FP+

[loriloughs]

We are going to DisneyWorld in September. We have been there many times but this is our first time using MagicBands and FP+. I have done some research and my head is spinning! Our usual "modus operandi" is use our park hoppers to visit one park in the morning and then head to Epcot. We have no kids with us this time! I need some suggestions on what to book for fastpasses and what times. Does it still work that if you are at the ropes at opening time and do the "Dumbo Dash" there will be no wait at the headliner attractions? We were comfortable with the old fastpass protocol and are at a bit uneasy with the new system. Thanks!

 

[cw1982]

Are you staying onsite? If so, and you plan to be at the parks at opening anyway, I would say the best thing to do is take advantage of morning EMH's in one park and then hop to the second park either at lunch time or a little later if you're wanting to relax at the resort first, and book your FP's for the second park. You probably won't need them as much in the morning as you would in the afternoon.

If you're not staying onsite, I'd still say the same thing, but instead I would avoid whichever park has morning EMH's, because by the time you would get into the parks, lines will already be longer for the headliners.

DH and I didn't go to any of the parks at opening and we booked our first three FP's each day to be right around lunch time and after lunch, and we still got to do everything we wanted every day, so I wouldn't worry too much about starting the FP's later in the day if it was me.

 

[Weather_Lady]

I recommend the following:

- If you're hopping to Epcot for the evening and want to ride Soarin' or Test Track (or if you're hopping to HS and want to ride TSMM, RnR or ToT), you'll have to pre-reserve your FP+ in Epcot (or HS) for that day, because otherwise they'll be gone by the time you hop there in the afternoon. Having FP+ pre-set for the other parks is less important -- MK has much higher FP+ "inventory" and will typically still have some good ones left in the latter half of the day, and at AK, the last hour or two before closing will generally have low crowds, making FP+ less necessary.

- For your morning ("hop from") park, arrive at rope drop and hit the biggest headliners right away. Just as in the old days, if you know which attractions to prioritize, you won't need to you any FP+ at all to have consistently short lines in the first 2 hours after rope drop, even with a regular park opening (no EMH). For that reason, I wouldn't schedule any FP+ earlier than 10:30 or 11:00am because they'll be unnecessary during that time, unless you just need to "burn" some of your FP+ in order to make yourself eligible to book a 4th FP+ at your afternoon ("hop to") park. (*Note: FP+ has made some subtle changes to "which attractions to prioritize" -- most notably, Dinosaur, POTC, Little Mermaid in MK and Haunted Mansion have all doubled their average wait times with FP+, so you'll want to do them earlier in the day than perhaps you used to. That's about it, though.)

During my family's visit in May, we typically took advantage of rope drop arrivals in the morning and scheduled all of our FP+ for the late afternoon/early evening hours. We did all the headliners and rarely waited more than 10 minutes for anything all week.

Don't sweat it -- have a great time!

 

[cw1982]

@Weather_Lady has some great points. I would add, though, that The Little Mermaid has actually seen wait times go back down since 7dmt opened, and PoC and HM both seem to go through spurts where they are walk - on before their waits jump up to 30 minutes or more. Riding them first thing in the morning or later in the evening can help with this, or they can easily be booked for a rolling fastpass. When we did that in June, we were able to get times that were an hour or less from the time we were standing at the kiosk, and that was in the afternoon when most things would already be picked over.

Also, Dinosaur was walk on after about 5 pm.