FastPass+ Basic Info, Suggested Priorities, And Strategies--Part II

[nuzmom]

I'm sorry, this has probably been asked, but I just can't find it.

If I have back-to-back FP+ for TSMM, TOT, and the Star Tours for our party of 5...
My plan was to ride Star Tours at the very beginning of the window (maybe even moving it up as we do the others) and then attempt to get a 4th FP+ for TSMM or Fantasmic.

However, my DM (85 yrs old) will ride TSMM and do Fantasmic but not the others. So...
What happens when I try to get a 4th FP+ for our party and it will show that she hasn't used her non-tiered FP+. A big part of my plan is to book the 4th ASAP so waiting for her's to expire, when we USED the other ones, doesn't make much sense.
Will the Kiosk CMs override her having to use her FP+ since we used ours? Or do we somehow make sure we scan her Magicband (without her) as we go through the line? (seems sort of crazy and I don't even know if it's possible)
I'd rather not make her go through the linen with us. Our ride time is usually her sit and rest time!!!!

 

[mbrittb00]

I'm sorry, this has probably been asked, but I just can't find it.

If I have back-to-back FP+ for TSMM, TOT, and the Star Tours for our party of 5...
My plan was to ride Star Tours at the very beginning of the window (maybe even moving it up as we do the others) and then attempt to get a 4th FP+ for TSMM or Fantasmic.

However, my DM (85 yrs old) will ride TSMM and do Fantasmic but not the others. So...
What happens when I try to get a 4th FP+ for our party and it will show that she hasn't used her non-tiered FP+. A big part of my plan is to book the 4th ASAP so waiting for her's to expire, when we USED the other ones, doesn't make much sense.
Will the Kiosk CMs override her having to use her FP+ since we used ours? Or do we somehow make sure we scan her Magicband (without her) as we go through the line? (seems sort of crazy and I don't even know if it's possible)
I'd rather not make her go through the linen with us. Our ride time is usually her sit and rest time!!!!

You could have her MB scanned at StarTours then she could step out of line

 

[Athenaa]

Hello! I'm a Disneyland veteran who is going to WDW for the first time, and I'm a bit overwhelmed. I will be in Magic Kingdom on November 11th, and my window opens tonight. I'm trying to create a fastpass strategy that will enable me to use my FPs early in the day so that I can pull more of them later, but I don't want to make the mistake of scheduling FPs for rides that don't run out later. I hope that makes sense. Essentially, I want to know which of the following rides typically run out early (i.e. you can't get them at kiosks in the afternoon once your three FPs are used up):

Enchanted Tales with Belle
Seven Dwarves Mine Train
Peter Pan
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder
Buzz Lightyear

A more general question would be: which rides have most of you been able to get a fastpass for in the afternoon after your first three are used?

For example, I won't bother to ride Buzz in the mornings even though the line is low if I can get a fastpass later on. Or, more importantly, I won't waste my precious morning time with a fastpass on Enchanted Tales with Belle if I can get one later once I'm in the park.

Thanks!
Cher

 

[lanie1138]

Hello! I'm a Disneyland veteran who is going to WDW for the first time, and I'm a bit overwhelmed. I will be in Magic Kingdom on November 11th, and my window opens tonight. I'm trying to create a fastpass strategy that will enable me to use my FPs early in the day so that I can pull more of them later, but I don't want to make the mistake of scheduling FPs for rides that don't run out later. I hope that makes sense. Essentially, I want to know which of the following rides typically run out early (i.e. you can't get them at kiosks in the afternoon once your three FPs are used up): Enchanted Tales with Belle Seven Dwarves Mine Train Peter Pan Space Mountain Splash Mountain Big Thunder Buzz Lightyear A more general question would be: which rides have most of you been able to get a fastpass for in the afternoon after your first three are used? For example, I won't bother to ride Buzz in the mornings even though the line is low if I can get a fastpass later on. Or, more importantly, I won't waste my precious morning time with a fastpass on Enchanted Tales with Belle if I can get one later once I'm in the park. Thanks! Cher

I have the same questions. We have been to Disneyland so many times we don't think twice about how to plan our days, but WDW planning is keeping me up at night! Thanks to everyone on this thread for all the wonderful information, it has relieved a lot of anxiety about our trip!

 

[mbrittb00]

Hello! I'm a Disneyland veteran who is going to WDW for the first time, and I'm a bit overwhelmed. I will be in Magic Kingdom on November 11th, and my window opens tonight. I'm trying to create a fastpass strategy that will enable me to use my FPs early in the day so that I can pull more of them later, but I don't want to make the mistake of scheduling FPs for rides that don't run out later. I hope that makes sense. Essentially, I want to know which of the following rides typically run out early (i.e. you can't get them at kiosks in the afternoon once your three FPs are used up): Enchanted Tales with Belle Seven Dwarves Mine Train Peter Pan Space Mountain Splash Mountain Big Thunder Buzz Lightyear A more general question would be: which rides have most of you been able to get a fastpass for in the afternoon after your first three are used? For example, I won't bother to ride Buzz in the mornings even though the line is low if I can get a fastpass later on. Or, more importantly, I won't waste my precious morning time with a fastpass on Enchanted Tales with Belle if I can get one later once I'm in the park. Thanks! Cher

Seven Dwarfs is likely already all gone
Space Mountain is a candidate that will run out.

Historically the other have had avaliability later in the day, but with FP+ there's not telling.

 

[siskaren]

I'm trying to create a fastpass strategy that will enable me to use my FPs early in the day so that I can pull more of them later

The thing with this strategy though is that for the first couple hours the park is open, lines will be short and fastpasses won't really be necessary. To me, the point of using fastpass is to reduce time waiting in line, not to see how many I can get.

For example, I won't bother to ride Buzz in the mornings even though the line is low if I can get a fastpass later on.

See, this is what I'm talking about. If the line is low, why not ride it standby? Ride standby while the lines are low, then save the fastpasses for later in the day when they're not (or for rides that have long lines all day).

 

[Athenaa]

The thing with this strategy though is that for the first couple hours the park is open, lines will be short and fastpasses won't really be necessary. To me, the point of using fastpass is to reduce time waiting in line, not to see how many I can get.



See, this is what I'm talking about. If the line is low, why not ride it standby? Ride standby while the lines are low, then save the fastpasses for later in the day when they're not (or for rides that have long lines all day).

I wouldn't ride it standby if I could replace it with another short line in the morning that I couldn't get a FP for later.

I only have one day in Magic Kingdom and I don't like to wait in long lines, so I'm trying to minimize them. My goal isn't to get the most FPs; my goal is to ride the most rides with minimum wait times. I am not a wanderer. At Disneyland on a busy day with a 7am EMH, I can ride Peter Pan, Alice, Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Buzz three times, and Indiana Jones by 8:15 am. We don't bother using FP until after 10 am, and I stay away from longer high capacity rides like POTC or Small World until after 10:30 am or so. By 11 am, with 4 hours in the park, we've easily hit all the big rides once or twice and many of the small ones with less than 15 minute waits, for the most part. I know that's not going to happen at Magic Kingdom.

I think my main concern is SDMT and Echanted tales with Belle. I hate to waste morning time waiting in longer lines for those rides, but I don't want to wait for an hour later in the day either.

 

[KimBean]

So... window opens tomorrow at midnight.

Let's say for the day I get A&E (how do you like that for positive foreshadowing??) if I want to change the time do you think I should try to do that first OR just get all the FP for each day that I want (10 days) and THEN work on timing issues??

Really for A&E timing is not going to be particular I'll take whatever they give me, if I can get one, but just thinking should I play with the times of the hard grabs first or just grab everything I can get for whatever time it will give me and then go back in and play around with times?

 

[siskaren]

By 11 am, with 4 hours in the park, we've easily hit all the big rides once or twice and many of the small ones with less than 15 minute waits, for the most part. I know that's not going to happen at Magic Kingdom.

Why do you think that?

 

[My2Kidzmom]

So... window opens tomorrow at midnight.

Let's say for the day I get A&E (how do you like that for positive foreshadowing??) if I want to change the time do you think I should try to do that first OR just get all the FP for each day that I want (10 days) and THEN work on timing issues??

Really for A&E timing is not going to be particular I'll take whatever they give me, if I can get one, but just thinking should I play with the times of the hard grabs first or just grab everything I can get for whatever time it will give me and then go back in and play around with times?

Get all your FP first then tweak the times. Book your last day first, that worked for me and I got A&E and 7DMT twice. Good luck.

 

[KimBean]

Get all your FP first then tweak the times. Book your last day first, that worked for me and I got A&E and 7DMT twice. Good luck.

Thank you!

 

[cel_disney]

I wouldn't ride it standby if I could replace it with another short line in the morning that I couldn't get a FP for later. I only have one day in Magic Kingdom and I don't like to wait in long lines, so I'm trying to minimize them. My goal isn't to get the most FPs; my goal is to ride the most rides with minimum wait times. I am not a wanderer. At Disneyland on a busy day with a 7am EMH, I can ride Peter Pan, Alice, Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Buzz three times, and Indiana Jones by 8:15 am. We don't bother using FP until after 10 am, and I stay away from longer high capacity rides like POTC or Small World until after 10:30 am or so. By 11 am, with 4 hours in the park, we've easily hit all the big rides once or twice and many of the small ones with less than 15 minute waits, for the most part. I know that's not going to happen at Magic Kingdom. I think my main concern is SDMT and Echanted tales with Belle. I hate to waste morning time waiting in longer lines for those rides, but I don't want to wait for an hour later in the day either.

I think that if you walk fast and are at the rope for rope drop you have a great chance of this depending on when you are going.

We did EMH on a party day last week and got lots done...it was a slow session of course but I think it's manageable most of the year if you are there early.

We had a FP for Belle in the morning and next time I will change that to afternoon. It's a long attraction - 12-15 minutes plus the wait time for it to start. I didn't like missing low wait rides for that. Mine train was a much shorter FP activity (we did it 3 times on different days between 12-1:30.). If I was doing it again, I would probably have my FP start at 11:30 or so and use them after lunch...

Also - We had a parade FP on our 3rd MK day. I loved walking up right at 3pm and having a great view of the floats with the castle behind them.

 

[Cluelyss]

Get all your FP first then tweak the times. Book your last day first, that worked for me and I got A&E and 7DMT twice. Good luck.

I agree with this comment 99% of the time....however, if you need to tweak the time for A&E, I would do that right away. If you wait till you're done scheduling everything else, there may be no other times available.

 

[sjams]

I have spent the last two days reading all 56 pages of this thread and still have questions. I know, right?

1. I am renting DVC. I will get a reservation number from the peeps I rent from, correct?

2. Tickets? I plan on getting them not through Disney. How do I link to MDE?

3. Are ALL rides FP+ now?

4. I am going to get park hoppers so my 'plan' is to get the FP+'s for the afternoon at one park and in the morning hit RD at another park. Can I still ride popular rides at the am park with relative ease?

5. It will just be my ds (14) and I so we will not need the Frozen peeps, you are welcome!! So will it be easier for us to get FP+'s to the other popular rides?

6. Epcot and tiering? That whole system confuses me.

Some of my questions might overlap, sorry about that.
I do think I have the gist though, make all FP+'s and then modify to our liking. Correct?

Thanks in advance!

 

[doconeill]

I have spent the last two days reading all 56 pages of this thread and still have questions. I know, right?

1. I am renting DVC. I will get a reservation number from the peeps I rent from, correct?

2. Tickets? I plan on getting them not through Disney. How do I link to MDE?

3. Are ALL rides FP+ now?

4. I am going to get park hoppers so my 'plan' is to get the FP+'s for the afternoon at one park and in the morning hit RD at another park. Can I still ride popular rides at the am park with relative ease?

5. It will just be my ds (14) and I so we will not need the Frozen peeps, you are welcome!! So will it be easier for us to get FP+'s to the other popular rides?

6. Epcot and tiering? That whole system confuses me.

Some of my questions might overlap, sorry about that.
I do think I have the gist though, make all FP+'s and then modify to our liking. Correct?

Thanks in advance!

1) you should

2) You enter the ticket codes into MDX

3) Not all, but many

4) Yes.

5) I'm not sure what you mean by easier. Only in the sense that you won't be one of those scouring every day of their reservation for A&E slots first. A&E are the toughest to get at the 60 day window, most other things should be available.

6) It's pretty simple. The attractions are in two groups. You can pre-book 1 attraction from Tier 1 and 2 from Tier 2. That's it.

 

[Athenaa]

Why do you think that?

Getting a 7 am EMH at Disneyland is fantastic because most people are simply not willing to get up that early. The park doesn't even start to fill up til late morning and with very few exceptions, lines are walk on to less than fifteen minutes for the first two hours, and I'm usually there at spring break.

Conversely, I am going to Magic Kingdom on a day with no EMH that opens at 9 am. A lot of people are willing to get up that early, so it gets crowded earlier. Based on what I've read here and on touringplans and ridemax, lines start to get pretty heavy after the first hour.

 

[Athenaa]

I think that if you walk fast and are at the rope for rope drop you have a great chance of this depending on when you are going.

We did EMH on a party day last week and got lots done...it was a slow session of course but I think it's manageable most of the year if you are there early.

We had a FP for Belle in the morning and next time I will change that to afternoon. It's a long attraction - 12-15 minutes plus the wait time for it to start. I didn't like missing low wait rides for that. Mine train was a much shorter FP activity (we did it 3 times on different days between 12-1:30.). If I was doing it again, I would probably have my FP start at 11:30 or so and use them after lunch...

Also - We had a parade FP on our 3rd MK day. I loved walking up right at 3pm and having a great view of the floats with the castle behind them.

Thanks for the info; that was helpful.

I'm struggling with whether we should go to Enchanted Tales with Belle at all. I'm a Beauty and the Beast fan, but I will be there with two other adults, and I don't typically have interest in meeting characters. However, I love shows, and the magic of Disney moves me in a way that say, it doesn't with other people I know. It sounds like I could be bored stiff or find it enchanting. I think I will avoid getting a FP for that and determine whether we are going to do it when we get there.

Thanks again.

 

[nuzmom]

Thanks for the info; that was helpful.

I'm struggling with whether we should go to Enchanted Tales with Belle at all. I'm a Beauty and the Beast fan, but I will be there with two other adults, and I don't typically have interest in meeting characters. However, I love shows, and the magic of Disney moves me in a way that say, it doesn't with other people I know. It sounds like I could be bored stiff or find it enchanting. I think I will avoid getting a FP for that and determine whether we are going to do it when we get there.

Thanks again.

Enchanted Tales with Belle is the only WDW attraction my family has never seen. Yesterday, I FINALLY decided to watch a youtube video of it to see what it's really like. For us, I wouldn't "waste" a FP on it. (we are a family of 5 with DS18 and DS13). If you don't mind spoiling the surprise of the show, perhaps you could watch a video of it to determine if it's something you'd like to do.

 

[Ilovemyprincesses]

So I go in the app to check for A&E and I finally see it but when I try to book it I of course get an error. I call and get a long line of crap from Disney that is basically don't use the app. This is the 3rd time I have been told by a CM that I shouldn't use the app. Then why do you have it and why do we have to jump through these hoops? It isn't working but they will never admit it.

And no A&E for us. They we gone by the time I got her to look.

 

[nuzmom]

I'm sorry, this has probably been asked, but I just can't find it.

If I have back-to-back FP+ for TSMM, TOT, and the Star Tours for our party of 5...
My plan was to ride Star Tours at the very beginning of the window (maybe even moving it up as we do the others) and then attempt to get a 4th FP+ for TSMM or Fantasmic.

However, my DM (85 yrs old) will ride TSMM and do Fantasmic but not the others. So...
What happens when I try to get a 4th FP+ for our party and it will show that she hasn't used her non-tiered FP+. A big part of my plan is to book the 4th ASAP so waiting for her's to expire, when we USED the other ones, doesn't make much sense.
Will the Kiosk CMs override her having to use her FP+ since we used ours? Or do we somehow make sure we scan her Magicband (without her) as we go through the line? (seems sort of crazy and I don't even know if it's possible)
I'd rather not make her go through the linen with us. Our ride time is usually her sit and rest time!!!!

You could have her MB scanned at StarTours then she could step out of line

Is this pretty much the only option? I'd rather not even make her walk over there. Can I scan her band without her (ie - scan 5 bands for our party of 4)?
Oh, we will have APs - scanning the card is the same as scanning the band, right? So, could I take her card with me and she keep her band in case she purchases a snack or something while we ride?

Also, is there only 1 place to scan the bands at all/most rides? I thought I read something about having to scan them in two locations on a few rides.