Ok... Dumb question but....

[wedway71]

Hi folks... its been a few years since going to WDW. Not by choice, just by work and life, etc. I do follow many Disney boards, news, FB, Linkedin, etc and see the plethora of info on Fast Pass, Magic my way, etc.

I am of the thought that I love just to go to Disney and not plan too much. Just have fun. Now here is the dumb question.... it seems like everything is linked to Fast Pass and other apps that one has to mess with prior to and during their trip.

Has anybody just gone to Disney this last year or so and not spent time messing with all of that stuff.. and did it really change or add a lot of time in lines, etc or stop you from seeing or enjoying attractions?

Seems like the way of the future is technology, and I understand that... just curious.

 

[LivFreeorDisney]

I've been to Disney World each year for the last ten years and last year was the first time I did so much planning. It can still be done but you'll go on less rides then you would if you plan your fast passes.

 

[StarWarsGirl]

You really need to do some sort of planning. While I am all for spontaneity, there are things that you need to plan

ADRs: Years ago, you could call reservations in the morning and reserve a table. Now, you really need to reserve your table 180 days (or 180+10 for resort guests). It's hard to get something the week of your trip, let alone the day of. Walk ups are pretty much a thing of the past.
FPs: Make sure you plan for popular attractions ASAP. For instance, you won't be able to get 7DMT if you don't plan it far enough out, so get it, otherwise you'll have to go right at rope drop or else wait in an insane line. You can leave days open and change things around when you get down there, but you should have some reserved before you go. You can get FPs the day of, but there's no guarantee of what you'll be able to get. And recently, even low season seems very crowded.

Since it's been so long since you've gone, you might want to consider picking up a guidebook. I like this one for pure informational purposes and this one. It's been long enough that you'll have a much better time if you're familiar with the parks before you go.

Have a great trip!

 

[wedway71]

Some great info... thanks guys.

 

[JasonDeyoung]

It depends, I live close so I don't really plan to much. If I miss something just hit it next visit. If you only go so often then Id probably try and make some sort of game plan especially with everything being FP+ and ADR now

 

[jakeman]

Peeking in the night before should be okay unless you have your heart set on something. For example, everything is open ride-wise at MK tomorrow, but that's not usually the case. Most often Mine Train is booked and occasionally one of the Mountains will fill up.

Same for dining. T-REX, Tutto Italia, and Chef Mickey's are all booked, but everything else is open (including a table at Cinderella's Royal Table).

If you're flexible then you should be fine. The rigorous planning and death of spontaneity espoused here is overblown.

 

[Susan Savia]

We don't use the FP+ system. Way too much scheduling and planning. We went this past January and although it is low season, did everything we wanted to do with little or no waits. We always arrived at rope drop each day and used the single rider lines when necessary. We are there for two weeks so if something is missed one day, we'll do it another. We don't do ADR's (only on rare occassions). We don't know months in advance where we'll be or what park, place etc . Many meals are eaten offsite in the evening when we're done with the parks for the day. It IS possible to have a nice vacation without having every minute of it planned out.

 

[LuvtheGoof]

I have to agree with Jake. It really is overblown. We will be there soon, so I checked for an ADR for dinner on Saturday. There are 59 restaurants with an available ADR, even this late. Can I get into Le Cellier or O'Hana? No, but there are other similar offerings that are available. There are really only a handful of places that you need to book at 180 days. The rest can be made much closer to your trip. As far as FP+. Yes, you do need to plan those extremely popular rides early in the 60 day window, or get to the park at rope drop to ride them. As long as you get to the park early, you can do all the headliners pretty much without a FP+. If you are like we are now, and wish to sleep in and get to a park whenever, then by all means, schedule those FP+ for the afternoon, and know that you have headliners to go to at your leisure.

 

[J_Carioca]

You can see some of my other posts to see my views on FP plus, but the short version is: I hate it. I don't think that the criticisms are all that overblown.

We’ve been many times over the years, in January, February, April, June, August and October, and no matter when, we never planned our days in advance BUT we were able to do all the attractions we wanted thanks to the old FP system (the paper one). On our last trip in October 2014, we didn’t buy park tickets until we arrived at the resort and as a result we didn’t get to make advanced FP+ reservations. We could not get a FP for 7DMT the whole week we were there! Other attractions at every park were booked in advance as well and often we only got FP+ for attractions really late in the day, i.e. Splash Mountain at 10pm, that kind of thing.


I believe that the FP+ system is a strategy to make sure that people buy their park tickets in advance, instead of upon arrival. We normally never do that because we rarely know if we’re going to go to the park on the first day (what with flight delays, etc…) so it hasn’t made sense to buy tickets in advance.


I hate FP+ with a passion.

 

[Goofyernmost]

I went three weeks ago. I don't stay onsite so my planning is minimal. 9 days before I got there (I had tickets already) I went on line and picked my FP+ selections. That requires committing to a certain park on a certain day, but, I didn't find it that difficult. to work out. I also have Park Hoppers so that help with flexibility. I only went for three days.

Because I wanted to see the demise of the BAH, I decided to park at DHS and go in there in the morning. I asked for three FP's... ToT, Toy Story and Star Tours. The computer gave me 4 groups of three options that included all three. There were morning ones grouped together so I took those. Done! I then felt that taking the boat ride from DHS to Epcot would be fun. Never did that before, so I made an ADR for Seven Dragons in China for 5PM. Again they gave me a selection of available times. I rode the FP's that I had and also went to Indiana Jones, The Muppets, GMR and others before I left at about 12:30pm for Epcot. Epcot is always a hassle because of it's size and trying to do everything at once so my thought was to do World Showcase (since the restaurant was located there) in the afternoon. I did all the Pavilions that I wanted to see (i.e. Mexico, China, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, United Kingdom and then made my way to dinner. Took the boat back to DHS, found my car and headed home. Now that may seem like a lot of planning, but, it was no problem, I just decided my must sees and fit the rest in around it. Without being tied to three meals a day ADR's, I was able to be very flexible about everything else.

Day Two: Epcot in the Morning. I really was only interested in getting a FP for Soarin, but, had to choose 3 of them, so I took Soarin, SSE and Mission Space. I travel by myself so I just use the single rider line at TT. Again, with the grouping of choices I was able to find easy FP's for mostly morning into Early afternoon. I did a quick service lunch and at about 3 pm my old body started to give out. Just for fun, I hopped on the Monorail and rode over to MK and back, got my car and headed back to my hotel. I rested the dogs for a bit and had dinner at one of the millions of offsite restaurants (no reservations required) and then went to MK for the evening. I got a bonus with that because as I was sitting on the tram from the parking lot at TTC, I happened to look over to my right and was able to see the Space Rocket launch from Cape Canaveral.

Anyway the only thing that I knew would be a problem was the 7DMT. It is impossible to get a FP for that without a long advanced try. I did ask if one was available when I got there, but, both the CM and myself got a chuckle out of that. Instead I wandered around in the area, rode the People Mover, and saw the Laugh Factory and Carrousel of Progress, relaxed and did a little people watching until the Parade started. I then went to the stand-by line at 7DMT. The time on the entrance said 70 minutes, my app. said 60 minutes, but, I decided that if I wanted to experience it, I would need to bite the bullet and get in line. From the time I walked in the queue until I exited the ride was just less then 30 minutes. Well, worth it... It is a cute, albeit short, ride.
I don't remember what I did after that, but, by the end of the Parade and before the Fireworks I decided that I had achieved my goal and headed on out.

Day Three: All MK! Made handy FP+ times for Peter Pan, Pirates and HM. The last two probably didn't need them, but, I got them anyway and just spent my time going from one to another seeing most all that I had time for that day. I had made an ADR for Liberty Tavern for lunch, did that one and again just did other stuff as it struck me that I wanted to do. Yes, there was some time spent in lines, but, nothing that I thought of as out of reason. I left late in the afternoon, tired and pleased that I did just about everything that I wanted to do. Sadly had to leave for home the next morning... so that ended it.

The moral of the story, if you can line up FP's then indeed do so. You would be amazed at how much easier it is to plan your day once those are in your hand and are not having to run back and forth to (maybe) get one. It doesn't hold the same spontaneity that there was 20 years ago, but, with just a little effort it can be quite relaxing.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

We could not get a FP for 7DMT the whole week we were there!

If you get there at rope drop, you can always get on at least one or two attractions without waiting even if you don't have a FP+ reserved.

 

[J_Carioca]

If you get there at rope drop, you can always get on at least one or two attractions without waiting even if you don't have a FP+ reserved.

I've never been to rope drop once. We get up late while on holiday. I did get to do 7D, but only by waiting in the standby line.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I've never been to rope drop once. We get up late while on holiday.

You're missing out. The welcome shows are a great way to start the day!

 

[Disnee4Me]

If you get there at rope drop, you can always get on at least one or two attractions without waiting even if you don't have a FP+ reserved.

Yes that's what we do, or go to whatever park is open early that day and beat the lines to the most popular rides.

 

[Tinkerkelle]

I'm a planner and had ADRs scheduled for each day of our 2013 trip as well as planning which parks to be at each day, etc. There was, however, a lot of flexibility because we weren't locked into FP+ times. This year's trip will be much more regimented I think (fear?)

We were part of the final FP+ testing phase that October. I was sceptical because of all the issues I had read about but it worked well for us. Will it be different 2 years on? Hopefully not.

I like having a plan and love that aspect of preparing for holidays so am hoping we can make FP+ work as much as possible. We are total rope droppers and hope to take advantage of lighter crowds in the morning.

 

[Otterhead]

If you want to be 100% spontaneous, you can totally do so. You'll have to stand in line quite a lot, and you definitely won't get into the most popular restaurants unless you're very lucky, but you don't NEED to use MM+. But, honestly, taking a half hour to go to the Disney website and choose a few rides each day that you really want to see and then walking on those rides a few months later with no wait is super easy and painless

 

[RinkaDink]

I'm the reverse of most folks, I don't do rope drop. As the guest of a castmember, I do not have the option of doing FP+ reservations before I get through the gates, so I plan my trip around late Magic Hours. During the day, I see all the characters, do the rides not open during Magic Hours, see the shows and wander around sucking up atmosphere. I've done more rides in the 3 hour window from 11-2am than in a full day at Magic Kingdom! I have learned to make ADRs, however, the days of walking up and getting a table are long gone. During Food and Wine last year, we did manage to get a table for 3 walking up to China, but I don't count on it happening again.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

I'm a planner and had ADRs scheduled for each day of our 2013 trip as well as planning which parks to be at each day, etc. There was, however, a lot of flexibility because we weren't locked into FP+ times. This year's trip will be much more regimented I think (fear?)

We were part of the final FP+ testing phase that October. I was sceptical because of all the issues I had read about but it worked well for us. Will it be different 2 years on? Hopefully not.

I like having a plan and love that aspect of preparing for holidays so am hoping we can make FP+ work as much as possible. We are total rope droppers and hope to take advantage of lighter crowds in the morning.

Think about this from a "peace of mind" perspective. Let's say you used three Fastpasses per day under the old system.

New system: Three places you "have to be" in a window you've chosen to use your FP+

Old system: Three places you "have to be" in a window you didn't get to choose, plus an additional trip to each location to retrieve the paper Fastpasses in the first place

It's not that you have more of your day scheduled with FP+. It's actually less, you just happen to do the scheduling ahead of time rather than day-of. If you're already an ADR person, it shouldn't be much of a shock to your planning system.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

If you want to be 100% spontaneous, you can totally do so. You'll have to stand in line quite a lot, and you definitely won't get into the most popular restaurants unless you're very lucky...

...which would be the case with FP+, old Fastpass, or no Fastpass.

As the guest of a castmember, I do not have the option of doing FP+ reservations before I get through the gates, so I plan my trip around late Magic Hours.

That's not the case. Cast members and their guests can make FP+ up to 14 days in advance. If you're staying at a WDW resort (which you seem to be since you mentioned Extra Magic Hours), you get the same 60 day window as every other guest.

 

[bethymouse]

I haven't been since they implemented the FP plus system! I am not a fan of it! We like to ride our favorite rides more than 1 time, so it is essential to plan for that. If you don't mind standing in line, then it's not a necessity. We do get there early, and are able to ride most rides before the crowds get there ( and this is summertime!). If you stay late ( extra magic hours) you can ride your favorites as well. I know from experience that if you expect to eat at WDW, then you must make advanced reservations! Very rarely ( actually never) have we been able to do a "walk up". Although that can happen for 'Ohana at the Poly ( so I've heard). If you overplan, it can be a bit overwhelming! I am not sure if I'd use FP plus or not, but I know that I would make dining reservations!
Have fun anticipating your trip! I would not go without doing some planning, especially if you're a park hopper ( we're not).