Fastpass+ , Tiering, and Booking Difficulty

[SRUAlmn]

We booked our fastpasses today and had some major trouble. In all our years going to Disney it’s never been this difficult. Not when we’ve gone Christmas week, not when we’ve booked for more people, not when we’ve booked shorter than 60 days out even.

We weren’t able to get into the system until about 7:05. I called afterwards and was told the app system crashed right at 7:00. By 7:05 there was not one single Fastpass available for any day or any time for the entire week of our stay for Slinky Dog, Mine Train (finally found one,) or Flight of Passage. The agent I spoke to also told me only a handful of FOP and Slinky are even available because of the tiering and them not wanting everyone to choose those in tier 1 which could make the Fastpass queues an hour long? There were also very few Fastpasses in all parks but MK for times prior to noon. Now I know it’s not “smart” to use your FPs in the morning but we’ll have a toddler in tow and our park time is going to be sporadic.

We’re going during what I thought was going to be a non busy week (as non busy as they can be these days,) and based on the availability of many other rides, that seems to be the case. So what gives? Is this the norm now that it’s next to impossible to get FPs for those rides at 60 days out? I’ve never had an issue before so I wondered what others have experienced!

 

[DGsAtBLT]

I was successful for our October trip (2 people), but FoP and 7DMT were both noticeably harder than I had experienced in the past, obviously made worse earlier in the trip than later. It’s our first trip with SDD so nothing to compare it to. Everything else was wide open.

For reference, our last trip was early March with 6 people and I had a wider range of times there, even having no problem grabbing 7DMT on our first park day. There’s just more people who have access to the 60 day window (some even having 90 day access), and I bet more and more people in the know who jump on to book.

 

[SRUAlmn]

I was successful for our October trip (2 people), but FoP and 7DMT were both noticeably harder than I had experienced in the past, obviously made worse earlier in the trip than later. It’s our first trip with SDD so nothing to compare it to. Everything else was wide open.

For reference, our last trip was early March with 6 people and I had a wider range of times there, even having no problem grabbing 7DMT on our first park day. There’s just more people who have access to the 60 day window (some even having 90 day access), and I bet more and more people in the know who jump on to book.

Thanks! Our last 2 trips were January and early April and we had no issues at all, so this surprised me that only 5 mins after our booking window opened there wasn’t one single FOP or SDD FP available!

 

[ClapYourHands]

How long is your trip?

 

[SRUAlmn]

How long is your trip?

6 nights. Does that make a difference? The last few trips we’ve done have been a little shorter .

 

[ClapYourHands]

6 nights. Does that make a difference? The last few trips we’ve done have been a little shorter .

It does make a difference in that you should have been able to find some availability towards the end of your trip. If you're there for 7 days, you can book that 7th day at 66 days out, so people typically find they have better luck booking the harder rides later in their trip. For example, SDD became available for me at 5:30pm on day 5, 3pm on day 6, and 12pm on day 7. I couldn't get 7DMT at all on day 2, but I have a nice morning spot on day 7.

The 60-day window is not the advantage it used to be. In addition to the WDW hotels being at or near capacity almost all the time, there are so many offsite hotels with a 60-day window that the sheer number of people booking at 60 days really dilutes its advantage. It's gone from being WDW and Swolphin to including 7 Disney Springs hotels, to including the 4 Seasons, Hilton Bonnet Creek, and Waldorf Astoria.

 

[Plutoholly]

I booked my FP yesterday. I began with the last day of my trip (7 nights) and worked back to the first day. I was able to get a 10:30 SDD that last day, but the only availability at the beginning of my trip was at night. I got all the other ones I wanted, including FOP and 7DMT. This is my 4th trip this year and it was pretty much the norm. I will say, I’m not a fan of the new tiers at Hollywood Studios, though.

 

[DavidNYC]

I just checked FP for 65 days out from today (since you said you were going for a week) and I'm still seeing lots of availability for SDD and FoP and pretty much everything. May have been some glitches while you were booking. Try again tomorrow. If you're going for a week you should be finding availability for everything at 64-65+. As for MK, everything was still showing morning availability.

 

[SRUAlmn]

It does make a difference in that you should have been able to find some availability towards the end of your trip. If you're there for 7 days, you can book that 7th day at 66 days out, so people typically find they have better luck booking the harder rides later in their trip. For example, SDD became available for me at 5:30pm on day 5, 3pm on day 6, and 12pm on day 7. I couldn't get 7DMT at all on day 2, but I have a nice morning spot on day 7.

The 60-day window is not the advantage it used to be. In addition to the WDW hotels being at or near capacity almost all the time, there are so many offsite hotels with a 60-day window that the sheer number of people booking at 60 days really dilutes its advantage. It's gone from being WDW and Swolphin to including 7 Disney Springs hotels, to including the 4 Seasons, Hilton Bonnet Creek, and Waldorf Astoria.

Thank you! That’s so true about there being more resorts who are able to book 60 days out now and smart to start with your last day. Unfortunately, wed planned on going to AK on one of our first days so that’s why I wasn’t finding any FOP probably!

I booked my FP yesterday. I began with the last day of my trip (7 nights) and worked back to the first day. I was able to get a 10:30 SDD that last day, but the only availability at the beginning of my trip was at night. I got all the other ones I wanted, including FOP and 7DMT. This is my 4th trip this year and it was pretty much the norm. I will say, I’m not a fan of the new tiers at Hollywood Studios, though.

Same! And EPCOT too! It’s like every ride is in Tier 1 and then you have 2 other Fastpasses you have to just “blow” on something random if you want to be able to try booking another tier 1 after your 3 have been used. Between a toddler schedule and dining reservations and the tiers this was the most frustrating fastpass day I’ve ever had!

I just checked FP for 65 days out from today (since you said you were going for a week) and I'm still seeing lots of availability for SDD and FoP and pretty much everything. May have been some glitches while you were booking. Try again tomorrow. If you're going for a week you should be finding availability for everything at 64-65+. As for MK, everything was still showing morning availability.

Really? I’m going to check again then! I couldn’t find FOP at all the whole week! Although now I have other things booked so it won’t let me search for FOP or SDD on days I have things booked already in another park. So I’d have to drop them all and check , right? Thanks for checking!

 

[ABZDisneyFan]

It was our Fast Pass day on Tuesday & as usual with Disney's IT systems nothing ever runs smoothly & I couldn't start until 10 minutes after the booking window opened.
I feared the worst but was able to get everything that we wanted over our two week stay, we arrive on the 16th of November & fly back to the UK on the evening of the 30th & had resigned ourselves to not getting much during Thanksgiving week but we found lot's of availability in all of the parks.
We tweaked them when I got home from the office on Tuesday evening & were still able to book multiple FOP, Slinky, 7DMT over our two week stay.

 

[disneygirlsng]

Really? I’m going to check again then! I couldn’t find FOP at all the whole week! Although now I have other things booked so it won’t let me search for FOP or SDD on days I have things booked already in another park. So I’d have to drop them all and check , right? Thanks for checking!

Nope. Go in like you are making a brand new FP (don't modify an existing one) on whichever day you want to look. It will give you a warning that you already have FPs booked for that day, but nothing will be cancelled until you confirm a new FP.

 

[SRUAlmn]

It was our Fast Pass day on Tuesday & as usual with Disney's IT systems nothing ever runs smoothly & I couldn't start until 10 minutes after the booking window opened.
I feared the worst but was able to get everything that we wanted over our two week stay, we arrive on the 16th of November & fly back to the UK on the evening of the 30th & had resigned ourselves to not getting much during Thanksgiving week but we found lot's of availability in all of the parks.
We tweaked them when I got home from the office on Tuesday evening & were still able to book multiple FOP, Slinky, 7DMT over our two week stay.

Yay! You’re going to have so much fun! And so strange that I’m not able to when it seems like others are finding availability? I’ll keep looking!

Nope. Go in like you are making a brand new FP (don't modify an existing one) on whichever day you want to look. It will give you a warning that you already have FPs booked for that day, but nothing will be cancelled until you confirm a new FP.

Thank you!! Good to know! When I saw the warning I just assumed that meant I couldn’t do it, not that it was just notifying me. Thanks so much!

 

[antmaril]

Our FP Day was yesterday, too. We are staying five nights. I was able to get what I was looking for, including FOP, Frozen and TSM. I am traveling with my adult son, so we don’t really care about SDD and 7DMT. I am happy with our plans.

Can’t wait!

 

[DeterminedOne]

Same thing happened to me at 60 days out. My trip was last month. Couldn’t get into the system until 7:06. Missed out on the same FP’s as you, including ToT. So frustrating!! My trip was only four nights, so I guess that hurt me, but it’s ridiculous! The good news is I was able to score same day FP’s for SDD and FOP. In fact, I rode FOP three times. Once standby at rope drop and two via same day FP. So don’t give up.

 

[NMAmy]

I hope you're able to find what you need. Our FP day was Monday and I had no issues at all getting exactly what we wanted (FOP, SDD, 7DMT a couple of days) and, in fact, I even went back in at 10:00 a.m. and modified some of the times. Hopefully, we both will have a great trip!

 

[TiggerBouncy]

I have to say I am NOT a fan of the Good Neighbor policy. That completely devalues the benefit of staying on property.

I am also not a fan AT ALL of the current tier system in HS and Epcot.
EPCOT, TT, Soarin and Frozen are all Tier 1. None of the other rides even NEED a FP. You can walk right onto most of the others if you time it right. It would be great if they would bump those down to Tier 2 when Guardians and Rat come online - but they won't. OR allow 2 Tier 1 FPs.

Same problem with HS. Almost all of the rides are Tier 1 now. What is the point of Tier 2 there? They might as well eliminate the Tier system and say you only get one FP+.

 

[Turksmom]

My FP day was yesterday too. I was able to start on time, but got Olaf while confirming FoP. Of course it didn't go through and the only other available time during our trip is after half of our party leaves. I took it in hopes of modifying later.

 

[SRUAlmn]

Our FP Day was yesterday, too. We are staying five nights. I was able to get what I was looking for, including FOP, Frozen and TSM. I am traveling with my adult son, so we don’t really care about SDD and 7DMT. I am happy with our plans.

Can’t wait!

Yes! It seems like Frozen and TSMM have a ton of availability. It was really just FOP and SDD (and 7DMT was difficult but not impossible.) We have the opposite issue that my son is 2. So factoring in his schedule limits when we can book things plus we have free dining so we have more ADRs than normal. But I wasn’t even taking any of that into consideration when booking FPs figuring I could adjust later, and it still is showing no availability for the big 2.

Same thing happened to me at 60 days out. My trip was last month. Couldn’t get into the system until 7:06. Missed out on the same FP’s as you, including ToT. So frustrating!! My trip was only four nights, so I guess that hurt me, but it’s ridiculous! The good news is I was able to score same day FP’s for SDD and FOP. In fact, I rode FOP three times. Once standby at rope drop and two via same day FP. So don’t give up.

Oh, that’s great news! We’re hoping it’ll be a slow(er) week and maybe that will be possible! Thanks for the reassurance!

I hope you're able to find what you need. Our FP day was Monday and I had no issues at all getting exactly what we wanted (FOP, SDD, 7DMT a couple of days) and, in fact, I even went back in at 10:00 a.m. and modified some of the times. Hopefully, we both will have a great trip!

Nice!! So funny how it seems to vary! And yes, we will have a great trip no matter what! My husband is the only one who would be riding those 2 and he’s fine if he can’t. Just feels like a mission now, you know!? Haha!

I have to say I am NOT a fan of the Good Neighbor policy. That completely devalues the benefit of staying on property.

I am also not a fan AT ALL of the current tier system in HS and Epcot.
EPCOT, TT, Soarin and Frozen are all Tier 1. None of the other rides even NEED a FP. You can walk right onto most of the others if you time it right. It would be great if they would bump those down to Tier 2 when Guardians and Rat come online - but they won't. OR allow 2 Tier 1 FPs.

Same problem with HS. Almost all of the rides are Tier 1 now. What is the point of Tier 2 there? They might as well eliminate the Tier system and say you only get one FP+.

I completely agree! When 90% of the rides in the park are in the same Tier it’s a little ridiculous. If you look at DHS for our dates, there are TONS of FPs still available for every single Tier 1 ride except SDD so it seems like everyone chose that, which means even the FP line is going to be super long and the other rides will have no one in the FP line because way less people booked those since you can only choose 1.

My FP day was yesterday too. I was able to start on time, but got Olaf while confirming FoP. Of course it didn't go through and the only other available time during our trip is after half of our party leaves. I took it in hopes of modifying later.

Same!! We were able to get FOP on our checkout day for like noon. We weren’t planning on going to AK or even a park at all that day/morning, let alone being in one that late into the day, but like you, I took it and hope to modify later. If we can’t, then maybe we’ll just have to go to AK and head home later than we planned.

 

[vinotinto]

I have to say I am NOT a fan of the Good Neighbor policy. That completely devalues the benefit of staying on property.

I’ve definitely noticed a difference in being able to book FPs at 60 days now that such a large number of non-Disney hotels have this benefit. That perk has definitely been devalued for WDW resort guests!

 

[dk413]

My fastpass booking day was Saturday and I tried for three agonizing minutes to book them on my laptop starting at exactly 7am. Kept on saying I couldn’t book them yet. In a sheer panic, I logged on to the my Disney experience app on my mobile phone...got right in. I don’t know if it’s some sort of glitch or had something to do with my cache or what, but it lost me 3 valuable minutes of booking time.
That said, I did get FoP towards the end of my trip but not until really late. Same with 7DMT. No SDD. I really wish they would bring back EMM in November so I can just give them all my money and ride the rides I want for an hour and be done with it