Staying Offsite and Overwhelming Questions

[Awholenewdisney]

I'm having the exact same worries as you are! We are DL vets and don't have to worry about dinner reservations or FP+. It is all so foreign! We have decided to stay offsite with our timeshare as it will only be 150$ for a week for a two bedroom and I just can't justify spending hundreds of dollars a night for a room we won't be comfortable in. But I am extremely worried about FP+. It just doesn't seem fair for ALL park guest.

 

[dznyfam3]

Thank you for all your suggestions! This is all really helpful. My DS has his request which are 7DMT and TSMM and I of course have to experience Be Our Guest. So we definitely have things we want to accomplish on our trip.

I've heard the suggestion that if I can't get a fastpass at all for 7DMT to either go at rope drop or wait until the evening? Which is better if I can't get the fastpass? I do like as a general rule to fastpass 2 hours after rope drop and just run to any thing we want to do first thing in the morning.

I'll admit even if I have to wait in an occasional line that's longer than I'm use to (or would like to) I do like the interactive queues to some of the rides. We don't have that out here in DL (they aren't really needed) and it's kind of part of the experience.

 

[dznyfam3]

One more question has come up. How do I split up the group when booking Fastpass+ to yield the best search results. Or is a group of five easy to find fast passes for?

Is there a good thread to read about using the MDME app or online? I've created a profile because I can use that for Disneyland dining now but I have no idea how to go about booking all of my groups fastpasses at once.

 

[Monykalyn]

Our first family trip was last August. We stayed offsite at a condo, about 10-15 minutes away from the parks. We booked a throwaway campsite to get FP+ at 60 days, magic bands, and 2 days of free parking. That's somewhat controversial on the boards, but it worked really well for us, and I would recommend it.

We went to the parks for 5 days, took afternoon breaks after lunch, relaxed at the condo, then returned to the parks after dinner. It worked out really well for us.

Even though we had a good time, for what it's worth, we're staying on-site when we go back this August. One of the least expensive options for a family of our size is to rent an RV to be delivered to Fort Wilderness. It'll be a unique experience and we're very excited about it. I'm also excited to use the heck out of Disney's transport instead of having to drive around.

This almost EXACTLY what we did last year (except the throwaway site) and we stayed in park most of the days. We are also staying at the Fort in an RV this summer-mainly going this time to experience SWW - then off to see the WWoHP

I think I got lucky with my FP+ last June though-1) didn't even book them until about 20 days out and they had just released more A&E times, 2) got a SDMT for the same night as the A&E, 2) that was about the time they changed the tiering at Epcot-and I snagged TT and Soaring FP+ for same day at times I wanted. 3) I think most people didn't really know about scheduling FP+ in advance and so there weren't as many people after the same ones.

How I did it last year - Looked for what I wanted with only 2-3 of our party (had 5people some days, 7 people other days) and when I got the FP+ I wanted I could "copy" that to the other members of my party. It worked for TSMM great as I could only find 3 "available" but it let me "copy" over-the times weren't exact in the "copied" FP+ but only differed by 10 minutes (might have been 15 minutes-at any rate it had a large overlap).

I also used easyWDW suggestions for the most part and did fine. AK with EMH in am still doesn't get crowded until 9:30-10 or so as most resort guests don't get up early.

One thing we did as offsite is buy Magic bands-we had purchased memory maker and this is around the time that the ride photos linked to account automatically. It was also so much easier to just have the band tap for the FP than have to haul out everyone's ticket everytime.

 

[dznyfam3]

This almost EXACTLY what we did last year (except the throwaway site) and we stayed in park most of the days. We are also staying at the Fort in an RV this summer-mainly going this time to experience SWW - then off to see the WWoHP I think I got lucky with my FP+ last June though-1) didn't even book them until about 20 days out and they had just released more A&E times, 2) got a SDMT for the same night as the A&E, 2) that was about the time they changed the tiering at Epcot-and I snagged TT and Soaring FP+ for same day at times I wanted. 3) I think most people didn't really know about scheduling FP+ in advance and so there weren't as many people after the same ones. How I did it last year - Looked for what I wanted with only 2-3 of our party (had 5people some days, 7 people other days) and when I got the FP+ I wanted I could "copy" that to the other members of my party. It worked for TSMM great as I could only find 3 "available" but it let me "copy" over-the times weren't exact in the "copied" FP+ but only differed by 10 minutes (might have been 15 minutes-at any rate it had a large overlap). I also used easyWDW suggestions for the most part and did fine. AK with EMH in am still doesn't get crowded until 9:30-10 or so as most resort guests don't get up early. One thing we did as offsite is buy Magic bands-we had purchased memory maker and this is around the time that the ride photos linked to account automatically. It was also so much easier to just have the band tap for the FP than have to haul out everyone's ticket everytime.

So it gives you an option to copy fastpasses for 3 to the other 2 in the group? That's interesting.

 

[dznyfam3]

Floridays is ranked #2 on Tripadvisor Travel Choice Awards - Family!! Makes me feel better about staying offsite now since that's the resort we are booking our stay at. Only bad thing is the 30 day delay for Fastpass+

 

[bnewman27]

and it wasn't the horrible nightmare that everyone has built it up to be. We've been to disney 3 times before so our familiarity with the parks and what we wanted to accomplish made it a bit easier. 7DMT was the one must-have for my boys since it's new and I was unable to get it for the first day I tried (a weekend day) but I got it for a weekday - later tho- around 7pm. We are a party of 4 and initially there was no availability but I switched to two at a time and it came open. Then I copied to the other two - super easy! Other than that one ride, I was able to easily get anything else I wanted. I didn't try for TSMM because we're going to use our fp on that day for our afternoon park. We'll ride at rope drop instead as we always do. The absolute worst part about the 30 day offsite planning is that you have to book one day at a time. I only went on at midnight when I wanted to book the 7dmt. Otherwise, I did them when I woke up in the morning. Would be much easier if you could do them all at the 30 day window!