On at 7am and couldn't get flight of avatar!

[Marshel]

My trip starts AUG. 27th, didn't even try for the first 3 days; the only afternoon time I could find (and it was my 2nd attempt after trying day 4 starting right at 7:00 am) was on day 5 at 3:30. After making my other FP+ in about 20 minutes went back and hit modify just to see and it was already out to 6:30; and this is supposed to be a relatively slow week.

 

[ucfknight]

Interesting! Hate to give any ideas, but they could legitimately charge hundreds of dollars for a few exclusive hours in the new Star Wars section on opening week, and whatever the price, people are sure to pay.

I'm sure you aren't giving them an idea they haven't already thought of to make more money through a separately ticketed event.

 

[bryanb]

Same thing happened to me. Honestly, I'm not going to sweat it. Plan on being there at around 6:45 or so for a 8:00 park opening and hoping to rope drop it.

I've recently posted on here that I'll never wait more than 30-45 minutes for a ride. That's how low I thought my tolerance for waiting had become. But now I realize it's not true. Maybe I won't wait 45 minutes for a ride I've been on a hundred times. But new experiences like FoJ are different.

Even after you rope drop it, you might like it enough to get in line again! I don't think I'd tolerate a 3 hour line, but I did get in line at 160 minutes (which turned out to be 90). Even then, it is such a well-done queue, it helps make the time go by quickly.

 

[bryanb]

I'm sure you aren't giving them an idea they haven't already thought of to make more money through a separately ticketed event.

I'll let @timadden73 take credit for that, but what I meant to add was: they didn't do this for Pandora, and I'm sure they could've done EMM for this land too, starting from opening week. Seems like it was a missed opportunity to extract more from people who are willing to pay for the privilege.

 

[lchuck]

FYI, on our recent trip we arrived at 7:15am for an 8am open (no morning EMH), the rope dropped at 7:25am and we rode on and were out of FOP by 8am on the dot. It's not difficult, you just need to be willing to go early. The best part is, you don't waste any actual park time if you're willing to go early enough.

 

[vinotinto]

I wonder if some people do the following:
1) Book a 10-day resort vacation.
2) Book your Fast Passes for the last X days of your trip at 60 days (thus giving you the maximum "leg up" against others)
3) Cancel the reservation and make one for the true length of stay you wanted.

We recently had to shave a day off of our vacation and it was kind of tedious. We couldn't do it online, the system wanted to cancel our trip and start from square one, so we had to call and do it in person and even then it took about 20 minutes and we had to wait 24 hours for a confirmation email saying we could do it, but keep our room discount. Hmm, I wonder if people abused the system?

You used to be able to take days off really easily, but as reported repeatedly in the resorts board here, now your new dates have to be available as a new reservation, and sometimes a shorter stay is not available because WDW, like everyone else in the hotel industry, uses yield management. They will make available rooms for a longer stay, but not for a short stay, depending on how full the resort is. So, to answer your question, it's not always possible to book a longer stay and then shorten it.

 

[DanielNYC]

FYI, on our recent trip we arrived at 7:15am for an 8am open (no morning EMH), the rope dropped at 7:25am and we rode on and were out of FOP by 8am on the dot. It's not difficult, you just need to be willing to go early.

Hoping for a similar result during our trip this August.

 

[Tomh]

OP, keep checking. I found nothing when I tried to book on our 60 day mark, but a few days ago, at 47 days, I was able to get 3 FP+ for FoP on our AK day. Persistence pays off!

 

[awalker1015]

We are here now and IMO the ride was worth a wait,for the queue alone. . That said we were lucky enough to get a FP for it and enjoyed it so much we decided to ride standby a second time. We waited until a half hour before the first ROL show started. MDE said 80 minutes but it was more like 35.

 

[Beth Pagan]

Thanks! You made me laugh.

 

[Beth Pagan]

I feel your pain! I also got up at 5:45am (our time) and made my FP+ reservations, but I was so tired and all the Avatar names were sounding the same to my coffeeless brain that I accidentally made 2 separate Na'vi River ride reservations on 2 days, and didn't make one for Flight of Passage! And, of course, I didn't notice it until like a week later when, of course again, there were no more FOP FP+s to be had.

So I started looking and looking and checking FP+ times and availability on MDE and all of a sudden, a block of times between 8pm and 9pm opened up! I grabbed one, even though it's not on the night I wanted but guess what? It's the night I wanted now!! I figure its easier to change our ADRs for that night then to tempt fate with our FP+s!!

Thanks for the advice. I will keep trying.

 

[Beth Pagan]

OP, keep checking. I found nothing when I tried to book on our 60 day mark, but a few days ago, at 47 days, I was able to get 3 FP+ for FoP on our AK day. Persistence pays off!

Great I will do that. I'll hope for Disney. magic.

 

[Beth Pagan]

I would just keep checking back all the time. I'm waiting for a dinning reservation and I just check back a few times a day on the App.

CM told me that the best thing to do is to call at 7am for dining reservations.

 

[Davey Jones II]

I believe it has been fixed. When you cancel a reservation this warning shows "FastPass+ selections associated with this reservation have been canceled." It also reminds you that dining and other reservations are not canceled so you have to cancel them if you don't want to keep them.

So that means the "throwaway room" loophole has been closed?

 

[Tomh]

So that means the "throwaway room" loophole has been closed?

Perhaps. but only if the particular guest cancels the throwaway room. If they keep it, and pay for it, and just don't use it, then they will get to keep their FP+ selections.

 

[ELSA711]

That was during evening magic hours?

It was around 10pm so right before
We also did River Journey at 9pm one night, posted time was 60 but we wait 33 minutes.
I think that was because of the ROL at the same time though.

 

[tlmadden73]

I'll let @timadden73 take credit for that, but what I meant to add was: they didn't do this for Pandora, and I'm sure they could've done EMM for this land too, starting from opening week. Seems like it was a missed opportunity to extract more from people who are willing to pay for the privilege.

I think they still may do that. They just may not do it right away since they may be working the kinks out of a new ride and may need the morning hours to fix things before the guests arrive. Plus, their special nightly EMH at Pandora is fairly similar promotion (though obviously not as limited as an EMM would be).

I just personally don't see how they don't eventually have an EMM for Pandora or Star Wars Land eventually considering the popularity of the one at MK. Seems like a win/win. There are a lot of people who would pay for those (I know I would) ... especially with not being able to get a Fast Pass for both Pandora rides at the same time.

They know people don't want to wait in lines. They know people pay for things for a special experience (that also helps avoid crowds) like holiday parties, EMM at MK, dessert parties, opting to stay at a Disney resort for EMH. Extending the EMM to every park seems like a no brainer .. especially at the parks that have tiering.

Imagine the popularity of a "Frozen" breakfast where you get the ride, a more intimate meet and greet with those characters (and throw in Olaf) and a breakfast. (May have to throw in something else to justify the price). That frees up that families Tier 1 fast pass now for Soaring or Test Track (and also gets them IN the park before Rope Drop so they could be first in line at Test Track).