Are there any rides you would not "waste" a FP on due to not so bad wait times?

[texasgingerbread]

Are there any rides you would rather skip getting a FP for and just ride and use that FP somewhere else? I'm going in the off season.

Someone mentioned on a different site they don't get FP for IASM, BTMRR, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, or Pirates of the Caribbean because sometime throughout the day lines will be short enough.

Thoughts? Would I maximize my FP with re-riding Space Mountain, Star Tours, Splash (if open), and Indy?

In CA - they mentioned I wouldn't need one for ToT. Thoughts?

TIA!

 

[pwillunlv]

Unless something has recently changed, neither IASW, Jungle Cruise, nor POC have FP. Also, if you are going during off-season, HM is very unlikely to have FP either (I don't even know if they use it for HMH anyomore). I will defer to vets here on FP strategy.

 

[texasgingerbread]

Unless something has recently changed, neither IASW, Jungle Cruise, nor POC have FP. Also, if you are going during off-season, HM is very unlikely to have FP either (I don't even know if they use it for HMH anyomore). I will defer to vets here on FP strategy.

oops...thanks. I better go take a look at that list.

 

[Girimama33]

In DL, there is only FP for Star Tours, Space, Buzz, BTMRR,Roger Rabbit, Indy and Splash.
If the line is not coming out of the main queue for BTMRR, I will usually jump in vs pulling a FP. The line can move pretty quickly.

 

[Geemo]

When we arrive at the entrance of a ride we look at the "Stand-by Time" and FP's return "Time Window".
If the stand-by time is short we ride and check the FP time when we get off. Sometimes we'll pull a FP for a ride later.

During the past slow times when it was actually slow, there were times FP machines were not turned on for the day.
When this was been the case, wait times weren't longer than 30 minutes. This was mid week, 2+ years ago.

As many say there are no slow times now.
I gave up trying to plan a somewhat detailed schedule.

Now I just schedule which days we'll be in DL or DCA.
From there we keep track of line wait times while were in the parks. We do this by looking at the info boards around the parks or by calling OttO.
OttO was very helpful in October. In fact I liked it better than using the app on my phone.



Geemo

 

[offwithyourhead]

I went in the 'off' season and my best advice is to get FP for whichever ride has the longest load time if the standby lines are all about the same. For example, it takes way longer to load people into Star Tours and the ride is longer than Space is, so I'd rather get a FP for that and cut that line than something that runs a lot faster like Space if the line isn't absolutely insane.

If you have to choose a ride to get a FP for, skip the FP for any continuous-operation rides (rides that run on a constant basis that don't have trains. Buzz and Little Mermaid are examples of this, they have moving loading platforms) unless the lines are really, really long.

 

[texasgingerbread]

I went in the 'off' season and my best advice is to get FP for whichever ride has the longest load time if the standby lines are all about the same. For example, it takes way longer to load people into Star Tours and the ride is longer than Space is, so I'd rather get a FP for that and cut that line than something that runs a lot faster like Space if the line isn't absolutely insane.

If you have to choose a ride to get a FP for, skip the FP for any continuous-operation rides (rides that run on a constant basis that don't have trains. Buzz and Little Mermaid are examples of this, they have moving loading platforms) unless the lines are really, really long.

Totally makes sense. Thx!

 

[DLfan4]

when we were in 2012 in off season (mid january) the only FP we used was WOC.
Star, Buzz, BTMM, roger, TOT and splash we didnt need a FP as lines were not too bad. (we didnt ride space)
the only one i wish we got FPs for was Indy. our wait was long.

 

[Astylla]

We always check the FP return time and compare it to the standby estimate. If it's shorter or just about the same , we typically grab a FP especially in the cases if this applies to :

Disneyland : Space Mountain , Splash , Indy or Haunted Mansion Holiday ( which this year IS active), Roger Rabbit - this queue is VERY misleading , it's an awesome queue to do once if it's not middle of summer and you enjoy the movie
DCA : Screamin' , Tower of Terror , Grizzly River Rapids , Soarin', RSR ( though as 2 adults we usually opt for Single Rider)

Space Mountain is always a priority for us especially in our upcoming trips as Hyperspace Mountain is debuting and we are massive star wars geeks. I imagine they will go quick as if it is RSR in it's opening months.

Ones we typically can pass on are Buzz Light years Astro Blasters , Star Tours , Big Thunder in Disneyland , and DCA - Goofy's Fly School - beware if you are tall or chubby as this one can be a tight fit

 

[DisneyMommy403]

We base it on stand by wait times usually... But last time we didn't need to grab one for Buzz,,ToT, HM, and BTMM. We did FP's for everything else.

 

[figment_jii]

Even though it's a continuous load and tends to have a short wait, I still get a FP for Buzz Lightyear. It's "disconnected", so getting one doesn't impact my ability to get any other FP in DL, so it's one those "nothing to lose" type of FPs.

Haunted Mansion has been using their FP system since they re-introduced the Hatbox Ghost earlier this year. It's not currently in use, but when they did have FPs for Autopia (access to the FPs was blocked off when Innoventions closed, but now that's it re-opening, I don't know if they're going to start using the Autopia FP again) that one was kind of hit-or-miss in terms of whether it was useful of not. It seemed like there was still a goodly portion of the queue that came after the FP merge point.

As others have said, I generally look at the Standby wait times and the FP return times and make a decision from there.

 

[rentayenta]

If the stand-by line for Indy is 20 or less, we skip the FP. Like the other have said Buzz is disconnected which is awesome!

 

[Cholula]

Like others have mentioned I try to gauge based on the listed wait times on either the board or the Disney app. Then it depends on variables. If I'm by myself I'll pull for rides with no single rider, like BTMRR or Star Tours. When I was there last week, HMH had long waits so I had to plan that FP into my rotation. BTMRR wait time didn't get too crazy and the line moves fairly steadily, so I would sacrifice that FP when I needed to.