Refresh=game changer, crowd calendars=unreliable

[JETSDAD]

I don't believe it locks the ones displayed for you to you. If it did then you wouldn't be able to loose those FP before you can book them. Many times that has happened to me. And not because I take too long. I'm talking taking no more things than physically possible to click and confirm and I've still lost FP to someone else. So they couldn't have possibly been locked as my selections.

I've never had that...if it shows up its locked to you for a certain length of time. I've had FOP and that type that I didn't click on right away (just let it sit for a couple of minutes) then selected it. I believe I read that KtP had timed it out to be 5 minutes.

 

[AngiTN]

Do you recommend doing this if you pick your initial 3 and don't get the time you want, or don't get one at all, or is this strategy strictly for 4th, etc, fps?

I use it for all FP bookings. At least if the times I want aren't offered at first choice.
I can't tell you how many times the first FP time it gives is for 10, 15 min after the last FP choice. I can modify and get it for 5 min earlier. Modify again, 5 min earlier again. Till I finally get them back to back. Heck, this happens to me at 60 days for plentiful ride FP. There's no reason for all available FP not to show up at the first selection but they don't most every time. I have to modify to get them back to back

 

[AngiTN]

I've never had that...if it shows up its locked to you for a certain length of time. I've had FOP and that type that I didn't click on right away (just let it sit for a couple of minutes) then selected it. I believe I read that KtP had timed it out to be 5 minutes.

Will I can say for certain it has to me and it never takes 5 min to click a FP

 

[JETSDAD]

Will I can say for certain it has to me and it never takes 5 min to click a FP

I'll have to do some testing on it myself to see what happens. I'm watching FP's enough, might as well.

 

[ZoZo]

You need a smart phone and after you are done with your initial 3 FPs, you go on the My Disney Experience App and start the "Get Fastpass" process all over again. If a ride says it has no availability, don't believe it, keep refreshing. Also, if you get a time you don't like, keep refreshing until you get the time you do like.

This may be a dumb question, but can someone explain what it means to "refresh"? I have a friend who's going in about 10 days, and I want to be able to explain to her what to do.

Thanks very much!

 

[JETSDAD]

This may be a dumb question, but can someone explain what it means to "refresh"? I have a friend who's going in about 10 days, and I want to be able to explain to her what to do.

Thanks very much!

Every time that you click on a time you will see different availability of FP's. With Android you can keep hitting the same time over and over to keep refreshing the list. With iPhone you would have to click back and forth between different times.

 

[ZoZo]

Every time that you click on a time you will see different availability of FP's. With Android you can keep hitting the same time over and over to keep refreshing the list. With iPhone you would have to click back and forth between different times.

Thanks!

 

[bryanb]

Is this the way it works best?

So on a 9am opening ...

RD rides for 1.5hours
First FP - 9:45 - 10:45
Second - 10:45 - 11:45
Third - 11:45 - 12:45

Right after you swipe in at your 3rd ride, start refresh strategy for the rest? All your doing is finding the ride you want on your phone and just keep searching until a FP opening pops up?

And if you want to be a super user of this method, you don't have to wait until you check into your third ride. As soon as you enter the queue for the first ride around 9:45am, you can start using refresh to move your second FP to an earlier time, rather than waiting until 10:45. And so on....

I don't believe it locks the ones displayed for you, to you. If it did then you wouldn't be able to loose those FP before you can book them. Many times that has happened to me. And not because I take too long. I'm talking taking no more things than physically possible to click and confirm and I've still lost FP to someone else. So they couldn't have possibly been locked as my selections.

Wow! I'm glad that hasn't happened to me, because that sounds so annoying! Maybe a momentary glitch in the system -- kind of like those random short hiccups that seem to happen throughout a routine day -- which caused it to lose the times it presented to you? I wouldn't be surprised given the complexity of the system and the frequent technical challenges.

I do think the only way for this system to function is to have some mechanism to limit or prevent multiple people from selecting the same FP+ reservation, given the hundreds of users making same-day changes at any given moment of the day. That system could look like randomness that causes an offered time to appear and disappear and appear again. Otherwise, that FOP same-day FP jackpot would be nearly impossible to ever claim unless you were faster than everyone else browsing at that same moment.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Do you recommend doing this if you pick your initial 3 and don't get the time you want, or don't get one at all, or is this strategy strictly for 4th, etc, fps?

I try to modify the times to earlier when I tap into the first one. I like to make FPS for the 9am hour if we rope drop. As soon as I tap in I am looking to move the next ones up.

Then I start looking for 4th, 5th, etc as soon as 3 are used.

If we hop I make only what we want/need for the first park, then as soon as we are done with those I will look for the next one in the next park.

 

[disneyworldsk]

are there no stupid questions? ok then...so is it still a rule that with all parks you have to book 3 fp's until you are allowed the fourth? the rules for fp didn't change on that? or is that rule for only mk? but you can get the fourth fp anywhere if you're park hopping and you don't have to be in that park to get the fourth, right? i can be at the resort or another park to get the fourth for later in the day. and they're still tiered at most parks, right? i just wanted to get an update. It's been a year but I know things change.

 

[SaintsManiac]

are there no stupid questions? ok then...so is it still a rule that with all parks you have to book 3 fp's until you are allowed the fourth? the rules for fp didn't change on that? or is that rule for only mk? but you can get the fourth fp anywhere if you're park hopping and you don't have to be in that park to get the fourth, right? i can be at the resort or another park to get the fourth for later in the day. and they're still tiered at most parks, right? i just wanted to get an update. It's been a year but I know things change.

It's explained really well in this thread:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/f...l-tier-1-booking-cl-fp-trial-program.3538258/


As an example:

In January I had Safaris 9am and FoP 10am booked in AK for morning. As soon as I tapped into the FoP one I was able to book TSMM in HS for the afternoon.

In Epcot we FP Soarin, SE and Nemo. When I tapped into the 3rd I booked Figment. When I tapped into Figment I was able to snatch up an FEA.

Hope this helps.

 

[epcotobsessed]

I don't believe it locks the ones displayed for you, to you. If it did then you wouldn't be able to loose those FP before you can book them. Many times that has happened to me. And not because I take too long. I'm talking taking no more things than physically possible to click and confirm and I've still lost FP to someone else. So they couldn't have possibly been locked as my selections.

This was my experience as well. Several times I immediately clicked on a FP that popped up but then the system wouldn't do anything - the screen would just pause and would never go to the confirmation screen. I would have to refresh a few more times to get FPs that I could confirm so yes, I assumed that someone else grabbed them a split second faster than I did. The FPs definitely did not "lock" for me.

 

[Woody412]

Only on the boards would this “Refresh Strategy” have a name (but that’s why I keep coming back). It’s simply the practice of trying until you get the FP you want. People have been doing it since the start of MDE and FP+

 

[rentayenta]

I use it for all FP bookings. At least if the times I want aren't offered at first choice.
I can't tell you how many times the first FP time it gives is for 10, 15 min after the last FP choice. I can modify and get it for 5 min earlier. Modify again, 5 min earlier again. Till I finally get them back to back. Heck, this happens to me at 60 days for plentiful ride FP. There's no reason for all available FP not to show up at the first selection but they don't most every time. I have to modify to get them back to back

This is exactly what I did with my 60 day FPs. Its amazing what doesn't show up and then what times magically appear.

 

[Klayfish]

I'll chime in that I consider myself a well seasoned, and early adopter, of the refresh strategy. Been using it for 2 or 3 years now. I do exactly as AngiTN described when booking my first 3. When I book #2 at the 30 or 60 day mark, it may show up 10 or 15 minutes after #1. So if #1 is 10-11am, it'll give me 11:15am to 12:15pm for #2. I take that one, and then do the same for #3, then will modify #2 and #3 to move them back to where they're back to back to back. Sometimes I can do it right away (at 30 or 60 days), sometimes I have to wait until day of.

Our strategy for using the first 3 is a little different though. We're not rope drop people, we very much prefer to sleep in and take our time. We aim to arrive at the parks right at the end of FP+ #1 window. So if FP+ #1 is 10-11am, we show up at 10:55am. By time we finish that ride, it's already time for FP+ #2. That's just one less thing we have to modify. We've developed quite a talent for making it to FP+ #1 right at the very end, even dipping into the grace period....haven't missed one yet. Then after tapping into #2, we'll immediately modify #3 so that it's as soon as we are done with #2. Then we're off to the races to get more.

Having said all that, we were just there, in the parks from June 14th through June 30th. This year was unquestionably the hardest trip we've had to use refresh and get more. I'd bet I've used refresh strategy for 75-100 park days total, and this year was much harder. It was about as hard as it was during the Christmas to New Years week we did just 7 months ago. I still got things, but not even close to as easily as we did in summer 2016 and 2017. Don't know if it's because more people are catching on or what, but it was tough sledding.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I'll have to do some testing on it myself to see what happens. I'm watching FP's enough, might as well.

I've never lost an FP other than once or twice when the app has crashed. And that inherently involves refreshing again when you open the app again. The FPs are definitely held for you for a brief time. Otherwise you would very frequently not get the really high value FPs that are shown to you. Hundreds if not thousands are after those same ones so you're chances of being the first to click it after it was shown to you would be really low.

 

[Shula]

OP- Glad to hear you had a great trip!
And also glad to hear "refresh" is still working... 3 weeks from tomorrow and we'll be at WDW!!!

We get there on the 27th!

OP, So happy to hear you had a great time and fp+ worked great for you. All but 2 days of our 7 we have fp booked for morning so we can get more. The other 2 we're taking the mornings off. Love knowing I can ride SDD w/fp at 7pm without being there at rd to pull a fp.

 

[zebrastreyepz]

Only on the boards would this “Refresh Strategy” have a name (but that’s why I keep coming back). It’s simply the practice of trying until you get the FP you want. People have been doing it since the start of MDE and FP+

I'm in another group that calls it TGM before the DIS started calling it "refresh".

I think TGM or Tap Grab Modify is a better name because it also explains what to do.

 

[bastraker]

We've been here since 6/27 and have used this method everyday. It works great!

I was able to get TSM many, many times - even back to back while waiting to ride.

We also got test track and FEA many times . Another easy one we were able to grab was alien flying saucers - back to back while the wait was 60 minutes. I would just refresh immediately after tapping in and while waiting to board the ride - I was able to grab another .

We even grabbed SDD one day after obsessively refreshing!! The kids were so excited.

All of this was for a party of 4.

 

[bastraker]

Another great strategy that worked for us over the last 2 weeks - while at the pool with the kids every afternoon - if the weather looked stormy, I would grab a test track FP. So many time the ride goes down in bad weather .

We get a multiple experience pass for anything and at anytime.

Then I would go grab another test track or soarin FP for later. It worked great. We were staying at the Beach Club.