At what time do premade FP+ become pointless or a hindrance?

[Serrina89]

When is your trip? How many people in your party? If your trip is soon/now, I would keep it, but keep checking MDE for an earlier time. If you weren't able to modify to an earlier time before your actual Epcot day, I'd be shocked if you couldn't move it up day of. Just keep refreshing. Like maybe for a solid 10 minutes if that's what it takes, but I'm pretty sure you'd be able to move it up. Unless you have a party of 8 or 12 or something.

1. Jan 31-Feb 4
Jan 31 - Friends B-day (She wanted to spend at Disney Springs non-negotiable bc its her birthday trip and her choice)
Feb 1 - EPCOT (was MK until we found it, it was open 2 hr later the next day from 8 PM to 10 PM)
Feb 2 - MK (was EPCOT)
Feb 3 - AK/HS (Super waste of Park Hopper but to me Fantasmic is what makes Disney worth going)
Feb 4 - MK until 1:30 (Plane leaves at 535; Magical express at 230)

2. 4 people jan 31 - feb 2; 2 people rest of time

I will try looking to refresh day of (friends going the first couple of days, haven't bought tickets yet

 

[Klayfish]

keep it, you'll never get another Epcot Tier 1 as your 4th or 5th and you likely won't have an issue waiting for the other things.

That is not true at all. We do it repeatedly. Even during Xmas we got them.

Hey, @Klayfish, when you’re trying to get harder to get FPs like FOP and FEA for your group of 5 do you modify the whole group or split it up and try to get overlapping times? I’ve not had luck doing trial FPs day of for either ride by trying to get overlapping times. They just come up so infrequently. I’m not sure which is the better strategy.

I've experimented with both. Personally, I try to keep all 5 together...or if it's something DW won't ride, the 4 of us. It's a little less work in that I don't have to make FP+ for 3 and then do it all again for 2. However, with really popular rides and/or during the holiday, it can be a challenge. During our Xmas to NY trip this year, I did a lot of splitting us up to find overlapping, as it was more successful. But during summer, it's usually not a problem to keep us together.

 

[mamamelody2]

OK, it looks like your EP and MK days should be pretty low crowds, so that's helpful. Also a party of 4 is reasonable for modifying FP purposes. I see EP has EMH on your day. Are you staying on site? If so, you could rope drop FEA without much trouble. Also, if seeing Illuminations isn't critical, you could get in line shortly before park close. Is FEA more important to you than TT or Soarin?

 

[Serrina89]

OK, it looks like your EP and MK days should be pretty low crowds, so that's helpful. Also a party of 4 is reasonable for modifying FP purposes. I see EP has EMH on your day. Are you staying on site? If so, you could rope drop FEA without much trouble. Also, if seeing Illuminations isn't critical, you could get in line shortly before park close. Is FEA more important to you than TT or Soarin?

That's great about the low crowds. Yes we are staying on site. I wasn't sure how the Extra Magic Hours World Showcase/Future World opening times worked. FEA is more important than TT or Soarin? However, I would like to ride both. That's why i hesitant to pick FEA at such a late time, when earlier Soarin and TT FP+ are available? Hopefully closer to that time or day there will be an earlier FP or maybe I can rope drop FEA and change to a different FP+ time.

 

[disneyvoice]

In our experience we don't necessarily need a 4th or 5th FP. Depending on the park, if you do rope drop and have 3 FPs for popular rides you can get a lot done as other attractions won't necessarily have longer lines. Typically if we get a 4th or 5th FP it is only because we can - not because we need to. If you really want to do Frozen then keep the FP. There aren't that many rides at Epcot anyway so if you do Soarin' or Test Track at RP and the other immediately afterward you won't need any additional FPs anyway.

 

[Klayfish]

That's great about the low crowds. Yes we are staying on site. I wasn't sure how the Extra Magic Hours World Showcase/Future World opening times worked. FEA is more important than TT or Soarin? However, I would like to ride both. That's why i hesitant to pick FEA at such a late time, when earlier Soarin and TT FP+ are available? Hopefully closer to that time or day there will be an earlier FP or maybe I can rope drop FEA and change to a different FP+ time.

Do not rely on crowd calendars. Now way to know for certain exactly what the crowd will be. There truly is no reason you can't ride all three...TT, Soarin' and FEA in the same day...heck, even in a matter of just a few hours. If you're actually going to make it to rope drop, use this plan...works really well. Rope drop TT, then hustle over to FEA and ride it standby, the line will still be short for it. Then ride Soarin' via FP+ (set FP+ for 9:45 to 10:45am). If the park opens at 9, you truly could be done all 3 by 10:30am with little trouble.

Yes, the day of your Epcot visit, the FP+ system will become very fluid. That's the best time to modify and/or add FP+.