Our experiences booking FP+

[TheVBs]

Please, please forgive me for starting a new FP+ thread! I wasn't sure if there was an existing one I should add this to. Mods, if you feel it should be merged with another, please feel free.

I just wanted to share our experiences so far. We were able to book our FP+ reservations at the end of Feb. Of course, I was sick as a dog!! But, I jumped in and did my best. I probably don't need to reiterate the mystifying shortcomings of the WDW website. What I wouldn't give to have them pump some cash into improving that. Anyway!

First run experience. As has been pointed out, you're forced to select three at a time and they're offered up in four time blocks, you choose the one you think is the best. None of our options were ideal and I chose the best I could. It was interesting to note that it did not avoid times when we had meal reservations booked, but it did note when there was a conflict.

Second run. We went back to it several days later when DH and I could look at it together and my brain was actually working. I thought there would be nothing left to choose from, but to our surprise, everything was available and it looked like every possible time was open to us when we went back in to change them individually. Why the site doesn't just let you choose them that way in the first place, I don't know.

Positives: We are going to ride, for the first time EVER, Toy Story Mania. As DH put it, "That better be a great ride." LOL! We were able to get passes for all of our must do rides throughout our time there. I thought HS would be tiered, but I was able to get RNRC and TOT on the same day.

Negatives: The first run through is a waste of time if you have to go back and tweak almost everything. It added stress to our planning process because we had to actually sit there and think about where we might be in each park throughout the day. Not something we'd normally do. We typically go to WDW for about 10 days and will maybe get 3 FPs throughout the entire trip. Now we have 3 for almost every day we're there and I don't know how many of those we will actually use.

[faline]

Thanks for the status update. I had no difficulty booking fastpass+ (though I wish I hadn't felt like I needed to) but, for us, the big issue happened after arrival when all of our fastpass+ options for 2 became fastpass+ options for 1. Mine remained - my husband's mysteriously disappeared and we needed to sit with someone from concierge for about 1/2 hour so she could re-create my husband's fastpass+ reservations - in some cases, the best she could do was to get them to overlap. For the rest of our trip, I could do nothing with them because I could no longer see his on my account and I dared change nothing for fear they would all disappear again!! (Plus I did not want to waste more vacation time with concierge assistance!!).

[yjgirl32]

Thanks for the heads up. I am not looking forward to picking for our group. We are a group of twelve which range in age from 5-83. Hopefully the process goes smoothly.

[Bruegge]

Were you able to get FP's back to back or close?

EX: 1:00-2:00pm Space mountain, 2:20-3:20pm Splash Mountain
or did you have to space them out ...???

I'm talking about AFTER you fine tuned it...

I'm pretty sure Disney will space them out so you have more time to eat and shop (in the park) between attractions. And discourage knocking off 3 rides early then hitting another park.

Going in June, making FP+'s at my 60 Day mark like you... Your information is VERY helpful... nice job

[AgentC]

Were you able to get FP's back to back or close?

EX: 1:00-2:00pm Space mountain, 2:20-3:20pm Splash Mountain
or did you have to space them out ...???

I'm talking about AFTER you fine tuned it...

I'm pretty sure Disney will space them out so you have more time to eat and shop (in the park) between attractions. And discourage knocking off 3 rides early then hitting another park.

Going in June, making FP+'s at my 60 Day mark like you... Your information is VERY helpful... nice job

I used FP a little over a week ago. For the most part I was able to fine tune mine so I had 1 FP every hour. It worked better for me to have them all together and then be able to spend the rest of my day however we wanted.

[Bruegge]

Great... I was hoping for that option..

[yjgirl32]

Me too. Thanks for the info

[TheVBs]

We were able to do back to back times on the fine tuning as well. There was one case where I went in and changed one of just DH's FPs too. He wants to do Mission Space, the rest of us are going on something else, and we were able to keep it all for the same time slot.

Faline, that's another thing that I felt was a negative. We felt like we HAD to make selections for most days. I'm hoping this is just like the early days of advanced dining reservations. We felt like we had to do those too, and now we just make a few and don't stress about it. As DH pointed out during this process, we do almost all walk-ons for every trip and never have much of a wait. So, overall, we're not going to stress about our selections.

[Gator]

What a headache! I was starting to think that maybe I'll return to WDW instead of staying in CA this year. But reading this makes me wish I could read the announcement: Legacy Fastpass to Return!

[AndrewJackson]

I'm not sure why they make you choose from 4 options, and not just select the times you want from the get go.

We have 7 day passes, and the system never have us exactly what we wanted. So, for each day, we had to make changes. And, you can only change one ride at a time.

I would think this would cause undo work for the system, and certainly for the guest.

[FaithTrustPixieDust]

Negatives: The first run through is a waste of time if you have to go back and tweak almost everything. It added stress to our planning process because we had to actually sit there and think about where we might be in each park throughout the day.

I had the same initial reaction as you on this point. However, it finally occurred to me that those 4 proposed schedules could be a lifesaver for newbies. Hopefully, WDW is taking into consideration where the attractions are, and how long it would take you to walk from Splash Mountain to Space Mountain, for example. Although people like us will go back and tweak it the way we like it, a newbie probably just takes one of the proposed schedules and runs with it. I can't imagine having to make all of these decisions back on one of our first few trips!!!

[TheVBs]

I had the same initial reaction as you on this point. However, it finally occurred to me that those 4 proposed schedules could be a lifesaver for newbies. Hopefully, WDW is taking into consideration where the attractions are, and how long it would take you to walk from Splash Mountain to Space Mountain, for example. Although people like us will go back and tweak it the way we like it, a newbie probably just takes one of the proposed schedules and runs with it. I can't imagine having to make all of these decisions back on one of our first few trips!!!

Good point! I could totally understand that being the case. However, (and this is where an improved website would come in) it seems a better set up would be to ask the guest if they want to customize their selections, or if they'd like to be given the 4 blocks of suggestions to choose from. And, as someone else pointed out, not have to go through the whole process for each day/ride, but to have your whole itinerary viewable and be able to make changes from there. Not making any final judgements here, because I know this is a whole new system. This is all just my opinion and feedback on what I've had to do so far.

[TheVBs]

What a headache! I was starting to think that maybe I'll return to WDW instead of staying in CA this year. But reading this makes me wish I could read the announcement: Legacy Fastpass to Return!

So sorry! I really did not want to stress anyone out. I was just hoping to help someone else understand what it all looked like when I went through it. Certainly, it wasn't the most user-friendly set up, but hopefully that will improve.

[Bruegge]

I'm not sure why they make you choose from 4 options, and not just select the times you want from the get go.

We have 7 day passes, and the system never have us exactly what we wanted. So, for each day, we had to make changes. And, you can only change one ride at a time.

I would think this would cause undo work for the system, and certainly for the guest.

Hey... given the drastic change in the overall system I'm just glad we CAN change if needed/wanted.. I will be real interested when Easter and Spring Break crowds roll in. I'm sure we will be hearing a lot more grips than cheers.

[Davy Crockett]

Please, please forgive me for starting a new FP+ thread! I wasn't sure if there was an existing one I should add this to. Mods, if you feel it should be merged with another, please feel free.

I just wanted to share our experiences so far. We were able to book our FP+ reservations at the end of Feb. Of course, I was sick as a dog!! But, I jumped in and did my best. I probably don't need to reiterate the mystifying shortcomings of the WDW website. What I wouldn't give to have them pump some cash into improving that. Anyway!

First run experience. As has been pointed out, you're forced to select three at a time and they're offered up in four time blocks, you choose the one you think is the best. None of our options were ideal and I chose the best I could. It was interesting to note that it did not avoid times when we had meal reservations booked, but it did note when there was a conflict.

Second run. We went back to it several days later when DH and I could look at it together and my brain was actually working. I thought there would be nothing left to choose from, but to our surprise, everything was available and it looked like every possible time was open to us when we went back in to change them individually. Why the site doesn't just let you choose them that way in the first place, I don't know.

Positives: We are going to ride, for the first time EVER, Toy Story Mania. As DH put it, "That better be a great ride." LOL! We were able to get passes for all of our must do rides throughout our time there. I thought HS would be tiered, but I was able to get RNRC and TOT on the same day.

Negatives: The first run through is a waste of time if you have to go back and tweak almost everything. It added stress to our planning process because we had to actually sit there and think about where we might be in each park throughout the day. Not something we'd normally do. We typically go to WDW for about 10 days and will maybe get 3 FPs throughout the entire trip. Now we have 3 for almost every day we're there and I don't know how many of those we will actually use.

VBs - Thank you for the walk through as our 60 days is almost here and I know there will be MUCH gnashing of teeth, but this helps me be BETTER prepared.

[tinksmom02]

Thank you for this. DD and I can make our FP+ on Sunday and it's been causing me so much anxiety LOL Glad to have your input.

[TheVBs]

You're welcome guys! Knowing what to expect usually saves me a lot of anxiety.