I figured 60 days out everything would be available at all times, but I’m starting to learn I may be mistaken. Correct me if I’m wrong, but does this influence what park I go to on a certain day–if I really want to do FOP and KS at AK, I may have to pick a day later in my trip (say 64 days out) to have the best chance to book the FPP? Am I overthinking this?
What are typically the hardest FPP to get in each park and how far out do you need to be to get them?
You are now thinking about it correctly (not overthinking).
The hardest FP to get (in my opinion) are the following with SDD and FOP being by far the toughest:
SDD
FOP
7DMT
ToT [this is much tougher now than the past due to the change in tiers and the temporary closing of one side (though I read on a post that the other side may be open now)]
You are very unlikely to get SDD or FOP at 60 days. Chances of getting these tough FPs increase the further out you go. I would plan AK and DHS for later in your trip. And when you book FP, book the toughest FP first and then go back and fill in the days (instead of going day by day).
Agree with above +
You may know, but just in case you don’t, there’s something called “Club Level” for Deluxe on-site guests. For a fee they get to pick FPP at 90 days, so they get a lot of the best FPP times & rides a month before Moderate / Value on-site guests get access.
First of all, thanks all. So I’m staying at Deluxe resort, does that automatically mean I can book 90 days? Or is club level above that?
Club level is above that.
Club level is certain rooms at the Deluxe resorts. The Club level rooms are significantly more expensive than the standard Deluxe rooms
Also, the less flexible you are about the time of a particular FPP (i.e. only want to ride SDD in the evening, only want to ride PP first thing), the later in your trip you should have that particular day. If you look in the corner of the Dibb calendars, it shows an A if the earliest available FPP is afternoon, M if it’s morning, E if only Evening ones are available. If you need more detail, TouringPlans shows the actual available FPP windows but for a single FPP instead of 2 or 4. For instance, on October 8 at Magic Kingdom, these are the currently available FPP windows:
1:45pm‑2:45pm · 2:05pm‑3:05pm · 2:40pm‑3:40pm · 3:00pm‑4:00pm · 3:50pm‑4:50pm · 4:05pm‑5:05pm · 4:40pm‑5:40pm · 5:20pm‑6:00pm
You can edit that date in the URL to go directly to the dates of interest to you.
I used the Dibb link @PrincipalTinker posted and the Touring Plans FPP availability (navigating to the park and date of interest) to figure out what I could reasonably expect, including time of day and that changed what FPPs I targeted. Even on day 60+6 SDD was only available for afternoon/evening, so I made that a HS evening. Day 60+1 is a MK day for us and I knew ahead of time SDMT wouldn’t be available, and that the Peter Pan ride wasn’t available for FPPs until mid-day.
And, in order to qualify to book FPs at 90 days, you also have to pay $50 per person, per day, for a minimum of 3 days, on top of the CL rate.
This doesn’t really have a huge impact on FP availability. For a family of 4, it would be an extra $600 to be able to book them for 3 days.