MK FP+ Strategy

[DisneyPrincess5]

I'm curious to learn your Magic Kingdom FP+ strategies! Perspective is helpful as we contemplate what to do when the time comes.

It's just DH and I and we don't do character meet and greets, parades, or fireworks. So we strictly get attraction FPs. We typically spend two full days at MK and our FP selections are as follows:
First time: Mine Train, Peter Pan, BTMRR
Second time: Mine Train, Space Mountain, Splash Mountain
We don't mind waiting in 30-40 minute lines. We choose these to avoid major waiting and heat.

What do you choose? Do you try to get them earlier in the day? Around ADRs? Do you usually get lucky making more after your 3 are up?

 

[EPICOT]

I have SM, PP, and Mine Train for my upcoming trip with the earliest starting at 10 and the next 2 following immediately after. I've heard this strategy is good because you save your FP for when the lines start getting a bit longer, but also use them early enough to get additional FP.

 

[Cosmic Commando]

I have SM, PP, and Mine Train for my upcoming trip with the earliest starting at 10 and the next 2 following immediately after. I've heard this strategy is good because you save your FP for when the lines start getting a bit longer, but also use them early enough to get additional FP.

This is exactly what my strategy is for most days on my next trip. If your FPs start at 10, you can use that first one as late as 11-11:15 in case something happens and you don't hit rope drop. Or (hopefully) we'll be in the park at rope drop and taking advantage of lower crowds until the window for that first FP is almost over. If you use your third FP at 12, then you really should be able to get a good 4th FP. It's also good for park hopping; you won't be tied down in one park too long.

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

Do you think us aiming for a BTMRR FP is silly? The reason why we do is to avoid waiting amongst those hot rocks and the line can just wrap and in the heat, we'd rather not. I guess we could just monitor wait times and go to it when it's low, then use the FP for something else with a less appealing line. Thoughts?

 

[correcaminos]

Do you think us aiming for a BTMRR FP is silly? The reason why we do is to avoid waiting amongst those hot rocks and the line can just wrap and in the heat, we'd rather not. I guess we could just monitor wait times and go to it when it's low, then use the FP for something else with a less appealing line. Thoughts?

It's not a bad thing. We did find that regularly BTM was 10-15 minutes not long after park opening though.

Our MK strategy is to get a few we really "need" to do. Then if we get to the ride and the line is short we switch out the FP for another. Also as soon as we use the first, we often push back the 2nd and then the 3rd to earlier times. We had 5 FP+ scheduled by lunch one of our days.

 

[allgiggles]

We're a family of 5-8 depending on who is with us on that particular trip. We always do 1 full day at MK (rope drop) and then 1 or 2 partial days (we hop there from another park). Our standard plan for our full day is to head to Splash & BTMRR at rope drop. We ride each of those once or twice depending on our mood. Then we head to HM, IASM, and a few other things depending on what has a 5-10 minute wait at that time (usually things like Mickey's Philharmagic, Buzz, People Mover, or Carousel of Progress). I pre-schedule FPs for PP, 7DMT, & Space for about 10:00, 11:00, & 12:00. In between those rides we continue to do other rides in the area that have less than a 10 minute wait and we eat lunch (sometimes BOG and sometimes CHH). As soon as we use that 3rd FP we schedule a 4th for something that's available immediately (or within a few minutes) and nearby. We continue to do this until we're ready for a break and head back to the hotel. We return to the park in the evening (around 6:00) and continue to get FPs for whatever is available in a quick time frame. We usually end up getting 10-12 FPs total for the day and stop getting them around 9:30-10:00 because most of the rides we still want to go on have less than a 10 minute wait.

 

[EPICOT]

Do you think us aiming for a BTMRR FP is silly? The reason why we do is to avoid waiting amongst those hot rocks and the line can just wrap and in the heat, we'd rather not. I guess we could just monitor wait times and go to it when it's low, then use the FP for something else with a less appealing line. Thoughts?

BTMRR is for sure a good choice for FP. I would probably make it your 3rd FP of the day though. It seems the line for that ride builds a bit slower since it is in the back corner of the park.

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

BTMRR is for sure a good choice for FP. I would probably make it your 3rd FP of the day though. It seems the line for that ride builds a bit slower since it is in the back corner of the park.

Wise, that is good logic. Thanks!

 

[allgiggles]

BTMRR is for sure a good choice for FP. I would probably make it your 3rd FP of the day though. It seems the line for that ride builds a bit slower since it is in the back corner of the park.

I agree. We hit that at rope drop and can ride it multiple times with no wait. We've found that for the first 20-30 minutes of the day, the trains aren't even full and sometimes the CMs will let people stay on for another ride. I don't think it would be a good use of a FP early in the morning.

 

[DisneyPrincess5]

I agree. We hit that at rope drop and can ride it multiple times with no wait. We've found that for the first 20-30 minutes of the day, the trains aren't even full and sometimes the CMs will let people stay on for another ride. I don't think it would be a good use of a FP early in the morning.

To your point, this is why I'm wondering if we don't even get a FP at all and just head to it first, or in the morning so then we can have a different FP for something else we hate waiting for. We enjoy BTMRR but we can do it once in the beginning of the day and be happy with that. Thanks for your insight.