My fears came true... Fp availibility at 60 days has definitely changed

[rdaky]

Interesting. I was able to get a FP for everything we wanted, scheduling them around already planned ADRs. Now, I may not have gotten the "perfect" time and instead of getting 9:30 I may have gotten 9:50, but either way, over the course of our trip, I was able to schedule every ride that we needed.

 

[Bullseye]

The only thing I couldn't get was FOP for 60+1 in early June. I was kind of expecting that though. We're just gonna do rope drop that day and deal with it. But, I will keep checking regularly. Heck, I'm going to go check right now

 

[loves to dive]

We rarely book them until day before at earliest, usually the morning of and have not had any problems except for FOP. We are going May 7 for 5 days so I decided to go ahead and check on FOP yesterday - less than 60 days out obviously. I had no problems getting one. Checked on others we might want and everything was there. I didn't book any because we just don't like to plan that far ahead since we really don't know what mood we are going to be in and don't like to be tied down.

 

[princesspiglet]

That and the fact that most people aren’t spending too much time in DHS and even AK so they are probably using the park hopping tips: book 1 priority FP early in the morning for Park#1 and when in the actual FP line, book 2 FPs for Park#2.

Wait, hold up. You can actually do the bolded part above???? I had no idea that could be done. I thought you had to book all 3 FP in the same park, and then you could book 4/5/6 in another park once those 3 were used!

 

[hiroMYhero]

Wait, hold up. You can actually do the bolded part above???? I had no idea that could be done. I thought you have to book all 3 FP in the same park, and then you could book 4/5/6 in another park once those 3 were used!

The FP booking system changed last year to better accommodate park hopping guests.

The steps are in the FP FAQ ADDENDUM Sticky located at the top of this forum.

 

[jennilouwho]

I couldn’t get FOP at 60 +1 for June and the weirdest was I wanted Mission Space at 60 days at 11:00 for my 3rd FP and I couldnt get anything before 1:00 pm. Didn’t realize that was a popular one to go fast.

 

[WDW_Ding]

At its max, the FP system is set to have 10 Standby guests load onto an Attraction after 50 FP guests have been loaded.

If that is the max, what is "normal?"

 

[hiroMYhero]

If that is the max, what is "normal?"

Not sure as it’s dependent on # of FP guests in the queue. When the FP line is backed up then the CMs will run the lines accordingly.

 

[ChristineOH]

I think people have differing perspectives. There was a period of time when people booking for May (a slower time) were able to get FoP on their day 60. So then they come on the boards, thrilled with the availability, and then a few weeks later, when people are booking for June, after schools get out, then FoP is back to only being available on 60+3 or 60+4. And people had the expectation that you could book on day 1, and then they couldn't, so they were disappointed.

Also, I think summer trips tend to be longer, giving people the ability to book up the FoP FP sooner.

 

[Princess_Lisa]

The only ride I have not been able to get right at 60 days was FoP. Some, such as FEA and 7DMT have decent availability at 60, but options diminish quickly. Another one that has of recent been hard to get, but I believe that is due to the changes being made for TSL, is TSMM. Last time I checked (with a 60 day window) it was worse than FEA and 7DMT.

For my birthday trip (7 nights onsite), I moved AK to Day 4 (from Day 6) once they released the MNSSHP dates for this year and I'm concerned about FoP. While, it can be had at 60 days, that isn't guaranteed and I have heard a lot of people reporting ZERO availability at less than 63-64 days. I don't know what is going to happen once TSL opens, but I'm hoping that will help with FoP. MGM is tentatively Days 5 (AS2) and 7 (SDD). I am assuming AS2 will be easier to FP than SDD.

Yeh I can’t keep up with the changes myself lol ... I still refer to Hollywood Studios as MGM .

It will always be MGM to me.

Wait, hold up. You can actually do the bolded part above???? I had no idea that could be done. I thought you had to book all 3 FP in the same park, and then you could book 4/5/6 in another park once those 3 were used!

Yes. You don't have to use all 3 at the same park. As long as you have used (a FastPass is considered used as soon as you tap into the line) all the FastPasses you had booked (be that 1, 2, or 3) ahead of time, you can make the rest of your 3 at any park. I do this at Epcot most often because there really isn't much in Tier 2 that requires a FastPass, especially for those of us who didn't like Mission Space. Book your Tier 1 FastPass at Epcot (FEA, TT, or Soarin), scan in and make your other 2 FastPasses at MGM, AK, or MK.

 

[greg9x]

I couldn’t get FOP at 60 +1 for June and the weirdest was I wanted Mission Space at 60 days at 11:00 for my 3rd FP and I couldnt get anything before 1:00 pm. Didn’t realize that was a popular one to go fast.

Might be one people book and don't use to get rid of their 3. Last August we went on Mission Space 3 times and always walked right up to the front where you wait to be loaded. Had a FP for one time, but defiantly not needed.
Of course it's one of those rides that ebbs and flows its popularity.

 

[mlnbabies]

My daughter and I are going for 2 days June 19 and 20. We have hoppers. I hope we can get FOP but I'm not counting on it.

 

[Bebacksoon]

I think people have differing perspectives. There was a period of time when people booking for May (a slower time) were able to get FoP on their day 60. So then they come on the boards, thrilled with the availability, and then a few weeks later, when people are booking for June, after schools get out, then FoP is back to only being available on 60+3 or 60+4. And people had the expectation that you could book on day 1, and then they couldn't, so they were disappointed.

Also, I think summer trips tend to be longer, giving people the ability to book up the FoP FP sooner.

I guess this is true. Last year I was booking for 4 and this year I'm only booking for 3 though. I must have just been lucky in years past to be able to get all my fp choices and at the times I wanted them. Oh well, we will just have to make adjustments to our plans. Hey, it's Disney World, it's fun no matter what!!

 

[AngiTN]

I think people have differing perspectives. There was a period of time when people booking for May (a slower time) were able to get FoP on their day 60. So then they come on the boards, thrilled with the availability, and then a few weeks later, when people are booking for June, after schools get out, then FoP is back to only being available on 60+3 or 60+4. And people had the expectation that you could book on day 1, and then they couldn't, so they were disappointed.

Also, I think summer trips tend to be longer, giving people the ability to book up the FoP FP sooner.

We booked a trip in March, one in April and a trip in early June. FP availability didn't change between those three trips. Trips are for 3 or 4, so similar.
FoP has been there for +1 day every time. +1 is only in PM but it's there. All other days it is full day.
In my observations where things are really changing for the worse is stand by riders, not in FP availability. Disney is throwing out more available FP for each hour which means even fewer stand by riders get on each hour, since more FP riders return each hour. As long as those FP lines remain fully utilized then they'll keep the ratio at it's peak

 

[randumb0]

The summer months will make it harder to acquire a FP for FOP

 

[hiroMYhero]

The summer months will make it harder to acquire a FP for FOP

That’s true because it’s “summer” contrary to the premise of the OP blaming it on DSprings hotel guests.

The thread is now on page 4 with the majority of posters reporting availability for booking FoP for their stays. And DSprings Hotel guests, with the exception of Best Western, have had full 60-day booking windows beginning in Feb/March.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I'm wondering how FP availability will be for Jersey Week. I'm not really worried. We are there for 9 nights so I know we will get to everything we want. I'm hoping for FOP on 60+1 but am not banking on it. Either way we will have two other AK days later in the week. I do wonder how getting additional FP+ will work out for our party of 2 that week. I used to do RD AM park, midday break and FP+ at the PM park but now that you can get additional FP+ on your phone I want to do AM FP+ and pull additional ones. I'm hoping it works for us and we aren't locked out of FP+ for the rest of the day.

 

[tlmadden73]

Disney is throwing out more available FP for each hour which means even fewer stand by riders get on each hour, since more FP riders return each hour. As long as those FP lines remain fully utilized then they'll keep the ratio at it's peak

I wonder if Disney will ever test the "FP only" thing for certain attractions again - especially the popular ones (like they briefly tested for TSMM).

As for the OP and FP availability. I didn't read any other responses -- but some details about your experience would be helpful in analyzing the situation. How many nights are staying onsite? What rides did you struggle with? What times?

As more and more people start going to Disney and "understanding" how the FP system works .. more and more people will be ready at the crack of 7:00 AM on their FP day to make those Fast Passes (as opposed to just waiting until it is convenient for them to do it). .. Plus .. like Hiro said above .. it's the SUMMER. There are just more people going.

Plus .. there is just that inequity of longer stays getting to make fast passes at 61+ days out.

I have one of my longest trips (since FP+) coming up .. 6 nights (where previously the most I've had is 3 nights). So I am excited that I will hopefully have a better opportunity to get some of the high demand Fast Passes, like Slinky Dog Dash and Flight of Passage as I will plan for my AK and DHS days to be my last two days (Thus making FPs at Day 64 and Day 65).

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

We booked a trip in March, one in April and a trip in early June. FP availability didn't change between those three trips. Trips are for 3 or 4, so similar.
FoP has been there for +1 day every time. +1 is only in PM but it's there. All other days it is full day.
In my observations where things are really changing for the worse is stand by riders, not in FP availability. Disney is throwing out more available FP for each hour which means even fewer stand by riders get on each hour, since more FP riders return each hour. As long as those FP lines remain fully utilized then they'll keep the ratio at it's peak

Also as more and more people start using the rolling method I think the utilization of FP is increasing. Disney may or may not be giving out more FPs per hour but in mid tier and lower rides are probably seeing an increase in the number of FPs used. Back in the days of going to a kiosk for 4th and higher FPs not all the FPs on rides were taken. They just expired unused because who's going to go stand in line at a kiosk to get Barnstormer FPs? And most people were trying to get the best ride they could with it. But now, as people are working their TP and they're in that part of the park, why not grab one and shave 5 or 10 mins off weight time? It's easy and available and there. But it pushed up the stby wait times.

Others have said this, but I see Disney having to eventually make some changes as more people figure out how to really use the system.

 

[whitney37354]

We got FP's for our party of ten today & had no problem getting what we wanted. Some of the time choices were fewer, but no problems getting them all just after 7:00 am today.