Refresh did NOT work for us

[sparkley]

We tried the refresh trick for the first time a few days ago. It worked for us after about 10 minutes of trying for 7 Dwarves Mine Train. We never tried it for anything else after that, though.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I think some guests are using "refresh" with the wrong mindset.
I used it as an extra little "surprise" we got it! vs relying on it as the tool that determines how much enjoyment I got out of my trip.
I can see how THAT could make one obsess over it and spend a lot of time trying.

 

[1nonly]

9/7/18 at 10:00 pst (1pm orlando time), I tried to get fastpasses for four of use for test track. I managed to get some for 1:15pm for two of us, and 1:20 for the other two. It took all but three minutes to get them in order, meaning initially selected for around 3pm and worked down to those times. Wasn't difficult at all. Now I'll simply cancel them since I'm in California and not in the actual park. But yeah, it's not too difficult to do. But crowds may be a factor.

 

[1nonly]

Huh...test track appears to be down and that fastpass I just spoke about turned into a "Multiple Fastpass" that can be redeemed on various rides anytime today. Cool. But alas, I"m still here in California and not Orlando.

 

[AJT607]

Through refreshing - over the course of about 2 minutes just managed to grab a 1:50 Soarin' FP for 2 people, which I successfully modified to a 1:30 fastpass for Soarin' (and then dropped it for someone else). Next, I scored a 4:40 Frozen FP for two people, which I managed to modify into a 1:30 Fastpass for Frozen (that I again dropped for someone else).

I'm tempted to try my luck at AK and DHS, just to see what is possible at those parks. But my limited takeaway is that there is availability via refresh with limited effort.

 

[MaC410]

The larger your group and the later it is in the day will lower your chances of finding fastpasses. Not you specifically OP, but I think a lot of people go into using this strategy thinking they can use it to get fastpasses for the biggest attractions whenever they want. It's pretty much a take what you can get type thing and sometimes you get lucky and get a super popular attraction. My wife and I treat it as a take what we can get type thing and we have yet to be disappointed. We don't mind riding some of the same things over again as long as we aren't spending our time standing in lines. Every once in a while a big attraction will pop up and we will take it.

 

[lauritagoddess]

I just got back yesterday, and refresh didn't really work much for me either. I tried both with modifying existing FP and with getting additional FP after the first 3, and was never able to get a headliner to show up, i.e., no Slinky Dog in HS, no FOP in AK. The only place that it really seemed to work any was in MK, but even then it was mostly with trying to move times around to get a better one, but still couldn't get a FP to show up for 7DMT or even meeting Mickey in the Town Square Theater. I guess I expected a lot more after reading how it worked so well for others, but for me it it was kind of meh.

 

[MaC410]

I just got back yesterday, and refresh didn't really work much for me either. I tried both with modifying existing FP and with getting additional FP after the first 3, and was never able to get a headliner to show up, i.e., no Slinky Dog in HS, no FOP in AK. The only place that it really seemed to work any was in MK, but even then it was mostly with trying to move times around to get a better one, but still couldn't get a FP to show up for 7DMT or even meeting Mickey in the Town Square Theater. I guess I expected a lot more after reading how it worked so well for others, but for me it it was kind of meh.

You shouldn't really expect to get headliners with this system. It's nice when you get lucky but most of the time you aren't going to get a headliner.

 

[Jkpark]

I should know the answer to this, but I'll ask anyway. If I have tickets in my MDE for a January trip - can I book FPs to play around with the refresh strategy and just make sure they are all cancelled before my 60 days mark to start booking my real ones? If I don't actually use a ticket or FP, it won't start the clock ticking on those park tickets, correct?

 

[Love Tink]

I think some guests are using "refresh" with the wrong mindset.
I used it as an extra little "surprise" we got it! vs relying on it as the tool that determines how much enjoyment I got out of my trip.
I can see how THAT could make one obsess over it and spend a lot of time trying.

Well, for me it does have a big impact on my enjoyment of my trip. I love doing it - for me it's like playing a game. My kids get into it too; they love showing me up by grabbing the time we want on their first refresh when I've been trying for five minutes. I would say it definitely adds to our fun.

I guess if just depends whether one sees it as a chore/hassle or a game.

 

[pigletgirl]

The other thing I want to add is that once we've used our 3 initial passes, we often plan our evening around what other passes we can get later in the day. My family tends to use them from late morning to early afternoon (we have 3 little girls), and then when we return to the park for dinner we choose what we want from there. People cancel constantly. You often hear of those who couldn't get the *prime FP* at 60 days but find out the day they're in the park they stumble across some FP's. (aka FoP or SDMT).

Like I said earlier, it's a crap shoot of what's available at any given time.

 

[20yBWDW]

Here now. Refresh has worked for me. And while I’m sure I’m one of those terrible parents neglecting their children by paying too much attention to my phone, it’s been only 5% from trying to get more fast passes for my son who has ADHD/anxiety/possibly more and only like about 6 rides that he likes to ride 3 times each. It probably took about 5-10 minutes each time, except for the 15 minutes during Indiana Jones getting a SDD after accidentally deleting one. We’ve scored several 7DMT, including one for the fireworks (highly recommend), Splash Mountain, Big Thunder. We’ve not been able to get FOP (I’ve been trying now during Resort time while son swims with a little boy he met here).

**The other 95% of my phone time is checking in on the other children who are home, have school and soccer games I’m missing for the one week of their lives that I will spend traveling with their brother (they, too, have had or will have a one-on-one week in Disney). I get play-by-plays of the games (3 total hours this week so far) as well as afternoon text conversations about their days. I even coordinated carpools for practice and arranged for one kid not to miss an event with his friends. Despite all the neglect, child who is my current traveling companion has still declared it the best week ever and told me once or twice that I’m the best mom ever. So it’s reallyunlikely to be as damaging as it may seem to the outside eye.

 

[mesaboy2]

I should know the answer to this, but I'll ask anyway. If I have tickets in my MDE for a January trip - can I book FPs to play around with the refresh strategy and just make sure they are all cancelled before my 60 days mark to start booking my real ones? If I don't actually use a ticket or FP, it won't start the clock ticking on those park tickets, correct?

Only if the tickets are not part of a room/ticket package, which is covered in the Booking Windows post in the FP FAQ. FPs have no effect on tickets.

 

[hiroMYhero]

make sure they are all cancelled before my 60 days mark

You should make sure they are canceled as soon as you practice the Modify technique. Finding FPs ‘day of’ through refreshing is dependent upon someone who has Canceled their FPs. By hoarding unneeded FPs, you prevent guests who are actually in the parks or who are planning to be in the parks from finding FPs that have been Canceled.

When I’m researching FPs and steps to test out a process, I choose Barnstormer and Cancel it as soon as I’m finished testing a process. You don’t need to hang onto a FP for 30 days.

 

[AngiTN]

Huh...test track appears to be down and that fastpass I just spoke about turned into a "Multiple Fastpass" that can be redeemed on various rides anytime today. Cool. But alas, I"m still here in California and not Orlando.

Most likely rain.

 

[AngiTN]

You should make sure they are canceled as soon as you practice the Modify technique. Finding FPs ‘day of’ through refreshing is dependent upon someone who has Canceled their FPs. By hoarding unneeded FPs, you prevent guests who are actually in the parks or who are planning to be in the parks from finding FPs that have been Canceled.

When I’m researching FPs and steps to test out a process, I choose Barnstormer and Cancel it as soon as I’m finished testing a process. You don’t need to hang onto a FP for 30 days.

Bug and Muppets are two others that are good "test subject" FP

 

[GillianP1301]

I had some success last week. I got an Alien Saucers as an additional fastpass and was able to move the time up to ride almost immediately. I had a few others as well. It took a lot of persistence and I never got any of the really hard to get ones like SDD or FOP. But lots of other stuff I could get and then once I got it, it was almost always possible (and pretty easy) to get an earlier time.

 

[Robo]

Bug and Muppets are two others that are good "test subject" FP

Add Mickey's PhilharMagic.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Add Mickey's PhilharMagic.

But...my rationale: MK is the first park on the list; Barnstormer is the first listed Attraction. I do enough scrolling on TPAS.

 

[Mamapapa]

That's correct. What people will do is book their first three right in a row in the morning. After they get in line for FP1, they will modify FP2 and move the window up so they can go straight to FP2 after exiting FP1. Then they do the same with FP3, while in line for FP2. While in line for FP3, they will search for FP4. And so on for the rest of the day. I've seen people use 8-10 FPs or more doing this, but success is not guaranteed.

Not only could I bot get 4th FP, it couldn't even move my first few passes forward due to no availability. I started with the moving forward option, when that didn't work I tried the 4th FP after tapping for the 3rd FP and still got nothing. The one day in my example it was later in the evening, but other days it was earlier and I never had any success.

Right. It doesn't take much time at all. Seconds, less than 5 minutes of time at a time. I really think people are misunderstanding how long it takes

And this is exactly why I posted this thread - so people would understand that this is simply not the case for everyone. Some of you are lucky and get FP's in a matter of minutes, some of us tried over multiple days and got nothing. After reading so much about this on Dis, I never thought I would get absolutely nothing of value to pop up in 7 days, but that was what happened. I agree with the person who said it was 98% luck!!!