DAS/FP+/Park Hopping

[gshumaker]

Looking for some advice on the use of DAS, FP+ and Park Hopping...

We plan to utilize the DAS (DS has autism) along with FP+ for the first time. We typically take advantage of the Morning Magic Hours, go take an afternoon break at resort and Park Hop to another park in the afternoon.

We are hoping that if we go early and ride what we can and take advantage of the shorter wait times and the DAS, the mornings will not be that bad and could be done possibly without the use to too many FPs. Is that reasonable for mid-August?

Should we use our FP+ for the 1st or 2nd park of the day? I'm afraid by the time we get to the 2nd park, all the extra FPs will be mostly gone if we use our 3 FP+ at the first park (wish you could use maybe one at the first park and the other 2 at the 2nd park but don’t think that is allowed yet, right?). With the longer wait times by the time we get to the 2nd park, will the DAS be beneficial without some FP to fill in the gaps?

Are we losing out on any benefits of the DAS by hopping to another park? I know we are missing out on getting a return time as we are leaving the 1st park and being able to go right to that ride upon returning to the park.

Any suggestions would be gratefully appreciated. TIA!!

 

[Maggie'sMom]

I would recommend you use your FP+ for the second park of the day, especially if that second park is either Epcot or HS. My experience was that even if I used up all 3 of our initial FP+ by 1:00pm, there were extremely limited options for a 4th FP and most of the ones still available weren't things that even needed a FP+. The only park where there were plenty of attractive options for the 4th FP+ was the MK.

I think you will find that in order to get the DAS to work well at the second park of the day, you will have to combine it with FP+. MK being the exception. If there's a day when the MK is your planned second park of the day, then use your FP+ at the first park. There's just so much to do at the MK that there were plenty of FP+ available in the late afternoon. I didn't try to get any FP+ in the evening so I can't speak to availability of FP+ then.

As you know, wait times will be shortest in the morning so you can get on several rides with little wait. DD and I were able to get through almost all the Fantasyland rides by noon just utilizing rope drop, FP+, and good touring plan strategies. Of course, that was before the 7 Dwarfs Mine Ride opened.

You mentioned the one benefit of the DAS that you will be missing out on by hopping, i.e. getting a RT before leaving the park for the afternoon break. I don't see any other drawback to it.

 

[gshumaker]

I would recommend you use your FP+ for the second park of the day, especially if that second park is either Epcot or HS. My experience was that even if I used up all 3 of our initial FP+ by 1:00pm, there were extremely limited options for a 4th FP and most of the ones still available weren't things that even needed a FP+. The only park where there were plenty of attractive options for the 4th FP+ was the MK.

I think you will find that in order to get the DAS to work well at the second park of the day, you will have to combine it with FP+. MK being the exception. If there's a day when the MK is your planned second park of the day, then use your FP+ at the first park. There's just so much to do at the MK that there were plenty of FP+ available in the late afternoon. I didn't try to get any FP+ in the evening so I can't speak to availability of FP+ then.

As you know, wait times will be shortest in the morning so you can get on several rides with little wait. DD and I were able to get through almost all the Fantasyland rides by noon just utilizing rope drop, FP+, and good touring plan strategies. Of course, that was before the 7 Dwarfs Mine Ride opened.

You mentioned the one benefit of the DAS that you will be missing out on by hopping, i.e. getting a RT before leaving the park for the afternoon break. I don't see any other drawback to it.

Thx - anyone else?

 

[Southerndisney]

My daughter is autistic and we are traveling with family that like to hop. This is what I did to decide in which park we would use our FP+. I have a subscription to touringplans and I used the touring plans that an be customized. After we decided which parks on which days (using a combination of touringplans and easywdw's best park for each day) I plugged in the main rides that my daughter wanted to do plus breaks and meals. I did not plug in shows that I knew we could see while waiting for the return time on the DAS. It was fairly easy for me to see which parks we could do just using the DAS and which would require FP+ to get everything done. Fortunately for me, my daughter did not want to do much except at MK. I liked using the personalized plan because it takes into consideration ride time and time spent walking. If you just want an idea of wait times you can look at the cheat sheets at easywdw. The cheat sheets show wait times for each ride at each park based on crowd levels. Days in mid-August are 6 or 7. We do not go until November but some days we will use FP+ at the early park and some days we will use it at the late park. Whatever you decide, I hope you have a great trip!

 

[gshumaker]

My daughter is autistic and we are traveling with family that like to hop. This is what I did to decide in which park we would use our FP+. I have a subscription to touringplans and I used the touring plans that an be customized. After we decided which parks on which days (using a combination of touringplans and easywdw's best park for each day) I plugged in the main rides that my daughter wanted to do plus breaks and meals. I did not plug in shows that I knew we could see while waiting for the return time on the DAS. It was fairly easy for me to see which parks we could do just using the DAS and which would require FP+ to get everything done. Fortunately for me, my daughter did not want to do much except at MK. I liked using the personalized plan because it takes into consideration ride time and time spent walking. If you just want an idea of wait times you can look at the cheat sheets at easywdw. The cheat sheets show wait times for each ride at each park based on crowd levels. Days in mid-August are 6 or 7. We do not go until November but some days we will use FP+ at the early park and some days we will use it at the late park. Whatever you decide, I hope you have a great trip!

Thx for your input...

I too have subscribed to touringplans.com to give it a try for this trip. We have never used it in the pass since we did not need it with the GAC since that was a godsend.

Can't wait for the trip. Planning it almost as much fun for me - just with a little more stress this time around with the unknown DAS vs the GAC.

Thanks to the DISboarders and all the great tips...

 

[Southerndisney]

I emailed touringplans to ask how to use the DAS in their plans and here is their reply.
"Thanks for contacting us! DAS works somewhat like FastPass+, so you can add a FastPass+ reservation to a plan to mimic an anticipated DAS return window. Also, our software provides predicted waits, so you could look at the attractions with the highest predicted waits and focus on using DAS or FastPass+ to experience those. That will reduce the time you wait in line."

I have not tried doing it the way they suggested yet. I'm thinking that I will only add a DAS ride as a FP+ ride if there is time enough during the wait time to go on a standby ride or show. If we just use the wait to pop in store or a bathroom break I will leave that ride as standby ride. I hope that makes sense.

Good luck and let us know how your trip turns out.