I obviously been looking at this too long because now i don’t know WHAT i’m supposed to do when i get to the parks! - ok… i’m being dramatic but hoping you gals/guys can help clear up some things for me!
Early FP’s or hard-to-get FP’s: staying offsite; FP window opens next week; if i see a hard-to-get FP miraculously open up (keyword is miraculously) but it’s for late in the day, do i grab it & try to modify or do i stick to reserving the morning, less-desirable one’s now & look for the hot commodities once i’m in the park?
Does modifying to increase the #'s actually work?: our party of 6 is now a party of 8 during thanksgiving week (yikes!) so do i start off trying to secure FP for half (or something less than) 1st & then go back & modify to increase the #'s? Is that a gamble or does it actually work?
Does reserving additional FP’s throw a TP out the window?: Before the trip, i secure our 1st 3 FP’s then finalize my TP’s. when i get to the park, i continue to check for additional FP’s (after my 3) and/or modify the 1’s i have which, then change my TP… so do i follow the path of my TP or the additional FP’s?
This is random: Months ago i did an ADR for 6 @ Raglan Road for 4:30pm. Realized it was way too early & managed to find same day, same # for 5:45pm. When i went to book the 5:45, as expected it asked if i wanted to cancel the 4:30 and, of course, i clicked ‘yes.’ (or whatever affirmation word they used). This was almost a month ago if not longer. When i look at my plans for that day it still shows both reservations in my MDE account. I was going to cancel the 4:30 but then i was thinking… within the last week my sister & brother decided to join us so now i need my 5:45 for 6 to be a 5:45 for 8… if i call the restaurant, you think they could make this happen especially since things will open up a bit when i cancel the 4:30?
Please! Help me get back on track! (told you i was dramatic )
Get what you want to ride. If you desperately want to do FOP but the only time is late, I’d get it. You can’t necessarily rely on getting it at a drop time, but those would be the times to see if you could modify it earlier.
Search for 8 first. If you can’t get it, then search for less, and look for an overlapping time for the rest.
Yes once you start getting extras, you will go off plan. You can optimise or evaluate on the app as you go if you want. We tend to just forget the plan.
The 4.30 is probably gone. It’s not unusual for cancelled ADRs to show up in MDE. But I don’t think you’ll have any trouble adding 2 people on.
I have been with a party of 10 beginning the Thursday before Thanksgiving and ending the Tuesday of Thanksgiving week and I was able to get fast passes for all 10 of us together for each day with no problem. Granted I was staying onsite, so I was booking them at 60 days out, but I still think you can get them. Just maybe not as early in the day.
I always advocate burning FPs as early as possible. However, I always stay onsite and get the benefit of a 60+7 window, so I don’t often have to face tough choices.
If (hypothetically) I could only get either an early PotC or a late (let’s say 2:30pm) SDMT, I’d probably grab the SDMT because of it’s FP scarcity… though I’d be bitter about it. And I wouldn’t push it very much later (like, say a 7:30pm SDMT, hamstringing my entire day in regards to FPs).
Once I start piling up additional FPs, I do veer off my TP. But I don’t sweat that too much, since (IMO) swimming in a sea of FPs is superior to any TP. I do, however, try to make those additional FPs somewhat conform to my TP day. For example, if I’m looking on MDE for FP #5, and I have the choice between two rides, one of which is on my current day TP, I’ll take that.
Early FP vs best-ride FP is a very difficult choice, and it is mostly psychological. If you are doing 4 rides do you prefer 4 30 minute waits or 3 nearly walk ons and 1 2 hours wait? There is not an universal answer to this question, no option is obviously better.
Are you OK with splitting your group while in the park? Will your party have multiple people searching for SDFP? Do you like less-popular rides? For SDFP all of these factors matter. The less likely you are to enjoy SDFPs the less it is worth it to sacrifice a good ride but late FP to being able to get them.
On DHS I would get the earliest available FP for a ride you plan to ride. SDFP there is really easy.
That said, if there are FPs available for your favorite/priority ride but only late (really late, like 8pm) I would still get them.
I can’t disagree more with this. There is one option that is obviously better in general for FP acquisition. Grabbing them early, in general, is obviously better. Grabbing them early allows you to get #4 early. And then #5… 6… 7… 8… If you leave off burning #3 until 8pm, you can kiss that potential outcome well and truly goodbye.
That really depends on what is available. For the same ride (generally) the earlier the better.
But imagine you are going to MK, staying offsite and at 30 days out the earliest times available for BTMRR, Space and PPF are after 5pm, and these are your priority rides. There are also earlier FPs available for rides you want to do, let’s say PotC, JC and HM. Do you do your priority rides or your want-to go-rides? If you do your priorities you won’t get SDFP, but if you don’t you are unlikely to get FP for your priorities. This scenario is not that unlikely staying offsite (depending on party size and time of the year).
We’re a party of 8 going thanksgiving week (yikes! )
Our plan is to rope drop every park however, w/the announcement of morning EMH @ HS all week long, this will be impossible so we’re at a serious disadvantage there.
Based on the additional info i just provided, does your advice change?
In that case I would FP priority rides, except on DHS were I would FP whichever tier 1 ride I am interested in riding that is available earliest, and whichever shows are available before that.
About modifying to add more people, the system does let you do that and even suggests modifying the time if there is availability for your party size at a different time, but I had much more success with overlapping times (originally party of 8, 5 more people joined the trip less than 30 days before).
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