A lot of folks ask me why they can’t find Fastpass+ options for Anna and Elsa X days before their trip. The reason FP+ options are difficult to find for them is simple economics. I’m going to present some made up numbers for the sake of discussion.
Lets say, hypothetically, that Anna and Elsa are able to meet 200 guests per hour per day when they move to the Magic Kingdom. That would be 3.33 guests per minute, so it sounds reasonable for discussion purposes. The Magic Kingdom has taken the stance that Anna and Elsa will only be guaranteed from 9am to 5pm daily, so we have 8 hours to work with. If you multiply 120×8, you get 1600 people per day. Fastpass+ usually offers express privileges to 1/3 of all the guests in an line. Given our mathematical proposal, 533 guests per day would be meeting Anna and Elsa using FP+.
There is easily 30,000 or more guests in the Magic Kingdom on a really slow day, so about 1% would be given an opportunity to meet the Frozen Princesses with a short(er) wait given our numbers on a slow day. Guest are crying out because there “must be a better way.” The only better way is to offer this meet and greet in multiple locations until the demand cools down but that does cost more money. Moving them to Magic Kingdom and offering FP+ is a plus, but probably not enough to make the line really short.
If you can’t find Fastpass+ for Anna and Elsa using my tip about booking them one at a time or using the copy method, your best bets are:
1. Arrive before park opening and go straight there on a morning Extra Magic Hour day. This eliminates anyone skipping character meals, or eating then running out to beat you to the second rope behind the castle.
2. If you don’t have Extra Magic Hour privileges, you should arrive before park opening and head straight there and make your way as close as possible to the rope behind the castle, eliminating as much wait as possible.
If you don’t have FP+ and sleep in, you’re still going to wait in a REALLY long line. I’m still guessing that those with FP+ from around noon onward will experience a wait of an hour or more, unless Disney forces more people to just wait longer in the stand by line. I’ll update you next week and let you know if my guess is correct.
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Michael Garham
Monday 22nd of September 2014
I know it is months after this line of posts; however, can anyone tell me if having other fast passes booked interferes with the times shown to change your fast pass? For example, I have monsters inc 9-10, Peter Pan 1015-1115, and Buzz from 1230-130. If I go to modify Monsters to try to get A&E or 7DMT, will it show times during Peter Pan and Buzz, or will it ignore them because I have fast passes booked? Sorry if that's confusing.
sftong
Monday 22nd of September 2014
Not exactly clear about what you said. But yes, FP+ would affect the availability of the time slots of other FP+.
The rule is, there must be no overlap of FP+ in the same 1 hour time window. Example: you have Peter Pan 9~10am reserved, then you will never see any other experience FP+ available in any of the 9~9:59am time slot, even if the time slots are available. So if you have other FP+ occupying the same time window, you have to move them first before you will see the new slots opening up for the targeted experience.
The strategy with A&E is 3 prone -- 1) You really need to stay in Disney resort so you can reserve that A&E FP+ 60 days in advance. 2) Perseverance! 3) Do not reserve any FP+ for the day of A&E. Just keep trying till A&E shows up, grab it FAST and confirm! Disney would auto pick other 2 experiences for you. You can go back later to switch out the random experiences to the ones you like at a time you like.
I tried 45 days in advance for A&E and still could not get it, till the 42nd day, and this was with me checking 5 times every hour through day and night.
kennythepirate
Monday 22nd of September 2014
It won't affect other Fastpasses. It looks at open slots and tries to fill them.
Andy
Wednesday 30th of July 2014
I just tried to login at 12:01 on the first day of our FP+ window and the A&E was only standby for our entire trip. Any suggestions?
sftong
Wednesday 30th of July 2014
Andy, good luck with that A&E FP+. My recent experience tell me both A&E and the Magic Kingdom Royal meal (breakfast, lunch, dinner) all sold out 60 days in advance. Which means only those who stay in Disney Resort can reserve the time and date they want, when 60 days window first open up!!
I am going to disney Sept, and I started reserving A&E 46 days in advance, and it still shows Standby only. I tried to refresh my Browsers a few times every hour everyday whenever I have time, and manage to book a slot finally after 3 days trying.
If you would visit multiple parks, try be flexible with the dates. Open multiple Browsers each on different date to focus on the availability of A&E. Grab whichever comes first.
Better have fast finger though. And once you see an opening, grab ASAP with 2 FP+ on other experiences. You can always go back to the FP+ to change the experience later. Spend too much thinking and its GONE!
If still no luck, then be at MK on rope drop. Typically they open the park like 10 minute or more earlier than usual, depending on crowd. Or if you stay in Disney resort, find the day MK with 1 hour earlier opening time just for the resort guest.
I ask this before to the agents on phone, if there would be more A&E lots opening up on the 30th day prior, thinking that this is only fair to those not staying in Disney resort. They said no such rule. But you might just want to try you luck on that 30th day prior. try Mid-night after 12am EST, or 1st thing in morning.
kennythepirate
Wednesday 30th of July 2014
Use my tips on hard to find fp+
Sean
Wednesday 16th of July 2014
I need help here. It’s 7/16/2014, and on both the smartphone App and Disney web site about Magic Kingdom, there is no attraction named “Princess Fairy …” or “Hall ..”, let alone FastPass.
Am I looking at the wrong place? Please let me know the navigation in the App to reserve it.
Thanks Sean
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