Fastpass+ plus Park Hopper

[PFHite]

I've never used Park hoppers, but have them for our trip Thankgiving week.

I see some people suggesting it's best to get FPs at first park and try to snag additional ones at second park.

To me it makes more sense to get FPs at second park, get to first park at opening and knock out as many attractions as possible. Then take a break and go to park number two w/ 3 FPs in hand.

I do remember on busy days additional FPs are limited, especially for main attractions.

Am I missing something?

Thoughts?

 

[srwarden1928]

Rather than first or second park, go with what is harder to get in FP. Normally in hopping I would FP MK because there is a lot more time to save there with FP. Of course if you want FOP for that day, FP AK.

 

[GeorgiaHoo]

I think you'll find proponents of both. For us, we usually get to a park at RD and schedule FP+ in the morning (but not right at park open), so we ride a few rides with little to no wait then once the parks start getting busy we'll use our FP, then head back to the resort for a rest, then go wherever in the evening and get FP if available. I like to have flexibility in the evening so don't want to have FP scheduled in advance for the evening parks.

 

[slpeters]

I would pick which park to FP based on the goals for the day. We are using park hoppers for our first trip the week before yours. We are generally getting FP in our first park, but there are two exceptions.

I wanted FP for Rivers of Light and got it in my head that I wanted to do the Safari at sunset (we're doing it in the morning a different day) so we are FPing that evening. We are actually doing that morning in MK without FPs. It's morning EMH and we are planning Space Mountain a couple of times at first rope drop, Splash and Big Thunder a couple times each at second rope drop, a couple shows and lunch--it doesn't really seem to require much in the way of FPs.

On the other hand on the day we are jumping from AK to MK we are FPing MK because I want to end the trip in MK but it's the busiest day we're there (the Monday of Thanksgiving week) and of course it's Monday in MK. Knowing what I know now I probably would have bumped the trip up a couple days to avoid ending our trip that way but since I didn't I'm using FPs to make sure we still have a magical evening. We will be going on the train all the way around when we arrive (just before sunset) and having dinner in the park. We'll be doing three of the mountains (not Splash because I don't picture us wet on our big romantic evening) all with FPs because the lines otherwise would be crazy, doing the Riverboat at night, the PeopleMover at night and going to the dessert party for the fireworks. I'm hoping to maybe snag a kiss during the kiss goodnight. That morning we are going to AK for EMH. We're going to avoid Pandora entirely and leave by noon so I'm not sure FPs would have really helped much even on a busy day.

On a sidenote I found when putting together our plan that there weren't a lot of places where I felt like I really needed same day FPs. Mainly it seems we will be looking for extra goes on the DHS rides--we're going there two evenings because I want to see all the shows and we're staying close enough that we can walk. But we're still doing a morning there to make sure we get to do all the rides. Don't get me wrong. I'll certainly check for them but I would rather they feel like a bonus than feel like my plan is falling apart if they don't materialize. On the other hand the way I picture our days in the parks sort of lends itself to not needing them as much. With the exception of one marathon day in MK (which I'm still considering breaking up) we are sort of doing rides in the morning (morning EMH five of seven days), taking a break in the afternoon and then doing shows or world showcase in the evenings.

At any rate it seems to me that you FP what is most important to you and then figure out the rest.

 

[tzolkin]

Am I missing something?

Your plan makes perfect sense and is an efficient use of FP since afternoon is usually when lines are longest (thus saving the maximum time).

However, what I would say what you're "missing" is the reason why many people get park hoppers-- to be flexible. Many people are not planning two (or more) parks for each day of their trip. They are planning one and buying the hoppers to allow them some flexibility.

For example:
If you plan rope drop for Sunday at MK and then book afternoon FPs for AK, you're kind of locked into going to AK that afternoon (so you don't waste that precious FoP FP).

If you plan rope drop + morning FPs for Sunday at AK, you're free to do whatever you're in to mood for that afternoon/evening.


Over all our trips, we have always planned part of each day (either morning or evening) and left the rest unscheduled. Sometimes we let each kid have an evening where they choose where we go, sometimes we just want something specific to eat somewhere, sometimes we just feel like riding the monorail, sometimes we just go to the bus stop and get on whatever happens to pull up first. This is something we really enjoy about our Disney trips and why we would never do it without park hoppers.

 

[Klayfish]

We have park hoppers and almost always use the three FP+ in the first park. The reason is that with the exception of FoP and Na'vi, any other ride in WDW can be had same day FP+, so why "save" the 3 for the second park and have to rope drop and/or rush around the 1st park before it gets crowded? Most of the time, we'll do 6 or 7 rides in the first park we go to, then easily hit 3, 4, 5+ rides in the second park via FP+.