trying to make sense of the new FP system

[JMLBrats]

sorry but this is all so confusing!

Anyway, I just want to make sure I have this straight,

so we need to plan what parks we are going to ahead of time. Then we need to choose fastpasses for each park/each day 45 days out?

I know it's Disney and been a bunch of times but I hate planning that kind of detail of my vaca that far in advance! Is this really how it works now?

Please break it down for me.

Thanks!

 

[JimmyV]

Grab a 6-pack and read through this thread. Everything you need to know and more is in there.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3143281

 

[JMLBrats]

Grab a 6-pack and read through this thread. Everything you need to know and more is in there.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3143281

Thanks JimmyV

Can anyone simplify it a little for me. I can't deal with all the details!

like for instance if we are checking in on the 8th of august, does that mean we already missed our window of opportunity to get FP for that day for the most popular attractions?

What if we don't have our tix yet and aren't planning on buying them until right before we get there (due to saving for them) does that make a difference?

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Of course you can make them the day you go to the park, but you may be out of luck on the really popular ones or the times you want.

Unless you want the Anna/Elsa m&g or the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train you will probably not have trouble getting anything if you look now. Once you make them, you can change them around.

If you don't have tickets linked to your MDX account, you cannot make FP+ reservations. So you would have to wait until you actually bought the tickets.

You can choose FP+ 60 days out if you are staying at a Disney resort and 30 days out if you are not.

 

[JMLBrats]

Of course you can make them the day you go to the park, but you may be out of luck on the really popular ones or the times you want.

Unless you want the Anna/Elsa m&g or the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train you will probably not have trouble getting anything if you look now. Once you make them, you can change them around.

If you don't have tickets linked to your MDX account, you cannot make FP+ reservations. So you would have to wait until you actually bought the tickets.

You can choose FP+ 60 days out if you are staying at a Disney resort and 30 days out if you are not.

Thank you and I don't mean to complain but we are staying on WDW so just because we haven't bought our tix yet it seems pretty unfair that we won't be able to get Anna/Elsa & 7 dwarfs (which of course is on our to do list)

I wish they could just link them to your room reservation...

 

[MakiraMarlena]

FP+ goes along with having park admission, it doesn't have anything to do with your resort reservation. You must have park admission to use FP+ and the only way to ensure that is to tie the booking in with the tickets, not the resort.

 

[JMLBrats]

FP+ goes along with having park admission, it doesn't have anything to do with your resort reservation. You must have park admission to use FP+ and the only way to ensure that is to tie the booking in with the tickets, not the resort.

Oh, ok. I thought somehow they were all linked together. Thanks for clarifying.

Anyway, wouldn't it be so awesome if they did it like Universal when you stay on site. I know, I know, Disney is far too big with far too many resorts to offer that but wouldn't it be awesome...

 

[MakiraMarlena]

If that were the case, then anyone who wasn't staying onsite wouldn't be able to use FP+ at all.

Sure it'd be awesome...but I think we all do realize it's much easier with 3 resorts than it is with 25 resorts.

 

[erionm]

Sure it'd be awesome...but I think we all do realize it's much easier with 3 resorts than it is with 25 resorts.

Four resorts now that the Cabana Bay Beach Resort is open at Universal Orlando.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Cabana Bay does not have the express pass perk. Only the other 3 do.

 

[JMLBrats]

If that were the case, then anyone who wasn't staying onsite wouldn't be able to use FP+ at all.

Sure it'd be awesome...but I think we all do realize it's much easier with 3 resorts than it is with 25 resorts.

Oh and I'm not saying it should "only" be for those onsite, believe me! That's not even what I meant. I just meant that it would be totally awesome if you stayed on site and had endless fastpasses like they do at Universal. That would be so cool.
But anyway, back to reality. We are probably screwed as far as getting the FP that we would really want. Oh well....

 

[handicap18]

Basically... if your staying at a Disney hotel and you have your tickets booked, you can make your FP selections starting at 60 prior to your check-in day (you can choose the FP's for every day of your trip up to 10 days). If your not staying at a Disney hotel then you have to wait to 30 days prior in order to reserve your FP's.

Once you make them you can change them right up to to the time they are about to expire. I made all my FP selections and changed most of them at least twice. A few I ended up splitting up (there were 6 in our group). For example 3 of us when and did the M&G for Rapunzel & Cinderella and the other 3 did Tomorrowland speedway (was able to get a FP for both at the same time). Some I changed while we were in the park that day so we wouldn't miss the time. A few I switched the night before because we knew we weren't going to be at the park as early as what our FP times were so I moved them to later in the day.

If you know you absolutely positively want to do the m&g for Anna & Elsa, then you'll have to start looking for that FP at 12:00:01 EST on the 60 day mark. Same for 7DMT. Those two attractions go VERY VERY quickly.

I started making my FP selections around 8:30am on my 60 day mark. I got everything I wanted (Anna & Elsa didn't matter to us and 7DMT wasn't available for FP selection at that time). I did later go an change a lot of the times afterwards though.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Well you are not necessarily screwed, you will just have to figure out how to get those 2 at times you might want. Since Anna and Elsa are now there until park close, folks have been getting them with later times (past 9 PM most of the time)

 

[JMLBrats]

Thanks for the replies and clarifications. I guess we might have to wing it and hope for the best when we get our tickets which probably will only be a week or so before we arrive. Not the end of the world if we don't get those two hot FP's but we really need to book the Be our guest lunch for DD12-she will be really bummed out if we don't get that one...
so let's hope for some Pixie dust!

 

[stschaefer]

Just came back from 5 days and the FP availability boards show limited numbers for the most popular rides. More than likely by noon the best rides have no FP. As was the case for TSM, RNR, Splash and Space M, BTM, TT, and Soarin.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

Be Our Guest is not a regular Fastpass and does not count as one of your daily 3. You may be able to book that without tickets although you do need your resort confirmation and you have to wait until it opens for your dates (no idea when that is).

You need to make it through this website:

https://beourguestlunch.disney.go.com/

 

[JMLBrats]

Be Our Guest is not a regular Fastpass and does not count as one of your daily 3. You may be able to book that without tickets although you do need your resort confirmation and you have to wait until it opens for your dates (no idea when that is).

You need to make it through this website:

https://beourguestlunch.disney.go.com/

Thanks, just tried it and it is saying there is nothing available but I thought I read somewhere on here that sometimes the FP for this aren't available until a couple of weeks before?

 

[MakiraMarlena]

I don't know when they come available, but they are not available all the time.