Trial Club Level Fastpass+ Purchase Program Planning & Discussion

[WDWtwentyfifteen]

Why is Magic Kingdom closing at 6 pm on Tuesday October 22 if there isn't a scary party? hmmmm

Wondering this myself! It’s my birthday and was hoping to spend it at Magic Kingdom

 

[Aerinha]

My 90 day booking day isn't until June but I am already puzzling over what to pick and when to schedule FPs. Not knowing how SWGE is going to be managed doesn't help. Are you park hopping or staying in one park each day?

Park hopping except for first and last days when I am all at MK since it’s my favorite and the only park I could find six rides to FP.

I rope drop so I started my FP around 10 figuring that gave me an hour to do whatever until I had one. I also have my routine down so I know about where I will be in the park to get to my first one. For the night I eat in DS, I did 4 FP at my first park between 10-2, the time I tend to exit to rest and my last 2 at Epcot so I can bus from DS to an Epcot hotel walk in IG. Dinner at Sanaa I made my night at HS so I can the bus back to my resort when done.

With a dinner adr at 5 I figured a 7 FP gave me until 7:55 to eat, bus, enter park and get in line. It is just me so food for one, no waiting on slow eaters and I walk fast. To be safe I did make the 7 FP something I am not super excited for so if I miss it...shrug.

 

[kungaloosh22]

Bummer. I was hoping Grand Villas were included. Those are more points than cabins or bungalows sometimes. ...

Yeah, I always thought it was strange that cabins are included but not the more expensive CCV grand villas. I'd be tempted to call DSS and ask anyway, politely citing the CCV cabin comparison, just to see what they'd say. You never know when some pixie dust might fall....

That said, perhaps the thinking is that if they allow CCV grand villas, then they'd get pressure to also allow all the other grand villas, which might open up too many rooms. Also, some GVs are considerably fewer points than the bungalows and cabins, and then you'd get people wondering why their 2-bedroom GF lake view rooms don't qualify when they're more points than OKW GVs, and so on down the chain.

... Oh well saves us money.

And maybe it gives you more time to relish the WL and those spectacular grand villas! Given that fast passes can't overlap, days with 6 pre-booked fast passes can be long days, especially if you add any meals or shows. We tried this for program when we stayed in the cabins. Don't get me wrong, it was fun and I'm glad we did it. The park days weren't terribly long but I admit that a couple of them were a bit longer than ideal, because I secretly really wanted to be back at the resort. (Though when I was younger and newer to the parks, resort time was secondary. Every day was full speed ahead Rope drop to park close! so I fully understand that YMMV.)

 

[Dave006]

Why is Magic Kingdom closing at 6 pm on Tuesday October 22 if there isn't a scary party? hmmmm

The most likely answer is due to a Corporate Conference sponsored event. The Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo is at the world that week: Sunday, Oct 19 - Thursday Oct 23. The Gartner conference is massive and consumes large blocks of resort rooms across WDW.

Dave

 

[Luv2trav]

Yeah, I always thought it was strange that cabins are included but not the more expensive CCV grand villas. I'd be tempted to call DSS and ask anyway, politely citing the CCV cabin comparison, just to see what they'd say. You never know when some pixie dust might fall....

That said, perhaps the thinking is that if they allow CCV grand villas, then they'd get pressure to also allow all the other grand villas, which might open up too many rooms. Also, some GVs are considerably fewer points than the bungalows and cabins, and then you'd get people wondering why their 2-bedroom GF lake view rooms don't qualify when they're more points than OKW GVs, and so on down the chain.




And maybe it gives you more time to relish the WL and those spectacular grand villas! Given that fast passes can't overlap, days with 6 pre-booked fast passes can be long days, especially if you add any meals or shows. We tried this for program when we stayed in the cabins. Don't get me wrong, it was fun and I'm glad we did it. The park days weren't terribly long but I admit that a couple of them were a bit longer than ideal, because I secretly really wanted to be back at the resort. (Though when I was younger and newer to the parks, resort time was secondary. Every day was full speed ahead Rope drop to park close! so I fully understand that YMMV.)

You bring up some very good points. After thinking about it I am not sure we could use all the FP's without feeling rushed or over scheduled. We are going at Christmas and we want to take things slow to just enjoy the atmosphere vs running from ride to ride. We are traveling with my in laws and like you said I want to enjoy the CCV Grand Villa because I will more than likely never do it again.

 

[WonderfulLife]

Does anyone know if you can add this to your stay? I booked concierge at YC and did not see the option to add this when I booked. I am hoping that I can. My stay is Sept 1st to Sept 8th.
Thanks.....

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Does anyone know if you can add this to your stay? I booked concierge at YC and did not see the option to add this when I booked. I am hoping that I can. My stay is Sept 1st to Sept 8th.
Thanks.....

Yes, a club level stay at YC qualifies you for the program.

You call Disney Signature Services (the pre-arrival CL 'concierge' group) to book at 90 days from your check-out date. They don't advertise or otherwise mention the program in any way, it's purely initiated by the guest call to DSS. More info on DSS can be found here: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/guest-services/signature-services/

And their phone number is: (407) 939-7777

If you haven't seen it, this post has some basic details of the program: https://www.disboards.com/threads/f...ing-anytime-fps-cl-fps.3538258/#post-56320893

Hope that helps.

 

[WonderfulLife]

Awesome! Thanks!

 

[Craig W]

The most likely answer is due to a Corporate Conference sponsored event. The Gartner IT Symposium/Xpo is at the world that week: Sunday, Oct 19 - Thursday Oct 23. The Gartner conference is massive and consumes large blocks of resort rooms across WDW.

Dave

I did read recently that it is a private party of some kind. Must be crazy expensive!

 

[SantiJB]

Hi,

We are considering to book 3 days of CL extra fastpass for our next August WDW trip. However, we have planned to go to some of after hours events. According to your experience and considering that for a family of 4 the price of hard ticket to after hours event ($500 + tax) is more or less similar than 3 days of CL extra fastpass ($600 + tax), what do you consider the best option?

On one hand, i think that after hours events allows you to be in a park almost without people, 3 hours of illimitate some rides and the option of free beverages, popcorns and ice-creams. But I do not really know how many rides you can do in those 3 hours and you can not decide what rides do, there are only available some rides.

If you need to decide to do 3 days of CL extra fastpass or a hard ticket after hours event, what do you choose? and why?

According to your experience how many rides you can do within thar 3 hours events?

Thank you!

 

[QueenElinor]

Hi,

We are considering to book 3 days of CL extra fastpass for our next August WDW trip. However, we have planned to go to some of after hours events. According to your experience and considering that for a family of 4 the price of hard ticket to after hours event ($500 + tax) is more or less similar than 3 days of CL extra fastpass ($600 + tax), what do you consider the best option?

On one hand, i think that after hours events allows you to be in a park almost without people, 3 hours of illimitate some rides and the option of free beverages, popcorns and ice-creams. But I do not really know how many rides you can do in those 3 hours and you can not decide what rides do, there are only available some rides.

If you need to decide to do 3 days of CL extra fastpass or a hard ticket after hours event, what do you choose? and why?

According to your experience how many rides you can do within thar 3 hours events?

Thank you!

Also remember that the DAH events don't need a ticket, so if you haven't bought your tickets already you might save some money there. Also there's a discount if you have an AP (which you may want to buy just for the room & dining AP discounts even if you don't plan on going back to WDW this year) . You could also forgo a park hopper ticket and use the DAH to park-hop.

Given all these things, the DAH would have been a better deal for us... except they didn't come out until long after we'd already bought the CLFP and made our ADRs. It was too late to go back and adjust.

On the other hand, we don't go to WDW all the time. There are quite a few shows, rides and other attractions you can only experience during the day, (including the food), and it's these things that sets WDW apart from all the other parks out there. Furthermore, most of our days are forecasted to be manageable crowd levels so I'm not too sad about missing out on DAH and just doing the CLFP- we can take our time to see most everything.

If we were going to be there longer than a week or if it were super crowded the whole time, we might do things differently.

 

[LetsTalkWDW]

Hi,

We are considering to book 3 days of CL extra fastpass for our next August WDW trip. However, we have planned to go to some of after hours events. According to your experience and considering that for a family of 4 the price of hard ticket to after hours event ($500 + tax) is more or less similar than 3 days of CL extra fastpass ($600 + tax), what do you consider the best option?

On one hand, i think that after hours events allows you to be in a park almost without people, 3 hours of illimitate some rides and the option of free beverages, popcorns and ice-creams. But I do not really know how many rides you can do in those 3 hours and you can not decide what rides do, there are only available some rides.

If you need to decide to do 3 days of CL extra fastpass or a hard ticket after hours event, what do you choose? and why?

According to your experience how many rides you can do within thar 3 hours events?

Thank you!

SantiJB,
There are entire threads on the DIS dedicated to the DAH (Disney After Hours) events.
These threads are really informative and they include first hand accounts of peoples experiences at these events.
(I'll put the FAQ thread links below for each park)

One thing to consider when comparing the DAH event vs. CLFP. With DAH you are limited to that one park. With CLFP you can enhance your experience at many parks.
I have read through the DAH HS thread and most people seem to be happy with their experience (a few others not so much )

For me, since I am doing CL anyway (i.e. already shelling out big bucks), I will probably utilize the CLFP (if they are still available in December) and attend a DAH event if offered.

Hollywood Studios DAH: https://www.disboards.com/threads/d...lywood-studios-faq-discussion-thread.3715403/
Animal Kingdon DAH: https://www.disboards.com/threads/disney-after-hours-animal-kingdom-faq-discussion-thread.3715424/
Magic Kingdom DAH: https://www.disboards.com/threads/disney-after-hours-magic-kingdom-faq-discussion-thread.3713652/

Note: You can also search "Disney After Hours" for many more DAH threads on various other aspects.

 

[ninafeliz]

Hi,

We are considering to book 3 days of CL extra fastpass for our next August WDW trip. However, we have planned to go to some of after hours events. According to your experience and considering that for a family of 4 the price of hard ticket to after hours event ($500 + tax) is more or less similar than 3 days of CL extra fastpass ($600 + tax), what do you consider the best option?

On one hand, i think that after hours events allows you to be in a park almost without people, 3 hours of illimitate some rides and the option of free beverages, popcorns and ice-creams. But I do not really know how many rides you can do in those 3 hours and you can not decide what rides do, there are only available some rides.

If you need to decide to do 3 days of CL extra fastpass or a hard ticket after hours event, what do you choose? and why?

According to your experience how many rides you can do within thar 3 hours events?

Thank you!

We are doing one day of CLFP at each park as well as the DAH at DHS and MK. They are just very different. If I had to choose one I honestly don't now which I would do!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

I thought I should post our recent experience. Previously, we used the CL FP+. In 2018,I was glad we did it. In 2019, I was glad we didn't buy it.

1. When we did the extra CL FP+ the reserved fireworks spots were included. Truly, the reserved seating in MK alone made the package worthwhile.

2. In 2018, I only partly understood refresh. I did spend SOME time refreshing, but only a few times per FP search, and it didn't appear to change the offerings very much.

3. In 2019, I did spent some more time refreshing, but I didn't spend more than few minutes refreshing to get different choices. IMO, the system has improved.

In 2019, without buying the extra CL FP, I did quite well in MK. My pre-booked FP were: Splash, BTMRR and Space Mtn. My first FP was Splash, which went down, so we got one anytime FP before we even entered the park. I modified our 2nd FP, but wasn't able to move up our 3rd FP (Space).

We entered MK at RD, and went straight to BTMRR.
Rode standby: 10min wait. Used BTMRR FP.
Splash had just reopened: rode standby w/ about 10minute wait.
Rode Carousel on way to Space Mtn FP.
After Space, I was able to get Pooh FP, Jungle cruise FP, Pirates FP.
After Pirates, we stopped for food.
After food, we got IaSMall World FP. Rode the teacups (15min standby) and Peoplemover (20min standby) while waiting for our Buzz FP.
Unfortunately, Buzz went down just when we got to Buzz. We decided to take a break just as the parade was starting, so it was just about 3pm. (+ got a 2nd anytime FP.)

We returned to the parks around 7:45pm. and went on Pirates w/FP.
After pirates, I'm blanking a bit on ride order, but we went on the Tiki room (3min wait) and CBJ (no wait), used a 7D FP!, Mermaid- no wait, HM (10 standby), used anytime FP for Space MTn, used 2nd anytime FP for Buzz (which had a 45min standby!), Dumbo (5min), PhilharMagic (5min wait), and PeterPan (about 15min wait late).

I was surprised to get 7D! As the day progressed, there was certainly limits on FP availability. Just as last year, I didn't see the 4 MK Mountains pop up much. I also never saw Peter Pan, but just before the park close the wait wasn't long. It was also slightly funny we did Philharmagic rather late, when most attractions had short waits.

 

[vinotinto]

Hi,

We are considering to book 3 days of CL extra fastpass for our next August WDW trip. However, we have planned to go to some of after hours events. According to your experience and considering that for a family of 4 the price of hard ticket to after hours event ($500 + tax) is more or less similar than 3 days of CL extra fastpass ($600 + tax), what do you consider the best option?

On one hand, i think that after hours events allows you to be in a park almost without people, 3 hours of illimitate some rides and the option of free beverages, popcorns and ice-creams. But I do not really know how many rides you can do in those 3 hours and you can not decide what rides do, there are only available some rides.

If you need to decide to do 3 days of CL extra fastpass or a hard ticket after hours event, what do you choose? and why?

According to your experience how many rides you can do within thar 3 hours events?

Thank you!

I haven't done either yet, but this is how I've been thinking about their advantages/ disadvantages. We chose to do one DAH:

The CLFP disadvantages - Your regular 3 FPs can't overlap with the CLFP, which will make each of your CLFP days rather long and scheduled. And the CLFP can't be modified by you - only by the DSS CMs. To me, that makes them unmodifiable (they don't refresh). You can't use refresh if you want to change plans, move them up or move them to later. I have some FPs that were made by CMs that are just like The CLFP and I don't love that they can't be modified. With a CL stay, you may want to spend more time in the resort, but this basically locks you for 6 hours in the parks. I think you would be missing some relaxation resort time.

The CLFP advantages - You don't have tiers and having CL FPs means you are guaranteed to have just a short wait for each CL FP ride, even the most popular rides. With 3 days of CL FPs, that's 9 *additional* rides, non-tiered, and you can use your CLFP among *all* the parks. You can schedule your FPs for times that work for your family (for example, afternoon and early evening), instead of the specific 2.5-3 hour window that DAH is happening. You can schedule them for any day.

The DAH disadvantages - Each park has a separate DAH. If you are doing all the offered DAH, it's going to add up way more than CLFP. DAH is pretty late. For MK, it's 10 pm - 1 am, but it may take a while for day guests to clear out of the queue. This means you may not start seeing short waits until later in the evening for the popular rides. Some have indicated that 7DMT and such will still have 20ish minute waits the entire evening. If you are not a night owl, the evening timing may not work. If you had some light appetizers at 5 pm in the CL lounge, you will likely need a full dinner around 8 pm to make it through, which may need to be factored into the costs. Also, DAH is not every night. You would need to make it work with the day of the week that the DAH is offered.

The DAH advantages - Specific to CL stays, it will allow you to enjoy your CL stay because you won't be tied to FP schedules in the park. It will allow you to ride a bunch of rides with short waits in just a few hours. It includes popcorn, ice cream and soda. The night atmosphere is nice.

In the end, we chose to do one DAH on my DD's actual birthday, as the *special* birthday thing, mostly for the night atmosphere and the chance to do a bunch of rides in a short period of time.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

If you need to decide to do 3 days of CL extra fastpass or a hard ticket after hours event, what do you choose? and why?

Various sides have been well-presented above.

For us, special events tend to work better than the CLFPs, generally speaking. I actually found planning (and sticking to) 6 FPs per day to be quite hard when mixed with our style. We're OK with a little structure... 3 FPs, an ADR, then back to the pool/resort/or on the fly park time - that's just how we roll. 6 FPs "made us" be in the parks much longer than we typically are and it was bordering on too much structure.

But, it's very personal/individual to ones park touring style and ride needs/wants. Definitely no one size fits all.

 

[JJ2017]

My ADR date is coming up and I have no idea when my HS day will be yet (and how I will even use my CLFPs here). But do you think I should book an ADR at HS on the possible days I might go in case we will need that for entry purposes? The trip is in November so I’m hoping crowds ease slightly. Thanks!

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Hi,

If you need to decide to do 3 days of CL extra fastpass or a hard ticket after hours event, what do you choose? and why?

According to your experience how many rides you can do within thar 3 hours events?

Thank you!

These days, having done both, I'd tend not to pick either choice.
1. I love August, but august is hot, and most days there tends to be a heavy downpour in the afternoon. some days, the heat doesn't bother us, but other days it makes us very sleepy. the afternoon down pours=, if nothing else, a number of rides close.

In large part, I'm willing to put on a plastic poncho and tough it out, but well, summer downpours/thunderstorms are total skin drenchers. Picture the pavement, much of the pavement- an inch deep with water. All WDW water taxi's stop during lightning.

2. The hard ticket events are non-refundable. the CL FP is semi-refundable, but if you do one of your days, then you are committing to at least 3 days being no-refundable. So it is kind of all in- or all out. (unless you book more than 3 days).

3. I used to love the e-ride nights, you paid $10- same day- for 3 hours of after-hours park time. We never had to buy it in advance. We did try the pre-paid CL, and well we did more or less just as well NOT buying it - at least in MK and Epcot.

The Pre-paid CL is a good bet in AK.. but again... you are talking about AUGUST. AK is especially hot in August (plants trap the heat/little breeze), and MANY AK rides shut down in thunderstorms. (EE, all animal attractions)

In August, flexibility is your friend. Truth be told, having been burnt a number of times, I'm not even a big fan of dinner ADR's in the World Showcase in August. It just isn't fun arriving to dinner soaked to the bone. A number of times, we went in summer and stayed at Pop. If you are at Pop, and it is pouring- you can't even go to the food court without getting wet- even with a poncho, unless you choose pizza delivery.

More often, we find that if we keep our plans simple, then we can opt to brave the rain OR hang out in the GF lobby if we don't feel like getting drenched. Actually, these days, we find August is a great time to visit Diagon Alley!

 

[nalacat]

Has anyone doubled up on FP+ and CLFP recently? We have a trip coming up in June. I have all my FP+ and CLFP set, but I am hoping June hours will be extended Friday and some additional FP+ will open up. Considering trying for duplicates, but nervous about getting cancelled.

 

[jessica0306]

Has anyone that's already done this had problems getting FPs? I would assume no, since you'd essentially be able to choose 30 days before anyone else? Am I thinking correctly?