Fastpass Plus for Wishes and Parade Viewing MK - blog

[SueM in MN]

Saw this blog post about Fastpass Plus for MK parade and fireworks and thought it might be helpful for some people.

She includes some really good maps and pictures that showed her view.
http://www.disneyonwheels.com/?p=8136

 

[clanmcculloch]

We used FP+ for MSEP and then stayed put for the castle projection show and Wishes. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again. It was AMAZING!! We didn't line up ahead of time like is sometimes recommended including in the blog. We got there around 10-15 minutes before MSEP was scheduled to start and we easily got a spot right up at the rope (which they remove right before the parade starts). DD13 was in a wheelchair and our autistic DD16 had plenty of room. There was nobody behind us. I guess the number of FPs for MSEP is well managed so that there's plenty of room in the area. After the parade, there were a lot of people swarming towards the castle for the projection show but not moving was the best thing for us. Trying to move through the mob with a wheelchair and an autistic teen would have been a nightmare. For some reason, people crowded really close together on the road but not so tightly together in the non-road MSEP viewing area (there were a lot but not nearly as much as the road). DD13 couldn't see the bottom of the castle because she was so low (I crouched several times and put my head right beside hers to get an idea of her view to see if I needed to shift some for her sake). It really was only the bottom that she couldn't see and the rest of us had a great view. Nobody seemed to move around after the projection show while waiting for Wishes, us included. We had a great view of Wishes from where we were. Some people feel that it's too close to the castle but I thought it was great. It was LOUD though. DD13 who typically doesn't demonstrate auditory sensory issues kept covering her ears. DD16 who does have some auditory sensory sensitivity (though these days only when it's unexpected which would not be the case with a fireworks show) didn't even flinch once. I liked that we were facing the fireworks directly rather than from the side like at the rose garden. I will say that getting out, even to head to Tommorrowland rather than towards the gate, was a nightmare with the wheelchair. If I was to do it again, I'd just stay put longer.

Anyway, if we wanted to see Wishes again, I'd go the same route and book the MSEP FP and stay put rather than booking a Wishes FP.

 

[acox17]

Where can you get a FP+ for MSEP? I would like to get one and like you stay put for Wishes!

 

[KisanMcG]

We were fortunate enough to have Fastpass+ for the Festival of Fantasy parade and Wishes last Friday. I was in my manual chair with my husband and brother.

The viewing area for the parade was spectacular! The only drawback was a lack of shade, so we did our best to arrive right before the parade began to minimize the time spent standing (or sitting, in my case) in the sun. Most of the earlier arrivals were sitting on the ground at the rope line when we arrived, so I could see very clearly over them. I got some great photos!

For Wishes, we lined up in the Rose Garden path at about 9:20pm for a 9:35pm Fastpass+ time. Soon they scanned our MagicBands and opened the gate to usher us on to the Rose Garden lawn. We noticed that a number of other folks around us had brought towels or blankets to lay on to the grass, and were relaxing in a picnic-style before the show. The CMs on the pathway in front of the Rose Garden did a good job making sure that no one stopped to stand in front of those of us behind the fence. The angle was not ideal for viewing Castle projections, and the Wishes show itself was off to the side of the Castle because of the winds that evening. It was still very pleasant to have a nice, wide area to spread out and enjoy.

As a note- When we first booked our Fastpass+ selections, neither of these experiences were an option. About five days beforehand, my brother announced that he wanted to see the newly-refurbished Splash Mountain, so I went in to modify our existing selections and saw both parades and Wishes as options and then jumped on them. I don't know if they are not released until closer to the date, or if we just got lucky!

 

[clanmcculloch]

The FPs for Wishes don't seem to get loaded into the system until maybe a few weeks before at the most, in some cases much less. It really stinks. I frequent the easywdw forums and typically each month a bunch of people are stalking the FP+ site for them and when the first person seems them appear he/she posts about it on the forums.

Since it won't be there when you first go to set up your FP+ selections, choose a 3rd option that includes the start time of the parade. When I went MSEP was at 7:00. I booked a throw-away FP+ for 6:00-7:00. When the FP+ option showed up it was for 6:40-7:00 so replacing it was easy. If your throw-away FP+ is for a different time then you'll have 2 steps in order to replace it: 1. change the time of the current one 2. change the selection to MSEP. It's easiest if you start off with a FP+ that's already at the right time.