There isn't any Disney Magic in this process!!

[mesaboy2]

I see a big difference in that if you miss out on the concert tickets, you have not spent a penny on the experience. If you miss the black Friday deal, you have not spent a penny. Not so with a Disney trip.

And of course, you have to already know that if you want FPs for something at a theme park you must book them at a specific time 60 days before. I mean who doesn't know that? Duh.

 

[Dis703]

I didn't see the magic in waiting to get a FP+ at midnight either... until I watched my little sister cry meeting Queen Elsa

I promise you'll get magic for your hard work. You're wonderful for staying up until 1:00 to get those FP+. Have a great vacation

So true.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

They could even add them to a second park. Not just MOVE them to a second park, but ADD them to a second park.

They will be in Epcot next year. Epcot didn't have the infrastructure to handle their popularity, so a new place is being built for them. Or do they need to be there NOW so all they have to do is slap something together. They tried that already and had to move them.

 

[BugsDaddy]

Maybe I'm just lucky but that hasn't been my experience at all; I find that pretty much whatever else I'm looking for (cruise, exotic resort destination, etc) is available as long as I'm willing to pay for it.



.

It really depends on what you are looking for, how flexible you are and the demand of that item or experience. Anything can surely be bought for the right price but that in itself is going to an extreme measure to secure what you want.

I can imagine the "class warfare" posts if Disney was to ever start charging for FP's for their most popular rides.

There are shows on Broadway, in Vegas, certain specific rooms at high end resorts, etc. where you would need to either know someone or be one of the first "in line" to get a specific seat at a specific time for a specific show.

The more specifc the request is combined with the higher demand is what pushes the customer to put forth extra effort to get what they want. Wanting a FP on a specific day, during a specific time frame for a specific high demand ride is one of those types of requests.

 

[disneyfantotheend]

My window opened at midnight so I just went to sleep around 10pm and set my clock for 11:55.

This is what I plan on doing. Although, I will likely get up at least half hour before the window opens. Just in case my computer decides to give me trouble getting to where I need to be.

 

[maccagerl]

I really don't understand why people work themselves into such a frenzy over booking FP+ and ADR's the first day the window opens.
I've been twice since FP+, for about a week each time, and never had a problem getting all the desireable FP for each park, booking about 1-3 weeks out- and no problem switching them around at the last minute when our plans would change.
Same thing with ADR's.

 

[mom2rtk]

You realize when you buy a ticket to WDW you're buying the hotel stay and admission to the parks right? I know you know you are not buying a guaranteed ride on any ride. So no, missing out on A&E, you have not spent any money in the process. You've still only spent the same money you'd spend on your vacation, and you got exactly what you knew you were buying.

You stay up... because you want something more. And you feel that by being on at midnight, you'll beat the average guest in getting to it.

I'm sure you're not surprised that I see this differently.

 

[Laketravis]

Perhaps those people did not care to schedule A/E, 7DMT, parades or fireworks? Not saying it doesn't happen for these things, I'm just saying that these are far from a sure thing.

Recently when I was making our FP reservations, I did notice that three of those four things were never available for any day that I looked at. Of course, I was at 30 days out and not 60 so I sort of expected some things to already be "gone".



.

 

[Dis703]

Perhaps those people did not care to schedule A/E, 7DMT, parades or fireworks? Not saying it doesn't happen for these things, I'm just saying that these are far from a sure thing.

Not sure. Like I said I'm not chancing it. I'm just curious if even those attractions are gone by morning.

 

[Planogirl]

Wow, who knew that the OP would be attacked for not liking a system that Disney has implemented. How rude of her.

Personally, I've had the pleasure of scheduling one day at a time since we are staying offsite. I know, my fault.

 

[IrishNYC]

I see a big difference in that if you miss out on the concert tickets, you have not spent a penny on the experience. If you miss the black Friday deal, you have not spent a penny. Not so with a Disney trip.

I agree. There's also a difference between concert tickets and FPs - with concert tickets you're generally limited to how many you can purchase per session (you usually can't buy tickets to two shows in one purchase), not so with FPs. I think if the system limited each MDE account to choosing only one FP for A&E per "session" it would made at least a few more available. How many times have you seen people here post, "I booked A&E for every day of my trip!" just because they could.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I really don't understand why people work themselves into such a frenzy over booking FP+ and ADR's the first day the window opens.

For peace of mind. Really no other reaason.

A&E is the one most likely to be gone around 8 or 9 am 60 days out and I've never wanted them so I haven't tried. Personally I have had no difficulty getting the others without doing any midnight surfing.

 

[mom2rtk]

They will be in Epcot next year. Epcot didn't have the infrastructure to handle their popularity, so a new place is being built for them. Or do they need to be there NOW so all they have to do is slap something together. They tried that already and had to move them.

Do we know yet that they are in fact being ADDED to Epcot? I don't think that's entirely clear. I guess we'll know by 2016, right?

When they were at Epcot before, they were only in that one location, a location that did not offer secret second rooms. They could have added them to the MK and left them at Epcot as a secondary spot.

 

[Dis703]

I really don't understand why people work themselves into such a frenzy over booking FP+ and ADR's the first day the window opens.
I've been twice since FP+, for about a week each time, and never had a problem getting all the desireable FP for each park, booking about 1-3 weeks out- and no problem switching them around at the last minute when our plans would change.
Same thing with ADR's.

Just curious, did you get FP for A&E, SDMT or parades and fireworks? Those seem to be the ones that go really fast.

I don't really work myself up into a frenzy. But there are definitely things that will be gone right away. I started looking at ADRs for BoG at the 180 day mark before I booked my resort and the only ones left were already for 9:20pm. Way too late for our kids. So I quickly booked our resort so I could get the plus 10 days and was able to book for a 6pm dinner instead.

Now, I've always been able to secure every ADR we've wanted in the past, but I did it with a LOT of effort. Checking online quite frequently. It was nice to avoid that this time around.

 

[sharona]

Probably not - that would certainly be "Magic".

But they could probably make more costumes, and find some more CM's to wear them, thereby stepping up to meet demand, reducing guest frustration and increasing satisfaction levels.



.

THIS. No excuse for not adding more A&E's. It's not like they are paying them all that much.

 

[flicx]

Probably not - that would certainly be "Magic".

But they could probably make more costumes, and find some more CM's to wear them, thereby stepping up to meet demand, reducing guest frustration and increasing satisfaction levels.



.

Very good point. God knows there are enough empty buildings in all 4 parks to do exactly that!

 

[Laketravis]

There are shows on Broadway, in Vegas, certain specific rooms at high end resorts, etc. where you would need to either know someone or be one of the first "in line" to get a specific seat at a specific time for a specific show..

Could be. I think some people just find it difficult drawing a parallel between a popular Broadway/Vegas show or a room at a high end resort to spending a couple of minutes meeting a costumed character or riding a theme park ride and finding that such a thing isn't available two months in advance.




.

 

[Judyat]

Just spent a month at Disney. Got annual passes at the beginning of it and planned each day just a day or two ahead. It worked fine. Everything we wanted was there so I don't see the need to plan 60 days ahead. Maybe if it's a real busy time but from what I could see it's always busy. We did our 3 and then did whatever was only a 10 minute or less wait. We have been there many times so now we just do our favorites and anything new. I was skeptical of the new FP+ but I'm now sold on it. The only problem and it's not really a problem but at Epcot you can only do Test track or Soarin. Since those are the 2 most popular you have to do 2 days at Epcot to do each one or go early do your 3 and then try in to more at the Kiosks.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

They could have added them to the MK and left them at Epcot as a secondary spot.

No they can't. They are too popular for the pavilion to deal with until their new building is constructed. They would have needed to move them somewhere else with a higher capacity for traffic, maybe in Future World. As it is, if you don't have an FP for the MK meet you are probably looking at a standby wait of no more than 2 hours. At Epcot it got up to 7 hours, no option for FPs, and people were still doing it. Moving them was the correct thing to do.

 

[IrishNYC]

THIS. No excuse for not adding more A&E's. It's not like they are paying them all that much.

Very good point. God knows there are enough empty buildings in all 4 parks to do exactly that!

Just because there are empty buildings doesn't mean those buildings are set up to handle the hoards that want to see A&E.