I’m a little annoyed that Disney expects me to book FPP at 60 days (not to mention dining at 180), yet they can’t commit to their hours or their nighttime entertainment with the less than 60 days to go. I wish I could hold them to the same standard they hold me. It’s difficult for the crazy over planners like myself to keep wondering if there will be Star Wars fireworks (and I might need to switch park days in order to see them!!!) or ROFL. If i need to change all my Pre-RD ADR’s because the parks will open early, etc.? Does anyone else find this ironic? How far in advance they want us to do our part, yet they aren’t doing theirs??? I’m going at the one of the busiest times of year (thanksgiving) what is going to change that they can’t commit to already??? And because its going to be so busy I need to do as much “switching” as I need to do as soon as possible before it’s NOT possible. They should have their end secured by 60 days. If they ask that commitment from us, they should follow suit. Sorry, mostly just annoyed and venting. Still love Disney, still hate FPP.
After standing in line for ToT when it first opened for 3 hours in the HOT July Florida sun, I will forever love FPP.
I tend to cut Disney a break when it comes to scheduling. Can you imagine how difficult it is to secure all of the necessary resources that are required for fireworks, and other entertainment? I do find myself frustrated with needing to make plans ahead of time, but it’s not Disney that is making me commit - it’s me.
Oh don’t get me wrong, I love the original FP, or even what Disneyland is rumored to be getting (booking day of), I just hate having to choose 60 days ahead of time. I think it could work just like original but instead of running to get your paper ticket you book it on your phone when you are there and know what you are doing and how long everything is taking and what you feel like riding. Even booking one at a time like the old system.
As for disneys logistical issues, I do understand that. However it seems they “always” open at 8 thanksgiving week. So why not just post it now. What could possibly change to make that not happen. And if it’s as busy as they say, why wouldn’t they be running all shows in order to keep guests occupied at all parks and not running back to the only ones with nighttime entertainment? If they weren’t asking me to commit to ADR’s and FPP’s I wouldn’t be as upset. But they are committing me to plan at 60 days out yet not giving me the tools to do if properly. I just think there is room for improvement and that Disney should shoot for a 60 day deadline on their scheduling.
I was like that with our first big trip. I think we had 14 ADR’s in a 7 day stretch. I literally had a spreadsheet with an hour by hour breakdown. Halfway through the trip the spreadsheet went out the window… it was causing way too much stress.
We went back for 24 hour day and had a loose day by day on what parks we expected to be in to book a few ADR’s that we knew we wanted and to book some FPP’s.
This trip is about the same. We’ve discovered that we actually like relaxing on vacation lol. I LOVE the new system because it means we can be assured of riding the rides we have on our must do list and don’t have to always get up at the crack of dawn to make rope drop. We don’t have to run through the park bouncing from one attraction to the next. Plus now we ALWAYS have a car, because one we hate the buses and they can be such a huge time sink, and two we know that if we didn’t get the ADR we wanted there is an amazing array of awesome food just a few short miles away, and as a bonus its a third of the cost! Not to mention you can decide what sounds good on the day you’re actually going to eat it!
Try not to get too hung up in the details. We’ve made our plans and made our peace with them. If they schedule SW fireworks and we miss them that’s ok, we booked an Epcot dessert party and we love illuminations. We booked a pre-rd CP, but if they change the hours, that’s ok we’ll still enjoy our breakfast and use our FPP when we’re done. The planning and the plotting can be a fun distraction when you’re waiting for that countdown to get smaller and smaller, just don’t forget to have fun while you’re actually there ;).
I booked my Thanksgiving trip on the assumption of the hours change and have booked my ADRs and FPP around that. They have waited to change hours 2-3 weeks in advance (first week of Nov in the past) and I agree it would be amazing if they set the schedule 60 or so days in advance. Yes it is incredibly annoying as my plan is centered around seeing the new nighttime entertainment at HS and AK but nothing I can do.
I didn’t schedule any pre-RD ADRs at AK or MK (those are the only 8 am parks anyways). Actually I didn’t schedule any pre-Rd ADRs at all. It is hard to get up that early for an entire week.
I think we also have to remember that even though we like to think of ourselves as a large group and that Disney should do what we expect of them… All of us crazy overplanners are by far the minority of WDW guests. It still astonishes me when people come to me for advice on a trip that they are just now starting to think about going on to WDW…NEXT MONTH. But there are probably more people like them than there are us.
On the other end of it too is that when they do put schedules out well in advance, and we make all of our plans around it, and then it changes. At those times, we gripe about that too. So, basically there is no pleasing an overplanner like myself. They might as well just hold of on their schedules until they are solid and let me work off of all the unofficial predictions.