Epcot fastpasses and first night plans?

[kteach]

We'll be arriving the Friday before Easter Sunday and leaving the Thursday after. We're staying at the Dolphin. How easy is it to get Frozen, Soarin or Test Track as additional day of fastpasses? I will definitely book some fastpasses for Epcot as our primary passes for one day, but obviously can't book all three because of tiering. So since we'll be so close wondering if we'll just be able to walk over in the evening and get any same day fastpasses? I can also double up on one park because we have tickets for our arrival evening...so I could just book fastpasses for that night for at least one tier one ride. But someone just suggested that we go to Boma at AKL our first night and then go to AK to see Avatar at night and use our first night FP for Navi River journey (with the assumption that we'll get FP for FOP a separate day later in the trip). Although I don't if Navi River journey is really that worth it, and I can always book Boma another night? What makes more sense?

 

[preemiemama]

My experience in Epcot has been that the lines for Soarin drop dramatically in the last hour of park operation. If you are not interested in watching the fireworks that night, my suggestion would be to FP Test Track, wait for Frozen (that line gets shorter in the evening as well), and then head to Soarin to end the night. You can get in line right up until park closing, and it's a quick walk or boat ride back to Dolphin afterwards.

It has also been pretty easy to walk on to Navi River Journey at rope drop- everyone heads to FOP first thing. The first 30 minutes or so you can ride Navi a few times (assuming you have a FP for FOP later that day). I would personally not waste a FP on Navi.

 

[HeiHei2018]

Test Track day-of can be hard to find, so I'd do that as your pre-booked Tier 1 if your group values all three rides equally. On our late August trip, I was able to get Soarin' as a day-of Fast Pass for our party of 4, but the crowd level will be much higher around Easter. If you are okay with a lot of walking, you could rope drop Frozen, do your three pre-booked FP as early as possible, and refresh to get Soarin. I did a lot of refreshing to move our Tier 2's earlier since each ride only took 20-30 minutes.

 

[Krystal659]

I agree with the PP, I have grabbed Soarin' day of a few different times. Test Track I've managed once, but never been able to get Frozen. All of this also depends on the number of people in your party.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

IMHO, Nav'i River Journey is not worth trekking across property on your arrival day. I would, 100%, take advantage of the location of the Dolphin and simply walk to EP that evening to have a leisurely night and start knocking off some of those EP rides and attractions. I would FP+ either TT or Frozen that evening and save Soarin' either to go standby at RD or late at night or try to snag it as a 4th FP+. We stay in the EP resort area on about 90% of our WDW trips and we absolutely love starting off our vacation by just walking into EP.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

IMHO, Nav'i River Journey is not worth trekking across property on your arrival day. I would, 100%, take advantage of the location of the Dolphin and simply walk to EP that evening to have a leisurely night and start knocking off some of those EP rides and attractions. I would FP+ either TT or Frozen that evening and save Soarin' either to go standby at RD or late at night or try to snag it as a 4th FP+. We stay in the EP resort area on about 90% of our WDW trips and we absolutely love starting off our vacation by just walking into EP.

 

[flexoidar]

Keep in mind you can use single rider for Test Track. If you can do that, I’d use a FP elsewhere.

 

[gharter]

Frozen and TT aer difficult to get day of, but it does happen.
We have not had problems getting Soarin as a 4th+ FP.
I would get the FP for TT. you could do the single rider and tehn use the FP for Frozen. Really depends which is more important to you.
I love Boma, but wouldn't use your FP there on Navi. Its just not that good, but I love AK and the resort is beautiful.

Your arrival day, I like to stay at a park closer to our resort as we can be tired traveling that day.

 

[kteach]

Thanks for all of the replies. I think you all confirmed what I was thinking...better to stick close by to epcot and knock out some of those fastpasses...and just so easy the first night! We'll just head to boma later in the trip.