Tips for Those Nervous About Reserving FP

[seasonality]

This morning was my 60-day mark (short pause for ). I was extremely nervous about it, having never reserved FP online before, especially with no way to get into the system to practice or see what the screens would look like prior to the 60 day free-for-all. Just wanted to alleviate any anxieties by letting you know I was worried over nothing and provide some hopefully helpful tips to make your FP reservation experience go more smoothly than mine did. Not to say mine was difficult, there were just a couple bumps I wish I would have known about ahead of time.

1. Don't be worried if it is 7:00 AM and it says there are no tickets associated with the people in your party. Don't be worried if it is 7:05 AM and it says there are no tickets associated with the people in your party. The system did not refresh for me so I could start booking FP until around 7:07. I was freaking out for those 7 minutes....and all it wound up being was a slight delay. So, deep breaths, refresh your screen, and enjoy your coffee until the system is ready.

2. I'm sure you all know this already, but it was news to me this year so figured I would share it for any newbies. Book the most popular rides first, instead of going in chorological order by calendar date. The system allows you to jump back and forth between days quite easily. Have paper/pen ready to write down your selected times.

3. Didn't realize this one until I had already booked all my Fast Passes and was going back in to tweak, but I think it would have made the process much easier had I known it going in. The system allows you to use a filter to search FP times by Morning, Afternoon, Evening, or specific time. I was using these and the options were so limited. When I went back to tweak, I noticed the View Details and More Times link. If you click this link, it lists all the times the FP's are available for your ride and there were more options every single time, without exception, than it gave me if I chose the Morning, Afternoon, or Evening filter.

Note: There is a 7:30 time available that wasn't shown earlier.


4. I booked our FP's in a mad rush as if I were booking dining reservations and there was no need to. I've been able to tweak them all day and still get the rides we want, in the parks we want to be in, at the times we want to ride them. Obviously, flexibility can be quite important, as are your problem-solving skills in case you need to base your afternoon around one ride that is only available at a certain time. Honestly though, I rarely ran into this at all except for with Splash Mtn. as I think it's quite popular during certain times of the day so you can dry off.

Hope this has helped to alleviate any pressure those who haven't booked yet (especially the newbies) might be feeling while waiting for their day to book FP's.

 

[Mom2Stitch]

Thank you for posting this. I was nervous about doing this since the system has changed since last year. I'm going to write out all of our park days and what we want where and then start with the hardest to get- FEA, 7D, TSMM all first. Then I'll fill in with the other stuff. We will be there 9 days, do you know if I will be able to book for all 9 or is it just 7 days at a time?

 

[seasonality]

You should be able to book for all 9 days. I was able to book for 10 days for a group of 8 people.

 

[Maine_Belle]

I found the hardest part was even though I had all my desired times written out and ready, and I was flexible with my times, I sometimes got tripped up with the hour FP window. For example, I couldn't get SDMT as early as I wanted around 12. Instead I got 12:40. I went to carry on with my 3rd FP for Haunted Mansion, which I wanted for around 1:30, but that overlapped with SDMT, so I couldn't do it.

I also forgot that with the child swap situation, I only needed to look for 2 FP for SDMT instead of the full family of 4 that I initially reserved. Had I remembered I only needed one parent and the big kid, I might have been able to score a time earlier like I had wanted. Oh well- this is small peanuts in the grand scheme of things!

One other tip... my morning the website seemed to go down for a bit around 7:45. I was generally done and just messing around with stuff at that point, but it was annoying to not be able to use my laptop. I was however able to switch to my phone, so you can always have the app & website open for a back up plan for technology issues.

All in all, it wasn't tough to figure out, esp when you've got a rough guide to follow. I had NO problems getting everything, even if it wasn't perfect timing for the super popular rides.

 

[speeb]

This morning was my 60-day mark (short pause for ). I was extremely nervous about it, having never reserved FP online before, especially with no way to get into the system to practice or see what the screens would look like prior to the 60 day free-for-all. Just wanted to alleviate any anxieties by letting you know I was worried over nothing and provide some hopefully helpful tips to make your FP reservation experience go more smoothly than mine did. Not to say mine was difficult, there were just a couple bumps I wish I would have known about ahead of time.

1. Don't be worried if it is 7:00 AM and it says there are no tickets associated with the people in your party. Don't be worried if it is 7:05 AM and it says there are no tickets associated with the people in your party. The system did not refresh for me so I could start booking FP until around 7:07. I was freaking out for those 7 minutes....and all it wound up being was a slight delay. So, deep breaths, refresh your screen, and enjoy your coffee until the system is ready.

2. I'm sure you all know this already, but it was news to me this year so figured I would share it for any newbies. Book the most popular rides first, instead of going in chorological order by calendar date. The system allows you to jump back and forth between days quite easily. Have paper/pen ready to write down your selected times.

3. Didn't realize this one until I had already booked all my Fast Passes and was going back in to tweak, but I think it would have made the process much easier had I known it going in. The system allows you to use a filter to search FP times by Morning, Afternoon, Evening, or specific time. I was using these and the options were so limited. When I went back to tweak, I noticed the View Details and More Times link. If you click this link, it lists all the times the FP's are available for your ride and there were more options every single time, without exception, than it gave me if I chose the Morning, Afternoon, or Evening filter.
View attachment 178205
Note: There is a 7:30 time available that wasn't shown earlier.
View attachment 178206

4. I booked our FP's in a mad rush as if I were booking dining reservations and there was no need to. I've been able to tweak them all day and still get the rides we want, in the parks we want to be in, at the times we want to ride them. Obviously, flexibility can be quite important, as are your problem-solving skills in case you need to base your afternoon around one ride that is only available at a certain time. Honestly though, I rarely ran into this at all except for with Splash Mtn. as I think it's quite popular during certain times of the day so you can dry off.

Hope this has helped to alleviate any pressure those who haven't booked yet (especially the newbies) might be feeling while waiting for their day to book FP's.

Thanks very much! My FP date isn't until the end of August, but going in blind definitely makes me nervous.

 

[cheerupem0kidx0x]

Thanks!! My FP day is in 6 days and I am clueless so this really helps.

 

[tinkerbella16]

Thanks! Our FP window opens up on Tuesday morning. I have done this multiple times before with no problems and I am still nervous since it is a little bit different than last year when you had to choose 3 FP's. Thanks again!

 

[TikiMan0228]

Thank you for posting. This my first time planning a trip with FP+. Last trip was paper FP. I have been fretting as we approach day 60. We are at 65 now. I will be sure to take a deep breath and stay positive.

 

[123SA]

What I found most difficult was how to modify the times. I picked a FP at 10:10 for TSM and I wanted a FP for Frozen singalong for the 11:30 show - -that FP starts at 11:05. I needed to adjust my TSM FP time. I could not figure out how to do it on my laptop. I ended up booking the remaining 9 days of my trip. By the time it occurred to me to use my phone to modify the time, there were no more TSM FP available for 10 am or 10:05am.

You don't modify times from the Fastpass "get started" tab. You have to go back out into "my reservations" and edit from there.

 

[ljsinct]

Thank you- great info!

 

[js]

Thanks! Our FP window opens up on Tuesday morning. I have done this multiple times before with no problems and I am still nervous since it is a little bit different than last year when you had to choose 3 FP's. Thanks again!

OMG. Last I chose FP were about 1.5 - 2 years ago. Are you saying I no longer can choose 3 FPs for each park????
I just did my dining so I have time but thought I would come over to the FP area so I can be well informed and looks like things changed from last year?

THANK YOU for any help!

 

[js]

OP, thank you very much. While I'm not a newbie I certainly am new making FP ressies since I haven't done it in almost two years.
I would have gone in chronological order and didn't think to do the harder FP first (just like the hard to get ADRs), so thank you for this tip.
Happy you were able to get and tweak what you wanted.

 

[TikiMan0228]

Did my FP+ this morning. It was very easy. I had a good plan in place as far as what I wanted and when I wanted them. It was a bit of a blur but I got just about everything I wanted. Once the dust settled I went back and had to make a few tweaks to tighten up some time gaps I did not want which was also super easy to modify. Much better than sprinting to paper FP kiosks like last trip.

 

[tinkerbella16]

OMG. Last I chose FP were about 1.5 - 2 years ago. Are you saying I no longer can choose 3 FPs for each park????
I just did my dining so I have time but thought I would come over to the FP area so I can be well informed and looks like things changed from last year?

THANK YOU for any help!

You can still choose up to 3 FP's in the park you are going to on whichever day, but you can also choose 1 or 2 if you want. You used to HAVE to choose 3 before, even if you didn't want 3. Now you can choose up to 3. Our last full day, I only made 1 FP so far, because I really don't know if we want to go to MK or Epcot.. so I chose FEA for now, and I might add 1 or 2 more later.

 

[js]

You can still choose up to 3 FP's in the park you are going to on whichever day, but you can also choose 1 or 2 if you want. You used to HAVE to choose 3 before, even if you didn't want 3. Now you can choose up to 3. Our last full day, I only made 1 FP so far, because I really don't know if we want to go to MK or Epcot.. so I chose FEA for now, and I might add 1 or 2 more later.

Thank you but why would you do this? Wouldnt you rather have something? Or if you choose one, for instance, in MK do you mean you can also choose two in Epcot?

Thanks so much!

 

[tinkerbella16]

Thank you but why would you do this? Wouldnt you rather have something? Or if you choose one, for instance, in MK do you mean you can also choose two in Epcot?

Thanks so much!

They still have to be in the same park, but after you use the 1 or 2 or 3 that you reserved in advance, you can go on the app on your phone and reserve another FP in a different park, if you plan on visiting another park that day. That is why people like it this way.. they can plan another park or not even leave the park they're going to, and only book 1 or 2 FP's in advance for the first park and then use them instead of HAVING to use 3. Also helps if you want to stay in the first park, and that park has tiers and you want to try for another tier 1 ride after you used the FP's you reserved in advance.

 

[prettypatchesmsu]

Also helps if you want to stay in the first park, and that park has tiers and you want to try for another tier 1 ride after you used the FP's you reserved in advance.

Could you explain that one a little? I thought you had to use 3 fp in the tier parks, 1 tier 1, and the two others before you could get another tier 1.

 

[rosysubmarine]

Thank you so much for posting this! Quick question, though. Is 7:00AM EST the earliest you can book FP+s? I've heard some people mention midnight EST and I was preparing to pull a late night to get them.

Also, is it difficult to get FP+s for your whole party? Is it one at a time or all at once?

Sorry, I'm a little nervous about this! Your post has helped out a LOT with that, though.

 

[prettypatchesmsu]

Thank you so much for posting this! Quick question, though. Is 7:00AM EST the earliest you can book FP+s? I've heard some people mention midnight EST and I was preparing to pull a late night to get them.

Also, is it difficult to get FP+s for your whole party? Is it one at a time or all at once?

Sorry, I'm a little nervous about this! Your post has helped out a LOT with that, though.

It just recently used to be midnight but it changed to the new time of 7am. I preferred the old time of midnight since I'm at work at 7am. I'm burning a vacation day on our FP drop day at the end of this month as it fell on a Monday morning.

 

[TikiMan0228]

Thank you so much for posting this! Quick question, though. Is 7:00AM EST the earliest you can book FP+s? I've heard some people mention midnight EST and I was preparing to pull a late night to get them.

Also, is it difficult to get FP+s for your whole party? Is it one at a time or all at once?

Sorry, I'm a little nervous about this! Your post has helped out a LOT with that, though.

I just did my FP+ for my family on Tuesday. It was 7am sharp. And it is very easy to do the whole group. I did through the MDE app on my phone and you can pick individual members but there is a button to pick everyone in the group. This was the first time doing FP+ and was much easier than I thought. Good luck!