Show me your FP+ Planning Sheet

[tyniknate]

I'm starting to think about what FP+ we would like to have when our time opens up. (I know, I know, we are LATE to the game). I think I have been overwhelmed with the thought of it and have been procrastinating. Each time I sit down to plan it out, I find something else that I "need" to do instead.

Does anyone want to show me how you broke down your planning sheet, so when your time came to reserve you were all organized? Am I overthinking this? And how did your plans work out for you? Were you able to get what you wanted (with the exception of Anna & Elsa - we have no interest in seeing them). Was it harder than you thought? Or was it pretty easy? Did you have to spend hours in front of the computer, or can I plan to be back in bed at a reasonable time?

The thought of having to do this and make it count when I've never been into the system to see what it looks like really intimidates me. What tips can you give me to help me keep my sanity? How did you organize your choices? Did you just pick your rides that were most important to you and not worry about the time they were for? Did you go back and adjust the times (I'm hearing horror stories about doing this)? Or were you just happy to get what you wanted?

Thanks to everyone who takes the time to reply. I'm hoping to tackle this sometime this weekend....oh, wait, I think I have very important to do instead.

 

[dkrauss]

As far as planning for FP+................it wasn't all that detailed..........I had a list of 3 wants..........and then 1 back up............for each day of our trip (5 days total). I had expectations that A&E wasn't going to happen (which came true) and that 7DMT would be iffy (which didn't turn out to be true).

Think about what FP+ rides you could skip by doing rope drop or a late night stay.........and calculate that into your plan. For us Space Mountain wasn't FP'd on our first MK day because we'll do it, first thing, at RD.

When our day came I made my selections with the best times offered for all days...........and then once I had them I went back and shuffled the times to more fit my desires. It actually worked out real well. I was able to get a 7DMT FP+ for each of the two days we're in the MK.........and was able to manipulate the timing to match up with what we wanted. Remember shuffle the times immediately after you get all days scheduled..........it should be easier then.

The one thing to keep in mind if you see something you didn't expect, for us it was a parade FP, take the shot!!!! I knew of the parade FP but really didn't expect it to be there............when it was I grabbed it and I'm very happy about it now.

I really didn't find it all that hard...........but then again A&E weren't a priority for us...........

Doug

 

[LSUfan4444]

 

[catra121]

I would say you are overthinking things. I was able to book my FP+ each day in less than 5 minutes...15 minutes total for the entire 9 day trip. I booked them at the 60 day mark...not at midnight...and had no issues getting the rides I wanted (even got 7DMT the first and last day of my trip). I have 2 TS ADRs each day and had no trouble working my FP+ times around them. If one of the pre-selected times wasn't to my liking it was very quick and easy to just change the time to one I wanted.

One learning from my last trip with FP+ (last September)...try not to book a FP+ for anything that might make you queasy right after lunch. I didn't have any incidents but did decide to skip out on Mission Space when that was right after lunch because it occurred to me that it MIGHT not be the best idea.

But seriously...you can make this as complicated or as simple as you want. Once I made my FP+ reservations I just left them alone. So it hasn't been a big deal at all for me and there have been no glitches. I know some people are constantly tweaking and rearranging and second guessing themselves...and that's fine if that's what they want to do...but it really is not necessary.

So I do not have a "spreadsheet"...just a piece of notebook paper where I wrote down the FP+ times after I picked them out.

 

[MataHari22]

You might be over thinking it, a little. I was dreading doing my FP+ because of a lot of negative posts on here about it, but it went well for me, and was easy. I got everything I wanted. I didn't want A&E, but I did get 7DMT on both my MK days, and I did see A& E on a few days as I was selecting. I signed on right at midnight. I was done by 12:45, but that is only because my connection is slow. It took me more time to decide how to break up my FP picks in the parks I was spending two days in. Lol

The way I did mine, is to make a list of all my must do rides, and chose the ones that were FP+ priority for me. I wrote out on a steno pad each day and what park on the top, and wrote in each ADR. For the two parks that I am spending only one day at (AK, and HS) that was easy. Wrote down the 3 FP+ that I wanted on each day. For Epcot and MK, I was doing two days, so I split my priorities 3 and 3 for each visit. When I signed onto MDE at midnight, I chose all my FP+ and fit them around my ADRs for each day. The next day, with my FP+ times where I thought they looked good, I fleshed out the rest of my itinerary by adding in attractions that were in the same section where my FP+ picks were, this way I'm not running everywhere around the parks.

Not sure if that made any sense at all, but that's what I did.
I did it this way last year, and it went well.

 

[mesaboy2]

See the green link in my signature for my FP suggestions.

 

[luvdisney87]

I agree with everyone else about how easy it was. I was nervous too. I watched a video on Youtube (thanks to a suggestion on Disboards ) I did stay up until midnight because I wanted a chance at Anna and Elsa but the next day I was able to rearrange a few things. I just wrote in a notebook about what time I might want things and in what order and was very pleased at the suggested times the site gave me. It was all done very quickly.

 

[SheThePlanner]

here

and sheet two

 

[SheThePlanner]

my plan changed allot since that sheet but this was the format I used.

 

[TinkSassy]

For the 30 day mark it is much harder but if you don't want A&E you should be fine. We just picked our park days and then said where do we want to start and if there is a ride we need to RD (tiering issues)

 

[Frozen2014]

I did a lot of planning but that is because we have times where we need to split up our FP selections (due to age differences of our kids and also interests of boy vs girl). When we split up, I wanted these to be around the same time so we could meet up again.

To plan I used a spreadsheet and also used the park map so that we weren't jumping all around. So at MK for example, any Fantasyland FPs may be near each other whereas Adventureland rides may be grouped at a different time.

When making FP selectsion, i still had to make changes due to not getting my choice, but it still worked out.

Try not to stress. I personally loved the planning and find it just adds to teh excitement.

Good luck

 

[hopemax]

The only ones you really have to worry about are Mine Train, Soarin/Test Track, RnRC/TSMM and parades. Figure out what time of day you are usually in the area around those and book those. The other 2 FP+ for those days, pick what sounds good, but don't feel "married" to them. Then take your time building a schedule and go back and change ride and times for everything else as needed.

Because of ticketing issues, we couldn't even set up FP for our party until about 23 days before arrival. At that point, no Mine Train, parades and no TSMM. Everything else we could do whatever, whenever. So if you are starting at 60 days, you will have plenty of time to tweak everything else.

 

[mggeary]

I would say you would need a rough idea of your touring plan for each day before picking FP+ rides/times.

For example, on our first MK day we have decided to hit fantasyland first but avoid 7DMT/A&E at RD. We will ride PPF, Under the Sea, Ariel's Grotto, Barnstormer, Dumbo, and Tea Cups hopefully all with little or no wait standby.

Then we will circle back and use FPs on 7DMT and Haunted Mansion. Have lunch at LTT.

We'll then use our last FP on BTMR after lunch, and be ready to grab more FPs at kiosks (or hopefully on MDE app by then) for PoTC, Jungle Cruise, etc...

This will be flexible. I.e if it turns out we don't need the late morning HM FP, I'll switch it to PoTC or Splash. If A&E FP is available for the morning, maybe we'll fit it in then.

Point is, you do need to have an idea of what part of the park you will be in at what time each day for it to work best.

 

[Vernie822]

I kind of winged it. I went by what I really wanted to do (A&E, 7DMT, TSMM, etc) and then filled in my remaining FPs with suggestions from Mesaboy2's thread.

It was quick and painless, I prioritized mine by grabbing some for A&E and 7DMT first, then went through my park days and grabbed the rest.

I made my touring plan for each day afterwards (I guess I could have done a rough estimate before)... and it seemed to work fine for me. There were a few I ended up going back and tweaking, but I really didn't overthink the actual FP+s too much. I over-thought everything else, though.

 

[tyniknate]

here

and sheet two

THAT IS IMPRESSIVE!!! Thanks for sharing it.

 

[tyniknate]

Love it! Thanks for sharing!

 

[tyniknate]

I did a lot of planning but that is because we have times where we need to split up our FP selections (due to age differences of our kids and also interests of boy vs girl). When we split up, I wanted these to be around the same time so we could meet up again.

To plan I used a spreadsheet and also used the park map so that we weren't jumping all around. So at MK for example, any Fantasyland FPs may be near each other whereas Adventureland rides may be grouped at a different time.

When making FP selectsion, i still had to make changes due to not getting my choice, but it still worked out.

Try not to stress. I personally loved the planning and find it just adds to teh excitement.

Good luck

This is sorta the situation I'm in. Our group includes (2) 15 year old boys, a six-month pregnant sister, (2) thrill junkie sisters.....etc. Trying to decide if I just book the same passes and times for everyone, or if I should attempt to split them up according to who can/will ride what.

 

[tyniknate]

Thanks to all who answered. I knew my DIS friends would understand my dilemma. You have some great ideas. Think I will talk to my sis and see what she thinks is our best plan of action.

Thanks to Mesaboy2 for your threads. I've been reading them since the beginning. They are great for those of us using this new system for the first time. Man, I never thought I'd be saying this, but I miss the good old days!

Now, if you will excuse me, I have some more procrastinating....ummm laundry to do!

 

[SheThePlanner]

THAT IS IMPRESSIVE!!! Thanks for sharing it.

Thanks - my son and I had great fun making it

 

[CanadianPaco]

These are so beautiful! I now know... I am not alone! I saw some great ideas on the spread sheets! Thanks for sharing!