Crowd level 2: Will FP+ be necessary?

[cdrn1]

Having some planning difficulties that make it difficult to know what our itinerary will be. We are going 9/30-10/4, and Touringplans.com shows crowd levels to be 2-3 overall. Do you think it will be necessary to have fastpasses for MK and Epcot? It would be much nicer to just play it by ear and not have to be at a certain place at a certain time. We will have a 2 year old and a 7 year old, and so the main focus would be on the types of things kids those age like to do. We used FP+ in June as a party of four adults, and I have to say we didn't like it at all, and didn't use some of the FP we had (including 7DMT) because it just didn't fit with where we wanted to be at the time. Your thoughts?

 

[Robo]

Having some planning difficulties that make it difficult to know what our itinerary will be. We are going 9/30-10/4, and Touringplans.com shows crowd levels to be 2-3 overall. Do you think it will be necessary to have fastpasses for MK and Epcot? It would be much nicer to just play it by ear and not have to be at a certain place at a certain time. We will have a 2 year old and a 7 year old, and so the main focus would be on the types of things kids those age like to do. We used FP+ in June as a party of four adults, and I have to say we didn't like it at all, and didn't use some of the FP we had (including 7DMT) because it just didn't fit with where we wanted to be at the time. Your thoughts?

If FP+ is available, I use it. (I am no fan of it, but it's all they offer.)

 

[Brenda Kim]

Book the FP+ tickets for the most popular attractions. You can always change them on the fly (we changed several of ours on the bus ride over because we decided to go to a different park) or cancel them. But I would get FP for 7DMT and if you want to visit Anna and Elsa, at least at MK. Epcot, Soarin or Test Track ( I think they are both Tier 1 so it is either or). With these attractions even with low crowd levels there will still be a wait for them. Of course wait time is a relative term, when we went in September most lines were a 5-10 minute wait, so when we got to Toy Story and there was a 35 minute standby wait time, we were happy to have the FPs.

It is easier (if you have a smart phone) to change already booked FPs then to create brand new ones.

 

[patdoc98]

You can always book each FP and then just not use it, if it doesn't fit your plans at the time. As you did in June.

Even with CL2 or 3, plenty of rides will have long lines, even starting relatively early. FP can save you a lot of time waiting in line.

 

[newestkg06]

Well, during low crowd times, Disney will run fewer trains and adjusts staffing accordingly (like only one set of A&E instead of two). This means that wait times at the big headliners will still be long even in low crowd times (i.e. Toy Story Mania is still going to be 40-60 minutes). Now, it won't be 120 minutes like it might be during Xmas week, but not everything will be a walk on. Plus, with the party nights and shorter park hours, crowds will be more condensed, despite being lower generally. I would absolutely use fastpass on the biggies, but not worry so much about getting extra fastpasses at the kiosks.

 

[MrInfinity]

FP+ is never necessary but always available. There is absolutely no reason not to book them, irrelevant of the crowd level.

Don't look at it as "having to be a certain place at a certain time", but rather "an option to go somewhere and skip the line, if that works w what you want to do at the moment". It just gives you some options you wouldn't have otherwise.

 

[caracarn]

I would definitely use them.

 

[ckoshka]

Yes, book them. You never know when that crowd level might jump up and since it is there and available, why not have it as a back up.

 

[Kathryn777]

At a level 2 crowd, soarin and test track are still predicted to be 58-88 min peak wait. I would book them, if you don't need them, don't use them

 

[once]

Agreed. Book them just in case. You can decide later if you want to use them.

 

[CAS239]

There's no reason not to have fast passes booked. As long as you know what park you'll be at on that day, then make fast passes for your top rides. Your day doesn't have to revolve around the return times.

And if you really don't know what to pick or for what times. At least make them the night before or the day of. The big popular rides will be gone or have limited time slots to choose from, but it's better to utilize the free FP's rather than just do stand by for every line

 

[cdrn1]

OP here...my main reason I was considering not booking them is because we have a few random leftover tickets from years past that I am going to need to link to MDE; I need to add a day to one, need to buy one, and I am going to buy an AP for me. It just seems logistically very complicated to do it; I won't have a ticket to link as I am not going to buy the AP until we get there. Just seems complicated and I don't want to deal with it today as I am leaving on a different vacation tomorrow. Guess I will just take my chances with waiting but I am sure I will kick myself for not dealing with it today.