Some thoughts about all this fastpass availability stuff after selecting my fastpasses this morning...
Well I feel like I understand the system even less than I did before. Number one, my tracking of the Touring Plans snapshots each day was pretty much a waste of time. Maybe it trained me some in on-the-fly thinking and flexibility (I did have to shuffle 7D once because it wasn't available in the morning as I wanted), but for the most part, I found that it had all been very misleading. For example, I wanted 10:00 for Splash. I'd see 10:00 on TP one day, but it would keep shifting every day, first 10:05, then 10:10, until I'm left wondering how to deal with a 10:25 fastpass. Except this morning, I got 10:00. Over and over again, I found that while I had been preparing for plans B and C and D, I was almost always able to find (or modify my way into) the time that I wanted. (FoP and 7D excepted, of course.) I conclude that I should have just stuck with the method I used last year. Made a wish list of times with an acceptable range of backup times. You just never know what times you'll be given.
I also had three interesting incidents selecting fastpasses, adding to my complete lack of knowledge in how this system is working:
1. I went to get 2 FP for 7D, for my third day out. This would have been within 5 or 10 minutes of 7am. As I strolled down, I was astonished to find that nothing was available. I know it's one of the ones to go quicker, but this? No. Well I just put those two down for another ride, then did another two FP. Sure enough, a WHOLE slew of times came up for 7D (not a morning time I wanted - the one significant compromise I had to make - but plenty in the afternoon and evening). Where were these all before? All canceled reservations? Highly unlikely.
2. I was hoping to get Spaceship Earth for 2:00, to allow for flexibility after lunch in how much longer we'd stay. I'd seen 2:00 on TP a while back, but it gradually fell into a gap between 1:35 and 2:25. Not very ideal. When I went to select, I found these two times - 1:35 and 2:25. I grudgingly picked 1:35. Then I went to modify. Lo and behold, there was 2:00.
3. Lastly, I'd gotten a 9:50 FP for Safari. I knew we might possibly end up here a little sooner, so I was hoping to bump it up a bit, as early as 9:30. When I clicked modify, I saw 9 and 9:55 around that time. 9 was a little early for my liking, but I decided to gamble and see what I could find modifying from there. So I switched to that. My choices then were just 9:55... Where was 9:50? Who knows, I guess someone snatched up that primo time? So I thought, what would happen if I just modify one person. So I tried it, and there was 9:15. So I switched the one person to that, then tried to modify that to include the whole party. It said there was no availability for that, but here's a 9:30 time for you...
Okay, so I guess this can all be explained by a bunch of people switching around. But it's just a very confounding experience. Despite the fact that I'm very happy with my picks, in the end, I think there's little to be understood about how this is all working, and no amount of training can really prepare you for the chaos that is Fastpass Selection Morning...
Well, thanks for listening to my rambles!
