Specific FP+ Questions for Family trip

[Lucius Best]

First post after years of lurking, Disboards has been invaluable for planning my Disney trips, with tips I learned here leading me to become my friends and family's go-to Disney "expert"/"tour guide". In April, making first trip to Disney World since FP+ rolled out, and I'm confused trying to plan a family Disney trip for the first time in a long time. We have booked our 3 FP per day, but have questions.

(1) I understand that after you use your first 3 FP, you can get additional FP from kiosks one at a time. I spoke to someone at Disney who said you can use the MDX app to book the additional FP, but only for the park you are in. Was that simply BS, or something in the works? Everything else I've read has said you can ONLY make your additional FP at the in-park kiosks.

(2) Situation: we have 3 FP+ reserved at Animal Kingdom for Safari/KaliRiverRapids/Everest. After we do those rides, the goal will be to get an additional 4th FP for Safari. My older parents love Safari but are NOT going to ride KRR or EE, but they also want to stay with the group, i.e. they will not want to split up to use a FP for something else while we ride Everest. If my parents don't use their KRR/EE FP, will we have a problem making a 4th FP for Safari for the entire group, since they didn't use all of their first 3 FP and already used a FP for Safari? Can they somehow "cancel" their KRR/EE FP on MDX app, or just let the FP return window pass, enabling them to make another for Safari? Or can they give their Magicbands to the grandkids, who can get a double ride? I don't know if that is against the "rules", but it's something we did all the time with the paper FP tickets. I assume they can always walk through the FP line with us then chicken exit to "use" the FP.

(3) Situation: your third FP is for Splash Mountain from 12-1pm, but the ride is down when you swing by at 12:30pm. If you come back after lunch and it's finally running at 2pm, can you get on with your FP? Or if it's down do you need to guess when it will be back up and reschedule your FP on MDX app? Or did your FP expire at 1pm when you didn't use it?

 

[Robo]

First post after years of lurking, Disboards has been invaluable for planning my Disney trips, with tips I learned here leading me to become my friends and family's go-to Disney "expert"/"tour guide". In April, making first trip to Disney World since FP+ rolled out, and I'm confused trying to plan a family Disney trip for the first time in a long time. We have booked our 3 FP per day, but have questions.

(1) I understand that after you use your first 3 FP, you can get additional FP from kiosks one at a time. I spoke to someone at Disney who said you can use the MDX app to book the additional FP, but only for the park you are in. Was that simply BS, or something in the works? Everything else I've read has said you can ONLY make your additional FP at the in-park kiosks.

(2a) Situation: we have 3 FP+ reserved at Animal Kingdom for Safari/KaliRiverRapids/Everest. After we do those rides, the goal will be to get an additional 4th FP for Safari. My older parents love Safari but are NOT going to ride KRR or EE, but they also want to stay with the group, i.e. they will not want to split up to use a FP for something else while we ride Everest. If my parents don't use their KRR/EE FP, will we have a problem making a 4th FP for Safari for the entire group, since they didn't use all of their first 3 FP and already used a FP for Safari? Can they somehow "cancel" their KRR/EE FP on MDX app, or just let the FP return window pass, enabling them to make another for Safari?

(2b)Or can they give their Magicbands to the grandkids, who can get a double ride?

(2c) I don't know if that is against the "rules", but it's something we did all the time with the paper FP tickets.

(2d) I assume they can always walk through the FP line with us then chicken exit to "use" the FP.

(3a) Situation: your third FP is for Splash Mountain from 12-1pm, but the ride is down when you swing by at 12:30pm. If you come back after lunch and it's finally running at 2pm, can you get on with your FP?

(3b) Or if it's down do you need to guess when it will be back up and reschedule your FP on MDX app?

(3c) Or did your FP expire at 1pm when you didn't use it?

(1) Sorry, not true. It MIGHT be coming, but nothing has been announced.

(2a) After the 3rd FP+ time has expired, unused, you can then book a 4th FP+.
(2b) Yes.
(2c) Not a problem.
(2d) Always true.

(3a) Usually, yes. (Or you can use your existing FP at another operating attraction.)
(3b) You can do that, but it might be a mess to try to actually make it work.
(3c) One of the more interesting options of FP+ is if you miss your window, you can STILL re-book that (or a different) attraction FP+ for a later time.
(Depending on availability, of course.)

Most of these operations are explained with logistics, and FP+ priorities HERE.

 

[tink9702]

#3 - if the ride is down the entire time the FP+ window is open then it converts to an open-ended FP+ that can be used on most things (in November the exceptions were 7 Dwarfs and Anna&Elsa). You'll get a notification on MDE telling you this information if the ride is down. So you could use it on Splash when it re-opens OR use it on another ride in case Splash is down for the day. Of course this is what happened in November, no guarantees this is still the policy.

 

[vrajewski10513]

First post after years of lurking, Disboards has been invaluable for planning my Disney trips, with tips I learned here leading me to become my friends and family's go-to Disney "expert"/"tour guide". In April, making first trip to Disney World since FP+ rolled out, and I'm confused trying to plan a family Disney trip for the first time in a long time. We have booked our 3 FP per day, but have questions.

(1) I understand that after you use your first 3 FP, you can get additional FP from kiosks one at a time. I spoke to someone at Disney who said you can use the MDX app to book the additional FP, but only for the park you are in. Was that simply BS, or something in the works? Everything else I've read has said you can ONLY make your additional FP at the in-park kiosks.
Unfortunately, you do have to get your 4th FP+ from the kiosk. BUT, after you have that 4th FP+ you are able to change it in the MDE app. I've actually heard that there may even be more selections of you change it in the MDE app than the kiosk originally had. But, I havn't dont it so I cant be positive.

(2) Situation: we have 3 FP+ reserved at Animal Kingdom for Safari/KaliRiverRapids/Everest. After we do those rides, the goal will be to get an additional 4th FP for Safari. My older parents love Safari but are NOT going to ride KRR or EE, but they also want to stay with the group, i.e. they will not want to split up to use a FP for something else while we ride Everest. If my parents don't use their KRR/EE FP, will we have a problem making a 4th FP for Safari for the entire group, since they didn't use all of their first 3 FP and already used a FP for Safari? Can they somehow "cancel" their KRR/EE FP on MDX app, or just let the FP return window pass, enabling them to make another for Safari? Or can they give their Magicbands to the grandkids, who can get a double ride? I don't know if that is against the "rules", but it's something we did all the time with the paper FP tickets. I assume they can always walk through the FP line with us then chicken exit to "use" the FP.
If the FP+ isn't used then it just goes away and you can schedule another one in the MDE app. BUT, if they already did the Safari once then they wouldnt be able to schedule it again until they have used the other two fastpasses on different attractions. I don't see why your kids wouldn't be able to take the MB's and use their fastpasses for EE and KRR, but I wouldn't bank on that working or being allowed. The "chicken" exit could be your best bet as both the entrance and exit areas for both of those rides are in the same area.

(3) Situation: your third FP is for Splash Mountain from 12-1pm, but the ride is down when you swing by at 12:30pm. If you come back after lunch and it's finally running at 2pm, can you get on with your FP? Or if it's down do you need to guess when it will be back up and reschedule your FP on MDX app? Or did your FP expire at 1pm when you didn't use it?
Usually if a ride is down they give you the option of scheduing a different attraction or just coming back at any time during the day to use your FP+ later.

 

[mesaboy2]

If you haven't already, I recommend reading the first two posts in the FP FAQ thread linked to in my signature.

 

[Lucius Best]

(1) Sorry, not true. It MIGHT be coming, but nothing has been announced.

(2a) After the 3rd FP+ time has expired, unused, you can then book a 4th FP+.
(2b) Yes.
(2c) Not a problem.
(2d) Always true.

(3a) Usually, yes. (Or you can use your existing FP at another operating attraction.)
(3b) You can do that, but it might be a mess to try to actually make it work.
(3c) One of the more interesting options of FP+ is if you miss your window, you can STILL re-book that (or a different) attraction FP+ for a later time.
(Depending on availability, of course.)

Most of these operations are explained with logistics, and FP+ priorities HERE.

Thank you Robo!

 

[Lucius Best]

#3 - if the ride is down the entire time the FP+ window is open then it converts to an open-ended FP+ that can be used on most things (in November the exceptions were 7 Dwarfs and Anna&Elsa). You'll get a notification on MDE telling you this information if the ride is down. So you could use it on Splash when it re-opens OR use it on another ride in case Splash is down for the day. Of course this is what happened in November, no guarantees this is still the policy.

Thank you tink, that's interesting, hadn't heard that before.

 

[Wood Nymph]

We went to Disney with our grandsons last month and we gave them our MagicBands so that they could have a second ride on the thrill rides that we didn't want to ride. It worked out great and no one asked my grandson why the name on his MagicBand was Susan.

 

[Lucius Best]

If you haven't already, I recommend reading the first two posts in the FP FAQ thread linked to in my signature.

Thank you mesaboy, I did read Part I when I was booking my FP+ last month, it was very helpful. Didn't realize there was a Part II until after I posted today. Didn't see anything in there about what happens if a ride is down, but I didn't look through all 100 pages. I see now in Part II it says you can make a 4th additional FP after the the first three have expired, it was just unclear to me if the tiering/restrictions applied to the 4th FP if some of the original 3 FP were unused.

 

[mesaboy2]

Thank you mesaboy, I did read Part I when I was booking my FP+ last month, it was very helpful. Didn't realize there was a Part II until after I posted today. Didn't see anything in there about what happens if a ride is down, but I didn't look through all 100 pages. I see now in Part II it says you can make a 4th additional FP after the the first three have expired, it was just unclear to me if the tiering/restrictions applied to the 4th FP if some of the original 3 FP were unused.

No worries, just wasn't sure if you had gone over it and thought it might head off questions you didn't know you had yet. Part I is no longer needed, Part II is updated and has current info.

 

[Lucius Best]

If the FP+ isn't used then it just goes away and you can schedule another one in the MDE app. BUT, if they already did the Safari once then they wouldnt be able to schedule it again until they have used the other two fastpasses on different attractions.

Thank you for the reply vrajewski! This was really my main question, but Robo said you CAN do it, and the FP FAQ says that you can book a 4th after the first 3 FP expire. And since you can make a 4th on any ride, without restrictions, that would imply that we should be able to do another FP for Safari? Do you have experience with this where it didn't work for you? Might be a moot point, because the best solution would probably be to give my parents' Magicbands to the grandkids to ride again.

 

[Lucius Best]

We went to Disney with our grandsons last month and we gave them our MagicBands so that they could have a second ride on the thrill rides that we didn't want to ride. It worked out great and no one asked my grandson why the name on his MagicBand was Susan.

Excellent, thank you.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

The answer as to whether or not you can get a 4th FP+ for Safari is really dependent on if there is still availability for that ride once your 3 original FP+ are used or expire. It's a popular ride, so it will really depend on what's available when you show up at the kiosk.

If you have FP+ for a ride that goes down, you will get an email stating you now have an open-ended (expires when park closes that day) FP+ for a ride in the park you are in, including the ride that went down should it start working again. The email will have a list of rides to choose from.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

#3 - if the ride is down the entire time the FP+ window is open then it converts to an open-ended FP+ that can be used on most things (in November the exceptions were 7 Dwarfs and Anna&Elsa). You'll get a notification on MDE telling you this information if the ride is down. So you could use it on Splash when it re-opens OR use it on another ride in case Splash is down for the day. Of course this is what happened in November, no guarantees this is still the policy.

This isn't really accurate. If the ride is down during your FP+ window (and it doesn't even have to be down the whole time...just at all), then it converts to an open-ended FP+ for that ride for that day, or it gives you a list of other rides that you can ride instead of the ride that is down. Each attraction has its own list of replacement attractions, but the replacement list for any given ride in the MK is definitely not "almost everything except for A&E and 7DMT." Josh at easywdw.com did a post showing which attractions stand in as replacements for others:

http://www.easywdw.com/uncategorized/fastpass-replacements-should-yours-be-canceled/

From that post:

Magic Kingdom
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train – Mine Collection:

• Barnstormer
• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
• Haunted Mansion
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
• Splash Mountain
• Under the Sea Journey of the Little Mermaid

So if your Seven Dwarfs Mine Train FP+ is canceled, these are the replacements, or as Disney calls them, “Recoveries.” Note that the Mine Train is never a replacement for any attraction other than the Mine Train.
Enchanted Tales with Belle – Enchanted Collection:

• Ariel’s Grotto
• Dumbo Flying Elephant
• Enchanted Tales with Belle
• Princess Fairytale Hall Anna and Elsa
• Princess Fairytale Hall Cinderella and Rapunzel
• Town Square Mickey
• Town Square Tinker Bell
• Under the Sea Journey of the Little Mermaid

Enchanted Tales is virtually never down.
Ariel’s Grotto, Festival of Fantasy Parade, Princess Fairytale Hall Anna and Elsa, Princess Fairytale Hall Cinderella and Rapunzel, Town Square Mickey, Town Square Tinker Bell – Character Collection:

• Ariel’s Grotto
• Dumbo Flying Elephant
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Princess Fairytale Hall Anna and Elsa
• Princess Fairytale Hall Cinderella and Rapunzel
• Town Square Mickey
• Town Square Tinker Bell
• Under the Sea Journey of the Little Mermaid

The only difference is this one includes Peter Pan’s Flight instead of Enchanted Tales with Belle. Of these, the only one that can really be unavailable is Festival of Fantasy.
Barnstormer, Dumbo , it’s a small world, Mad Tea Party, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Mickey’s PhilharMagic, Peter Pan’s Flight, Under the Sea Journey of the Little Mermaid – Classic Collection:

• Barnstormer
• Dumbo
• it’s a small world
• Mad Tea Party
• The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic
• Peter Pan’s Flight
• Under the Sea Journey of the Little Mermaid

Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, Magic Carpets of Aladdin, Pirates of the Caribbean – Quest Collection:

• Haunted Mansion
• it’s a small world
• Jungle Cruise
• Magic Carpets of Aladdin
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Under the Sea Journey of the Little Mermaid

Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin, Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain, Tomorrowland Speedway – Thrill Collection:

• Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
• Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
• Haunted Mansion
• Monsters Inc Laugh Floor
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Space Mountain
• Splash Mountain
• Tomorrowland Speedway

When Monsters Inc. asks for jokes to be texted in, you could tell them Disney groups Tomorrowland Speedway in the Thrills Collection.
Main Street Electrical Parade and Wishes – Quest Collection:

• If the Electrical Parade or Wishes is scheduled at Park close and is canceled, you receive a FP+ at any Park, any attraction, next day. If it’s the first Electrical Parade or not at Park close, you’ll get:
• Haunted Mansion
• it’s a small world
• Jungle Cruise
• Magic Carpets of Aladdin
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic
• Pirates of the Caribbean
• Under the Sea Journey of the Little Mermaid

The Electrical Parade is canceled due to poor weather. Wishes may be delayed, but is very rarely canceled outright.
Any attraction running through Park close that is unavailable during that time slot:

• Any attraction, any Park, next day.

He also has lists for the other parks. I checked his post for accuracy, and it's spot on for the 5 or so "recovery" emails we've received when our FP+ rides haven't been available.

 

[Lucius Best]

The answer as to whether or not you can get a 4th FP+ for Safari is really dependent on if there is still availability for that ride once your 3 original FP+ are used or expire. It's a popular ride, so it will really depend on what's available when you show up at the kiosk.

If you have FP+ for a ride that goes down, you will get an email stating you now have an open-ended (expires when park closes that day) FP+ for a ride in the park you are in, including the ride that went down should it start working again. The email will have a list of rides to choose from.

Thank you, that is true, we are assuming there will be FP available. Our strategy on days we don't hop is to book the 3 FP between 10am-1pm. Since it will theoretically not be a super busy period, we are hoping/assuming there will still be FP available at kiosks at 1pm.

 

[Lucius Best]

This isn't really accurate. If the ride is down during your FP+ window (and it doesn't even have to be down the whole time...just at all), then it converts to an open-ended FP+ for that ride for that day, or it gives you a list of other rides that you can ride instead of the ride that is down. Each attraction has its own list of replacement attractions, but the replacement list for any given ride in the MK is definitely not "almost everything except for A&E and 7DMT." Josh at easywdw.com did a post showing which attractions stand in as replacements for others:

http://www.easywdw.com/uncategorized/fastpass-replacements-should-yours-be-canceled/
.

Thank you, this is great info.

 

[tink9702]

Very interesting jtowntoflorida! Thanks for clarifying what I said about it being open-ended. The day we were there Kali River Rapids went down at AK which apparently does allow any other ride with FP+ as a substitute. I erroneously assumed this was the same at the other parks.