***April 2019***

[PolyRob]

I only use a TA if the room rate is better. My TA must love me because all I ask is for the room to be booked and to submit DME info. I do everything else on my own. I much prefer having complete control of the reservation. It makes changes, payments, requests, etc easier, but I can't resist the TA if it saves me $$$.

 

[jen7233]

I wouldn't mind using a TA, and let them handle trying to get the best rate and doing other bookings. Although, I do like having control of things so yes that would be the hard part for me. If I didn't do a lot of prereading and planning on how it all works from fastpasses, magic bands, memory maker, room discounts, I would be confused myself. I am still learning new things constantly with planning a Disney trip, and hoping I didn't miss anything. This time around it was DAH, EMM to think of just a few right off the top.

 

[ddluvsdisney]

I’ve never used a travel agent. i always plan my own Disney trips. My April trip is completely different though. I am going with my daughter’s high school band. All of the planning is being done by an agency. I just have to pay and then show up.

That sounds really hard to do....having someone else plan. Lol
I have friends that have had to do that. My DS’s friends were there for Their H.S. Band trip in 2014.
It’s all fun though!!

 

[Charade67]

That sounds really hard to do....having someone else plan. Lol
I have friends that have had to do that. My DS’s friends were there for Their H.S. Band trip in 2014.
It’s all fun though!!

It is hard. I am the one who does most of the planning for family trips, so it is killing me that I have no control over this trip. I feel like I need to be making dinner reservations and selecting fast passes. We don’t even have an itinerary yet. All I know so far is our hotel, that we get 2 days at Disney and 2 at Universal, and there will be a band performance at some point.

 

[jen7233]

It is hard. I am the one who does most of the planning for family trips, so it is killing me that I have no control over this trip. I feel like I need to be making dinner reservations and selecting fast passes.

How does that work with the fastpasses, do you tell them what rides you'd like to FP and times?

 

[Shellyb84]

I got our FP+ selected this morning. I was able to get everything we wanted but not all of them at the times I preferred. Slinky was hard, there was an evening FP+ on our 3rd day which didn't work out, but I was able to get one on our 5th day. We're going to Typhoon Lagoon that day but should have time to hop over there and ride it before our dinner at Ohana that evening. I may just end up cancelling that ADR anyway and doing the Twilight Feast. I also tried for a FOP FP+ on our 3rd day in the morning but couldn't get it but I did get an early one on our 6th day. I'm used to going in June and never have any issues with getting exactly the times we want!

Nothing to do now but count down the next 2 months!

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

I got our FP+ selected this morning. I was able to get everything we wanted but not all of them at the times I preferred. Slinky was hard, there was an evening FP+ on our 3rd day which didn't work out, but I was able to get one on our 5th day. We're going to Typhoon Lagoon that day but should have time to hop over there and ride it before our dinner at Ohana that evening. I may just end up cancelling that ADR anyway and doing the Twilight Feast. I also tried for a FOP FP+ on our 3rd day in the morning but couldn't get it but I did get an early one on our 6th day. I'm used to going in June and never have any issues with getting exactly the times we want!

Nothing to do now but count down the next 2 months!

Glad it worked out for you! My FP day is tomorrow, I'm hoping for FOP on 60+3 and SDD on 60+4. Not picky on times, I'm fine with evenings...so fingers crossed something will be available.

 

[Shellyb84]

Glad it worked out for you! My FP day is tomorrow, I'm hoping for FOP on 60+3 and SDD on 60+4. Not picky on times, I'm fine with evenings...so fingers crossed something will be available.

Thanks!

If you're ok with evenings you shouldn't have a problem. I would definitely try for SDD first though. Good luck!!!

 

[jen7233]

I got our FP+ selected this morning. I was able to get everything we wanted but not all of them at the times I preferred. Slinky was hard, there was an evening FP+ on our 3rd day which didn't work out, but I was able to get one on our 5th day. We're going to Typhoon Lagoon that day but should have time to hop over there and ride it before our dinner at Ohana that evening. I may just end up cancelling that ADR anyway and doing the Twilight Feast. I also tried for a FOP FP+ on our 3rd day in the morning but couldn't get it but I did get an early one on our 6th day. I'm used to going in June and never have any issues with getting exactly the times we want!

Nothing to do now but count down the next 2 months!

What was your booking strategy, did you start backwards from last day? I think Slinky and FoP are going to be hardest for everyone to get. So, allow some schedule flexibility there if you are someone reading here that hasn't booked your FPs yet! That's a lot, Typhoon Lagoon, HS, and then Ohana. I had no idea what Twilight Feast is until mentioned here, that sounds pretty good. I am not yet in my FP window, but I'm expecting to change my ADRs based on how my FPs pan out. I have nothing I absolutely must go do except for Be our Guest lunch and my Boathouse reservation, everything else I really don't mind switching out (I don't have much reserved on dining anyway!)

 

[Shellyb84]

What was your booking strategy, did you start backwards from last day? I think Slinky and FoP are going to be hardest for everyone to get. So, allow some schedule flexibility there if you are someone reading here that hasn't booked your FPs yet! That's a lot, Typhoon Lagoon, HS, and then Ohana. I had no idea what Twilight Feast is until mentioned here, that sounds pretty good. I am not yet in my FP window, but I'm expecting to change my ADRs based on how my FPs pan out. I have nothing I absolutely must go do except for Be our Guest lunch and my Boathouse reservation, everything else I really don't mind switching out (I don't have much reserved on dining anyway!)

I actually just started with day 1, which I knew was a long shot for SDD. Then I just grabbed SDD for the only other time it worked for us. Then I tried for FOP on our AK days. Once I got those I went back and booked the remaining 2 for those days and then MK and Epcot. I wasn't too stressed about MK because we're doing DAH.

Typhoon Lagoon is only open 10-5 so even if we stayed til closing its not a crazy long day. DH and DD will spend a good bit of time in the wave pool and I'll be relaxing on the edge watching lol. If we do go to HS after it will only be to pop in and ride SDD. Fortunately it's not a huge deal for us if we miss it though, we've ridden it several times already and we'll be back for 2 weeks in June/July so won't have an issue getting it then.

 

[626 Fan]

I booked my FP today and managed to get everything but SDD. I had to switch our AK day from day 2 to day 4 in order to get FOP, but I managed to move the ADRs with no trouble. I can’t move our HS day as we are only doing a half day there on arrival day. It’s not a huge loss, but I’ll check back every now and then to see if one comes up.

Overall I’m really happy with what I got. Now back to waiting...

 

[chiisai]

I received from Touring Plans another hours/crowd level change for the week before Easter.

Nothing too surprising (expecting extreme crowds) other than still no across-the-board 8am opens for MK yet (which i’d experienced in a prior visit), thus continuing my small hope for EMM at MK.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Just finished my fast passes! I was pleasantly surprised to have no trouble getting FOP (60+3) and SDD (60+4), both for mid afternoon.

 

[jen7233]

I booked my FP today and managed to get everything but SDD. I had to switch our AK day from day 2 to day 4 in order to get FOP, but I managed to move the ADRs with no trouble. I can’t move our HS day as we are only doing a half day there on arrival day. It’s not a huge loss, but I’ll check back every now and then to see if one comes up.

Overall I’m really happy with what I got. Now back to waiting...

Exactly, just keep checking you never know.

 

[jen7233]

I received from Touring Plans another hours/crowd level change for the week before Easter.

Nothing too surprising (expecting extreme crowds) other than still no across-the-board 8am opens for MK yet (which i’d experienced in a prior visit), thus continuing my small hope for EMM at MK.

Maybe it's too early yet and they'll post it 30 days out, if they decide to change park hours. I'm personally hoping for a few park hours to go later in the evening, extended evening hours.

 

[bellecee]

Booked my FPs yesterday. Got everything I wanted! Yay!
Only small thing which annoyed me was that I wasn't able to do a Minnie & Mickey meet and greet at 4:15 because my FOP FP was at 3:30???
I thought that would have been plenty of time to do both.

 

[Shellyb84]

Booked my FPs yesterday. Got everything I wanted! Yay!
Only small thing which annoyed me was that I wasn't able to do book a Minnie & Mickey meet and greet at 4:15 because my FOP FP was at 3:30???
I thought that would have been plenty of time to do both.

Glad you got what you wanted!

The FP+ windows are an hour long, so you can't book anything that overlaps that time frame.

 

[eagle1992]

I'll be doing ours this Monday morning. Hoping for some double overtime Super Bowl action so lots of folks sleep in past 7AM. :-b

That being said, I'm less stressed about SDD as we will be doing DAH at HS on 60+1 and plan on going to HS on 60+7 so confident we will get that.

My biggest concern is that I want FOP for 60+3 which also happens to be an EMH morning...my backup/2nd opportunity will be an evening FOP on 60+5 after we do Typhoon Lagoon during the day...

Everything else I'm less concerned about...looking at FP+ availabilities it seems those two are really the toughest ones to book and everything else should be OK to work itself out into the schedule.

Fingers crossed!!!

 

[bellecee]

I'll be doing ours this Monday morning. Hoping for some double overtime Super Bowl action so lots of folks sleep in past 7AM. :-b

That being said, I'm less stressed about SDD as we will be doing DAH at HS on 60+1 and plan on going to HS on 60+7 so confident we will get that.

My biggest concern is that I want FOP for 60+3 which also happens to be an EMH morning...my backup/2nd opportunity will be an evening FOP on 60+5 after we do Typhoon Lagoon during the day...

Everything else I'm less concerned about...looking at FP+ availabilities it seems those two are really the toughest ones to book and everything else should be OK to work itself out into the schedule.

Fingers crossed!!!

Not too sure what 60+3 and 60+5 means.. but I got a FOP FP at the exact time I wanted. I decided to do that ride towards the end of our holiday and made sure it was the first thing I booked. There were lots of times available for it doing it that way.

 

[Jimmy Mouse]

Not too sure what 60+3 and 60+5 means.. but I got a FOP FP at the exact time I wanted. I decided to do that ride towards the end of our holiday and made sure it was the first thing I booked. There were lots of times available for it doing it that way.

60 day fast passes plus length of stay. If your staying 5 days you can book out 60+5.