Zero,zilch, zip, nada

[jtowntoflorida]

That's how many FP+s were available for A&E for our entire trip in October. I couldn't even get one for one person. We have a weeklong stay, and I started with the last day. Nope. Nuthin.

So crazy...I've been watching the Dibb and even this morning, they were showing green for half the week. But I checked again about 2 hours before my FP+ window opened and they were all gone. ALL GONE. So strange...even last December we were able to get overlapping times for them.

Oh well. I refuse to waste a RD or MNSSHP on A&E, so my plans are: (1) watch the Disboards and wait for someone to discover that suddenly A&E has a whole bunch of availability for our trip dates (which happened in December and allowed us to switch the M&G to a more ideal day); (2) get in line to meet them after 6:00 on a party night where we're only day guests at the MK but don't have party tickets; and finally (3) meet them during Wishes and/or EMH the Wednesday of our trip, since we have Wishes scheduled for a different night. The ultimate fail-safe is to try to talk my son out of wanting to meet them in the first place. My daughter said she was OK with skipping them since we've meet them several times in the past, but my son loves the ladies and wants to say hi to them (and if history repeats itself, tell Elsa how beautiful she is!).

In retrospect, I sorta (but not really) feel like I should have waited to shorten my stay until after the 60 day mark. We originally were scheduled to arrive at Disney a day earlier than we're not arriving since we're going to spend some time at Universal before heading to Disney. Had I kept the extra day on my reservation until after the 60 day window opened I would have been able to make all my FP+s yesterday, when A&E was still available. Oh well.

 

[scoobygrl79]

Ridiculous! I'm sorry. I struggled too but BARELY grabbed some overlapping ones on the last day of my trip. Your plans sound good and I know they will work. Good luck!

 

[ArmyVet80]

If it is any consolation prize.... Last time my DW were at the MK (Sept. 2014) we only waited 30 minutes to see A&E. We got in the stand by line around 4:30 PM and were headed to Space Mountain at 5:00 pm. The posted wait for the stand by time was 80 minutes. There is still a little bit of hope you could do that.

 

[Disneyliscious]

I think October and November have become the new June and July, as in, peak crowds. Been reading about a few people here who couldn't get A&E. I would go on a MNSSHP day when park crowds are way lower because of the early closing time and use the standby line if its important to your party. Maybe something will open up for you.

 

[socrateze]

I think October and November have become the new June and July, as in, peak crowds. Been reading about a few people here who couldn't get A&E. I would go on a MNSSHP day when park crowds are way lower because of the early closing time and use the standby line if its important to your party. Maybe something will open up for you.

I will be interested in seeing if this is true or if Disney is reducing park staffing during lighter crowd days. I'm seeing reports on there being less availability for other attractions too.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

I think October and November have become the new June and July, as in, peak crowds. Been reading about a few people here who couldn't get A&E. I would go on a MNSSHP day when park crowds are way lower because of the early closing time and use the standby line if its important to your party. Maybe something will open up for you.

LOL. No. This is not my first time at the pony show, either in October or with FP+. FP+ availability for almost everything wasn't this tight even earlier in October when crowds are heavier. It seems that once we hit the slower time in October after Columbus Day, they really decreased availability for some of the FP+s. I think they may have "overcorrected" though.
We've been to the parks many times in October, and also in June. In June, every park is crowded pretty much all day. In October, it's much easier to avoid crowds by picking the "right" park based on the MNSSHP schedule. I'm not worried about crowds at all, and the FP+ availability issue just confirms in my mind that the crowds aren't going to be that bad.

If it is any consolation prize.... Last time my DW were at the MK (Sept. 2014) we only waited 30 minutes to see A&E. We got in the stand by line around 4:30 PM and were headed to Space Mountain at 5:00 pm. The posted wait for the stand by time was 80 minutes. There is still a little bit of hope you could do that.

Thanks for sharing! I hate that they inflate SB so much, but we're definitely on to their wicked ways! I don't anticipate we'll end up waiting much longer than you did, which is fine by me. I just wish PFH wasn't so LOUD. Avoiding that is almost worth a FP+ in itself!

When I broke the news to the kids this morning that all the A&E FP+s were gone, my daughter fell to the floor and declared, "I AM NOT WAITING IN LINE FOR A MILLION HOURS JUST TO MEET TWO PEOPLE!" (she didn't want to meet A&E anyway). I asked her if 30 minutes was acceptable to Her Royal Highness, and she didn't answer. My son, who is the one who wants to meet them, said he's not sure if he wants to wait in line, so it may be a moot point for us. Luckily for us, we're kinda over Frozen here, but my son, who is 5, just loves to meet princesses in general. He leaves a trail of broken princess hearts behind (in his mind) as we tour the parks.

 

[Mikie]

WHen I traveled last October, it seemed that there was a lot of difficulty getting hot FPs then as well. Seemed like the frequent travelers said it was odd that their summer trips were higher overall crowd levels but their fall trips (when Oct is not "low" crowds, but not highest either) made for more difficult FP scheduling. Over-correcting the supply does look like a possible culprit. . . good luck to you!

 

[Kathryn777]

Yup, totally agree!!!! Craziness. How hard is it to have two more A&e??

 

[kmdrago1783]

That's how many FP+s were available for A&E for our entire trip in October. I couldn't even get one for one person. We have a weeklong stay, and I started with the last day. Nope. Nuthin.

So crazy...I've been watching the Dibb and even this morning, they were showing green for half the week. But I checked again about 2 hours before my FP+ window opened and they were all gone. ALL GONE. So strange...even last December we were able to get overlapping times for them.

Oh well. I refuse to waste a RD or MNSSHP on A&E, so my plans are: (1) watch the Disboards and wait for someone to discover that suddenly A&E has a whole bunch of availability for our trip dates (which happened in December and allowed us to switch the M&G to a more ideal day); (2) get in line to meet them after 6:00 on a party night where we're only day guests at the MK but don't have party tickets; and finally (3) meet them during Wishes and/or EMH the Wednesday of our trip, since we have Wishes scheduled for a different night. The ultimate fail-safe is to try to talk my son out of wanting to meet them in the first place. My daughter said she was OK with skipping them since we've meet them several times in the past, but my son loves the ladies and wants to say hi to them (and if history repeats itself, tell Elsa how beautiful she is!).

In retrospect, I sorta (but not really) feel like I should have waited to shorten my stay until after the 60 day mark. We originally were scheduled to arrive at Disney a day earlier than we're not arriving since we're going to spend some time at Universal before heading to Disney. Had I kept the extra day on my reservation until after the 60 day window opened I would have been able to make all my FP+s yesterday, when A&E was still available. Oh well.

I didn't get one either and I am going 10/17-10/24. I'm just going to go at RD. We are also going to MK on a MNSSHP day (and returning for the party that night). Maybe we can catch them then. From what I've heard waits arn't that terrible...

 

[mom2rtk]

So isn't this better than having to fight all those nasty crowds at rope drop? At least now you have all that time to get over it before you arrive.

 

[flicx]

Yup, totally agree!!!! Craziness. How hard is it to have two more A&e??

They could have one at multiple parks. Lord knows there is space at the other parks. Another testament to Disney being cheap and uncaring about guest experiences nowadays. Seems to be the Iger way.

 

[alvernon90]

my son loves the ladies and wants to say hi to them (and if history repeats itself, tell Elsa how beautiful she is!)

I think that is a safer topic of discussion than, say, asking her how she can be forgiven so easily after nearly perpetrating a genocide against her own people. But holy cow, would I love to see a little kid ask her about that!

*off to Youtube*

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

If it is any consolation prize.... Last time my DW were at the MK (Sept. 2014) we only waited 30 minutes to see A&E. We got in the stand by line around 4:30 PM and were headed to Space Mountain at 5:00 pm. The posted wait for the stand by time was 80 minutes. There is still a little bit of hope you could do that.

We were there a few weeks ago and found a 10 minute wait just before 11:30 pm. The posted wait was 90.

We still had enough time to ride 7D twice before the park closed at midnight. It had a posted wait of 65.

A&E + 7Dx2 in about 30 minutes was a pretty effective use of our time and much more efficient than rope drop.

 

[bbjunkie]

We were there a few weeks ago and found a 10 minute wait just before 11:30 pm. The posted wait was 90.

We still had enough time to ride 7D twice before the park closed at midnight. It had a posted wait of 65.

A&E + 7Dx2 in about 30 minutes was a pretty effective use of our time and much more efficient than rope drop.

This was exactly our experience as well. I can't even list everything we did, one after another, from the end of Wishes until park closing at 1:00 am.

I also think the lack of FP availability I'd because of MNSSHP. This limits park hours and limits FP availability for everything. Are there "more" parties this year than in the past?

 

[senadler]

We are going the following week and have this tentatively planned for a last day as well. My DS4 wanted to give up his BTMRR FP to meet the princesses, and now his cousin (also 4) has decided he wants to do that too. Wish me luck.

 

[choover2576]

but my son, who is 5, just loves to meet princesses in general. He leaves a trail of broken princess hearts behind (in his mind) as we tour the parks.

You're son sound like a sweet little guy!

 

[DoingDisney]

That's how many FP+s were available for A&E for our entire trip in October. I couldn't even get one for one person. We have a weeklong stay, and I started with the last day. Nope. Nuthin.

So crazy...I've been watching the Dibb and even this morning, they were showing green for half the week. But I checked again about 2 hours before my FP+ window opened and they were all gone. ALL GONE. So strange...even last December we were able to get overlapping times for them.

Oh well. I refuse to waste a RD or MNSSHP on A&E, so my plans are: (1) watch the Disboards and wait for someone to discover that suddenly A&E has a whole bunch of availability for our trip dates (which happened in December and allowed us to switch the M&G to a more ideal day); (2) get in line to meet them after 6:00 on a party night where we're only day guests at the MK but don't have party tickets; and finally (3) meet them during Wishes and/or EMH the Wednesday of our trip, since we have Wishes scheduled for a different night. The ultimate fail-safe is to try to talk my son out of wanting to meet them in the first place. My daughter said she was OK with skipping them since we've meet them several times in the past, but my son loves the ladies and wants to say hi to them (and if history repeats itself, tell Elsa how beautiful she is!).

In retrospect, I sorta (but not really) feel like I should have waited to shorten my stay until after the 60 day mark. We originally were scheduled to arrive at Disney a day earlier than we're not arriving since we're going to spend some time at Universal before heading to Disney. Had I kept the extra day on my reservation until after the 60 day window opened I would have been able to make all my FP+s yesterday, when A&E was still available. Oh well.

But you know, you really are better off this way than having to fight people at Rope Drop for FPs ... right ?

Seriously though, this realllly sucks. Very sorry. I hope the same thing doesn't happen for our November trip ... we are 27 days out from FP selection ...

 

[svecchitto]

I feel for you. The elusive fp was available for me for days but my daughter could have cared less about frozen. How awesome right? Wrong I swear over night she became obsessed and I mean obsessed and while she is only just shy of 2 and will never remember I would love for her to meet her girls. Here's to hoping something magical happens for everyone