Tell me about odds of getting fastpasses in July with NO resort reservation?

[Hardy]

We are here for 3 weeks and do most fps the night before. The only rides I haven't managed to get are mine ride and the pandora rides. We come enough that we aren't too worried about what we get on or not, but since the crackdown just happened it seems I can even get most tough fps on the same day as my 4+ fp, like toy story and test track.

Edit: morning fps are the toughest, but for many rides standby isn't terrible if you do it first thing.

 

[Shanti]

We are thinking of going to stay with our friends in July 2018. I see that July is a really busy time for WDW. Do we have any hope of getting good fastpasses with the 30 day window, or will they all be taken by resort guests? For example, if we want to do the Seven Dwarfs Mine train first thing in the morning - are we outta luck?

Unless you're going during Independence Day week, you should be fine. Don't expect Pandora, or expect 7DMT or FEA in the morning, & book FPs right at 30 days.

 

[scrappingbuckeye]

You should be able to get 7DMT at 30 days without any problems - it will most likely not be in the morning though. I was able to get them during spring break at 30 days without any issues. FEA is also doable. Pandora rides will probably be challenging but otherwise you should be good to go.

 

[BigredNole]

Odds of getting a FP are great. However, it will be for stuff no one wants at times no one really wants.

 

[Klayfish]

Odds of getting a FP are great. However, it will be for stuff no one wants at times no one really wants.

Completely disagree. As many have said in this thread, we've gotten July FP+ for almost all of the top rides, at decent times too. Only exception is Flight of Passage. While you may not get 7DMT at 9am, you can easily get it late morning through evening, same with FEA, etc... It's actually quite easy.

 

[AngiTN]

Odds of getting a FP are great. However, it will be for stuff no one wants at times no one really wants.

If no one wants 7DMT, Splash, BT, SM, FEA, TT, ToT, RnR, EE, TSMM, Soarin, you are absolutely right.

 

[jcvalenti]

We haven't done a summer trip since 2015, but we stayed offsite that trip. We were able to get everything we wanted except 7DMT (which was very new at the time) without a problem. We ended up riding 7DMT 3 or 4 times though - got some complimentary passes from guest services due to a ticket issue we had, rushed it at rope drop once, and walked on later at night while the Main Street Electrical Parade was going on when the wait was less than 30 minutes.

Generally a good summer offsite stay strategy is to plan on being there early for rope drop, and hitting most of the high-traffic attractions first thing. Make your fast passes for late afternoon or early evening. And remember - it storms just about every single afternoon in July ... when the big rainstorms hit, the crowds thin out. Usually if you wait it out for 20 - 30 minutes, you'll find the parks much less crowded and can get in some good rides then too.

 

[ccvb]

If no one wants 7DMT, Splash, BT, SM, FEA, TT, ToT, RnR, EE, TSMM, Soarin, you are absolutely right.

we are going July 4th week and have gotten all of those for mornings and I made them 30 days out. I actually had no problems with any of them. Even 7DMT. Only one I wasn't able to get was FOP and I knew I wouldn't be able to.

 

[LaLaSweets]

The last time i went to Disney in 2014, i didn't stay in a resort. I did get all the FP's i want but not the times i wanted. I did keep checking and was able to get some earlier spots.

 

[nicolispicoli]

Forgive my naive question, Disneyland is my home base so this is new to me. I'm currently researching the same situation for our February 2018 trip (my first ever WDW trip). I know this question is likely better suited for the fastpass thread, but it seems relevant. Why are so many people insistent on trying to get fastpasses for first thing in the morning? Is it because you get the three and they can't overlap each other so you kind of need to start early in order for them to fall in line? And you need to get through them if you want to try for a 4th? I have to plan for 11 people and we're offsite, so I assumed I would wait until my 30 days out and plan our days based on what is available. I have to give you WDW vets major kudos, planning for the world is intense even with all this amazing information!

 

[mesaboy2]

Forgive my naive question, Disneyland is my home base so this is new to me. I'm currently researching the same situation for our February 2018 trip (my first ever WDW trip). I know this question is likely better suited for the fastpass thread, but it seems relevant. Why are so many people insistent on trying to get fastpasses for first thing in the morning? Is it because you get the three and they can't overlap each other so you kind of need to start early in order for them to fall in line? And you need to get through them if you want to try for a 4th? I have to plan for 11 people and we're offsite, so I assumed I would wait until my 30 days out and plan our days based on what is available. I have to give you WDW vets major kudos, planning for the world is intense even with all this amazing information!

Probably because it is the best way to maximize the number of FPs one can get in a day. (You cannot get a 4th FP until you've used it on the 3rd attraction.) One can argue the relative worth of getting FPs early, since wait times are lower--almost without fail--in the first couple of hours of any day. There is no right answer, just depends on what each individual guest wants to do.

 

[Westcoastwild]

Forgive my naive question, Disneyland is my home base so this is new to me. I'm currently researching the same situation for our February 2018 trip (my first ever WDW trip). I know this question is likely better suited for the fastpass thread, but it seems relevant. Why are so many people insistent on trying to get fastpasses for first thing in the morning? Is it because you get the three and they can't overlap each other so you kind of need to start early in order for them to fall in line? And you need to get through them if you want to try for a 4th? I have to plan for 11 people and we're offsite, so I assumed I would wait until my 30 days out and plan our days based on what is available. I have to give you WDW vets major kudos, planning for the world is intense even with all this amazing information!

It's only as intense as you make it.

But as a fellow Disneyland person to another- something that isn't obvious before visiting WDW is how many rides are fast passes at WDW. They pretty much all are. So queues to something that would be walk on at DL aren't because they allow a higher percentage of fps on before letting stand by people on.

If you get rid of all your fast passes and big ticket rides by noon, you can pretty much use additional fast passes to "walk on" to less popular rides as you pass by.

 

[Cinderella94]

We are going July 4 week this year and I've had plenty of tweaking availability, well after the 30 day mark.