Discouraged

[i'm grumpy]

Between the outrageous flight prices and the new fast pass mess, sis is about ready to say forget it.

[faline]

Sorry to hear.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

Ick! I'm sorry.

You could tell her that you know one person (me) who actually liked FP+ better than "old" FP.

[Goofeygal]

I also like the new FP+ better.

[VAdizneefan]

FP+ really isn't as bad as people online make it sound. It can actually be pretty handy.

Keep an eye on flight pricing and wait for a drop or consider an alternate airport, if possible.

More than anything else, you should never be discouraged before a vacation! Don't let everyone get you down, stress you out, or make you rethink your trip. Just have fun!!

[Cass&KenziesMom]

I was just about to suggest an alternate airport. A lot of times if you fly out/into a smaller airport your prices will be lower. Also look around for tips on finding cheaper flights. I don't remember where I read it but there are certain days that are supposed to be cheaper for booking flights.

[BrerGnat]

Well don't look at airfare on Sundays, for starters. It is the most expensive day to book flights.

Try late night Tuesday or Wednesdays.

Fly on Tuesday or Wednesdays for the lowest fares. Use a site like Kayak to compare options (although Southwest won't show up on there).

There are tons of ways to get cheaper airfare, so don't give up.

Also, FP+ is not that bad Don't stress too much about that.

[EeyoresBestFriend]

I also found the FP+ better than I thought it would be. Although I still like spontaneity the best

I also have been finding airline prices and timelines little discouraging for possible fall travel. I'm just going to continue watching and hoping.

[BrerGnat]

I also have been finding airline prices and timelines little discouraging for possible fall travel. I'm just going to continue watching and hoping.

Start looking 6-8 weeks out. No sooner. 6 weeks is the sweet spot.

[Melanie]

Well, I'm going to have to agree with her on the FP+, and I've given it plenty of chances. It's awful, IMO.

But good advice here on airfare. I almost always fly mid week if I can.

[joonyer]

The FP+ system could certainly use some improvements. But, our experience this past Christmas trip was much better than I expected, given all the negativity I had read online.

Airline prices on the other hand . . . .

[Mrs Bus Driver]

Fly mid-week, go southwest, go off season and lock in those tickets 6 months out.

[i'm grumpy]

Thanks everyone. The 3 closest airports are just beyond outrageous. The other is 3 hours north and still pricey. A CM told her we could book the FP+ without park tickets. I knew that wasn’t right because I read here it isn’t possible.

[BrerGnat]

Thanks everyone. The 3 closest airports are just beyond outrageous. The other is 3 hours north and still pricey. A CM told her we could book the FP+ without park tickets. I knew that wasn’t right because I read here it isn’t possible.

No, you can't book FP without tickets. But, honestly, if you aren't going at a super busy time, don't worry too much. There are only 2 of you, right? My friend and I went last October (over a Saturday, Sunday, Monday). We made our FP+ reservations 10 days prior to arrival. We got everything we wanted at times that worked for us. We only had to wait in line for 7 Dwarfs Mine Train but it was only 50 min, so not a huge issue. And when my husband and I went over marathon weekend in January, we made our reservations like 3 days out. Also got what we wanted.

Honestly, it's not the end of the world. It becomes much more annoying when you have a large party to have to coordinate.

[baldburke]

Here's another positive vote for the new FP+ system.

Yes you do have to pick your park 60 or 30 days out (depended on your stay), but we're already booking dining 180 days out so we sort of have an idea of what we want to do anyway.

But the system itself is fairly flexible. Attractions and times can be adjusted on the fly through the app and there are kiosks with lots of CMs to make changes too.

Yes it could still use some tweaking but we didn't find it to be worse than the old paper system. And it certainly wouldn't keep us from visiting WDW!

We all know a WDW visit isn't cheap so hopefully you can work out your details. Good luck!

[i'm grumpy]

3 adults, 2 kids. Around Memorial Day. And no smart phones.

[BrerGnat]

3 adults, 2 kids. Around Memorial Day. And no smart phones.

THIS memorial day? And you don't have plane tickets yet? And no smart phones? Eek! Now I see why you are discouraged. Sorry to say you won't find decent airfare at this point. You may need to just go old school and plan for long lines.

Can you go another time? Later in summer, maybe?

[azcavalier]

Yeah, can't help with airline prices.

FP+, like everything else, has it's pro's and con's. But think of it this way....imagine that WDW didn't have any system at all like the Fast Pass....that it was just like the good ol' days when you just had to wait in the same stand-by line as everyone else. And then Disney came out with the FP+ system. We'd all love it! I can pick rides and just show up and ride them at certain times without the big lines? Awesome!

The thing that bugs me the most is that they try to "sell it" as allowing you to be more spontaneous. Which is a blatant falsehood. THAT'S what I hate most about it.

[1DisneyNut]

3 adults, 2 kids. Around Memorial Day. And no smart phones.

That many people, around a holiday and no smart phones. lol That is probably not going to go so well. You don't absolutely have to have a smart phone but with the way everything is done at WDW these days, it will be a huge disadvantage not having one and you might find yourself wasting tons of time in the kiosk lines instead of enjoying yourself.

Here's another positive vote for the new FP+ system.

Yes you do have to pick your park 60 or 30 days out (depended on your stay), but we're already booking dining 180 days out so we sort of have an idea of what we want to do anyway.

We are just the opposite. FP+ is a pain that shouldn't be there.

We despise the ADR's for dining. We rarely ever eat at any of the table service restaurants because of the 180 day ADR's. We tried it with free dining once and on another trip scheduled a few ADR's and both times cancelled them all and just went counter service. It was annoying having to worry about timing and logistics all afternoon and whether we had time for another ride or needed to head to our ADR's. We look at it like this: we can eat at restaurants anytime with many of them being better than the similar counterparts at WDW. We go to WDW for the attractions and entertainment.

We find the pre-planning for FP+ to be just as annoying and puts us in a similar position where we are worrying about making FP+ times. It puts stress into a vacation where vacations are supposed to be a time for relaxing and leaving stress behind.

[Cass&KenziesMom]

I'm guessing you're way too far to consider driving and option?