Fast Pass tips for morning-only park visits

[Wosmama6]

Howdy, Right now our plan is to hit all our parks early in the AM, either do EMH or preRD breakfasts, as my 2yoDS likes to wake up at 515, nap at 1230 and go to bed at 730. I realize this might change at disney, but since he's usually so consistent with this, we are planning accordingly. He is NOT a pleasant little human when napless.

So, we are likely to be in the parks 8-1230. We are doing 3 mornings at MK, one at AK and arrival evening at Epcot.

If you're only going to be in the park in the am,
a) do you bother with FP?
b) if so, do you have scheduling tips?
c) if touring plans says I don't need one, is it a good idea to get one just in case?
d) what about scheduling afternoon FP just in case he decides napping sucks?

Trip is 10/25-10/30. Only dining ressies are am breakfasts to get us into parks early.

 

[Mama Lo]

Since you are staying onsite and have the luxury of getting 3 FPs at the 60 mark I would totally do it.

If I were you my plan would be at rope drop and head to ride non FP rides. You can get so much done during the first hour the park is open.

Plan for your FPs to be at 10:00, 11:00 and 12:00 and try to plan your route so that you could do other things while waiting for the next FP. For example, if you have a PP FP at 11:00 see Philharmagic or ride Haunted Mansion right before or after.

As you are leaving the park stop at a FP kiosk and get another FP for the afternoon. That way if you want to head back to the park you will have your 4th FP set.

In the event that you don't use all your FPs before leaving for the nap change the unused one(s) to some time in the afternoon in case you return, you will have them set.

You are smart to keep you son on schedule, its so sad to see the cranky kids who's parent are running their kids into the ground.

Have an amazing trip!

 

[tobikaye]

Do you think he would nap in a stroller? I know some kids can sleep anywhere and others have be laying down. Last month, we took my cousin's 2 year old twins to Kings Island. One kid did not sleep well the night before and napped for 4 hours in his stroller while we were there. The other napped for about 2 hours. They were great when they woke up and ready to ride. We could have easily switched off waiting and done rides while waiting, but used the time to catch up with their mom since they live 6 hours away.

I do like the pp's suggestion of booking the early FP and then checking for additional FP before leaving as well. If you find out that his sleep habits are different at WDW, you can always try to adjust the FPs you have scheduled for later in the trip.

 

[MrsSchmitty12]

We're planning something similar for our trip in January with our 4 and 1 year old sons. I'm fairly confident that the little one will nap in his stroller (my older one did at that age) but I like the flexibility of being able to head back to the room and relax if we choose. And similar to yours, ours are early risers so the current plan is to book our 3 fast passes in the AM and ride as many other rides as possible on standby. Then if we decide to stay we'll try for more same day FP+ but if we decide to leave at least we know we'll have gotten to do the things we really wanted to that day.

 

[MischaOz]

Nothing wrong with doing only mornings if that's what works for you! You know your family best so go with what works. That beig said I would definitely make use of FP. With a 2 year old you don't want to miss Peter Pan, and that's a good one to use FP on regardless of the time of day, because lines build quickly. I also recommend using FP for characters, because I personally find waiting in a long line for a character to be boring and unnecessary. For a 2yo boy talking Mickey would probably be a good choice.

 

[tink9702]

a) Yes, still do FP
b) either 9:30, 10:30, 11:30 or 10,11,12 (you'll get more "use" out of 10,11,12)
c) Yes, get them in case anyway, you never know if another ride will go down and people will flock to where you are headed. Plus you can always NOT use them once you are there if you see the FP+ line is longer/same as standby. If that happens move the FP+ later in the day OR ride the ride TWICE, once standby & then again with the FP+.
d) he's too small to really go on any of the rides that have HUGE lines other than Anna&Elsa so I'd just deal with whatever lines you find there are in the afternoons if he does end up napping in the stroller. There are plenty of rides that have small lines or don't have FP+.

 

[Kathryn777]

Still do Fp. I push mine a little more at Disney, but we don't skip naps. We usually do fp at 11, 12 and 1. By 11 you usually need them

 

[DisneyMooners2010]

We are going in Sept with our 2 year old and we have mostly morning fp. I really like that we won't have to stand in line much. I'm not sure I could keep her entertained, even for a 20 minute wait!

 

[edolee]

I think in your situation fastpass could be REALLY important. A lot depends on what you want to do, and given that your little one is 2, it might substantially impact the value of this advice. You might not be visiting enough "Headliners" that it matters much.

Objective: Visit all desired attractions with no waits longer than "X" minutes. "X" is dependent on the time of year you visit. You are going at a relatively slow time of year. Crowds at easywdw average about 5 out of 10 those days, so I would think in your case X = 15 minutes.

Theory: The first 2.5 hours at the park are the MOST CRITICAL BY FAR. Even 20 minutes wasted standing in line during these hours is very damaging. Try to stand in line no more than 5-10 minutes during the first 2.5 hours.

Given this... I would schedule fastpasses for 9:15, 10:15, and 11:15. Peter Pan is a great illustrative example. Let's say you get to PP at 10:15, and the wait is 25 minutes for standby, and 5-10 minutes if you had a FP+. What to do? Isn't it wasting a FP+ to save only 15-20 minutes? For my family, that wants to ride lots of headliners, that 15-20 minute extra wait in the first 2.5 hours is KILLER and to be avoided at all costs. If I can ride 3 headliners during the first 2.5 hours using FP+, with a wait only 5-10 minutes for each, I can pretty much assure a successful day at the park. On an non EMH day, that means our family would ride something like this:

Hour 1: Headliner 1 standby, (e.g. Space Mountain)
Non-Headliner standby (Buzz lightyear)
Headliner 2 FP+ (7DMT)
Hour 2: Headliner 3 FP+ (Peter Pan)
Non-Headliner standby, (Its a small world)
Non-Headliner (Haunted Mansion)
Hour 3: Headliner 4 Standby (Splash Mountain)
Headliner 5 FP+ (Big Thunder Mountain Railroad)
((Get your 4th FP+ for later))
Non-headliner standby (Pirates otc)
Hour 4: Grab some lunch
Non-Headliner standby (Mickey's Philharmagic)
Head back to hotel/villa/condo for nap, swimming etc.

So my theory is, for the morning. Use FP+ as early as possible. You might save less total time than if you used the FP+ later in the day on a specific ride, but the payoff is in substantially reduced waits for the non-headliners because you get to them earlier. I want to be out of the park by 1pm or 1:30 napping, swimming etc because of the heat, and the fact that all attractions have large standby times in the afternoon. In our case, you need to be heading out around Noon or so to get your DS to his nap by 12:30...

Good luck on your trip!

Ed

 

[Wosmama6]

wow, thanks for all the stellar advice. who knows, DS might surprise me, but he tends to be the - sleeps only in a dark room with white noise and his blanky - type. i've never seen him nap in a stroller.

Ed, my husband and I have both been to Disney multiple times, and DS is anything but patient, so we aren't doing any headliners/rider switch. That helps a LOT with timing, and with three mornings in MK, we can try to spread the headliners pretty evenly. I might be able to stretch him to 12:30 or 1 before we leave the park... even if he doesn't start napping til 2, it'll be okay, though past noon he's grumpy.

now i just need to plan my rides