Unable to get FP+ for 7DMT at 12.01am et

[mom2rtk]

Actually, if you focus more on getting something accomplished rather than whining, it's not so bad. It literally takes 3 secs...

Everyone is so negative here these days...

Sorry. Not my idea of fun.

I have a million other things I have to think of and remember to do every day. I don't need this on my daily "to do" list for an upcoming vacation that is supposed to be about fun and enjoyment.

 

[mom2rtk]

I'm starting to firmly believe that they are holding FP's back in increments. Someone suggested they hold another pool for 30 days out, I wonder if they are holding a certain percentage of day of. They should, it's the right thing to do.

I just have to think we'd hear a lot more stories off success at those times if that was really the case.

I'm sure some come up from cancellations (especially around the 45 day mark when final payments are due) but I'm not convinced they are holding back.

A CM posted a while back that they are not. I take that with a grain of salt as I do with any of those sort of posts, but I have also been looking for posts about success at 30 days or day of, and I'm just not seeing them.

 

[LexiandLiviMom]

I feel guilty reporting that last night I successfully got FP+ for our party of 4 for SDMT for 3 separate days of our trip (11/18, 11/19 and 11/20) and for A&E for our last day (11/22) shortly after 12 am.

I can't thank Mesaboy and others on here enough for all of the tips, advice and booking strategies. I have no idea how a non-DISner would know how to do any of this.

I would note that for 2 of the SDMT and for the 1 A&E meet that I did book for myself first and then copied the reservation to the others. I also used Mozilla Firefox as my browser instead of Internet Explorer and found the site to be much more responsive.

Hope this helps someone! Good luck!

 

[crostorfer]

I just have to think we'd hear a lot more stories off success at those times if that was really the case.

I'm sure some come up from cancellations (especially around the 45 day mark when final payments are due) but I'm not convinced they are holding back.

A CM posted a while back that they are not. I take that with a grain of salt as I do with any of those sort of posts, but I have also been looking for posts about success at 30 days or day of, and I'm just not seeing them.

We had a discussion in another thread in this forum yesterday about whether or not Disney is responsible for a guest's happiness within their parks, I took the side that they are not, and that it is personal responsibility to do some advanced research and planning in order to learn how to make your trip more enjoyable, while another person argued that Disney is solely and absolutely 100% responsible for the guest's enjoyment. Let me entertain that theory for a moment.

If they held back some for the 30 days, to take care of the off-siters, and if they held back some for morning of, for the day guests who just show up one day to Orlando and decide to hit WDW with no planning, this would go a long way towards the satisfaction of every WDW guest. If they aren't doing this, they should, because it is the right thing to do. It would show that Disney really does care about every level of guest, not just the advanced-planning on site guests.

 

[mom2rtk]

We had a discussion in another thread in this forum yesterday about whether or not Disney is responsible for a guest's happiness within their parks, I took the side that they are not, and that it is personal responsibility to do some advanced research and planning in order to learn how to make your trip more enjoyable, while another person argued that Disney is solely and absolutely 100% responsible for the guest's enjoyment. Let me entertain that theory for a moment.

If they held back some for the 30 days, to take care of the off-siters, and if they held back some for morning of, for the day guests who just show up one day to Orlando and decide to hit WDW with no planning, this would go a long way towards the satisfaction of every WDW guest. If they aren't doing this, they should, because it is the right thing to do. It would show that Disney really does care about every level of guest, not just the advanced-planning on site guests.

I feel differently about that. I would feel like they kept moving the goal post on me, and that I kept needing to go through one hoop after another. It makes no sense to me that I could stay up late and just miss late at 60 days, stay up late and just miss at 30 days, then get to the park and just miss out to someone how bought their ticket 30 minutes ago.

Plus, I don't think they have enough inventory to adequately fill 3 buckets. It's pretty apparent they don't have enough inventory on a handful of attractions to fill even 1 bucket.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

I bow to your greatness.

I'm thrilled you find this fun. I'm only saying a lot of people DON'T. It's not a personality flaw.

Same here.

I'm not sure why I should be happy my AP gets me less.

If someone wants to spend their leisure time waiting in longer lines or frantically checking multiple times a glitchy website. Good for them.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

I feel differently about that. I would feel like they kept moving the goal post on me, and that I kept needing to go through one hoop after another. It makes no sense to me that I could stay up late and just miss late at 60 days, stay up late and just miss at 30 days, then get to the park and just miss out to someone how bought their ticket 30 minutes ago.

Plus, I don't think they have enough inventory to adequately fill 3 buckets. It's pretty apparent they don't have enough inventory on a handful of attractions to fill even 1 bucket.

We rode SE multiple times and guess what? The FP+ line is about as long as the old standby line.

WDW needs more capacity.

 

[crostorfer]

I feel differently about that. I would feel like they kept moving the goal post on me, and that I kept needing to go through one hoop after another. It makes no sense to me that I could stay up late and just miss late at 60 days, stay up late and just miss at 30 days, then get to the park and just miss out to someone how bought their ticket 30 minutes ago.

Plus, I don't think they have enough inventory to adequately fill 3 buckets. It's pretty apparent they don't have enough inventory on a handful of attractions to fill even 1 bucket.

You're right. I don't disagree with you.

All of this discussion just makes me very glad I have upcoming trips to USO and DLR, rather than another week at WDW.

 

[mom2rtk]

You're right. I don't disagree with you.

All of this discussion just makes me very glad I have upcoming trips to USO and DLR, rather than another week at WDW.

Someone on another thread just compared planning a Disney vacation with solving a Rubik's cube. That seems very apt.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Someone on another thread just compared planning a Disney vacation with solving a Rubik's cube. That seems very apt.

And here I am checking the disboards because I "might" go down in 6 months with 1 DD.

I spent so much time in the last year on the disboards keeping up with all the changes.

 

[teentoddlermom]

I really think they should take SDMT off the front page of the official website. It is very annoying to see the suggestion to book a trip, enticing you with the new ride, suggesting a FP is so easy, and then you are never able to obtain a FP for!
I am a disney nut, family AP holder, living an expensive flight away, 5 trips this year, 3 after 7DMT opened, onsite guest, long and short stays, and at high and low times of year, and have had no luck at any time of day ever getting the FP. I am a diser, know the strategies, and can only imagine how frustrating an infrequent guest can feel, and I am tired of it all. It is crazy. I love FP+ and MDE, but the SDMT nonsense is killing me.

 

[mesaboy2]

I feel guilty reporting that last night I successfully got FP+ for our party of 4 for SDMT for 3 separate days of our trip (11/18, 11/19 and 11/20) and for A&E for our last day (11/22) shortly after 12 am.

I can't thank Mesaboy and others on here enough for all of the tips, advice and booking strategies. I have no idea how a non-DISner would know how to do any of this.

I would note that for 2 of the SDMT and for the 1 A&E meet that I did book for myself first and then copied the reservation to the others. I also used Mozilla Firefox as my browser instead of Internet Explorer and found the site to be much more responsive.

Hope this helps someone! Good luck!

Don't feel guilty, that's great! We're all here (well most of us, anyway) to help each other out.

 

[nkereina]

So sorry if this has already been addressed, but is there any speculation as to why 7DMT has been hard to get at the 60 day window recently? To my knowledge, it was fairly easy to get it at 60 days for the summer months but hard to get it at 30 days which is to be expected. Summer months are typically busier than November. I posted a while back asking if it was necessary to log on at midnight on the 60 day mark for 7DMT and the consensus was no not necessary. So what gives? Should we consider this indicative of a busy November? Is it attributed to more onsite traffic in November due to free dining? Just looking for opinions.

 

[mesaboy2]

So sorry if this has already been addressed, but is there any speculation as to why 7DMT has been hard to get at the 60 day window recently? To my knowledge, it was fairly easy to get it at 60 days for the summer months but hard to get it at 30 days which is to be expected. Summer months are typically busier than November. I posted a while back asking if it was necessary to log on at midnight on the 60 day mark for 7DMT and the consensus was no not necessary. So what gives? Should we consider this indicative of a busy November? Is it attributed to more onsite traffic in November due to free dining? Just looking for opinions.

I think that's an excellent question.

I find it hard to believe it has to do with the usual crowd fluctuations, but who knows? Maybe they've scaled back on the FP pool so that standby isn't as long? A consistently long standby line for this highly-anticipated attraction might be bad press? Just throwing ideas out there....

 

[mom2rtk]

So sorry if this has already been addressed, but is there any speculation as to why 7DMT has been hard to get at the 60 day window recently? To my knowledge, it was fairly easy to get it at 60 days for the summer months but hard to get it at 30 days which is to be expected. Summer months are typically busier than November. I posted a while back asking if it was necessary to log on at midnight on the 60 day mark for 7DMT and the consensus was no not necessary. So what gives? Should we consider this indicative of a busy November? Is it attributed to more onsite traffic in November due to free dining? Just looking for opinions.

I've been wondering the same thing. I can't believe mid-November is going to be busier than summer. So that leaves 2 alternatives:

1) They plan to run fewer cars on the track in the slower months (I'm not ready to believe this yet) or

2) More people are using the FP system (I'm scared to believe this option).

Or maybe I'm missing something.......

 

[Angel Ariel]

I've been wondering the same thing. I can't believe mid-November is going to be busier than summer. So that leaves 2 alternatives:

1) They plan to run fewer cars on the track in the slower months (I'm not ready to believe this yet) or

2) More people are using the FP system (I'm scared to believe this option).

Or maybe I'm missing something.......

With how much marketing material I received about booking fp+, #2 wouldn't overly surprise me.

 

[mom2rtk]

With how much marketing material I received about booking fp+, #2 wouldn't overly surprise me.

And if it's option #2, things are only going to get worse ..... not better.

 

[cakebaker]

I really think they should take SDMT off the front page of the official website. It is very annoying to see the suggestion to book a trip, enticing you with the new ride, suggesting a FP is so easy, and then you are never able to obtain a FP for!

They also show commercials with perfectly dressed children standing on Main street hugging Cinderella with no crowds around them.


The chances of that happening are a great deal less than getting a particular fp.

 

[JaimeK]

I've been wondering the same thing. I can't believe mid-November is going to be busier than summer. So that leaves 2 alternatives:

1) They plan to run fewer cars on the track in the slower months (I'm not ready to believe this yet) or

2) More people are using the FP system (I'm scared to believe this option).

Or maybe I'm missing something.......

Shorter hours & MVMCP - there are less FPs to give out

and I do think the free dining crowd is probably more into pre-planning than the summer vacation crowd. I've gotten multiple mailings from Disney about making my FP+ selections. ADRs are slim pickings and after seeing how fast those get snatched up, wouldn't people assume the same thing happens with FPs and they wouldn't wait.

The resorts are booked up for November, so it's really a similar amount of people jockeying at 60 days out for the same (or less due to park hours & parties) pool of FPs.

 

[cakebaker]

Shorter hours & MVMCP - there are less FPs to give out

and I do think the free dining crowd is probably more into pre-planning than the summer vacation crowd. I've gotten multiple mailings from Disney about making my FP+ selections. ADRs are slim pickings and after seeing how fast those get snatched up, wouldn't people assume the same thing happens with FPs and they wouldn't wait.

The resorts are booked up for November, so it's really a similar amount of people jockeying at 60 days out for the same (or less due to park hours & parties) pool of FPs.

I think what you explain is a pretty good explanation of the problem.

But wouldn't that translate into much shorter standby lines, making the need for fp+ much less?