*** Yay May! OFFICIAL MAY 2020 THREAD!!! Flowers are starting to bloom! ***

[Roscoe18]

The site you’re referring to is the Dibb https://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=835236.

I actually prefer Touring Plans FP availability site https://touringplans.com/hollywood-studios/fastpass-availability/date/2020-02-19
This one allows you to see how many time slots for all rides available each day and gives an idea of time of day availability. Just use the calendar to go 60 days from today and count up from there to see what the availability looks like 2 months from now.

Used to be, you’d have to have HS on your fourth day or later for a decent shot at a Slinky Dog FP. Now you can get a shot for any T1 ride at 60+1 and at 60+2 you are almost guaranteed to get your choice for mid afternoon or later. If you have to have a morning FP for a T1 ride, you may need to wait til later in the week.

I did a little "research" today at work on how the FP situation is looking as if my FP day were today. Most everything I want, I could get, if TP is to be believed - Slinky seems easier than the other DHS tier ones at the moment, as it had more morning availability on the days I checked. I was a little discouraged at the other two though - the earliest MMRR at 60+6 (which would be our departure day) is 11:55, and something similar for MFSR. 66 days from now is 4/24, which is a Saturday so maybe that has something to do with it? Though 4/23 starts around 12:30 for both rides, so they might just be hard to get. I'll continue to check as it gets closer to our FP day (less than two weeks now!)

 

[GBRforWDW]

I did a little "research" today at work on how the FP situation is looking as if my FP day were today. Most everything I want, I could get, if TP is to be believed - Slinky seems easier than the other DHS tier ones at the moment, as it had more morning availability on the days I checked. I was a little discouraged at the other two though - the earliest MMRR at 60+6 (which would be our departure day) is 11:55, and something similar for MFSR. 66 days from now is 4/24, which is a Saturday so maybe that has something to do with it? Though 4/23 starts around 12:30 for both rides, so they might just be hard to get. I'll continue to check as it gets closer to our FP day (less than two weeks now!)

Yeah, I have the same issue with my day 6 for MFSR. I know the TP site says they don't show everything available, but I'd imagine it's close. Also, they only update throughout the day for the current day, everything else is updated super early morning, so you'd definitely still want to be up early booking those top tier FP's.

I think with Slinky being nearly 2 years old, MFSR being a top priority for Star Wars fans, and MMRR still an unknown novelty, people are scooping the new ones up quicker. That's kind of what I was hoping would happen though with the FP situation. It really helped that all the other rides went back to tier 2, including the TSL rides, which were all tier 1 last trip. My 60+2 I was hoping I'd get the SDD FP when I booked and planned the trip. Now I can add TSM, while also knowing SDD will be available, so that excites me. I'm going to try to RD MMRR, but I have no idea how well that will work. 60+6, i'm hoping against all odds I can get MFSR FP for 11ish. I'll have to leave the park no later than 1140, so it's gotta work! lol.

 

[FutureDisneyEventPlanner]

Flower and Garden starts in two weeks and still no menus? Ugh, I need to prepare!

 

[magickingdomprincess]

Flower and Garden starts in two weeks and still no menus? Ugh, I need to prepare!

I know! Come on Disney! I'm ready ro start drooling!

 

[GBRforWDW]

I know! Come on Disney! I'm ready ro start drooling!

Lol, I prepared by booking Garden Grill for lunch and Akershus for Dinner

I have people that would never be able to figure out which food vendor they want to eat from, so it's just easier to tell them where they're going. haha.

 

[GBRforWDW]

I have probably a dumb question for those of you staying Club Level. Does that mean you are staying at a DVC location? Or is there a club level option when booking a room?

I went ahead and booked a cruise for my birthday next January, I was able to get 2 round trip tickets using airline miles and only had to pay a couple hundred for the third ticket, so super cheap flights. After the cruise, I was looking at staying in a club level studio room for a couple nights and was wanting the luxury of booking FP's 90 days out rather than 60, since I know next to nothing will be available at 60 and 60+1 days. ok, there might be, i just like more options Thanks in advance!

 

[Tessaf]

I have probably a dumb question for those of you staying Club Level. Does that mean you are staying at a DVC location? Or is there a club level option when booking a room?

I went ahead and booked a cruise for my birthday next January, I was able to get 2 round trip tickets using airline miles and only had to pay a couple hundred for the third ticket, so super cheap flights. After the cruise, I was looking at staying in a club level studio room for a couple nights and was wanting the luxury of booking FP's 90 days out rather than 60, since I know next to nothing will be available at 60 and 60+1 days. ok, there might be, i just like more options Thanks in advance!

There are 2 building options when booking CL that isn’t DVC. The mail building and outdoor building (Sugar Loaf) at the GF. The other hotels have them on different floors and buildings- I’ve never stayed at any hotel other then the GF so I’m not very knowledgeable on those CL locations. They have the standard room options, 2 queen, king, etc. It is nice being able to secure FP early, but I always found it odd that it’s 90 days from checkout instead of checkin day.

 

[GBRforWDW]

There are 2 building options when booking CL that isn’t DVC. The mail building and outdoor building (Sugar Loaf) at the GF. The other hotels have them on different floors and buildings- I’ve never stayed at any hotel other then the GF so I’m not very knowledgeable on those CL locations. They have the standard room options, 2 queen, king, etc. It is nice being able to secure FP early, but I always found it odd that it’s 90 days from checkout instead of checkin day.

I was looking at Animal Kingdom lodge and the possibility of renting DVC points. Would that be sufficient to be at club level then? I should probably join a Club conversation to get those answers, lol.

Yeah, that is weird, 90 days til checkout. haha. oh well, I don't think it matters that much since the main competition can't book until 60 days out anyway. For CL is it always 90 days out or only if you buy the additional fastpasses per day?

 

[Tessaf]

I was looking at Animal Kingdom lodge and the possibility of renting DVC points. Would that be sufficient to be at club level then? I should probably join a Club conversation to get those answers, lol.

Yeah, that is weird, 90 days til checkout. haha. oh well, I don't think it matters that much since the main competition can't book until 60 days out anyway. For CL is it always 90 days out or only if you buy the additional fastpasses per day?

It’s 90 days from checkout for the CL FP days you book. Any days that you don't book CL FP (after the 3 day CL FP minimum) have to be booked at the 60 day mark.

I've never done DVC renting or anything like that and I'd be to scared to guess lol. I would definitely check out the CL link. https://disboards.com/threads/disne...and-questions.3414590/page-1357#post-61579777

 

[Roscoe18]

I have probably a dumb question for those of you staying Club Level. Does that mean you are staying at a DVC location? Or is there a club level option when booking a room?

I went ahead and booked a cruise for my birthday next January, I was able to get 2 round trip tickets using airline miles and only had to pay a couple hundred for the third ticket, so super cheap flights. After the cruise, I was looking at staying in a club level studio room for a couple nights and was wanting the luxury of booking FP's 90 days out rather than 60, since I know next to nothing will be available at 60 and 60+1 days. ok, there might be, i just like more options Thanks in advance!

I don't know much about CL to be honest, but I believe you need at least three day park tickets in order to take advantage of the FP thing. So if you're only staying two nights after the cruise, I don't think it would apply to you.

 

[GBRforWDW]

I don't know much about CL to be honest, but I believe you need at least three day park tickets in order to take advantage of the FP thing. So if you're only staying two nights after the cruise, I don't think it would apply to you.

Well aren't you just a ruiner of fun!!!! hahahaha. I will research that more and if thats the case, i'll just book a regular room somewhere else,

 

[Tessaf]

Well aren't you just a ruiner of fun!!!! hahahaha. I will research that more and if thats the case, i'll just book a regular room somewhere else,

It does have a 3 day minimum purchase for the CL FP... but I believe you only need 2 nights CL hotel stay.

 

[GBRforWDW]

It’s 90 days from checkout for the CL FP days you book. Any days that you don't book CL FP (after the 3 day CL FP minimum) have to be booked at the 60 day mark.

I've never done DVC renting or anything like that and I'd be to scared to guess lol. I would definitely check out the CL link. https://disboards.com/threads/disne...and-questions.3414590/page-1357#post-61579777

It does have a 3 day minimum purchase for the CL FP... but I believe you only need 2 nights CL hotel stay.

Thanks so much. It was just a crazy idea I had. I'll definitely read through that discussion board, but sounds like with the 3 days in the parks, that puts me out. I can go to parks Monday afternoon/evening and all day tuesday, but our flight home at 10am wednesday wouldn't allow us time to get into a park, as the magical express would pick us up at 7am.

 

[GBRforWDW]

I saw this earlier - Cinderella Castle will undergo a "royal makeover". It says here that it will start "in the coming weeks" and continue through summer. I don't know what the scope of the work is (though there is concept art) but I hope that doesn't mean scaffolding in all of our castle pictures for this trip.

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...isney-world-resort-to-receive-royal-makeover/

Yes I’m concerned about this now and what this means for the trip in May. I know it will be beautiful when it’s complete but now I’m wondering if there will be construction going on around the castle during our trip in May, disappointing. Hoping for more details in the coming weeks especially because I’m taking someone to Magic Kingdom who has never been before and this would be their first time seeing the castle.

I'm also slightly disappointed that the castle might have scaffolding up. We wouldn't have gotten any pictures without tons of people in them but still it's a little frustrating if they have it obviously under construction.

This is what they did at DLR to cover daytime construction work on the castle.
https://www.ocregister.com/2015/02/...tle-or-small-world-in-disney-style-of-course/

Not sure how many people have followed the comments on the original Cinderella Castle story, but the author of the story, who happens to be the Magic Kingdom Vice President has been responding to some important questions regarding how the work will proceed. It sounds fairly positive for us as guests - the biggest response he gave was this: "While temporary construction equipment may be present while Cinderella Castle receives its royal makeover, it will remain uncovered and we will do our best to ensure guests are still able to capture special photos and memories in this iconic spot"

Check out the link for more of Jason Kirk's responses:
https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...isney-world-resort-to-receive-royal-makeover/

 

[kylenne]

I have probably a dumb question for those of you staying Club Level. Does that mean you are staying at a DVC location? Or is there a club level option when booking a room?

I went ahead and booked a cruise for my birthday next January, I was able to get 2 round trip tickets using airline miles and only had to pay a couple hundred for the third ticket, so super cheap flights. After the cruise, I was looking at staying in a club level studio room for a couple nights and was wanting the luxury of booking FP's 90 days out rather than 60, since I know next to nothing will be available at 60 and 60+1 days. ok, there might be, i just like more options Thanks in advance!

Club level varies from resort to resort but AKL I believe is the only resort that offers Club Level for DVC rooms, at every other resort Club Level is on the non-DVC side only and has its own set of booking categories. In our case we had been booked at the Poly in a Standard room since last July, and when agency exclusive rates were not available through our TA for our dates, we decided to upgrade to Club Level Garden View when Disney released AP discounts and it was only $60 more per night above rack rate for our initial booking. My GF can drink that in beer alone, lol. This will be our first CL experience. At the Poly, all the CL rooms are in the Hawaii building where the lounge is, aside from the suites in the Tonga building.

The CL FPs are a "pilot" program that you have to pay extra for. It's $50 pp, per day, with a minimum of 3 days purchased. It's not cheap, but with the deal we got and the uncertainty at DHS it made sense. We are also only a party of 2 so it's a lot easier for us to justify extras.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Club level varies from resort to resort but AKL I believe is the only resort that offers Club Level for DVC rooms, at every other resort Club Level is on the non-DVC side only and has its own set of booking categories. In our case we had been booked at the Poly in a Standard room since last July, and when agency exclusive rates were not available through our TA for our dates, we decided to upgrade to Club Level Garden View when Disney released AP discounts and it was only $60 more per night above rack rate for our initial booking. My GF can drink that in beer alone, lol. This will be our first CL experience. At the Poly, all the CL rooms are in the Hawaii building where the lounge is, aside from the suites in the Tonga building.

The CL FPs are a "pilot" program that you have to pay extra for. It's $50 pp, per day, with a minimum of 3 days purchased. It's not cheap, but with the deal we got and the uncertainty at DHS it made sense. We are also only a party of 2 so it's a lot easier for us to justify extras.

Thanks for the info! we're a party of 3, so not much bigger I already bought the plane ticket so we could get home at a reasonable time, so that 3rd day unfortunately is not an option. Oh well, it was fun to daydream about. haha. I'll look at the other moderate hotels and see what's available, but will probably hold off booking anything until deals become available for next winter. fingers crossed traffic is way down over this past winter. haha.

Anyway, this is way off topic for May, so I will stop talking about it. Thanks for everyone's input!

 

[acciobrain]

Kind of related to the recent convo, is anyone else planning on booking a bounceback when you're there in May?

 

[kylenne]

Kind of related to the recent convo, is anyone else planning on booking a bounceback when you're there in May?

Depending on what the offers are, yeah. We know we will definitely be doing another big trip for the 50th, possibly our last for a while since there are other places we want to go. I'll definitely be asking, I know I never see anything about bouncebacks in the room when I go.

 

[DisneyFanJenn]

Kind of related to the recent convo, is anyone else planning on booking a bounceback when you're there in May?

We are already booked for 2 weeks in September but might book a bounceback for early January if I can twist DH's arm!

 

[acciobrain]

Depending on what the offers are, yeah. We know we will definitely be doing another big trip for the 50th, possibly our last for a while since there are other places we want to go. I'll definitely be asking, I know I never see anything about bouncebacks in the room when I go.

I've only ever had a pamphlet in my room about them once and I was staying in an AKL villa at the time. The rates are always available though to anyone staying on property while you're still checked in. We also want to go back for the 50th.