I like My Disney Experience but definitely want to vent about fast passes. Anyone with me?

[Bpmorley]

When we have APs, we make FPs for everyday of the year. This way we have something if we decided on a last minute trip when there will be no FPs available for anything.

 

[flynnibus]

(Sigh.) "every. Single. Time." would seem to indicate it's not a lucky one-off.

I didn't say lucky... I said 'typical'. Meaning, as you should have clued in by now... when you travel as a party of two as you do, it's much easier to be accomodated than your typical party of 4+. In dining, two person tables can't easily be used for larger parties.. so they can be lower utilization than larger tables. In FPs, its a simple numbers game... less FPs at same time slot = more likely to be available than a larger number of FPs.

If you're referring to party size, I'm sure there are plenty of parties of two (and one) around here.

Yes, but you go around acting like anyone who doesn't have it as easy as you do... is somehow doing it wrong, or is just complaining. Instead of simply acknowledging that your requirements are different than theirs.. and theirs is harder to accommodate.

So instead of running around going "zOMG, you all are doing it wrong!" - recognize your world is not the same as theirs.

So like I said... walk a mile in their shoes. For your next trip, ask as a party of 5 first each time you 'adlib' things and find it so easy.. and see how easy or not it is for everyone else.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

I didn't say lucky... I said 'typical'. Meaning, as you should have clued in by now... when you travel as a party of two as you do, it's much easier to be accomodated than your typical party of 4+. In dining, two person tables can't easily be used for larger parties.. so they can be lower utilization than larger tables. In FPs, its a simple numbers game... less FPs at same time slot = more likely to be available than a larger number of FPs.



Yes, but you go around acting like anyone who doesn't have it as easy as you do... is somehow doing it wrong, or is just complaining. Instead of simply acknowledging that your requirements are different than theirs.. and theirs is harder to accommodate.

So instead of running around going "zOMG, you all are doing it wrong!" - recognize your world is not the same as theirs.

So like I said... walk a mile in their shoes. For your next trip, ask as a party of 5 first each time you 'adlib' things and find it so easy.. and see how easy or not it is for everyone else.

The people who have been misled to believe it’s 60 days or nothing ARE doing it wrong - often through no fault of their own - regardless of party size.

 

[flynnibus]

The people who have been misled to believe it’s 60 days or nothing ARE doing it wrong - often through no fault of their own - regardless of party size.

Again... you're missing the point why you are disconnected from them... the essential point of the LIKELYHOOD that 'keep trying' will actual result in success. The bigger your party, the less likely success will be... regardless of how frequently you try. Once FPs are in contention, you are trying to fit your piece in the opening.... the smaller your piece, the easier it is to find an opening.

So yes, it's not '60 days or nothing' - but the chance of success when you try again STILL DEPENDS on your party size. So what may be a 'good trick' for a party of 2... won't necessarily work for a party of 4 or 5.

So... your "it works for me everytime" is just being obtuse and failing to recognize your world is not prototypical to the people you are talking to.

The bigger group can keep trying... and keep failing. All they've done is just made themselves more irritated.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Again... you're missing the point why you are disconnected from them... the essential point of the LIKELYHOOD that 'keep trying' will actual result in success. The bigger your party, the less likely success will be... regardless of how frequently you try. Once FPs are in contention, you are trying to fit your piece in the opening.... the smaller your piece, the easier it is to find an opening.

So yes, it's not '60 days or nothing' - but the chance of success when you try again STILL DEPENDS on your party size. So what may be a 'good trick' for a party of 2... won't necessarily work for a party of 4 or 5.

So... your "it works for me everytime" is just being obtuse and failing to recognize your world is not prototypical to the people you are talking to.

The bigger group can keep trying... and keep failing. All they've done is just made themselves more irritated.

You do realize they save some FP to be released on the day of, right? Not just two.

 

[flynnibus]

You do realize they save some FP to be released on the day of, right? Not just two.

Yes, and everyone's frustration is purely because they try once and walk away.... *rolleyes* Travel as a group and then get back to us on how easy or great everything is.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Yes, and everyone's frustration is purely because they try once and walk away.... *rolleyes*

Drama much? Where did I make that exaggerated statement?

There are a number of newbies or people who haven't been for years who read about the 60 day mark and think if they don't get it immediately, it's over. It's not.

There are people specifically arguing they don't want to do any "extra work" after the 60 day mark.

I can't search for 4 people because there are only 2 people in my MDE.

I just searched for September 27th - less than 30 days out - in all 4 parks for 2 people (and then for one person, it made no difference.) The only things I couldn't get are Flight of Passage, SDMT, and the 2 new Toy Story ones and Disney Junior. So that's one attraction at MK, one attraction at Animal Kingdom, zero attractions at Epcot, and 3 at Hollywood Studios, two of which just opened.

How about run your 4 for the same day, just to get a baseline?

I also can't search 60 days out because I have no room booked.

But someone can momentarily divide their family if an attraction is that important, and either let the two people ride it who want it most, or let two people ride it at 10am and the other two at 11am. Or two people get Peter Pan and the other two get Haunted Mansion for that day, and reverse it another day or another hour. (Will MDE let you book some of your party on one and some on another in the same time frame? I don't know. Something to find out.)

So I want to see what a family of 4 will come up with compared to what I just came up with, because at 28 days out, I can't complain that barely any attractions are completely booked up, other than the biggest ones.

 

[flynnibus]

Drama much? Where did I make that exaggerated statement?

There are a number of newbies or people who haven't been for years who read about the 60 day mark and think if they don't get it immediately, it's over. It's not.

There are people specifically arguing they don't want to do any "extra work" after the 60 day mark.

I can't search for 4 people because there are only 2 people in my MDE.

I just searched for September 27th - less than 30 days out - in all 4 parks for 2 people (and then for one person, it made no difference.) The only things I couldn't get are Flight of Passage, SDMT, and the 2 new Toy Story ones and Disney Junior. So that's one attraction at MK, one attraction at Animal Kingdom, zero attractions at Epcot, and 3 at Hollywood Studios, two of which just opened.

How about run your 4 for the same day, just to get a baseline?

I also can't search 60 days out because I have no room booked.

But someone can momentarily divide their family if an attraction is that important, and either let the two people ride it who want it most, or let two people ride it at 10am and the other two at 11am. Or two people get Peter Pan and the other two get Haunted Mansion for that day, and reverse it another day or another hour. (Will MDE let you book some of your party on one and some on another in the same time frame? I don't know. Something to find out.)

So I want to see what a family of 4 will come up with compared to what I just came up with, because at 28 days out, I can't complain that barely any attractions are completely booked up, other than the biggest ones.

Clearly you've never been a parent...

Do you have any idea what kind of ripple effects splitting up the party across multiple time windows would cause? It's not trivial.. because the blockout window then falls out of sync and now there are OTHER things you can't do together, etc.

The challenge is never "there is nothing to do" - the challenge is "getting things to fit together in a reasonable fashion" AND simultaneously planning out multiple days together. The number of dependencies grows with every day and person you add into the mix.

So knowing there is a FP available on Thursday in the MK does me no good, if because of the 4 other dependencies I've planned to be in the MK on Wednesday, not Thursday. And if I change my MK day to Wednesday, now I need to get all the other preferred FPs I was after... and change all my ADRs. Oh wait, now SDMT is available on Wednesday, but Be Our Guest is not... so now I gotta pick and choose which was more important to me, etc. Oh wait, now Wednesday is a EMH day... so the rest of the park is busier... do I really want to be there on that day... but its the only day I can get a FP ahead... blah blah blah.

It goes on and on... the number of moving pieces between... crowds... attraction availability... dining availability... your schedule... everyone else's desires... and the whole thing is a giant cluster-#$% of pain in the rear.

So what really ends of happening is you schedule your days in parks based on FP availability many weeks out (insane).. then try to pick and choose which food is available where you ended up... and then try to manage that over multiple days trying to fit in all the 'must haves' you want on that trip.

This locks you in... so its no longer "keep checking any day for SDMT availability" - it becomes "Check for SDMT on Wed between 11-4" else I need to change 3-10 other things to jump into another time slot.

This is the stupidity that Disney's focus on advance planning has locked you into. Instead of being a 'garuntee of your must haves' it's become a ball and chain that holds you back because Disney has made the non-scheduled experience so miserable.


Wife: "I really want to eat at that drive in theatre place this year!"
Dad: "Sorry, we had to skip that this year because the only day we could get FPs for Avatar was Saturday... and Fantasmic only runs on Friday... so we are going to Hollywood Studios on Friday night only... and there were no dining reservations available for SciFi except at 4pm... and we aren't eating lunch until 2:30pm because that was the first slot we could get at MK..."

blah blah blah. It's a @$%@#$ show.

 

[21stamps]

Clearly you've never been a parent...

Do you have any idea what kind of ripple effects splitting up the party across multiple time windows would cause? It's not trivial.. because the blockout window then falls out of sync and now there are OTHER things you can't do together, etc.

The challenge is never "there is nothing to do" - the challenge is "getting things to fit together in a reasonable fashion" AND simultaneously planning out multiple days together. The number of dependencies grows with every day and person you add into the mix.

So knowing there is a FP available on Thursday in the MK does me no good, if because of the 4 other dependencies I've planned to be in the MK on Wednesday, not Thursday. And if I change my MK day to Wednesday, now I need to get all the other preferred FPs I was after... and change all my ADRs. Oh wait, now SDMT is available on Wednesday, but Be Our Guest is not... so now I gotta pick and choose which was more important to me, etc. Oh wait, now Wednesday is a EMH day... so the rest of the park is busier... do I really want to be there on that day... but its the only day I can get a FP ahead... blah blah blah.

It goes on and on... the number of moving pieces between... crowds... attraction availability... dining availability... your schedule... everyone else's desires... and the whole thing is a giant cluster-#$% of pain in the rear.

So what really ends of happening is you schedule your days in parks based on FP availability many weeks out (insane).. then try to pick and choose which food is available where you ended up... and then try to manage that over multiple days trying to fit in all the 'must haves' you want on that trip.

This locks you in... so its no longer "keep checking any day for SDMT availability" - it becomes "Check for SDMT on Wed between 11-4" else I need to change 3-10 other things to jump into another time slot.

This is the stupidity that Disney's focus on advance planning has locked you into. Instead of being a 'garuntee of your must haves' it's become a ball and chain that holds you back because Disney has made the non-scheduled experience so miserable.

My youngest sibling is 8 years younger than me...and she’s incredibly short.

My family went to Disney annually from the time I was 1. After my brother was born, and then my sister, my parents had to split up sometimes.
We had a great time, even splitting.

Back to the present day-

I just planned a Spring Break trip earlier this year, for my sister’s family. 2 adults, 2 kids+ 1 more kid and 2 more adults- a grandmother and a sister in law.

I was able to get them pretty much every dining experience they wanted- Party of 7.
I split the party and sometimes booked as 2 reservations within a 15 minute Check in.

I also did their fast passes, and modified them often.

It All Worked Out.


People here make it sound much harder than it actually is.

 

[flynnibus]

I just planned a Spring Break trip earlier this year, for my sister’s family. 2 adults, 2 kids+ 1 more kid and 2 more adults- a grandmother and a sister in law.

So you had 3 parties traveling together... great. Now do the same things when you travel with just you and your dependents without other adults to break the party up with responsible people.

Now estimate how much time you spent working it all out...

It's vacation - not a game show challenge.

 

[21stamps]

So you had 3 parties traveling together... great. Now do the same things when you travel with just you and your dependents without other adults to break the party up with responsible people.

Now estimate how much time you spent working it all out...

It's vacation - not a game show challenge.

I travel alone with a child. It’s easier now, but it was tough when he was younger.

So I understand that some things are challenging.. they don’t have to be overwhelming bad or stressful though.

Disney planning is not fun..I won’t pretend that it is, but I also don’t think it’s the horror that so many make it out to be.

 

[DisneyFreak]

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Clearly you've never been a parent...

Do you have any idea what kind of ripple effects splitting up the party across multiple time windows would cause? It's not trivial.. because the blockout window then falls out of sync and now there are OTHER things you can't do together, etc.

The challenge is never "there is nothing to do" - the challenge is "getting things to fit together in a reasonable fashion" AND simultaneously planning out multiple days together. The number of dependencies grows with every day and person you add into the mix.

So knowing there is a FP available on Thursday in the MK does me no good, if because of the 4 other dependencies I've planned to be in the MK on Wednesday, not Thursday. And if I change my MK day to Wednesday, now I need to get all the other preferred FPs I was after... and change all my ADRs. Oh wait, now SDMT is available on Wednesday, but Be Our Guest is not... so now I gotta pick and choose which was more important to me, etc. Oh wait, now Wednesday is a EMH day... so the rest of the park is busier... do I really want to be there on that day... but its the only day I can get a FP ahead... blah blah blah.

It goes on and on... the number of moving pieces between... crowds... attraction availability... dining availability... your schedule... everyone else's desires... and the whole thing is a giant cluster-#$% of pain in the rear.

So what really ends of happening is you schedule your days in parks based on FP availability many weeks out (insane).. then try to pick and choose which food is available where you ended up... and then try to manage that over multiple days trying to fit in all the 'must haves' you want on that trip.

This locks you in... so its no longer "keep checking any day for SDMT availability" - it becomes "Check for SDMT on Wed between 11-4" else I need to change 3-10 other things to jump into another time slot.

This is the stupidity that Disney's focus on advance planning has locked you into. Instead of being a 'garuntee of your must haves' it's become a ball and chain that holds you back because Disney has made the non-scheduled experience so miserable.


Wife: "I really want to eat at that drive in theatre place this year!"
Dad: "Sorry, we had to skip that this year because the only day we could get FPs for Avatar was Saturday... and Fantasmic only runs on Friday... so we are going to Hollywood Studios on Friday night only... and there were no dining reservations available for SciFi except at 4pm... and we aren't eating lunch until 2:30pm because that was the first slot we could get at MK..."

blah blah blah. It's a @$%@#$ show.

You couldn’t just answer my question and tell me what’s available for a party of four that day? I want to see how different it is from a party of two.

My youngest sibling is 8 years younger than me...and she’s incredibly short.

My family went to Disney annually from the time I was 1. After my brother was born, and then my sister, my parents had to split up sometimes.
We had a great time, even splitting.

Back to the present day-

I just planned a Spring Break trip earlier this year, for my sister’s family. 2 adults, 2 kids+ 1 more kid and 2 more adults- a grandmother and a sister in law.

I was able to get them pretty much every dining experience they wanted- Party of 7.
I split the party and sometimes booked as 2 reservations within a 15 minute Check in.

I also did their fast passes, and modified them often.

It All Worked Out.


People here make it sound much harder than it actually is.

Wait - you mean, if you want to make something work, you can?

But what will people have to complain about?

Oh, straws. And lids.

 

[21stamps]

You couldn’t just answer my question and tell me what’s available for a party of four that day? I want to see how different it is from a party of two.



Wait - you mean, if you want to make something work, you can?

But what will people have to complain about?

Oh, straws. And lids.

Cups, lids...and any “additional charge” offering.

 

[flynnibus]

You couldn’t just answer my question and tell me what’s available for a party of four that day? I want to see how different it is from a party of two.

First, I don't usually bother with questions or challenges that have no meaning. Availability in a random window with no other constraints is a red herring that doesn't actually reflect the challenges being discussed. Family vacationers don't need 'any FP on one random day' - they need FPs for the things that interest them on the days they plan on being in a park.. and normally need to align that with where they've been, where they will be, and dining too.

So my challenge to you was when you are doing your adlib stuff... you check with a bigger party at that time... because all your other constraints are already in play (where you are, time window, where you've been, and where you plan on going). Picking a day in isolation in the future doesn't do that.

Second, I don't have annual passes or an upcoming trip... so I can't use Disney's site to check availability... and the TP app does not account for party size.

FP 'availability' is only one dimension of the tangled web Disney has woven here. But it is the first friction point most guests will encounter.. and the realities of traveling on vacation combined with Disney's strategy makes it frustrating and difficult to work with. All for something that is pitched as a BENEFIT - not necessity.

 

[flynnibus]

So I understand that some things are challenging.. they don’t have to be overwhelming bad or stressful though.

Disney planning is not fun..I won’t pretend that it is, but I also don’t think it’s the horror that so many make it out to be.

Here we discussion how unfun something is... and how it's challenging... all for something that is pitched to benefit YOU!

For things that are supposed to benefit me, and be part of a vacation... a POSITIVE experience (not just survival) is table stakes. Disney has F'd it up.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

Second, I don't have annual passes or an upcoming trip... so I can't use Disney's site to check availability... and the TP app does not account for party size.

Anybody can check 30 days out. Next.

 

[flynnibus]

Anybody can check 30 days out. Next.

 

[Tony the Tigger]

September 27.

 

[21stamps]

Here we discussion how unfun something is... and how it's challenging... all for something that is pitched to benefit YOU!

For things that are supposed to benefit me, and be part of a vacation... a POSITIVE experience (not just survival) is table stakes. Disney has F'd it up.

In fairness, I don’t think any vacation planning is fun.. and I do plan, wherever I go.

I am the first to admit that I’ve gone way over the top and in full on stress mode when it comes to Disney planning though, then I realized how foolish it was.

Paper FP did not work for me. I’m not a rope dropper, I don’t want to run to a ride to get a return time. The first time I brought children to Disney was 2006. A 3 and 6 year old. Wait times were miserable, and we barely got any FPs so we waited standby in several lines.
I’ll take a FP+ any day.