We have only stayed on property, but we are seriously considering staying off property in order to save money on our next 4-generation trip. Booking ~5 rooms seems excessive when we can simply get an Airbnb for considerably less.
Anyways, is trying to get a Fast Pass 30 days out still a nightmare?
Also, has anyone done the Club Level package where you get 90 day fast passes? How amazing was that?
Try reading this topic and see how you come down on the question:
We did the CL 90 day FPP in late December. Not sure I ever want to go without it again. It was great, worth every penny. We stayed at Gran Destino and had a wonderful stay.
I suppose if all you are used to is 60 day FPP, then perhaps 30 day FPP is a nightmare…but we stay off property, so always to 30 day FPP. (Ignore the trips we’re about to have…)
Anyhow, you can work with 30 day FPP. The trick is lowering your expectations. I spent a lot of time looking at what rides in each park actually had FPP availability at 30 days so that I knew ahead of time what to expect. And then I planned accordingly. Taking advantage of evenings and RD will help with some of the busier rides. Some, you can just expect to wait. Of course, when you are going plays a role. We try to pick times when crowds are lower. In September, for example, you almost don’t need FPPs at all.
It also helps if you are going more days, so that you can reduce how much you plan to get done each day. For our May trip (which was canceled, obviously), we had 6 days in the parks, but we had a DAH for AK, so we could do 3 days in MK, 2 days in HS, and 1 day in EP…that allowed me to spread the FPP selection across multiple days for those parks.
Of course, you’ll save TONS of money. TONS! By staying in a rental home (we use homeaway.com). And with the money you can save in food and housing, you can possibly afford some upcharge events such as DAH, etc, to help.
The Club Level fast passes are not included with the room – they’re an additional cost. You have to pay $50 per person per room, and you have to buy a minimum of 3 days worth.
Personally, I wouldn’t call that a bargain. Especially on top of an expensive room.
I’ve made the 30 FP and maybe they weren’t ideal but what I do is constantly try to modify them to what I do want and that has never failed me.
In the last 4 years we’ve done off property 30 day FP during Thanksgiving week and on property 60 day FP during 4th of July week.
We decided in September we were going at Thanksgiving. 4th of July we likely booked 8 months out.
We rode most of what we wanted to ride on the Thanksgiving trip with the exception of Soarin. Didn’t care for the 80 min wait.
We’re not upcharge people; we’re usually more than 4 and it’s just too expensive.
We ride few rides since some of us don’t do spins and others don’t do drops. Tho we will do Tower of Terror or Mad Tea Party. Some will just be waiting. And we’re just plain picky.
We’d rather skip a new headliner for a few trips than stand in line more than 30 min (approx).
We feel we get a lot done by being at the park at least 45 min before published opening.
We’re so horrible with FPs we actually forgot about a Flight of Passage FP one trip.
I do try to get FPs at 30 or 60 days out. We don’t stack em during the day.
ADRs are may be more important. 
Your level of enjoyment is pretty much always tied to your expectations.
Amazing. It was great not to have to worry about them. It was great to not have to worry about tiers.
There’s a lot of flexibility with them too. You do have to book at least 3 days worth, but you don’t have to book for everyone in the room. You could do 1 person 1 day, 3 people the 2nd day, and only 2 the last. Or however makes sense for your group. You could also get all the fastpasses for all the people and band swap as it makes sense. You can also get 1 in 1 park and 2 in another on the same day. Or 1, 1, and 1 if you’re super hoppers.
Something I just learned that you can look into…the 3 bedroom villas, cabins at Copper Creek, and Bungalows at the Poly all qualify for 90 day fastpasses. No club lounge though.
Thanks for all of the feedback. I think we’re going to try home away and see how it goes. Part of my decision making is my children will be under 3 years old, so if we “ruin” the trip then they won’t actually remember and we’ll be back again. I’m also the biggest ride fan in the group so if I’m fine with it then it’ll certainly work.
Even though my wife and I are financially comfortable, a) we’re going with a mixed group so it’s nice to not ask others to stretch themselves and b) I just can’t understand how the hotels justify their costs.
When we go, I’ll be sure to make a travel report because I feel like people don’t discuss this a lot. There’s a ton of “saving money” guides but I feel like they all focus on staying on property and eating in cafeterias.
Thank you for sharing this with me. I just started reading it, and I can’t agree more. I decided that I’m dragging my family (my wife isn’t a huge fan) to Disney every 1-2 years… I feel like that frequency is enough that we don’t have to do everything every time… we need to have fun… not perfection.
I wrote that thread 
I’ve been planning my trip for October and — despite having the on-site 60 day advantage — I’m deliberately planning on not booking FPPs for certain rides. The reason is that I want to experience the full standby line. Some of them are awesome, and it seems sad to miss them in a rush to get to the front of the line and on the ride and off the ride and off to the next one.
This approach may not be ideal for your family with very young kids, but it’s something to consider.
For example, the FOP standby line is amazing. My plan is to join it at park close. I’m willing to spend 90 minutes in the line. I’m not even doing it for the ride — I’ve ridden FOP more times than I can remember — but for the line itself.
Last year I was asked to plan a Christmas trip (Dec 24-26) for my wife’s boss less than 30 days out. Obviously FPP are limited for the headliners and you might need to check frequently for some until you finally find them, but you can get what you want if you try. I got them 7DMT. I got them a 9:30AM FoP. If you’re dedicated, you can get just about anything.
We went just after new year’s to WDW and we decided on this trip 3 weeks out. I did plan some FPs, but not even for every day. It was great. We focused on what was available, the atmosphere, and had fun with what we could do. While we usually go to DLR for most of our trips, we handled our first trip to WDW as we would in CA. Don’t worry about doing it all.