Cibahwewah
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Nov 18, 2008
Just returned last night, we were in the parks four full days, Feb 13-16. Yes, there were a few long lines at the fast pass check in but it went very quickly. Longest was 5 min at Expedition Everest. The problem (besides packs of 15 year old Brazilian girls getting in the queue all at the same time, but that's a dead horse) was that people were returning early or late and clogged up the line. There are 2 scanners and if you use it correctly it goes quickly. We used our 3 fast pass plus each day and all went smoothly. As a bonus, a "ghost FP+" even worked. We told the CM we didn't think it was valid, but Mickey turned green and he said "come on through." We knew it would be heavy crowds as it was President's Day weekend, so we adjusted our expectations accordingly. We followed Josh at Easy WDW's recommended days. The longest lines we stood in were POTC (30min) and HM (30min).
Here's how it went:
Epcot: rope drop at International Gateway: in 4 hours we rode: Test Track, Sum of All Thrills, Mission Space green, Living with the Land (ghost FP+), Soarin' (FP+), Nemo, Turtle Talk (FP+), Spaceship Earth (15min), then after lunch Maelstrom (FP+)
Magic Kingdom: rope drop: Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Little Mermaid, Barnstormer, Dumbo, met Stitch, Buzz Lightyear (waited only 12 min even though using extended queue and posted wait was 25), Stitch's Great Escape, Space Mountain (FP+); all by noon; in afternoon we rode Jungle Cruise (15min), Pirates (30min), then killed some time (shooting gallery, railroad, tried LaFoue's brew--yummy), Mad Tea Party (5 min), Small World (10min), Big Thunder (FP+), Liberty Belle, Haunted Mansion (30 min), Enchanted Tales with Belle (FP+)
This day felt the busiest/heaviest. The posted wait times were inflated. Often we waited less or even half of the posted wait. We saw wait times in excess of 100 min at times, Princess Fairytale Hall was at 165min at one point but that may have been because the Princes were there as it was Valentine's Day. My kids weren't that into princesses on this trip, so the only one we met was Belle and DS refused to have his picture taken.
We had dinner at BOG but unfortunately missed Wishes because our dinner ran a bit long. We saw the later MSEP without having to stake out curb beforehand and said goodbye to TS talking Mickey (10min) on the way out.
Animal Kingdom: arrived at noon: Kali (walk on), Dinosaur (FP+), EE (20min), EE (FP+ 5min wait), Safari (FP+), Nemo (arrived 20 min early), EE (20min)
Hollywood Studios: rope drop: RR, Tower of Terror (5min), Star Tours 3 times (once with FP+ but waited about 10 min each time), Jack Sparrow, Toy Story (FP+), Beauty and the Beast, LMA, Indiana Jones, (each time arrived about 15min early, no prob getting seats), Fantasmic (arrived 45min early), Tower of Terror (FP+)
So, I know this is long-winded, and very detailed, so here is the TL;DR version:
I read complaints about FP+ on Disboards, had a touring plan with some strategy, went on a very busy weekend, had a great time, loved MM+/FP+, had low to moderate wait times, all-in-all, a successful trip.
Here's how it went:
Epcot: rope drop at International Gateway: in 4 hours we rode: Test Track, Sum of All Thrills, Mission Space green, Living with the Land (ghost FP+), Soarin' (FP+), Nemo, Turtle Talk (FP+), Spaceship Earth (15min), then after lunch Maelstrom (FP+)
Magic Kingdom: rope drop: Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, Little Mermaid, Barnstormer, Dumbo, met Stitch, Buzz Lightyear (waited only 12 min even though using extended queue and posted wait was 25), Stitch's Great Escape, Space Mountain (FP+); all by noon; in afternoon we rode Jungle Cruise (15min), Pirates (30min), then killed some time (shooting gallery, railroad, tried LaFoue's brew--yummy), Mad Tea Party (5 min), Small World (10min), Big Thunder (FP+), Liberty Belle, Haunted Mansion (30 min), Enchanted Tales with Belle (FP+)
This day felt the busiest/heaviest. The posted wait times were inflated. Often we waited less or even half of the posted wait. We saw wait times in excess of 100 min at times, Princess Fairytale Hall was at 165min at one point but that may have been because the Princes were there as it was Valentine's Day. My kids weren't that into princesses on this trip, so the only one we met was Belle and DS refused to have his picture taken.
We had dinner at BOG but unfortunately missed Wishes because our dinner ran a bit long. We saw the later MSEP without having to stake out curb beforehand and said goodbye to TS talking Mickey (10min) on the way out.
Animal Kingdom: arrived at noon: Kali (walk on), Dinosaur (FP+), EE (20min), EE (FP+ 5min wait), Safari (FP+), Nemo (arrived 20 min early), EE (20min)
Hollywood Studios: rope drop: RR, Tower of Terror (5min), Star Tours 3 times (once with FP+ but waited about 10 min each time), Jack Sparrow, Toy Story (FP+), Beauty and the Beast, LMA, Indiana Jones, (each time arrived about 15min early, no prob getting seats), Fantasmic (arrived 45min early), Tower of Terror (FP+)
So, I know this is long-winded, and very detailed, so here is the TL;DR version:
I read complaints about FP+ on Disboards, had a touring plan with some strategy, went on a very busy weekend, had a great time, loved MM+/FP+, had low to moderate wait times, all-in-all, a successful trip.