What strategies worked best using the Fast Pass +? Any suggestions or tips that will make our trips better. We will be going to the Parks Monday Dec 30 to Friday Jan 3.
Get the E-tickets. That's the most crowded time for the parks. If you have a hard ticket as well (such as an AP or room key), bring that with you so you can use the legacy FP system as well. Be sure with your time selections. The crowd levels will make it improbable for you to change your times.
Your trip was not during peak season. @fosse76 is likely correct that there will be less flexibility in changing FP+ times during @hollieandjake's holiday visit.You will be able to change your times no problem. We did this a lot on our trip last week, and had great success. Te only ride I couldn't change a time for was TSMM in the late afternoon...
You'll have to take a 2 (or 3) pronged approach:
(1) Make your FP+ for high-traffic, peak-crowd times of day (e.g., 12pm-4pm or later), and only for headline attractions (e.g., HS - Rock 'n' Rollercoaster or TSMM, MK - anything with "mountain" in the name; AK - Expedition Everest or Kilimanjaro Safaris, Epcot - Soarin or Test Track).
(2) Be at a park at rope drop and make a beeline for the headliners for which you don't have FP+. (If the legacy system is still in use and you're allowed to make use of it, get paper FPs for headliners as well, until they've all run out. If a CM tells you that the legacy system is only for off-site guests, be kind and don't use it.)
(3) To the extent possible, make use of morning or evening extra magic hours. If you have parkhoppers, reserve your FP+ in the afternoon or evening at a park that doesn't have EMH hours that day (it will tend to have lower crowds all day than a park with EMH). Then, be there for rope drop at whatever park does have morning EMH that day, and hit the headliners first. When you're done, hop to the non-EMH park for which you've made your FP+. If you're more of a night owl and would rather use evening EMH than morning ones, then reverse the process: make your FP+ for mid-morning or early afternoon at a non-EMH park: sleep in, show up there well after rope drop to use your FP+ and hopefully enjoy slightly lower crowds, and then hop to the evening EMH park and stay as late as you like.
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