WillCAD

You can park hop with FPs now.

All three of your advance selections still have to be in the same park, but any additional same-day selections you make can be in other parks. It's not the most convenient thing - you have to actually GO to the other park and make the selection from a kiosk there - but it can be done, and it follows essentially the same rules as the legacy paper FP system did.

Mary2e

You think I don't know that?

Getting a FP at a park after you've used your other 3 is nearly impossible. Try getting Soarin' when you arrive, or how about any of the popular rides at the MK. That feature is pretty much useless.

I want to get fass passes across parks in advance.

mkjr

yup. useless after thought on FP if you PH.

BigBopper

I think you guys are exaggerating the difficulty of FP on rides.

Since I moved in Sept, I've gone to the parks about 3-4 times a week. Lately it's more like 5-6. My wife and I generally decide what park to go to that night at lunch time and I book the FP's then. Except for the Mine Train, we rarely have trouble getting every ride we'd like. When I booked 30 days out for my niece and nephews visit we got every single thing they wanted except one character meet.

Try going at lower capacity times, being more flexible and taking time to search for FP by doing things like changing the number of people in your group for each search.

The other great trick is to spend a few minutes to go to guest relations and write an applause certificate for a great cast member. It's amazing how things open up when you go there to compliment something instead of complaining.

Mary2e

Mid-week is easier than weekends. Slow seasons are even easier than that, except it's a bit more crowded on weekends.

Generally speaking if you try to get them the day before, except for the very most popular rides, something is available, though it may be at an odd hour.

Residents have a far easier time because they can go back as often as they like.

I'm flying in for a long weekend or perhaps a week. If I want to get on certain rides at certain times to best make use of my time, I have to plan in advance where in the past I could just show up to a park in the morning and get the fast pass that I wanted.

SRQ Guy

The newish Disney Fastpass system is a pain in the arse and much less useful than the old system.

We're going to Universal Orlando for the first time in a decade this weekend, staying on site and looking forward to unlimited Express Pass access.

We may get Disney passes again in a year or two when the boy is 3 or 4, but that will be it for Disney for us unless things change there significantly.

Mary2e

You're not the only person saying that. I'm tending to agree.

And you're a relative local. If they lose too many of you, plus long time and frequent visitors, things aren't going to look quite as good for them.

flyingill

I like the tracking comment. There are people on Disneyboards that will not buy alcohol with their magic bands just in case as they can easily track you that way. These people bring cash.

Disney is somewhat hurting bc there is nothing new so why spend so much money anymore. I will refuse to keep going if they don't do something new. I will say that Star Wars Weekend 2014 was really fun.

Haleyb

Mary, it has been my experience that as long as I have tickets linked (not just AP) I can book FP+ at 30 days out. Is that changed? I saw you mention that if you had AP's and were w/in 30 days the FP+ selections would stick.

I hate the new system, I suspect those that don't are not trying to make 7 year old girls happy.

Mary2e

If you're staying onsite, and you have tickets, you can get FP+ 60 days out. If you're not, I believe it's 30 days out, though it might be less. Once they're linked the FP calendar will show you the date you can book.

I'm not thrilled with the system either because it has impacted the way we vacation. I don't like planning an entire trip in advance. I prefer to pick a park that day and enjoy it.

Keep in mind they release the fast passes in batches. So if you're trying to get Elsa & Anna, you may not get it when your window opens, but if you keep checking, they will pop up. I was able to get them a week in advance.

WillCAD

That's true.

You must have a valid ticket of some kind (or a voucher, if you've bought an annual pass in advance) linked to your Disney account in order to make advance FastPass selections.

If you have a reservation at a WDW resort, you can make FPs for the length of your stay starting at 60 days from yout check-in date, limited by the length of your ticket. I.E., if you have a 12-day stay booked, but only have an 8-day ticket linked, at 60 days you can make FP selections for any 8 days within your 12-day stay. The days do not have to be consecutive, so you can schedule days off.

If you don't have a reservation, you can make FP selections up to 30 days out from present day, limited by the length of your ticket. I.E., if you have an 8-day ticket linked, you can make FP selections for any 8 days between now and 30 days from now. Again, they don't have to be consecutive. For a week-long vacation, this means you have to make your FP selections for Day 1 at 30 days from Day 1, then make selections for Day 2 at 30 days from Day 2, etc. Or, you can wait until you're 30 days from the last day of your trip and make selections for the whole stay all at once.

Mickidon

Disney used to be the definition of a relaxing trip for us....after 25 visits or so, we really
enjoyed a last minute visit, making decisions along the way. Now we are taking a group
of 8 in the fall and this trip has taken more more time to plan than recent trips to exotic destinations. PITA. I really resent trying to figure out what time I want every meal and, even thinking that through, I have some 4:45 PM dinner reservations, meaning I will be spending the next few months checking on availability changes. And it makes no sense that we have to reserve every meal at our hotel, for which we are paying top rates. I dread the upcoming Fastpass drill for rides, as 8 people have different choices. Speaking as one very frequent visitor, Disney is probably going off our rotation for a while after this.

Mary2e

Hence, why we are letting our annual passes expire and will not be returning for a while. We used to go 4-5 times a year with a combo of long weekends and week stays.

We're not the only people saying that.

Goodmorning2U

I've been reading through this thread dismayed that fellow Flyertalkers have had this experience at Disney resorts. Have any of you tried the Four Seasons Orlando at Walt Disney World?

We've never had a problem booking dinner reservations the same day, even when they are full.

Their many pools are beautifully staffed with people eager to setup chairs for you and get you towels and fruit snacks and iced water.

They also have a full top notch concierge team to make reservations for you. In addition they have a fully staffed Disney desk to assist with dining reservations, fast pass reservations, special experiences.

The only exception being the character breakfast, which I recommend booking in advance (which is fantastic and worlds better than the Grand Floridian).

They have free extremely comfortable shuttles to all of the parks and back which run every 30 minutes.

They have a better than Starbucks (really, and I'm a Starbucks fan) coffee shop in the lobby of the hotel with delicious easy to pack to go meals.

The rooms have comfortable fold out beds for kids, and the rooms are huge (500 sq. ft. for the smallest room).

Consider joining us for the Do upcoming Nov. 29th and available till Dec. 6th.

mkjr

count me in the i hate the new system also. in fact, this will be the first year that we will not go to WDW at all. usually, it is twice a year (sometimes three) for, well, since they had the ugly 2000 on top of the golf ball..