FP+ with little ones?

[lebeau]

We're getting ready to select our FPs for our upcoming trip and I wanted to clarify a few things in advance. We are a typical family of four with thwo little ones. They will be ages 5 and 9 when we travel. The 9 year old will probably ride everything. But the 5 year old is timid. For example, she won't rise the Little Mermaid because Ursula scared her last time.

She won't want to ride most of the attractions the rest of us will want FPs for. Her primary interest will be visiting princesses. So I wanted to see if either of these things are possible uses of her FP.

Option 1: The three of us schedule our FPs for say Splash Mountain and then schedule her FP to meet a princess. Obviously, she can't walk in there by herself. Can an adult without a FP accompany her through the line? They wouldn't participate in the M&G. Just help a child through the line which she can't do herself. I'm guessing no, but I thought I'd check.

Option 2: Barring that, can we all select Splash Mountain and the 9 year old use the extra FP? This is what we would have done under the paper system. That way, the 9-year old rides twice, once with mom and once with dad. Kind of like a child swap. I wasn't sure if you can use a family member's FP basically.

Any other suggestions?

 

[journ116]

We're getting ready to select our FPs for our upcoming trip and I wanted to clarify a few things in advance. We are a typical family of four with thwo little ones. They will be ages 5 and 9 when we travel. The 9 year old will probably ride everything. But the 5 year old is timid. For example, she won't rise the Little Mermaid because Ursula scared her last time.

She won't want to ride most of the attractions the rest of us will want FPs for. Her primary interest will be visiting princesses. So I wanted to see if either of these things are possible uses of her FP.

Option 1: The three of us schedule our FPs for say Splash Mountain and then schedule her FP to meet a princess. Obviously, she can't walk in there by herself. Can an adult without a FP accompany her through the line? They wouldn't participate in the M&G. Just help a child through the line which she can't do herself. I'm guessing no, but I thought I'd check.

Option 2: Barring that, can we all select Splash Mountain and the 9 year old use the extra FP? This is what we would have done under the paper system. That way, the 9-year old rides twice, once with mom and once with dad. Kind of like a child swap. I wasn't sure if you can use a family member's FP basically.

Any other suggestions?

(A) Option 1: No, this is not possible. If she wants to meet Princesses, get there for their first M&G of the day. Your wait time should be minimal, but then again, you run the risk of missing out on lower lines for other attractions WITHOUT the use of FP+.

(A) Option 2: Yes, your 9 y.o. can use her sister's MB. We did this a few times during our most recent visit because we, too, run into the same situation…however, our youngest DD's problem lies in her height…she's just plain old too short.

FYI: Disney and CM's will tell you differently, saying that "FP+ is not interchangeable amongst guests," meaning, you should not use one another's MB's.

Don't stress too much about these things, because once you get down there and figure things out with the whole FP+ "thing," you'll realize, "Why was I so stressed out? This isn't that bad!"

 

[Weather_Lady]

Can you schedule a meal (e.g., Akershus) that will take care of the most of the princesses your daughter really wants to see? If you can check most of them off of the list, you won't have to waste precious "rope drop" time on princess M&Gs, as many of the others (e.g., Tiana, Jasmine) can be met almost any time of day without too much of a line unless it's a high crowd period. (The exception: if she really wants to meet Rapunzel or the Frozen princesses, she'll have to go to Princess Fairytale Hall in the Magic Kingdom, and you'll want to either do that first thing or get FP+ for them as those lines build quickly and stay long all day.) This will give you some additional flexibility, and keep you from having to use too many FP+ on Princess M&Gs.

I think Option #2 will be your best bet. Unless you have another family member who wants to skip the same attractions as your 5-year-old (meaning that reserving "split FP+" would work for you), make the FP+ for the same attractions for all of you, and if there's one "left over" for a particular attraction because your younger daughter doesn't wish to ride, your older daughter can borrow her sister's MB and use it. (Also, your younger daughter may suddenly change her mind and want to do some of those "scary" attractions after all -- our 5-year-old did.)

 

[lebeau]

(A) Option 1: No, this is not possible. If she wants to meet Princesses, get there for their first M&G of the day. Your wait time should be minimal, but then again, you run the risk of missing out on lower lines for other attractions WITHOUT the use of FP+.
(A) Option 2: Yes, your 9 y.o. can use her sister's MB. We did this a few times during our most recent visit because we, too, run into the same situation…however, our youngest DD's problem lies in her height…she's just plain old too short.
FYI: Disney and CM's will tell you differently, saying that "FP+ is not interchangeable amongst guests," meaning, you should not use one another's MB's.
Don't stress too much about these things, because once you get down there and figure things out with the whole FP+ "thing," you'll realize, "Why was I so stressed out? This isn't that bad!"

Thanks! That is pretty much what I figured. Since option 2 is viable, it sounds like we're in business. I just hate for the 4th FP in our group to go to waste. Especially since we're capped at 3 a day now.

I wouldn't say I'm stressed yet. We're going down in late May/early June. Typically, we have been able to go during the offseason. So this will be busier than we are used to. And with our FPs capped at 3, I am moderately concerned about lines. The girls just expect to walk on to everything. We may end up spending less time at the parks and more at the pool as a result. But that's fine too.

Can you schedule a meal (e.g., Akershus) that will take care of the most of the princesses your daughter really wants to see? If you can check most of them off of the list, you won't have to waste precious "rope drop" time on princess M&Gs, as many of the others (e.g., Tiana, Jasmine) can be met almost any time of day without too much of a line unless it's a high crowd period. (The exception: if she really wants to meet Rapunzel or the Frozen princesses, she'll have to go to Princess Fairytale Hall in the Magic Kingdom, and you'll want to either do that first thing or get FP+ for them as those lines build quickly and stay long all day.) This will give you some additional flexibility, and keep you from having to use too many FP+ on Princess M&Gs.

I think Option #2 will be your best bet. Unless you have another family member who wants to skip the same attractions as your 5-year-old (meaning that reserving "split FP+" would work for you), make the FP+ for the same attractions for all of you, and if there's one "left over" for a particular attraction because your younger daughter doesn't wish to ride, your older daughter can borrow her sister's MB and use it. (Also, your younger daughter may suddenly change her mind and want to do some of those "scary" attractions after all -- our 5-year-old did.)

Thanks for the tips.

We have Akershus scheduled. So that should cross most of the must-see princesses off our list. Our last trip was 18 months ago. Back then, we did Cindy's Table, Akershus and several princess m&gs. We saw most of the princesses 2-3 times. So princessess there aren't any must-sees this time except perhaps Ariel. But she should be at Akershus in theory.

The Frozen princesses are a must. So we'll definitely burn a FP on them. I have heard the nightmare stories of hour-long waits. Currently, we have 4 days planned at MK. So I should have at least one set of FPs to burn on princesses. We may even use another on Rapunzel although we did see her last time.

I'll probably just keep all the FPs consistent. As you say, the little one may gain some confidence after experiencing a couple rides. And I may just bribe her. It worked on her sister at that age. If she doesn't, the FPs won't go to waste as long as other family members can still use them. That's good to know.