I am wanting to visualise what others actually do with this booking scenario
Do you write down all the days/times/rides etc… or do you have 2 pages open on computer etc.
I am getting a bit nervous that the time will arrive and I will be in a panic about it all. Knowing beforehand makes me better prepared.
Do I start from the first day or the last day of our stay?
I’m thinking I will have to make all humans stay away from me, all animals, take phone off the hook and don’t answer the door if anybody knocks, I will be in full concentration mode NOT TO BE DISTURBED!!!
I won’t even be able to go to the toilet.
I have mine written down in advance, by day; which ride and approximately what time.
I have never used multiple computers.
I start with the “hardest to get” ones first, regardless what day it is.
I never choose a park day based on FPP availability; there’s no single FPP that’s that important.
If I don’t get exactly what I want on day 60, I keep looking - right up until the day of if need be.
I’ve never NOT gotten every FPP that I’ve wanted (although I’ve sometimes had to settle for whatever time was available).
Since the system changes in April I have modified what I do. First, I book FPs from a browser since refreshing sometimes changes the offerings. I write down the days/times I want my FPs. I start with my most wanted FPs (if you want Froazen Ever After start with that). I cross off what I have booked from my list and note the exact time I booked ( you cannot see what you booked or the time and it will not allow you to overlap times). Good luck!
Hi VJB,
I went down the multiple window way.
Quick pointer: I hadn’t picked up before hand that FPP usage periods can’t overlap. ie if you book one for 10am, your next one must be 11am or later. Seems obvious but it hadn’t occurred to me.
Neil
Just got back from WDW. (6/24 - 7/2/2016). It was a pretty crowded week. Unless something has drastically changed, you shouldn’t have too much trouble getting what you want as long as you get on the FP site @ 60 days. We got all of the FP’s we wanted, and made a lot of changes as our plans solidified. Everyone has their own approach, but here is the strategy that works for me…I create my TP’s for each day first without FP’s, just to get a general idea of where I want them. I get on MDE @ 60 days and book them where I think I want them, then revise my TP’s to include the FP’s. A few tips: I try to book my 3 advanced FP’s as early in the day as possible, so that I can keep getting one more. We were surprised how many late day extra FP’s we were able to reserve by doing this! Secondly, I take advantage of the window times as much as possible. I sometimes book my window for an earlier start time than I know I will be arriving, as long as I am sure I can make it to the attraction before the window end time. This way, I can schedule all of our FP’s a little earlier, so we can try for extra ones sooner. One last tip: If you find that you want to change one of your FP’s, but there is no availability, check again that morning right before the park opens. We found that there seemed to be new time slots opening up in the mornings before parks opened. Good luck!
Ok, I’m not sure how this changes things for me but - I have Hopper Tickets, and have opted to do split park visits most days. This meaning that I have planned to have my FP at the second park that I visit (after a rest around middle of the day).
I assume the parks that we visit in afternoon/evening will be the most crowded… therefore I have NOT put FP in my morning park plans - hoping I will get there at either RD or soon thereafter to be able to get stuff done without too much of a lineup.
Hope all that makes sense. Basically 2 parks most days - no FP in morning - utilising FP in afternoon.
I see that some people opt to use the FP in the morning and then continue getting FP afterwards.
QUESTION - Do you think I should be changing my plans and doing that?
That depends on which parks you are going to and how long your stay is. As long as you are using FP in each park once I wouldn’t nesseasarily change anything. There are so many rides in MK that you can keep getting extra FP’s, it’s also a great park for not using FP as long as you aren’t wanting to do more than 1/2 major attractions at RD. Do you have kids and planning on a rest every day? If so I might use your FP on a couple of mornings. If you are all adults then saving your FP for the afternoons makes sense.
That is what I do since those extra FPs are sometimes plentiful, but sometimes not really anything I want. When I rope drop in the morning I stay as long as lines are short- then take my break! Unless I am going to HS - then I always FP that park!
It is myself, hubby and two daughters 15 & 17. I thought it would be best to leave the midday heat and crowds, go back to POFQ for some time out/swim/rest and then head to another park for evening events. Staying for 9 days.
When I did mine on Saturday I had the FPP page open in my browser, with each TP that would be using FPP in different tabs. I did the 2 I was worried about not getting at the exact time I wanted (Frozen and Toy Story) first, then went back in and made the rest after consulting and slightly tweaking my TPs.
I also decided to use the FPP for second parks whenever we were splitting days. I have us going to MK on days when the CL is 3 or less, so we don’t even need FPP for anything (we’re doing 7DMT on Halloween party day with a FPP, and then I figure we’ll do it again later in the evening during the party), and then we’re using the FPPs for HS and Epcot in the evenings… not only does that get us out of the longest lines we’re likely to see all week, it puts us in better places for dinner!
That’s how I do it. We usually hit parks at RD, leave around noon and go back between 3 and 4, saving our FPPs for the afternoon. On our last trip, the longest we waited was for the monorail on the way back to the hotel…
I am 74 days until our trip as far as TP tells me. I am in Australia… I will have to figure out when (which day) and what time I need to start making these fast passes in 14 days or so. I still have a bit of tweaking to do, but I will be glad when the day comes and goes so I can stop thinking about it I have so much more to plan for when we hop over to Universal… I’ve barely looked at any of my plans for then as I’ve been planning the Disney side for so long.
