be at rope drop at the first park. But everyone will have their own opinion!

It would be great if FP+ eventually allows you to pick a FP for a ride while you are physically not in that park, for instance, if I use my third fast pass in Magic Kingdom, then wanted to pick something like Test Track at a Magic Kingdom kiosk if I plan on hopping to Epcot later.

 

[jhaig]

I just don't see having to use fast pass plus for the first couple of hours in the park in September except for Anna and Elsa and the Mine Train.