FastPasses for off-site guests

[donna in Oz]

I'm reading that it can be nearly impossible for off-site hotel guests to obtain FastPasses for the more popular (and newest) attractions.

Since the window only allows 30 days prior to make your FastPass selection, is this actually true? Are we doomed to stand in endless lines if we do not stay on Disney property?

 

[Gehrig1B]

Are we doomed to stand in endless lines if we do not stay on Disney property?

You are not, the E-ticket rides like Flight of Passage, 7 Dwarfs, Frozen Ever After will be hard to get, however, by consistently checking your MDE app you can usually find day of fastpasses or score hard to get fastpasses when others modify or cancel theirs. Study how to get same day fastpasses a bit and you will be fine.

Just the other day there was a couple who posted a blog discussing how they were able to ride all 47 WDW rides on a single day, scoring 19 (I believe) fastpasses throughout that single day. Also learn the power of rope dropping!

 

[DISNEYSQUIRRELS]

No, I don’t feel you will be doomed.
We have stayed off site many times & gotten popular fast passes. You need to be checking as often as possible for the ones you want & be willing to switch others FPS or ADRs around

 

[Klayfish]

Not even close. We are dedicated off site only people, we never stay on site. Since the new FP+ system came online, we've probably made 7 or 8 trips to WDW...and are going back down in just 3 days. With the exception of FoP, we can get each and every ride in WDW. For example, as I mentioned, we're heading down in just a few days and will spend all of Xmas and NY holiday there. That's the busiest week of the year at WDW. We were able to get 2 FP+ for FoP, 2 for Navi, RnR, EE, SM, etc... the only one we didn't get is FoP. I fully expect to get a few others as 4th, 5th, etc...FP+ while we're there. It won't be easy, for sure, and the selection won't be great, but I guarantee we'll still get them. During summer months, we routinely get FP+ for the most popular rides, even just minutes in advance. Last summer, we got 7DMT just 5 minutes ahead of time.

You'll be fine.

 

[disneygirlsng]

Not at all. I will be staying offsite January 1-7 and got fastpasses for FoP, FEA, and SDMT. All for the perfect time that I wanted them for.

 

[koeta]

We got tons of FP day-of, I think the only ones we didn't were the Pandora ones (because we didn't even bother trying to be honest) and Frozen Ever After (again, because we didn't bother to really try). Sometimes all it took was for more than one member of our party to check - what one didn't see as available another one might. Worked out for the Mine Train. And if you see a hard-to-get pass, JUMP ON IT. It might not be there a few minutes later.

 

[gap2368]

You will be fine if you stay off site the only ride you might have a hard time getting is FOP and maybe River ride. the others 7DMT FEA you should not have a hard time getting 30 days early now there may only be a few times left

another thing you can do is split your group up so if you have 4 people make FP for 2 and 2 people with overlapping times this might help you

and keep checking I was there this past weekend and had a FP for 7DMT for around 2pm we wanted to go to EPCOT earlier so I dropped the 3 FP I had. so you never know what might open up.

 

[chicagoshannon]

It will definitely be difficult to get FOP. I have been making my FP this week for 60 days. We are staying on site one night and then off the rest which is why I can do 60 days, one day at a time. Anyway, have been unable to get FOP for any day at 60 days. I just noticed that on one of our days EE is also not available already.

Good news is I've been seeing Navi River journey easily available at 30 days out. I think you'll have a good chance for most things but will have to stand in line for FOP.

 

[Bete]

Keep in mind the Disney Good Neighbor offsite resorts will have the privilege of doing their FP+ 60 days out now, too. This supposedly happening pretty soon. To me, this could change it for the other offsite resorts to the worse, now. This change just happened recently. That's a significant amount of offsite resorts that will start getting the 60 day privilege.

If you are tweaking every chance you get you will catch some availability for FP+ at the 30 day mark. You can't expect the best times or the best attractions for what might be left. You will be going back and forth a lot inside the park and that wastes time.

I do feel staying onsite allows you to accomplish more. By getting your FP+ in a logical order and one after another, you have a better chance to do extra FP+. You really don't want to go to the back of the park for a FP+ and then back up to the front for the second one. You're wasting a lot of time going back and forth.
We were done with our first three fastpasses by noon each day. Then, we were able to get additional FP+ for the lesser attractions. We even did stand by in between our FP times.

I would absolutely stay onsite. You get to see and do so much more including the extra morning magic hour.

 

[siskaren]

Keep in mind the Disney Good Neighbor offsite resorts now have the privilege of doing their FP+ 60 days out now, too.

Do they? I thought it was still in the rumor stage.

 

[Klayfish]

I do feel staying onsite allows you to accomplish more. By getting your FP+ in a logical order and one after another, you have a better chance to do extra FP+. You really don't want to go to the back of the park for a FP+ and then back up to the front for the second one. You're wasting a lot of time going back and forth.
We were done with our first three fastpasses by noon each day. Then, we were able to get additional FP+ for the lesser attractions. We even did stand by in between our FP times.

I would absolutely stay onsite. You get to see and do so much more including the extra morning magic hour.

With the exception of EMH, I would completely disagree with this. We can, and routinely do, all of the things you mention staying offsite (get extra FP+, etc...). You can get your FP+ in a "logical" order, which is subjective anyway, just as much as anyone staying onsite. During the summer, we will typically be done with our first three FP+ within 90 minutes of entering the park, often within 60 minutes. We then grab more FP+...we usually will get 7 or 8 of them within a 5 or 6 hour day. Obviously during peak holiday season that's harder, but once you're in the park the process is the same for on site guests as offsite. We were done our first three FP+ in about 2 hours or so during our recent Thanksgiving trip, and we got a few extra FP+ each day. So I really don't see how an onsite guest can do more than offsite...EMH excepted.

And EMH is also subjective. Often, they're from 7-8am or something like that. Sorry, no way am I getting up at 5:30am when I'm on vacation...not gonna happen...so EMH would be a waste for us.

 

[chris benton]

Outside of FOP, you'll only be doomed if you only casually check for the fastpasses you really want once or twice, and then give up.
Most everyone has already said, keep checking. If you don't get a time you want, that doesn't mean try a few more times and abandon all hope. Same with Adr's.

 

[wgeo]

We almost always stay offsite and are able to work the FP system. I don't like that we need to constantly be checking the app, however it does usually end up working. Again, I wish it didn't have to work that way but if you are willing to put a fair amount of time into constantly refreshing the app you'll likely end up with lots of great stuff. For example, on Friday afternoon I scored 4 FOP FP+ for the next day. And while looking for stuff in the park - 2x I saw FOP pop up.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Do they? I thought it was still in the rumor stage.

Edited - since this was formally announced 12/18.

 

[Bete]

If you pre-schedule your fastpasses you have to do them at least an hour apart. The only way to beat that is to do fastpass on the fly on the park day. And then, you just take whatever is left over and take a chance there will be any worthwhile fast-passes.

I've stayed offsite more than onsite and I will always say it's better on touring the park to be onsite.

 

[Klayfish]

If you pre-schedule your fastpasses you have to do them at least an hour apart. The only way to beat that is to do fastpass on the fly on the park day. And then, you just take whatever is left over and take a chance there will be any worthwhile fast-passes.

Nope, not necessarily. Yes, you have to schedule them one hour apart. However, you can slide them forward as the day goes. So let's say you make FP+ for 9am, 10am and 11am. When we tap in to our 9am FP+, I'll immediately jump onto MDE and slide our 10am FP+ to 9:15am. So when we get off the 9am FP+ ride, we can walk right to the next one and hop on. Rinse and repeat and we're done all 3 FP+ by 10:00am. Then start grabbing more.

During Thanksgiving and Xmas, this can be challenging to do...but we did it with some success a few weeks ago. During the summer months, it's easy peasy.

I completely understand why people like to stay onsite, but I don't think you can get more done. I think it's really about equal. Both get to make 3 FP+ ahead of time, and once those are done, both have to do the exact same process to get more. You get more choices at 60 days than 30, but at 30 it's still quite a good selection.

 

[Bete]

Nope, not necessarily. Yes, you have to schedule them one hour apart. However, you can slide them forward as the day goes. So let's say you make FP+ for 9am, 10am and 11am. When we tap in to our 9am FP+, I'll immediately jump onto MDE and slide our 10am FP+ to 9:15am. So when we get off the 9am FP+ ride, we can walk right to the next one and hop on. Rinse and repeat and we're done all 3 FP+ by 10:00am. Then start grabbing more.

During Thanksgiving and Xmas, this can be challenging to do...but we did it with some success a few weeks ago. During the summer months, it's easy peasy.

I completely understand why people like to stay onsite, but I don't think you can get more done. I think it's really about equal. Both get to make 3 FP+ ahead of time, and once those are done, both have to do the exact same process to get more. You get more choices at 60 days than 30, but at 30 it's still quite a good selection.

I find trying to slide fastpasses forward a hit and miss proposition on the day of. But I'm certainly interested in the technique. Obviously, this would allow you earlier access to that 4th fastpass and so forth if successful. Plus, I'm not sure I want to be glued to MDE trying to do this all day. When we had extra time between fastpasses we did stand by for other rides and shows in the area. That worked out fine for us. We really didn't have any lag time that way.

Glad to know you can move fastpasses forward and I will try that on the next trip. I have nothing to lose to try.

 

[Gehrig1B]

We take a bit different tact regarding the 1st 3 fastpasses. We always start our fastpasses at 2 hours after rope drop. We then have 3 hours from opening to get in as many rides as possible before the park gets crowded.

We will scan our first fastpass at the end of the window giving us immediate access to the second fastpass, then try to modify fastpass #3.

 

[Tomh]

I find trying to slide fastpasses forward a hit and miss proposition on the day of. But I'm certainly interested in the technique. Obviously, this would allow you earlier access to that 4th fastpass and so forth if successful. Plus, I'm not sure I want to be glued to MDE trying to do this all day. When we had extra time between fastpasses we did stand by for other rides and shows in the area. That worked out fine for us. We really didn't have any lag time that way.

Glad to know you can move fastpasses forward and I will try that on the next trip. I have nothing to lose to try.

I have tried this during our August trips, and find it to be hit and miss at best. Sometimes you can move it forward, sometimes by only 15 minutes or so, or the second one can move forward, but the third can't, so you don't really gain anything by moving the second. Seldom have I managed to move our second, and third both up far enough to make a significant difference.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I've gotten FEA, 7DMT, and TSMM FP+ for 10 people staying offsite so no its not impossible.
Haven't tried for FOP as I am not at all interested in it. I'm sure its still a very difficult one to snag but if you check at random times throughout the day you may find an opening.