What to book with fp+

[Vinsud]

Hi all,

Family of 4 with 2 boys ages 7&9, going to WDW for 7 days in October.
I’d really like to book fp+ on each days at the different parks.
I understand the earliest I can book is 60 days ahead of my hotel reservation, but wanted some ideas of what rides are best to book with fp+ across the 7 days that the boys especially would enjoy? Will I be able to book anything in the new Star Wars park too?

Thanks for any tips.

Vinay

 

[nickys]

Hi all,

Family of 4 with 2 boys ages 7&9, going to WDW for 7 days in October.
I’d really like to book fp+ on each days at the different parks.
I understand the earliest I can book is 60 days ahead of my hotel reservation, but wanted some ideas of what rides are best to book with fp+ across the 7 days that the boys especially would enjoy? Will I be able to book anything in the new Star Wars park too?

Thanks for any tips.

Vinay

Hi, welcome to the forums. Keep those questions coming!

So Fastpasses. The basics, you can book 3 in advance in any one park, per day.

In Magic Kingdom, all rides are equal. Popular ones include:

7 dwarfs mine train (7dmt to save typing)
Peter Pan
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder Railroad

Those are the tougher ones, but all except the first should be available to you at 60 days out. 7dmt is a little trickier, probably best to leave it until your second MK day assuming there is one. If there is, you could add one of the following:

Haunted Mansion - popular, although the queue is quite fun
Jungle Cruise - this is slow loading
Speedway - if you plan to ride it, again very slow queue


The other parks all have tiers. You can only book one tier 1 ride in advance and two tier 2 rides. If you don’t want to use a tier 1 you can just book three tier 2 rides.

AK
Tier 1 is Flight of Passage (FoP) and Navii River Journey in Pandora. FoP is almost the hardest FP to get, plan on day 4 of your trip or later, otherwise do it when the park opens or just before it closes.

Other rides worth considering booking FPs for are the Safari, Expedition Everest, Dinosaur and Kali River Rapids.
Everest has a good queue, lots to look at.

Epcot

Tier 1 ride are Test Track, Soarin and Frozen Ever After. Test Track has a habit of going down, so sometimes it’s best to get an FP for that and ride Soarin first. ( If TT goes down, they’ll add an anytime FP to your bands automatically).

Tier 2
Spaceship Earth - the line grows quickly, I would always recommend getting this.
Mission Space - you just get an FP and can then chose either Green (tame) or Orange (spins a lot)
Turtle Talk with Crush - if you’re doing it, this can be worth while.

DHS

We don’t know much about how this will work for Star Wars. A virtual queue is possible. We do know however there won’t be FPs for the Star Wars rides.

The tiers have just changed here. Almost all rides except Star Tours are tier 1. The hot ticket is Slinky, aim for day 4 or later of your trip. The other options are Toy Story Mania, Alien Swirling Saucers, Tower of Terror or Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.

As for the tier 2, I would get Star Tours and a show. And for your boys I would say 100% get one for the Indiana Jones Stunt Show.

And there you have a very quick over-view! Feel free to come back with more questions.

Once you use the first three FPs in a park you can book others one at a time.

 

[Kingoglow]

You know your family better than we do.

But, since you want us to guess at it, I would suggest:

MK
Splash Mountain
Space Mountain
Haunted Mansion

EP
Test Track (let them design the car)
Spaceship Earth
Mission Space Orange

DHS
Rock n' Rollercoaster
Star Tours
<whatever else you can find>

AK
Expedition Everest
FOP
Kali River Rapids

 

[Vinsud]

This is very helpful, many thanks. Let me absorb it all!

 

[Patcheslee]

FYI if you can't deal with enclosed tight spaces maybe avoid Mission: Space. We got stuck on it a few weeks ago the 2nd time riding for 25 minutes. DH said he didn't have issues with it, until the dang thing breaks down, then it turned into anxiety when we couldn't get out. Made worse by multiple kids screaming in another pod, banging on the pods, and crying. Then DH hear a CM say "pretty sure this one is empty" at our pod!!! He about cussed em out saying yes there's freaking people in here. DD10 was kept occupied by knobs and buttons at least. But it's hell even having someone else freaked out.

 

[Vinsud]

What is the best pre-booking strategy?
Book 3 in the morning / early afternoon each day so that more can be booked on the day once those have been used?

 

[nickys]

What is the best pre-booking strategy?
Book 3 in the morning / early afternoon each day so that more can be booked on the day once those have been used?

You’ll get different answers on this question, be warned!

Bear in mind for October there will be daily extra magic hours (EMH) at all parks except Epcot. There are no Fastpasses available during EMH. You can get quite a lot done in that first hour, especially since EMH will be at 7am for MK and AK, and 6am for DHS, but getting up early is not for everyone. I have never gone to a park in time for rope drop! If you do use EMH, tell the kids that this is not the time for stopping and looking, that can wait until later! Sure, that first look down Main Street is amazing, but this is not the time to stop and ride the Carousel or gaze at the Castle for 20 minutes.

Given the daily EMH, I would suggest in general to book FPs early on. However you may not be able to get early FPs for all the rides you want, especially at the beginning of your stay. So don’t worry if you need to get one at 3pm. I would still recommend you book FPs for the rides that your family really “must do”, regardless of what time you can get.

If you do use EMH at MK, only Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are open. 90% of people will race to 7dmt and Peter Pan at the start of EMH, and then 90% of those arriving at 8am will do the same. This means that at 8am, whether or not you have been in the park already for EMH, you can be ready to go to Splash and Big Thunder, riding one stand-by first with little wait and then either the other with a bit longer wait or with an FP booked between 9 and 10. Or go instead to Pirates and Jungle Cruise and get those out of the way without much wait.

 

[Meghan McCrary]

We just got back from a trip in March, boy 2 and girl 4. We are morning people and got to the park 45 minutes before opening every day. We did fastpasses as soon as the park opened, but didn't use the first one until closer to the end of the hour. So we would ride 2 - 3 rides, then use our first fastpass around 10. This way we could easily do a fourth fast pass. It worked for us, but again, we are morning people. Good luck planning - you will have a great time regardless!!!

 

[Kingoglow]

Booking strategy really depends on what attractions you want to get and how you want to use the system.

Many older couples that I know FP popular attractions with air conditioning for the mid afternoon to beat the heat (stuff like Haunted Mansion, Pirates and Under the Sea) . Not many people use the system like this, but it is one example of a strategy to think about.

Most people on these boards are pros/commandos. We go often enough to have a plan in mind. Usually that plan is to book our three FP's early in the day (9-10, 10-11 and 11-12). Our strategy usually involves being in the park first thing (EMH or rope-drop), and hitting two non-FP rides right away. Then we hit our first FP experience at the end of our first hour window (like at 9:45) and hit the second FP ride immediately after (like at 9:55). Then we modify the time for our third FP attraction up to 10am and hit it right away. After all that, we book our 4th FP.

The second strategy takes some effort and you will be staring at your phone instead of enjoying your vacation with your family. Which is why it is a bit awkward to talk about the 'best' FP strategy.

Ultimately, I think the best advice to give to someone looking for the best FP strategy, is to identify what experiences are important to your family, find a time of day that is convenient to you (outside of nap time if you have small kids), and just do that.

 

[Vinsud]

Thanks to everyone here for their comments. The opinions have helped me immensely and will really help with my planning.

 

[nickys]

Thanks to everyone here for their comments. The opinions have helped me immensely and will really help with my planning.

You’re welcome! Keep asking questions, people here are very helpful.

 

[Vinsud]

Re strategy, bit worried about making the whole experienced too rushed. I might spread out the initial 3 FPS a bit, until mid afternoon, so kids don’t feel like we are constantly in some mad rush to get another FP and we can fill in the times between FP trying to do other things?

 

[SAV]

I understand the earliest I can book is 60 days ahead of my hotel reservation,

You didn't say if you were on-site or off-site, but on-site guests are 60 days. Off-site is 30 days.

I am one for booking the FP's as early as I can and then add the 4th, 5th, 6th,7th as the day goes on. We do like Kingoglow does and move the times around as needed. The one exception was for the first time we saw Rivers of Light. It was nice to know we had a spot reserved and didn't need to get there super early to just sit and wait. But by that point we had already been on the rest of the attractions many times so it didn't matter.

Normally the parks with EMH are the most crowded, so we try to avoid those parks on those days. Even if we do have on-site privileges.

You can use one of the various Crowd Calendars to see what park is recommended for each day. I have had a lot of success going to the most recommended park and avoiding the least recommended park for the day.

 

[Vinsud]

On site.
I now booked my initial FPs on each day.
Not being a seasoned pro, they are quite spread out
I guess the best I can do now is when we finish the first ride by mid morning, try to bump up the time of the second fp, and so on.
Do you agree?

 

[sdemore]

Hi, welcome to the forums. Keep those questions coming!

So Fastpasses. The basics, you can book 3 in advance in any one park, per day.

In Magic Kingdom, all rides are equal. Popular ones include:

7 dwarfs mine train (7dmt to save typing)
Peter Pan
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder Railroad

Those are the tougher ones, but all except the first should be available to you at 60 days out. 7dmt is a little trickier, probably best to leave it until your second MK day assuming there is one. If there is, you could add one of the following:

Haunted Mansion - popular, although the queue is quite fun
Jungle Cruise - this is slow loading
Speedway - if you plan to ride it, again very slow queue


The other parks all have tiers. You can only book one tier 1 ride in advance and two tier 2 rides. If you don’t want to use a tier 1 you can just book three tier 2 rides.

AK
Tier 1 is Flight of Passage (FoP) and Navii River Journey in Pandora. FoP is almost the hardest FP to get, plan on day 4 of your trip or later, otherwise do it when the park opens or just before it closes.

Other rides worth considering booking FPs for are the Safari, Expedition Everest, Dinosaur and Kali River Rapids.
Everest has a good queue, lots to look at.

Epcot

Tier 1 ride are Test Track, Soarin and Frozen Ever After. Test Track has a habit of going down, so sometimes it’s best to get an FP for that and ride Soarin first. ( If TT goes down, they’ll add an anytime FP to your bands automatically).

Tier 2
Spaceship Earth - the line grows quickly, I would always recommend getting this.
Mission Space - you just get an FP and can then chose either Green (tame) or Orange (spins a lot)
Turtle Talk with Crush - if you’re doing it, this can be worth while.

DHS

We don’t know much about how this will work for Star Wars. A virtual queue is possible. We do know however there won’t be FPs for the Star Wars rides.

The tiers have just changed here. Almost all rides except Star Tours are tier 1. The hot ticket is Slinky, aim for day 4 or later of your trip. The other options are Toy Story Mania, Alien Swirling Saucers, Tower of Terror or Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.

As for the tier 2, I would get Star Tours and a show. And for your boys I would say 100% get one for the Indiana Jones Stunt Show.

And there you have a very quick over-view! Feel free to come back with more questions.We

Once you use the first three FPs in a park you can book others one at a time.

We are going in December. Thank you so much for this information!

 

[Fox&Hound]

FYI if you can't deal with enclosed tight spaces maybe avoid Mission: Space. We got stuck on it a few weeks ago the 2nd time riding for 25 minutes. DH said he didn't have issues with it, until the dang thing breaks down, then it turned into anxiety when we couldn't get out. Made worse by multiple kids screaming in another pod, banging on the pods, and crying. Then DH hear a CM say "pretty sure this one is empty" at our pod!!! He about cussed em out saying yes there's freaking people in here. DD10 was kept occupied by knobs and buttons at least. But it's hell even having someone else freaked out.

Oh my gosh! Just reading this gave me so much anxiety! I am so sorry for you. I don't think I can ride this again for fear that this would happen to me...

 

[Stitch in Wonderland]

Hi, welcome to the forums. Keep those questions coming!

So Fastpasses. The basics, you can book 3 in advance in any one park, per day.

In Magic Kingdom, all rides are equal. Popular ones include:

7 dwarfs mine train (7dmt to save typing)
Peter Pan
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder Railroad

Those are the tougher ones, but all except the first should be available to you at 60 days out. 7dmt is a little trickier, probably best to leave it until your second MK day assuming there is one. If there is, you could add one of the following:

Haunted Mansion - popular, although the queue is quite fun
Jungle Cruise - this is slow loading
Speedway - if you plan to ride it, again very slow queue


The other parks all have tiers. You can only book one tier 1 ride in advance and two tier 2 rides. If you don’t want to use a tier 1 you can just book three tier 2 rides.

AK
Tier 1 is Flight of Passage (FoP) and Navii River Journey in Pandora. FoP is almost the hardest FP to get, plan on day 4 of your trip or later, otherwise do it when the park opens or just before it closes.

Other rides worth considering booking FPs for are the Safari, Expedition Everest, Dinosaur and Kali River Rapids.
Everest has a good queue, lots to look at.

Epcot

Tier 1 ride are Test Track, Soarin and Frozen Ever After. Test Track has a habit of going down, so sometimes it’s best to get an FP for that and ride Soarin first. ( If TT goes down, they’ll add an anytime FP to your bands automatically).

Tier 2
Spaceship Earth - the line grows quickly, I would always recommend getting this.
Mission Space - you just get an FP and can then chose either Green (tame) or Orange (spins a lot)
Turtle Talk with Crush - if you’re doing it, this can be worth while.

DHS

We don’t know much about how this will work for Star Wars. A virtual queue is possible. We do know however there won’t be FPs for the Star Wars rides.

The tiers have just changed here. Almost all rides except Star Tours are tier 1. The hot ticket is Slinky, aim for day 4 or later of your trip. The other options are Toy Story Mania, Alien Swirling Saucers, Tower of Terror or Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster.

As for the tier 2, I would get Star Tours and a show. And for your boys I would say 100% get one for the Indiana Jones Stunt Show.

And there you have a very quick over-view! Feel free to come back with more questions.

Once you use the first three FPs in a park you can book others one at a time.

So we are going mid November this year and I'm trying to plan this out properly. We have an 8am reservation at Crystal Palace which I hear will probably take up the whole hour (or more) and if so, that's fine. I am wondering for FP purposes which have a higher likelihood of getting a 4th FP for later in the day : Splash Mountain, Space Mountain or Big Thunder? I will be reserving 7DMT (Ideally) and Peter Pan but I can't figure out which to plan for after that. Any help would be much appreciated!
You all are fantastic!

 

[Magicmom203]

On site.
I now booked my initial FPs on each day.
Not being a seasoned pro, they are quite spread out
I guess the best I can do now is when we finish the first ride by mid morning, try to bump up the time of the second fp, and so on.
Do you agree?

Hi all,

Family of 4 with 2 boys ages 7&9, going to WDW for 7 days in October.
I’d really like to book fp+ on each days at the different parks.
I understand the earliest I can book is 60 days ahead of my hotel reservation, but wanted some ideas of what rides are best to book with fp+ across the 7 days that the boys especially would enjoy? Will I be able to book anything in the new Star Wars park too?

Thanks for any tips.

Vinay

Since you’re going in October and staying onsite take advantage of the Extra Magic hours especially at DHS. From 6-9am you can make at least two or three of the rides and then use your fastpass for another of your favorites. Rope drop AK and do FOP. We always get our FP+ for FOP so we can enjoy a second ride on it cuz it’s the best ride there. Safari usually has a long standby time so FP that one too. Highly recommend Not So Scary Halloween Party too. you’re boys are the perfect age for it if they can stay up until midnight lol.