Do you plan your FP - or take the day as it comes?

[Frozen2014]

Originally I thought once I booked ADRs, that planning would be all done. Then I learned about FP+ and have done thorough planning with an outline, trying to move from attraction to attraction in a logical order (almost need a full time job to figure it out). I have things quite organized, but of course, when the 60 day mark comes, my plan may change depending on if I actually get the FP. It's complicated for us too since we have DS9 and DD5, so not only 4 years apart (with my daughter who scares easily), but also a girl and a boy. So some rides/FP won't be the same for all four of us.

I guess I'm wondering...do you all also have this full schedule? Or do you just go to the park and take the day as it comes. I am a planner, but at the same time don't want our entire day on a schedule as that may not feel like vacation. And on the other side, I don't want to be standing in line for hours. The amusement parks we've been to have been basically walk ons (and first Disney trip).

PS - Anyone know how the wait times for the 3rd week in Oct compare to June? I've been watching the wait times the past week weeks and some rides are quite long.

 

[PinkBudgie]

I went for the first time this June. Talk about hard to plan- try it for rides you've never been on! I suggest having something in place just in case.
I looked at wait time apps and used the boards to figure out which rides really need it. If we managed to ride of our rides we FPed for later, we just switched it if we didn't care to go again. But for the big ones, I'd have something in place. 7DMT, Soarin, TT, TSMM were a few of the most important ones. Somewhere around here is a list someone made of best rides to get FP for first. You could try searching for it. It helped me but I forget what it was called.

 

[Frozen2014]

I went for the first time this June. Talk about hard to plan- try it for rides you've never been on! I suggest having something in place just in case.

First Disney trip so that would be all of them

I've used the sticky FP thread to note the suggestions and have developed a plan around those as well as the map. Am hoping Oct lines are not too long.

 

[Altoqueenkelly]

Stop stressing so much! make a list of attractions that you want to do/cannot miss and get FP+ for those. If you arrive at rope drop you should easily be able to do everything you want to do.

Also, please stop stressing about the girl/boy thing. Kids of all ages and sexes love Disney. I can understand not taking your son to meet A&E but you shouldnt exclude either of them because you think it is "boyish" or "girlish". Ask them what they would want to do, you may be surprised!

Lastly, those are great ages for WDW. There isn't much of anything that they cant do in MK (ex maybe the mountains) and most of it is geared to not be scary. The only one I would skip for sure would be Stitch and maybe Space mountain (for the 5yr old).

 

[Frozen2014]

Stop stressing so much! make a list of attractions that you want to do/cannot miss and get FP+ for those. If you arrive at rope drop you should easily be able to do everything you want to do.

Also, please stop stressing about the girl/boy thing. Kids of all ages and sexes love Disney. I can understand not taking your son to meet A&E but you shouldnt exclude either of them because you think it is "boyish" or "girlish". Ask them what they would want to do, you may be surprised!

Lastly, those are great ages for WDW. There isn't much of anything that they cant do in MK (ex maybe the mountains) and most of it is geared to not be scary. The only one I would skip for sure would be Stitch and maybe Space mountain (for the 5yr old).

Hmm...who said I was stressing? Just asking of how others plan their trip (or don't plan). I've seen some post a full schedule and am just wondering if a lot do this detailed planning.

Although we'll come in the morning, we are not rope drop people...especially as we'll be the full day.

And I didn't mean to offend with the girl/boy thing. I just know my kids and think it's more fair to split up some attractions. But mostly this is if something is too old for my DD, then I'll take her to Little Mermaid or Beauty and the Beast.

Yeah...don't have Stitch nor Space Mountain for on our list for either child. But my DD has really only been on simple kid rides and does scare easily which is why some FP / rides will be split.

 

[sethschroeder]

List in my sig of FP+ you should get over others.

I would just reserve some of the key rides to start:
Toy Story Midway Mania (Hollywood Studios)
Soarin or Test Track (Epcott)
7 Dwarves/Anna+Elsa Meet (Magic Kingdom)

 

[tsme]

We've been going to Disney for years but this will be our first trip using FP+. It stressed me out a bit trying to figure out where & at what time we'll be to set the times for each ride. So, I kind of did it around our ADRs & thought of where we'd like to start in each park. Hopefully that works. As for getting a 4th FP once there, I'll play it by ear. Good Luck!

 

[rainwatter]

First, I hope you have a magical trip!

Our first two trips, we modified a tour plan (from the unofficial guide) to meet our family's interests. I hand-wrote a list of attractions in order on an index card, which I kept in the clear pouch of my lanyard. While the touring plan used VERY exact times, I was more interested in the "recommended" order. I knew that I wouldn't make a "mistake" and take in Hall of Presidents during low crowd times while leaving Dumbo for 1pm.

Now that my family has a few trips under out belt, we found we have a better sense of how crowds build through the day and "normal" wait times. We would watch the lines on our phones, keeping an eye out for momentary drops, while moving from lower-capacity/higher-demand to higher-capacity/lower-demand rides. This allowed us to be more "what do we feel like now" as we had a better understanding of which rides are interchangeable (in terms of wait) and which are not.

Our extended family has not quite figured out why they see so many more attractions when they follow us versus when they just wander around by themselves (even on the trips where I had the tour plan written out.)

Since you have several competing variables, you might find it worth while to play around with a touring plan, which you can tinker with to accommodate your ADRs and FPs. Or at least try to get a basic sense of when is the "best" time to ride different attractions. Even if the actual numbers are different, using current wait times will give you a rough idea.

 

[Frozen2014]

First, I hope you have a magical trip!

Our first two trips, we modified a tour plan (from the unofficial guide) to meet our family's interests. I hand-wrote a list of attractions in order on an index card, which I kept in the clear pouch of my lanyard. While the touring plan used VERY exact times, I was more interested in the "recommended" order. I knew that I wouldn't make a "mistake" and take in Hall of Presidents during low crowd times while leaving Dumbo for 1pm.

Now that my family has a few trips under out belt, we found we have a better sense of how crowds build through the day and "normal" wait times. We would watch the lines on our phones, keeping an eye out for momentary drops, while moving from lower-capacity/higher-demand to higher-capacity/lower-demand rides. This allowed us to be more "what do we feel like now" as we had a better understanding of which rides are interchangeable (in terms of wait) and which are not.

Our extended family has not quite figured out why they see so many more attractions when they follow us versus when they just wander around by themselves (even on the trips where I had the tour plan written out.)

Since you have several competing variables, you might find it worth while to play around with a touring plan, which you can tinker with to accommodate your ADRs and FPs. Or at least try to get a basic sense of when is the "best" time to ride different attractions. Even if the actual numbers are different, using current wait times will give you a rough idea.

Thank you. Good idea to watch wait times while there.

By Touring Plans, do you mean the one with the fee? I didn't bother with that, but have seen a general strategy with examples.

 

[ses1230]

Although we'll come in the morning, we are not rope drop people...especially as we'll be the full day.

If you are not doing rope drop you should definitely plan to FP the popular rides like the ones sethschroeder listed in his post above.

For wait times and planning your schedule have you looked at easywdw's cheat sheets? They give good logical touring recommendations and at the end of the cheat sheets are wait times based on expected crowds. They can be found here: http://www.easywdw.com/category/cheat-sheets/

 

[Planogirl]

We used to do rope drop and then pretty much do what we wanted but I think that it might be a good idea to preplan at least the three fastpasses. It used to be that everyone had a fair shot first thing that morning but now many are setting up their FP+ way in advance so it's not the same.

 

[Frozen2014]

Thanks so much for the replies. Definitely will FP:

Toy Story Midway Mania (Hollywood Studios)
Soarin (Epcot)
7DMT and try for Anna+Elsa (Magic Kingdom)

And thanks for the cheat sheets too. Lots of very helpful information.

 

[jiminykrikkit]

I was NOT planning on planning anything after we had ADR day then I got sucked into the FP reservation drama. I figured if I'm gonna reserve them, I better reserve them at the right times, right? No point in getting FP for a ride at a time that it only has a 10 minute wait. So one thing led to another and now I have a super neurotic looking set of schedules in my PTR (link in siggy). In reality, we will most likely not be following those things to the minute, but just using them for a general order of rides sort of thing. I have them set up so they go in a logical order and not criss-crossing the park. It's just useful for my planning obsessed brain to know ahead of time how many rides we can realistically fit in between ADRs and such.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

I feel FP+ is a curse and a blessing. We did our FP+ @ 60 day mark because we were there during a busy time...Easter. While it's great to know you have a FP to get on a ride, it was a bit frustrating trying to coordinate it all. For us, when picking our FP+ we had to consider where our ADR's were. It's too much planning and too far ahead IMO. I like a bit more "take it as it comes" during my vacation.

 

[Frozen2014]

I was NOT planning on planning anything after we had ADR day then I got sucked into the FP reservation drama. I figured if I'm gonna reserve them, I better reserve them at the right times, right? No point in getting FP for a ride at a time that it only has a 10 minute wait. So one thing led to another and now I have a super neurotic looking set of schedules in my PTR (link in siggy). In reality, we will most likely not be following those things to the minute, but just using them for a general order of rides sort of thing. I have them set up so they go in a logical order and not criss-crossing the park. It's just useful for my planning obsessed brain to know ahead of time how many rides we can realistically fit in between ADRs and such.

OMG....totally agree with you 100%

 

[itchin2go]

OP's original question: Do you plan your FP - or take the day as it comes?

Why can't you do both?

I see no reason NOT to book FPs, but no one says you have to do the rides if you find yourself otherwise engaged, or plans change.

I just don't see the downside to booking FPs. Even with FP-, if you intended to use one, you had to be a certain place at a certain time.

 

[kohlby]

We, I mean I, am doing a lot more planning than I usually do due to FP+. Our plan used to just be to know the parks well enough to know what to do when - and always hit rope drop. It worked wonderfully for us. Then FP+ came. I didn't want to be walking all over the parks from one to another so I did sit down and plan where to be when on many of the days. But, I did FP+ for late morning/early afternoon. I figured that even though that meant not having them for the peak times always, it meant more flexibility. Plus, we have plenty we can do during that time for the less popular rides or interactive things. This way, we're planned for the morning but by mid-afternoon, we'll usually be figuring it out as we go. The most important thing is to know what your priorities are. Focus on the must-do's for your family and relax about the rest. Also keep in mind that you can change your plans in the parks. So reserve them ahead, but plan to change some while there if you don't want to plan everything out.

A 4 year age difference shouldn't be a huge issue. My kids are boy/girl/boy and they do have different interests - and on many trips had heights that restricted them quite differently. (6 years apart between eldest and youngest). My youngest has sensory issues too, making it much more complicated. But we like to tour mostly as a family. We just plan to be near something else if we split up - like the 5 year old can't handle Soarin', so we'll split up and one adult will do Living with the Land with him. Or at Mission Space, he'll be in the playground area, etc. Sometimes, he'll just have to wait too. We found he was happy taking in the sights and chasing birds and eating treats. On the other side of things, the eldest boy did roll his eyes at having to sit through Beauty and the Beast - but he did enjoy it, he just didn't want us to think he did. (He was 9 on our last trip).

Since you mentioned 60 days, I'm thinking that means you're onsite. That can help out quite a bit if one child can't handle staying out as late as the other. My eldest would occasionally go back out at night starting at 6 years old with one parent. (Other two were a baby and 3 years old then). Or we can split up and have one parent go back with the other. Kids needing different amounts of sleep has been a bigger thing to work around for us than the rides.

 

[Frozen2014]

A 4 year age difference shouldn't be a huge issue. My kids are boy/girl/boy and they do have different interests - and on many trips had heights that restricted them quite differently. (6 years apart between eldest and youngest). My youngest has sensory issues too, making it much more complicated. But we like to tour mostly as a family. We just plan to be near something else if we split up - like the 5 year old can't handle Soarin', so we'll split up and one adult will do Living with the Land with him. Or at Mission Space, he'll be in the playground area, etc. Sometimes, he'll just have to wait too. We found he was happy taking in the sights and chasing birds and eating treats. On the other side of things, the eldest boy did roll his eyes at having to sit through Beauty and the Beast - but he did enjoy it, he just didn't want us to think he did. (He was 9 on our last trip).

Since you mentioned 60 days, I'm thinking that means you're onsite. That can help out quite a bit if one child can't handle staying out as late as the other. My eldest would occasionally go back out at night starting at 6 years old with one parent. (Other two were a baby and 3 years old then). Or we can split up and have one parent go back with the other. Kids needing different amounts of sleep has been a bigger thing to work around for us than the rides.

Yes...this is also why I'm doing lots of planning....so when we do split up we will still be at rides near each other and can easily meet up again after. Sometimes it's a challenge as there aren't always a ton around for the other. Btw..my DD5 is tall at 45" so there are basically no height restritions...it's just more of what she can handle. I find too, it's hard to tell if a ride will be ok or too much for her (e.g. Big Thunder, Soarin, Test Track, Pirates of Carribean).

And yes, we are staying onsite. We are also renting a car for the flexibility. Good point about one taking our younger one back to the resort if needed. Am hoping not to, but we'll play that one by ear.

 

[lovin'fl]

So, I have 2 trips under my belt with MDE and FP+ (one was for this past Xmas with all my inlaws...15 of us...quite fun planning that one ). I have trip #3 (with FP+) in Aug and I too had some difficulties with making selections for this one as it will be me, my twin DDs-15 and my mom-66. Mom doesn't like the big thrill rides BUT DDs do. Mom and DDs don't like early morning BUT I do. So, I made FP+ selections, tweaked them and re-tweaked them many times. I think I have it down now but if we don't follow the plans/FP+, I am okay with that (we, DDs and I, have been to WDW nearly a dozen times).

I looked at crowd calendars and picked what parks to be in each day and then made ADRs tied to that (also, we are doing 2 resorts so I tied parks to those resorts...SSR gets AK and MK while BWV gets HS and Epcot). Then I made FP+ around ADRs and park plans. I didn't do too early as I suspect we won't get to the parks early and if we do, we can walk on stuff until our FP+ windows open. With it being Aug and HOT, we can bail on the plans and head to a water park (we have PAPs and mom has hoppers plus water, fun and more).

 

[richmo]

I'm not an overplanner by any means, but I certainly welcome the chance to setup FP's ahead of time. Even if your plans change, you can usually change the FP's to something that works better for you.