Dining Plan and Fastpass Strategy

[Menfous]

Thanks in advance for any feedback. First of all, let me say that I over plan my Disney trips but have done quite a few of them. I am currently planning a family trip for the end of June 2018, realizing that dining reservations will need to be made in a few weeks. We are going to be in WDW for 8 nights and are going with our niece and nephew who have not seen the parks as much as we have. I have to plan the general strategy of parks we are going to be visiting so I can make the dining reservations correctly. The concern I have is mostly around AK. I expect those fast passes to be the most difficult to get, specifically the Avatar rides, so was thinking about moving that visit closer to the end of the vacation. Since both of them are in group A, I would need to get them over 2 days. The issue with that is that I won't be able to coordinate with magic hours in the morning, and we typically are in the parks at rope drop. Assuming magic hours don't change, AK would be Day 2 of our trip, making it harder to get the fast passes that I am looking for. I feel like EMH gives us a better chance of getting some rides during a busy time at WDW. So here is my question, do you think I should plan with for EMH and just hope I can get the AK fast passes, or ignore them and just make the plan. I am hoping to not change dining reservations too much because the times we like will be difficult to get if I have to change them at 60 days out. Thanks again for any help.

 

[sponica]

Thanks in advance for any feedback. First of all, let me say that I over plan my Disney trips but have done quite a few of them. I am currently planning a family trip for the end of June 2018, realizing that dining reservations will need to be made in a few weeks. We are going to be in WDW for 8 nights and are going with our niece and nephew who have not seen the parks as much as we have. I have to plan the general strategy of parks we are going to be visiting so I can make the dining reservations correctly. The concern I have is mostly around AK. I expect those fast passes to be the most difficult to get, specifically the Avatar rides, so was thinking about moving that visit closer to the end of the vacation. Since both of them are in group A, I would need to get them over 2 days. The issue with that is that I won't be able to coordinate with magic hours in the morning, and we typically are in the parks at rope drop. Assuming magic hours don't change, AK would be Day 2 of our trip, making it harder to get the fast passes that I am looking for. I feel like EMH gives us a better chance of getting some rides during a busy time at WDW. So here is my question, do you think I should plan with for EMH and just hope I can get the AK fast passes, or ignore them and just make the plan. I am hoping to not change dining reservations too much because the times we like will be difficult to get if I have to change them at 60 days out. Thanks again for any help.

I've heard that the pandora ride FP are easier to get at the 60+4 or 60+5 day mark. Personally I avoid parks with morning extra magic hours, it just makes them more crowded (but everyone has their own opinion on that). If you're rope drop people anyway, RD Navi River and FP FoP on day 4 or 5.

 

[Menfous]

Thanks for the info, I will give it a try.

 

[piglet1979]

Are you getting Park hopper? We have not used EMH yet as our kids are still little. I have heard that people with park hoppers would go to the park with EMH and then hop to the park they want for the day. This could be an option.

 

[sharonabe]

Since both of them are in group A, I would need to get them over 2 days. The issue with that is that I won't be able to coordinate with magic hours in the morning, and we typically are in the parks at rope drop. Assuming magic hours don't change, AK would be Day 2 of our trip, making it harder to get the fast passes that I am looking for

If you're going to allocate two mornings to AK, I would do one of them as Day 2 and plan to get the Na'vi FP for that day. Those are definitely much easier to get than FoP, and I don't think you'll have a problem. Put your other AK day toward the end of your trip and schedule that FP+ before you do any others and you should get FoP without a hitch.

 

[Menfous]

OK, I was debating trying that but wasn't sure how difficult Na'vi was to get. We are getting park hopper, but if EMH stay the way they are, then day 7 of our trip will be HS, so we shouldn't have a problem getting FoP fast pass that day. Thanks again all.

 

[Danimal]

If you're going to rope drop, I'd tell you to try and get FOP FP for both days. You should be able to get on NRJ at RD with a minimal wait and FOP is 100x the ride that NRJ is. The people in your party will definitely want to ride it twice. I've even seen NRJ come up as a 4th FP on a number of occasions. Prioritize FOP and take your chances on a minimal wait at rope drop with NRJ

 

[hllb]

If you're going to rope drop, I'd tell you to try and get FOP FP for both days. You should be able to get on NRJ at RD with a minimal wait and FOP is 100x the ride that NRJ is. The people in your party will definitely want to ride it twice. I've even seen NRJ come up as a 4th FP on a number of occasions. Prioritize FOP and take your chances on a minimal wait at rope drop with NRJ

This is our plan.

 

[Danimal]

One other note, if you're looking for meal flexibility with your FOP FP times, I'd tell you that Satuli Canteen is one of the best QS restaurants in all of WDW. If you end up with a reservation conflict, dropping your TS and swapping in a meal at Satuli is an easy answer

 

[Menfous]

Thanks again for all the great feedback everyone. I believe I have my plan set for what parks we will go to each day. Now I just have to wait and see.

 

[Happy_2_B]

I expect those fast passes to be the most difficult to get, specifically the Avatar rides

We just got back a couple of days ago- Navi was almost walk on at RD for regular guests (we were offsite)- and this was an AK EMH day. We waited less than 10 minutes, as I time our queues for TP Lines data- so this is accurate based on our experience. I would think even in June if you get there at RD you will be fine for Navi. Get a FP for FoP unless you plan to be there very early and are among the first in line- otherwise, it could be a very long wait.