The Ultimate FastPass+ experiment!

[AlixaLock]

Here's me at home, sitting on my couch in the freezing cold. Crying and working at my computer.



Here's me sitting at my computer booking FastPasses for THIS WEEKEND!



Anyway, my husband calls me and says ... we are outta here! Long story short, he needs to be in Orlando on Friday and he surprised me with a last minute trip for our little 3 person family--Me, DH and DD-6! Airfare booked, hotel confirmed! Done!!

So it occurs to me that this is really good opportunity to report on some serious FastPass+ scoop! What is available for last minute booking, app efficacy ...

Just the facts: Booking complete at 7:30pm tonight, 1/28

Lagoon/Pool view room at the Beach Club Fri 1/31-Sat 2/3
Booking FastPasses and Dining right now! Will report back soon!!

 

[agavegirl1]

Let us know how the booking goes and send some heat and pixie dust up here in the frozen north!

 

[JimmyV]

This isn't really "last minute". Off-site guests cannot book until the day they arrive in the park and so far there haven't been any reports of people being shut out, at least if they arrive in a timely manner. Plus, people can make changes on the fly while in the parks. So I can't imagine that you are going to have any difficulty. FP+ isn't like booking Be Our Guest. At least not yet.

 

[ougrad86]

Good luck, interested in seeing how you did!

 

[AlixaLock]

This isn't really "last minute". Off-site guests cannot book until the day they arrive in the park and so far there haven't been any reports of people being shut out, at least if they arrive in a timely manner. Plus, people can make changes on the fly while in the parks. So I can't imagine that you are going to have any difficulty. FP+ isn't like booking Be Our Guest. At least not yet.

With all due respect, this REALLY is a LAST MINUTE TRIP? I said in my original post that this was a 'last minute" trip, true by almost any standards. I also said I would report on "last minute bookings" which refers to all types of booking, dining etc ... I am not making any attempt to disguise what I am doing or extrapolate my experiences on to anyone else's.

Are you saying that there is no value in reporting my experiences, unless I am reporting on a last-minute off-site stay on New Years Eve?

 

[JimmyV]

So it occurs to me that this is really good opportunity to report on some serious FastPass+ scoop! What is available for last minute booking, app efficacy ...

I did not read the above sentence to suggest that this experiment encompassed anything other than a FP+ report. Sorry. Your trip is absolutely a last minute trip. The booking of FPs isn't. But it will be interesting to see what ADRs you get.

 

[AlixaLock]

I did not read the above sentence to suggest that this experiment encompassed anything other than a FP+ report. Sorry. Your trip is absolutely a last minute trip. The booking of FPs isn't. But it will be interesting to see what ADRs you get.

A good point, thanks for clarifying.

Alright Friday and Saturday are done.

FastPasses were easy to book ... wide open across all parks. I booked (and cancelled, since we won't actually arrive in time to have much park time on Friday) easily and the website is working great tonight. Ironically, the one FastPass that I would have booked and kept for Friday was Illuminations and that was THE ONLY one not available.

It's clear, at least in this current form of FP+, that it is not necessary to book 60-days out.

Dining ADR's were more restricted but not horrible. Wanted Le Cellier but it was fully booked. Debated between Yachtsman and Via Napoli and ended up with Via Napoli. Goes without saying that nothing was available at BOG, 'Ohana or Cali Grill. Most restaurants were available but there was mostly 5pm and 9pm reservations.

It is clear, as it has been for a while, that it is necessary to book the most popular dining 180 days out, but that there are plenty of decent options available later in the game!

One thing that was really annoying ... I hated having to manipulate the dining times to get the FastPass+ times that I wanted. I cancelled dining and then booked a FastPass and then re-booked dining. I know very well how quickly I can get from Soarin' to Via Napoli and Disney os forcing way too much cushion between FastPass and Dining.

Oh, and there was no club level available at Beach Club, but I think we can struggle through! LOL!

More LAter!

 

[rastuso]

Well! that pretty much proves it. Disney World is dead in early February. Not sure if it proves anything else.

Jason

 

[adc]

That's awesome to get out of the cold!

I'm not sure why people have to be so snarky! I'm going the same time you are. I'm very interested in what you were able to book.

 

[AlixaLock]

Well! that pretty much proves it. Disney World is dead in early February. Not sure if it proves anything else.

Jason

I wasn't trying to prove anything. I was hoping to show my experiences with booking a last minute trip. My trip happens to be in February.

I'm not sure I should bother posting anything else about my experiences, since clearly there is no value in anything I have to say if it doesn't either prove or disprove something. Many people have remarked lately that they are worried that the spontaneity has gone out of the whole Disney experience and it's something that was on my mind, so I thought I'd experiment.

I really meant this to be fun and light ... not sure where I went wrong.

More tomorrow when I have time to sit down and write out the rest of my booking experiences...

 

[AlixaLock]

That's awesome to get out of the cold!

Yes, so excited!!! Can't wait to thaw out a little ... it has been a long winter!!!

 

[sethschroeder]

One thing that was really annoying ... I hated having to manipulate the dining times to get the FastPass+ times that I wanted. .... Disney os forcing way too much cushion between FastPass and Dining.

Did not know they forced a cushion which kinda sucks. Makes somewhat sense but still kinda stinks depending how it plays out, guess I will see later this year.

 

[rastuso]

I wasn't trying to prove anything. I was hoping to show my experiences with booking a last minute trip. My trip happens to be in February.

I'm not sure I should bother posting anything else about my experiences, since clearly there is no value in anything I have to say if it doesn't either prove or disprove something. Many people have remarked lately that they are worried that the spontaneity has gone out of the whole Disney experience and it's something that was on my mind, so I thought I'd experiment.

I really meant this to be fun and light ... not sure where I went wrong.

More tomorrow when I have time to sit down and write out the rest of my booking experiences...

So you were trying to prove spontaneity still exists. You proved it does in early February, not surprisingly.

Oh, and you proved even in the dead of early February, you will only get three non-standby rides.


Jason

 

[sethschroeder]

This isn't really "last minute". Off-site guests cannot book until the day they arrive in the park and so far there haven't been any reports of people being shut out, at least if they arrive in a timely manner. Plus, people can make changes on the fly while in the parks. So I can't imagine that you are going to have any difficulty. FP+ isn't like booking Be Our Guest. At least not yet.

Who cares what off-site guest can or can't do... I personally hope they never let off-site guests book more than 24 hours ahead of time.

In the end this is part of the complaining I see
I GOTTA BOOK AND LOCK IN FP+ 60 DAYS OUT

Well she showed that its pretty plausible to get pretty much everything from a FP+ point of view even a couple days before the trip.

 

[Shaden]

It's clear, at least in this current form of FP+, that it is not necessary to book 60-days out.

I think your experiment is great, I think its pretty crazy that you have had some problems with ADRs given the crowd levels. For the Record Friday is a 3, Sat is a 5 (though Sat is recommended at MK and EP, not sure where you are planning) and Sun is a 3.

I think your above bolded statement is what is opening you up to criticism. These are very low crowds. To say that its "clear" you don't have to book at 60 days out ... based on booking during a 3, 5, 3 weekend, isn't very effective. Though for the record with only onsite guests being able to pre-book, I think its fairly safe to say you don't need to book 60 days out atm ...

It also kinda counters your suggestion you weren't trying to prove anything, although maybe you weren't, but you certainly made conclusions.

I think this is still pretty insightful though, its good to know that this is possible for anyone over the next few weeks thinking about booking a last minute trip and worrying about FP+ availability.

Thank you for sharing the experience and the info

 

[leebee]

I wasn't trying to prove anything. I was hoping to show my experiences with booking a last minute trip. My trip happens to be in February.

I'm not sure I should bother posting anything else about my experiences, since clearly there is no value in anything I have to say if it doesn't either prove or disprove something. Many people have remarked lately that they are worried that the spontaneity has gone out of the whole Disney experience and it's something that was on my mind, so I thought I'd experiment.

I really meant this to be fun and light ... not sure where I went wrong.

More tomorrow when I have time to sit down and write out the rest of my booking experiences...

I, too, was puzzled by the people who seem to want to shoot you down. Not sure why. Unlike the majority of DISers, it seems, we are very much "last minute" planners. I think our shortest planning period was the year I made airfare reservations on a Tuesday evening and we were in Florida early Sunday afternoon! OK, that was an offsite stay, but there was the year that I made plans on July 27 and we checked into POP on August 12th, complete with Free Dining (upgraded to DDP for 9 nights!). I am interested in hearing how you fare with your planning… Please don't let a couple of negative posters keep you from updating us!!

 

[mesaboy2]

Who cares what off-site guest can or can't do... I personally hope they never let off-site guests book more than 24 hours ahead of time.

In the end this is part of the complaining I see
I GOTTA BOOK AND LOCK IN FP+ 60 DAYS OUT

Well she showed that its pretty plausible to get pretty much everything from a FP+ point of view even a couple days before the trip.

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say offsite guests.

 

[GoofyGirl1717]

I want to say thanks for reporting. I enjoy hearing that it is possible to change plans without worrying you will not be able to replace the FP+. Don't let others get you down YOU'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!!!!!

 

[AlixaLock]

I think your experiment is great, I think its pretty crazy that you have had some problems with ADRs given the crowd levels. For the Record Friday is a 3, Sat is a 5 (though Sat is recommended at MK and EP, not sure where you are planning) and Sun is a 3.

I think your above bolded statement is what is opening you up to criticism. These are very low crowds. To say that its "clear" you don't have to book at 60 days out ... based on booking during a 3, 5, 3 weekend, isn't very effective. Though for the record with only onsite guests being able to pre-book, I think its fairly safe to say you don't need to book 60 days out atm ...

It also kinda counters your suggestion you weren't trying to prove anything, although maybe you weren't, but you certainly made conclusions.

I think this is still pretty insightful though, its good to know that this is possible for anyone over the next few weeks thinking about booking a last minute trip and worrying about FP+ availability.

Thank you for sharing the experience and the info

Thank you for explaining your perspective.

Cannot agree that I opened myself up to criticism. I made conclusions about my experience and that conclusion was that it was possible to plan my trip without booking 60 days in advance. I certainly didn't prove anything about whether FP+ works for everyone or allows spontaneity for everyone, but for me it did.

Honestly, I am most eager to share more information about changing reservations on the fly. We had great luck with this in October, but that was during the Legacy period. Of course, I will only be able to report on experiences that occur when I am there. Time machine is broken this weekend!

 

[AlixaLock]

Did not know they forced a cushion which kinda sucks. Makes somewhat sense but still kinda stinks depending how it plays out, guess I will see later this year.

Yeah, I wasn't aware of this prior to planning, but it was definitely there. Could not book FP+ within a certain time period around my ADR. It was no problem to book ADRs though as long as they didn't directly conflict (which I wouldn't do anyway) so it was more of an annoyance then a problem. This is one, though, that will be more difficult for people dealing with peak crowds!