“Refresh” is my new favorite strategy

[TheDonAndMikeShow]

From our experience (we're hard core refreshers, and were just there in June/July)

1. We all have Android phones

2. We use our own data, the WiFi is a bit spotty simply because so much demand is placed on it.

3. For us, we always book our first 3 FP+ for as soon as we arrive. We're not rope drop people (we think FP+ and refresh make rope drop totally unnecessary), so if we have a morning planned, we'll show up at 9:45am or so. Therefore, we'll schedule our first 3 FP+ for 9-10am, 10-11am, 11am-noon. When we arrive at 9:45am, we're already at the back end of FP+ #1 window. We go right to that. By time we get off, it's already time for #2. We go right to it. While in line for #2, I'll jump on MDE and move #3 up to 10:30am. So as soon as we get off #2 it should be time for #3. When I'm in line for #3, I jump on MDE and go for #4. Rinse and repeat. If we have an afternoon planned, we'll do the same thing, just starting later in the day. Honestly, we found this summer trip a bit harder than trips past for refreshing, but still had plenty of success. Understand however that our definition of "success" means getting a FP+ for 5-10 minutes from "now" so that we can literally just hop from ride to ride...unless we're planning lunch, dinner, a show, etc...so we set high standards. Even with that, we still had plenty of success. In a 6 hour park visit, including time to stop and eat, we probably average 6-8 FP+. We also do some attractions w/out FP+ simply because they aren't needed, such as Philharmagic, CoP, etc...

4. You'll have much better chances to add/modify the day of your FP+ plan, instead of trying 24-48 hours in advance. Not saying you can't have success one day out, but day of is much easier.

Holy cow I cannot thank you enough, so kind of you!

 

[Sparky47]

Yesterday our FP+ booking window opened for our October trip. There are 3 of us traveling (on the weekend there will be 4 of us)...I immediately went to the last day of our trip and was able to get a 10:30 FOP. I then switched to the second last day of our trip and booked a Slinky FP+. After booking those 2 important FP+, I went back and starting filling in the other days with all the FP+ we wanted. I grabbed whatever times were available for the FP+. After I had everything booked for the 8 days, I went back to FOP and modified it to an earlier time and adjusted the other 2 FP+. I modified FOP a second time to an earlier time. In the end, my 10:30 FOP is now 9:15 a.m. with the other 2 fast passes at 10:15 and 11:15. I did this for each of our 8 days modifying each of our fast passes to earlier (or later) times as our plans required. I spent about an hour modifying the FP+ and to me it was an hour well spent as we now have FP+ each day one right after another first thing in the mornings. This will be good for us as we plan to park hop and we hope to spend quite a bit of time enjoying Food & Wine Festival. When we get to the parks, I am going to attempt to use the modify/refresh to move the FP+ as desired and to add 4th, 5th, etc. passes. Thank you to all who have posted about this strategy! It was very helpful with my first FP+ booking experience!

For those with large parties, last fall we had a large group at WDW. We ranged from 10 to 18 on any given day (or ride experience). Although I was not responsible for booking the FP+ for that trip, I can say there were many attractions we had 18 people with same FP+. At the last minute, we had one additional person join us on the trip, and we were able to add FP+ for her at the same time or at a time that overlapped our group FP+ (by 10-15 min). I wasn't aware of the "refreshing" function for that trip so I can't speak for that. I know that we did get a 4th FP+ but I don't think we knew you could continue to get FP+ one by one.

 

[M SH]

Hi, Thank you for your inspirational post . Can you tell us
1. What devices (iPhone etc.) you are using in the parks to acquire your Fastpasses.
2. Are you using the Disney WiFi.
3. Would you mind posting how your days and MDE useage go. Meaning in general the fastpasses and times you have already acquired before arriving in the parks and then how your day goes with riding tapping and acquiring/modifying your fastpasses.
4. Please allow me to explain that I was so late making our 8/24 - 8/31 trip plans that after reading most peoples experiences I only made a few fastpass selections. I am hoping that as some have said one to two days before arrival some decent fastpasses should become available and I will try to set up my initial fastpasses at that time.

I do understand quite well how Refresh works but have enjoyed your real time description of your experiences.

1) I am using an Android Phone. have not tried on Iphone.
2) I used my t-mobile data. But in some cases, there was no signal, so i switched to wifi. wifi was spotty some times though.
3) most of the time MDE app was fine. it would report some errors sometimes, but another refresh would just get rid of the error. so it was fine for us.
Usually in most cases, my prebooked fastpasses start at 1) 10AM 2) 11AM 3) 12 PM
As soon as we start driving to the park, we start modifying. if we are in early, like 9, we move first fast pass then second then third to the time we are arriving. unless the FP is for a headliner (SDMT, FOP, SDD), you should have no problem doing that within less than 10 minutes. otherwise you have to be lucky with the headliners. we use our first fastpass and second one back to back, then modify the third to start right after as we are in the queue for the second FP. after that, it's catch a FP and use. if you have a specific ride in mind, grab ANY time you find first, then modify to start earlier. you will have much easier time to do that as the ride times will now appear at the top rather than having to scroll down to look at times. so refresh will be faster.

4) i was an offsite guest, so i made 30 day before selections. do didn't have great selections. i would not bother trying a few days before for FP modifications. i don't think it will work or work well as day-of modifications and search.

GL on your trip!

 

[pitpat]

just now I was messing with same day HS FPs for 3 people. Mania comes up about 4 out of 5 tries, with either 1, 2 or 3 times to choose from. Saucers came up 2 out of my first 10 refreshes with times around 6pm. If I wanted that i would take it and modify it earlier.

Navi came up on my 2nd and 3rd try.

I did find using the Disney website was much faster than the app today. In parks I've always used the MDE app, but I think I'll try both next time. This is on an iphone.

EDIT: Just refreshed one more time after this post and SDD came up for 6pm.

 

[TheDonAndMikeShow]

1) I am using an Android Phone. have not tried on Iphone.
2) I used my t-mobile data. But in some cases, there was no signal, so i switched to wifi. wifi was spotty some times though.
3) most of the time MDE app was fine. it would report some errors sometimes, but another refresh would just get rid of the error. so it was fine for us.
Usually in most cases, my prebooked fastpasses start at 1) 10AM 2) 11AM 3) 12 PM
As soon as we start driving to the park, we start modifying. if we are in early, like 9, we move first fast pass then second then third to the time we are arriving. unless the FP is for a headliner (SDMT, FOP, SDD), you should have no problem doing that within less than 10 minutes. otherwise you have to be lucky with the headliners. we use our first fastpass and second one back to back, then modify the third to start right after as we are in the queue for the second FP. after that, it's catch a FP and use. if you have a specific ride in mind, grab ANY time you find first, then modify to start earlier. you will have much easier time to do that as the ride times will now appear at the top rather than having to scroll down to look at times. so refresh will be faster.

4) i was an offsite guest, so i made 30 day before selections. do didn't have great selections. i would not bother trying a few days before for FP modifications. i don't think it will work or work well as day-of modifications and search.

GL on your trip!

Thank you so much . I guess I should just rope drop slinky and flight of passage and everything else in all parks I should be able to get fastpasses to the early morning day of entry...

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

just now I was messing with same day HS FPs for 3 people. Mania comes up about 4 out of 5 tries, with either 1, 2 or 3 times to choose from. Saucers came up 2 out of my first 10 refreshes with times around 6pm. If I wanted that i would take it and modify it earlier.

Navi came up on my 2nd and 3rd try.

I did find using the Disney website was much faster than the app today. In parks I've always used the MDE app, but I think I'll try both next time. This is on an iphone.

EDIT: Just refreshed one more time after this post and SDD came up for 6pm.

People tend to have different experiences with how easy or hard it is to get. JETSDAD had your type of experience with it as well. There seems to be something going on behind the scenes with MDE that different people have different experiences. If it works that well for you at home, it should in the parks as well (or at least my experience was that I had very similar results refreshing at home and in the parks).

 

[pitpat]

People tend to have different experiences with how easy or hard it is to get. JETSDAD had your type of experience with it as well. There seems to be something going on behind the scenes with MDE that different people have different experiences. If it works that well for you at home, it should in the parks as well (or at least my experience was that I had very similar results refreshing at home and in the parks).

I've seen your stance, but it's hard for me to imagine anything special about my account or Disney throttling other guests.

I feel like anyone who tried refreshing in a similar way at a similar time would have similar results.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I've seen your stance, but it's hard for me to imagine anything special about my account or Disney throttling other guests.

I feel like anyone who tried refreshing in a similar way at a similar time would have similar results.

I have tried many times and have been refreshing for two years and cannot duplicate the success that you and others have on the big time headliners. I can understand the perspective of people who can get them basically every time they refresh that those who don't are just doing it wrong. Before I saw screenshots I was pretty convinced that the people who said it was that easy were just exaggerating. I'm certain we are doing it in a similar way. I see a trend where, in general, people who have APs seem to have better luck. But it might be as simple as the mass of MDE accounts being randomly divided into subsets in the database, some of which have more availability than others. I don't know how to explain it but there is definitely something different.

It would be very interesting to have multiple posters try at the same time though.

 

[kuhltiffany]

Here now (HS) and keep getting an error message that I have reached my maximum number of FP for today. I checked both on the app and on the MDE site. Anyone else?

 

[twodogs]

Here now (HS) and keep getting an error message that I have reached my maximum number of FP for today. I checked both on the app and on the MDE site. Anyone else?

You've used your 3 prebooked FPs for the day already? Are they out of your account? If the scanner fails to scan your earlier FP, it will think you haven't used all of the 3 and block you.

 

[stephd219]

Here now, and I’ve had no trouble. We did MK this morning and were able to get all FP we wanted. Got Midway Mania for this afternoon, but just modified it for SDD. Took about 30 minutes while we are relaxing in the room.

 

[kuhltiffany]

You've used your 3 prebooked FPs for the day already? Are they out of your account? If the scanner fails to scan your earlier FP, it will think you haven't used all of the 3 and block you.

Thanks! We did miss one and refreshing wouldn’t get rid of it. I finally signed out and in again and then it disappeared

 

[Love Tink]

I have tried many times and have been refreshing for two years and cannot duplicate the success that you and others have on the big time headliners. I can understand the perspective of people who can get them basically every time they refresh that those who don't are just doing it wrong. Before I saw screenshots I was pretty convinced that the people who said it was that easy were just exaggerating. I'm certain we are doing it in a similar way. I see a trend where, in general, people who have APs seem to have better luck. But it might be as simple as the mass of MDE accounts being randomly divided into subsets in the database, some of which have more availability than others. I don't know how to explain it but there is definitely something different.

It would be very interesting to have multiple posters try at the same time though.

I have no issues and I am not an AP or anything similar.

There is certainly an element of luck involved, as well as an element of persistence. But my best guess is that the biggest difference comes down to technology. If you have the right kind of phone, a good connection, and are searching the right way (for me, the website was sooooo much faster than the app) you will get more bites at the apple. With a system this fluid, being able to see more refreshes per minute is a huge advantage.

 

[dlavender]

I have tried many times and have been refreshing for two years and cannot duplicate the success that you and others have on the big time headliners. I can understand the perspective of people who can get them basically every time they refresh that those who don't are just doing it wrong. Before I saw screenshots I was pretty convinced that the people who said it was that easy were just exaggerating. I'm certain we are doing it in a similar way. I see a trend where, in general, people who have APs seem to have better luck. But it might be as simple as the mass of MDE accounts being randomly divided into subsets in the database, some of which have more availability than others. I don't know how to explain it but there is definitely something different.

It would be very interesting to have multiple posters try at the same time though.

We have the same luck, or lack therof, with the refresh compared with others here.

For example, this past Saturday while resting at the YC, I refreshed from 12-12:30 at all 4 parks looking for anything worthwhile (headliners). I stayed dedicated and refreshed every 10-20 seconds, really as fast as I could looking for something. Couldn't get anything of "value" to us. No FOP, no 7DMT, no FEA, and of course no TSL rides....I couldn't even get Test Track.....

We are a party of 5, I tried splitting up and still had no luck. I would work each park for about 5 mins straight, then switch to another one. Perhaps 30 mins of the same park would have been better that day, but I've tried that in the past as well to no avail....

We are in the wrong database...and we have the Platinum AP's, so that's not helping us

 

[M SH]

We are in the wrong database...

I really doubt this is the case.. refreshing for 5 mins for a headliner will not get you anything unless you are really lucky.
5 mins would get you something like space/splash mountain, but not FOP or SDD or TT, etc.
for those you need a lot more. again it's a factor of luck. on one day SDD took all afternoon to get, while doing other things and doing some FPs in between. On a different day i got FOP 3 times for a party of 4 when i wasn't really looking for it, but grabbed it anyway.. so it's really when you refresh and when someone else is releasing. those times have to match, plus others that are doing refresh, do not overlap with the exact moment you refresh..

 

[emmabelle]

Just messing with refreshing now on my iPad while in my living room. I got Navi, AS and TSM with very little refreshing for 2. Hoping for these results when we arrive in the world in 12 days.

 

[greg9x]

I stayed dedicated and refreshed every 10-20 seconds, really as fast as I could looking for something. Couldn't get anything of "value" to us. No FOP, no 7DMT, no FEA, and of course no TSL

10-20 seconds per refresh is quite a bit... When had a good connection was refreshing at least every 5 seconds... Of course longer if you are scrolling to see all available options.

 

[dlavender]

10-20 seconds per refresh is quite a bit... When had a good connection was refreshing at least every 5 seconds... Of course longer if you are scrolling to see all available options.

True. It was probably closer to 5-10. I would say I was averaging 10 refreshes per minute. MK was slower than the others only for the scroll to the bottom to see the unavailable 7DMT, lol....

 

[M SH]

True. It was probably closer to 5-10. I would say I was averaging 10 refreshes per minute. MK was slower than the others only for the scroll to the bottom to see the unavailable 7DMT, lol....

One tip for 7DMT (and other headliners), is just to fling the screen all the way to end (not scroll slowly to look for it if it became available).
this way you can see that 7DMT is not available, then another fling to the top to refresh.
If you don't see 7DMT when you fling down, it means it popped for you, and you will need to scroll up carefully to grab it.

Once it pops for you, i realized that you own it for some time (i didn't time it for how long) until you click and you grab it, or you refresh again and you loose it.

 

[StacyStrong]

One tip for 7DMT (and other headliners), is just to fling the screen all the way to end (not scroll slowly to look for it if it became available).
this way you can see that 7DMT is not available, then another fling to the top to refresh.
If you don't see 7DMT when you fling down, it means it popped for you, and you will need to scroll up carefully to grab it.

Once it pops for you, i realized that you own it for some time (i didn't time it for how long) until you click and you grab it, or you refresh again and you loose it.

I'm struggling to understand what you mean by this but I can't play with FP yet ;(