OK, am I the only one thinking this is quite a lot of strategy and innuendo, espeically given the risks of losing it all? I am having a hard time even tracking to the sequencing and risks outlined here.
On my last trip to WDW, maybe I was naive, but we stayed off property, I booked my FP’s 30 days out, and we all had a great time. And, this was over Thanksgiving week. I didn’t even start booking ADR’s till 60 days out and we got everything we wanted, including BOG, using reservation finder. (Missing the 180 day window was unintentional, but it all worked out). Now, with the FP4Me, everything might be even easier. Have you considered using that as back up and assume that like reservation finder, some hard to snag FP’s will pop up in that 60 day window before arrrival.
We are planning to stay on property next visit and the highest level of complexity I can digest is deciding in what order to book the key FP’s when my FP window opens. On that note, does anyone have any advice or strategy?
IE.: AK 60-3 (FOP), HS-60-5 (SDD), HS 60-8 (MF or Mickey’s RR if on FP by then), MK 60-6 (7DMT), EP 60-7 (FEA), EP 60-4 (Soarin), MK 60-1, MK-60-0. The two latter MK days are either short park days where we are doing smaller rides, OR, we plan on doing EMM (if it comes back next year). Phew, that’s all the complexity I’ve got.
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Forgive me but I’m not exactly following all this. Are the only FPs being cancelled as a result of leading reservations booked as split stays? I thought the foolproof way to do the leading res was to overlap? For example: real stay Jun 8-14, leading res Jun 1-14. Book FPs only for days between Jun 8-14. Cancel the June 1-14 after the June 8 60-day window opens, so all the FPs still sitting on days with an active res.
No?
I thought that you run into trouble with the new policy when your leading res is Jun 1-7 rather than overlapping at Jun 1-14, but I may have misunderstood some of this.
It is great that you have a touring model that works for you.
Some of your rides include 60+8. Many people can not afford an 8 day trip. If we had that many park days, perhaps we could afford to be a little less commando.
We also have a larger travel party, which further complicates things. For my family, every ride we didn’t get to do represents a trip disappointment. This is based upon the numerous pre-FPP trips we took where we didn’t get shut out of our favorite rides. My family will continue to employ every necessary hack in order to help us out.
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I kind of understand…but not really. my first trip was just 2 days in MK, (the first two days!) and then Universal for 2.5 days for my Harry Potter obsessed son. Off property EXACTLY for budget reasons, with an extended multi generational family crew. At Universal I sucked it up and did a relatively unused hotel for one night on property just to get extra perks for 2 days) my 75 yr old Dad used it to watch college football mid day, but nobody slept there. It was $$$$, but cheaper than booking our entire stay on property at either WDW or Universal. Had I investigated more, I may have booked (and paid) for a camp site, but we made do. We rope dropped 7DMT, but otherwise did all headliners. My issue is not paying for the benefit. This hack that is precisely the reason that folks can’t get FP’s at reasonable advance junctures. Rationalize if you will, but you are taking something of value that you aren’t paying for.
I had nothing to say until I read this.
I pay for my campsites. But I don’t judge those with leading reservations. They are trying to improve the return on their investment.
My 180 days comes up the end of next week. I still don’t have park hours. I’ll plan the best i can. Then they will release hours. Then they will change them, if history is any indicator. Disney plays games, so so does their customers.
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Everyone plans differently (and many don’t plan at all). Everyone has access to the same tools whether they choose to use them (if aware they exist) or not. When Disney decides they don’t want a strategy to work anymore they will put an end to it. Many of us are just trying to figure out where things stand right now which is difficult because Disney doesn’t share what they are doing when it comes to this stuff.
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