Is 60-90 second too long to wait for optimization w/ advance and 4+ FP recommendations?

Yes the Pearl clutching and backlash would be EPIC if someone lost an A&E!

As for the original point, I don’t think 60-90 seconds is too long, but perhaps a little heads up verbiage would be in order for those expecting a quicker response time.

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We might have a “don’t delete this FP+” setting. Good point.

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This is a feature I would love to see. I am currently making PTP for 11/29 through 12/5. I was anxiously awaiting today for the new FP availability page to open up for MK on 11/29. I was so excited to see A&E and SDMT availability since I haven’t been able to get those through frequently checking MDE. However, when I went to MDE, they aren’t actually available for my group of 3. Maybe I missed the window, or maybe my group of 3 is too large. Anyway, it would be awesome for the PTP to show me actual availability for my group while planning. I would definitely wait longer for optimizing, especially with the flexibility others already mentioned.

I believe he said the current FPP window page searches for a party of 1. You could try booking three separate but close together fpp’s for 1 each or try to make 1 and see if the copy feature will get it to the other two in your party.

OK, I’m just trying to visualize how a full implementation of this would work:

Prior to 60 days out (or 30 days - you need to have a switch for on-site/off-site stays), you run the optimizer and it will come up with a plan with optimal FPP reservations (the ones you should try to get). It will also incorporate additional “day of” FPPs based on projected availability.

After 60/30 days out you run the optimizer and it will come up with a plan with the best available FPP reservations (leaving alone any current FPP reservations you have designated “don’t touch”) AND it will be able to book them for you. It will also incorporate additional “day of” FPPs based on projected availability. In-park re-optimizations will also work in the same fashion.

The one “super bonus” feature I can think of would be to have the optimizer automatically run when your FPP window opens and and make your bookings for you. It will first try to get the optimal FPP reservations, and if they are not available then it would get the best of what is out there. You just wake up in the morning and check your e-mail for what “Len” was able to book for you.

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I assumed my problem was in trying to get 3 passes instead of 1. I know a couple other people mentioning that in the thread last week. Awesome feature, and looking forward to the different party sizes! Thanks for the tip on booking one at a time and looking for overlapping availability! I’ll give that a try.

  • No issue with the time required.

  • The day of/4th FPP factor is very cool, but I think the user should be able to togglr it off - or have the subroutine run ONLY when the TP date equals the calendar date. This would be a useless feature for someone optimizing a plan at home weeks/months prior to a trip.

Talking about “what I wish for” is an option that “forces” TP to use entered existing FPPs. and not do an optimization with a note saying that the FPP for (fill in the blank) was not used because it might result in a longer wait. I realize that the goal of optimization is to provide the shortest possible wait - but there are factors, other than lines, that may drive the decision to get a FPP at a specific time (e.g. wanting to do Kali last before leaving park, timing a FPP to align with a near-by ADR, etc).

I’d like to see TP approached in a way similar to my Nikon; On full Program, the camera will select the optimal combination of ISO, f-stop, shutter speed, and flash adjustments. On full manual I have to set each of these individually. And there are several other semi-automatic modes in between. There are times that it would be awesome to enter the attractions you want to see, push a button, and 2 minutes later have a full TP and all of your FPPs booked. But there are times that I would want to be able to have manual control over each ster pf the process.

Actually, I think that it would be a very useful feature. If you think about it, that is how the optimizer worked with “Legacy FP” - it would add steps for getting and using FP based on projected availability. Except now you do not have to go all the way to the attraction in question to get your FPP, you just have to go to the nearest kiosk.

:musical_note: I got a Nikon camera; I love to take a photograph :musical_note:

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winning

Or showing my age…

quiet you…

We’re working on customizing the search for whatever number of people you have. There’s a parameter to pass in MDE’s API for it.

@Lentesta

This all applies to pre-planning, not in-park:

60-90 seconds is more than reasonable given the calculations involved and… the TIME SAVED waiting on lines at WDW. :wink:

I have always optimized first, then added FP+, then re-optimized after adding FP+, then possibly changed FP+ and added more attractions based on the result, then tweaked/evaluated/tweaked/evaluated/repeat. Clearly/intuitively, knowing what the machine (and this human) is trying to accomplish, this is the way to get the most out of this most wonderful tool.

Sometimes I take its FP+ recommendations, sometimes not, so many variables a machine couldn’t possibly know about. :wink: Each day/objective has its own challenges, as you well know.

I do think it’ll be important to have some kind of message that says, “Please be patient. Expected wait time for optimization w/FP+ 60-90 seconds. Your call is important to us; please don’t hang up.” :wink:

I also think that any time a computer is going to make a real/actual FP+ or any other real decision on one’s behalf, the default setting should be “OFF”, and the user should have to turn it ON to activate such a feature.

The idea of “fixing/unchangeable” FP+'s is a very good one.
In fact, it could be applied to any/all steps in a plan, not unlike meals/breaks.
Occasionally, I’ve done just that: make a step into a “meal” to “fix” it in place.
Again, it’s a marvelous tool. There are workarounds for almost anything. :slight_smile:

As for In-park optimization… I have less opinions about that, as I tend to stick with what I planned… though I confess that might be to my own detriment. Flexibility can be bliss or a curse. :wink:

If I think of other things, I’ll add to this.

I’m sorry I haven’t been around much for about a month. After the most recent trip, I had ODed on all things WDW. I hope to jump back in soon & write a long-delayed “trip report” with some silly insights, but some “life” stuff has taken priority recently. Thanks for tagging me to get my attention on this. Very much looking forward to seeing what TP becomes as you continue to “slay the ever-changing WDW landscape/dragon.”

BTW, unless I’m unlucky or mistaken, it seems to me that the average wait time on the WDW web site to do anything, whether it’s loading an ordinary page, making an ADR, booking a FP+, or checking availability or scheduling on just about any kind of attraction/entertainment is probably 2-5 minutes… even worse on mobile. Just sayin’

We think we can parallelize some of those read-only requests. Also, the API calls may be faster than whatever Disney’s doing for screen rendering. We’ll see.

Cool. Looking forward to it. Thanks!

Like that a lot! Otherwise, I’d be pretty nervous

This is my big “wish for” as well. It would be great to have an option to “lock” a FPP into the plan, in other words.

Awesome work around. Thx for the tip