And what do you know? There were my My Magic Bands just waiting to be customized. I decided to call the other guests in my party and give them dibs on color choices. I thought it would be fun and less confusing if we all chose a different color. So a couple of phone calls later, we settled on blue, green, and pink. My mom stole green which would have been my top choice, but I will live with pink!
Now on to fast passes. I didn't do them right away. I really needed to get my plans out in front of me and try to maneuver the best time parks/times for each day. Plus the fact that the people I am traveling with do not live in my household and therefore need to be contacted to discuss would make it a little more difficult. I've basically planned our whole trip, neither of them care what we do and completely trust that I will plan the best vacation for us. But that doesn't stop me from feeling a little bit like I need to consult them and make sure they are happy with my choices.
So this would be the part of the new changes that I am not particularly thrilled about. A couple of years ago, this would have been right up my alley. I was the type of WDW visitor that planned every moment of our vacation, stuck to a strict schedule, and basically irritated everyone I was traveling with due to my OCD. Now however, things have changed a bit. In fact since this trip came to fruition, all we have been talking about is how we don't want any set plans as far as park touring goes (we do have ADRS booked), and we want to leave plenty of time for resting and pretty much just fly by the seat of our pants. Maybe it's because I had a kid and now realize that relaxation is precious or maybe it is because I've seen and done most things in WDW and realize I don't have to pack it all in each time. So basically having to know what park we want to be at and what time frame we want to ride certain attractions is REALLY messing with those plans. So you might be saying to yourself, just don't make fast pass reservations and go ahead and fly by the seat of your pants. I've considered that, but then again I hesitate to not make them and then possibly miss a couple of must do attractions due to the very long waits.
I agonized....and agonized.... Laid out our trip in front of me and chose what parks I thought we would want to be at each day. I made fast pass reservations with enough time to spare to get to our dinner reservations, and I am done. I left our last day blank and figured I would just try to make the fast pass reservations for that day on the day before when we have a better grasp on our plans. I did all of this through the app and very much hope that it can be changed with ease while we are in WDW if our plans suddenly do not mesh with what I had originally thought. I also need to HOPE that there are attractions that we want still available last minute for changes. I guess we shall see...
As far as the experience with actually booking the reservations, I found it to be pretty simple and easy to use through the app. The only complaint I will mention is that the app forced me to make three reservations when I only wanted one. For example, our first day we will not be getting in until 3:00 and we have a later dinner planned at the Magic Kingdom that evening. I wanted to throw one fast pass in there before dinner. Since we only have time for one, I only wanted to make one. The system forced me to make three, two of which I will not be able to make therefore will go unused and most likely take from someone else. When I went back into the system to see if I could cancel those other two, if I cancelled one, it cancelled the entire day. I did not like that at all and now have two fast passes wasted.
So in a very long drawn out nutshell....I am not sold on fast pass plus. I feel like the fact that I am a Disney nerd makes it not as difficult. With that being said, I just cannot see first time families or people who think WDW and Universal are the same park understanding this process or even realizing it is there for their use. Not to mention these first timers would never know where they want to be at what time months ahead of their vacation. Regardless, I am just happy I finally got my chance to experience the changes. Hope to report on our experience when we return!