Fastpass+ strategy - AM or PM?

[CutlerP]

Hi all, I've searched around and can't seem to find what the general consensus is on this topic....

H and I are going to WDW from 9/14 through 9/19. No Kids!!! They are grown, but still pouting.

We will be staying on-property at the Boardwalk.

We have 4 day park hopper tix (AF Salute) and will use the 9/15 - 9/18. We have tix for MHSSHP on the 14th.

I have a general schedule put together, based on ADR's and EMH's, we plan to spend the morning in one park and then hop over to another for the afternoon. The way I've got it laid out, we'll have at least one morning in each park, at least one afternoon in each park.

Tonight, I'm eligible to start making my FP+ reservations.

The question is.....should I book them for the "morning park" or the "afternoon park"? I see pro's and cons to both...

If I use them for the morning park, I'll be able to get more FP's once they are used up. BUT, being September, I might not really even NEED them for the morning (esp if using EMH).

If I use them for the afternoon park, we'd be "shut out" from using any at the morning park, should we need them.

I'm waffling. Any suggestions?

 

[siskaren]

I would book them for the afternoon park. You shouldn't have much need for them in the mornings, especially in September.

 

[Barzeski]

I'm traveling mid August and had the same dilemma. I did a combination of morning/afternoon days depending on the park. 2 days I scheduled pm FPs because we plan to hit water parks in the am. I also chose another 2 days of pm FPs when we planned to hop from lower attendance parks to higher attendance parks in the afternoon. The other 4 days I did am FPs because I'm going to lower attendance parks in the evening or plan to hit shows rather than rides or am hoping that I can pull more FPs at MK in the evening...

I'm not sure that there's a right way to schedule them! Good luck!

 

[practicallyperfect77]

In my opinion it kinda depends on what park you start with and what one you're going to in the afternoon. If starting at HS or Epcot and hopping to MK, I might be tempted to use the 3 in the morning park b/c I believe MK has decent availability in the afternoon/evening. However, since it's just 2 adults, you can def rope drop Soarin' or TSM and then ride single rider on TT or RnRC in the morning as well and save FPs for the afternoon park.

 

[wcurry66]

I'm doing both during our upcoming trip

On days where there's morning EMH, I am starting there, touring until it gets crowded, then heading back to the hotel for a break. Using FPs at a second park in the evening

On non-EMH morning's, I have FPs starting around 10am and going til about 1pm

The morning FPs increase the chance of getting a 4th (or more) for the evening.

 

[kohlby]

Agree that it depends on which park is your afternoon park. We are going in Sept as well - but with kids- and wanted to plan our FP+ earlier most of the time in case of thunderstorms/dealing with heat, but we're not hopping that much either. We did do afternoon for our AK to HS day. We figured that FP+ was needed much more in the afternoon at HS than the morning at AK. Generally, you can tour smart in the mornings at most parks, hence why afternoon is usually the safest general answer. But it also depends on what you want to see. For example, if you're hopping to EP and plan to just spend time in World Showcase that afternoon/evening, then it would be worth it to use the FP+ in your morning park instead.

 

[JimmyV]

You can't find a "consesus" conclusion because there isn't one. As noted above, it really does depend on where you start and where you end up. If DHS is your afternoon park, then book your FPs for the afternoon or else you risk long lines and no FP availability at TSMM, RnR, and ToT. Same with Epcot. If you arrive in the afternoon, you had best arrive with FPs booked for either Soarin' or TT. Hopping really alters the analysis, which is why it is so hard to find a definitive answer.

 

[CutlerP]

So...I guess what I might be hearing, is that if I'm at DHS or Epcot in the PM I should use FP for that. Meaning I should ALWAYS book DHS or Epcot over other parks. Gotta check my schedule to see if I've got any days planned where I hop from one to the other (it's at home, I'm at work). I think there's a day where we'd do DHS in the AM and then Epcot for EMH in the PM.....

*sigh* so stressful.....so much detail planning, so far out.....

 

[practicallyperfect77]

So...I guess what I might be hearing, is that if I'm at DHS or Epcot in the PM I should use FP for that. Meaning I should ALWAYS book DHS or Epcot over other parks. Gotta check my schedule to see if I've got any days planned where I hop from one to the other (it's at home, I'm at work). I think there's a day where we'd do DHS in the AM and then Epcot for EMH in the PM.....

*sigh* so stressful.....so much detail planning, so far out.....

For me in that situation, I would arrive at HS no later than 8:20 (assuming a 9 am opening. I shoot to be at bus stop an hour before opening). Head straight to TSM and ride once or twice and then head.to RnRC. You can probably ride together.with under 20 min wait or even less in single rider. Then To and then whatever else you want to do.Inwould FP soarin' and ride TT single rider in the afternoon . Who knows....maybe the slow time of September there will be 4th FPs available. Nobody knows yet. This plan of course is subject to change based on the rides you want to do. If you are just hanging at world showcase for the evening, use FPs at HS. This way you can get more than 1 ride on a fave or maybe you won't have to be there for rope drop.

 

[Altoqueenkelly]

I would book FP+ for the afternoon park. Since typically afternoons are the busier times of days and often ride times are at their peak.

 

[CutlerP]

On another thread there was a reference to checking availability (presumably without making a FP+ reservation), do I understand correctly? Can I just *look* at what's available (albeit not for "my" week), just to get an idea of how things look?

 

[boltfan]

I'm in a similar situation, trying to decide whether to go with AM or PM FP's. We're going in November and planning on doing rope drop every day, so I'm thinking PM would be more useful. Make sure to report on what you decide and how it goes so you can help ME decide!

 

[CutlerP]

(OP here)....Well, I made 'em! Went with all morning FP+'s, at H's request...I guess if nothing else it allows us to be spontaneous in the afternoons! I'll let you know how it goes.....

(And when I say, "at H's request", I mean AFTER we discussed all of your helpful responses, lest you think I ignored everyone...)

(to anyone who is interested, I started making them at 12:01am...I noticed that E&A were already unavailable as I scrolled through...)

 

[Fivesacharm]

Hi all, I've searched around and can't seem to find what the general consensus is on this topic....

H and I are going to WDW from 9/14 through 9/19. No Kids!!! They are grown, but still pouting.

We will be staying on-property at the Boardwalk.

We have 4 day park hopper tix (AF Salute) and will use the 9/15 - 9/18. We have tix for MHSSHP on the 14th.

I have a general schedule put together, based on ADR's and EMH's, we plan to spend the morning in one park and then hop over to another for the afternoon. The way I've got it laid out, we'll have at least one morning in each park, at least one afternoon in each park.

Tonight, I'm eligible to start making my FP+ reservations.

The question is.....should I book them for the "morning park" or the "afternoon park"? I see pro's and cons to both...

If I use them for the morning park, I'll be able to get more FP's once they are used up. BUT, being September, I might not really even NEED them for the morning (esp if using EMH).

If I use them for the afternoon park, we'd be "shut out" from using any at the morning park, should we need them.

I'm waffling. Any suggestions?

Given the time in which you are going, I would say make the fastpasses for the afternoon park. You'll have less need for them in the morning then you would in the afternoon and since you plan to go to each park at least once in the morning and once in the afternoon, you should have the ability to at least fastpass the rides that are most important to you at some point.

 

[evcollins]

I made all afternoon Fps for our September trip with the thought that we could cover quite a bit at RD before our mid-day break...

 

[Stephaniesue]

We are doing RD in October, possibly doing a mid day break, then hopefully booking FP for the afternoon.

We will see what happens with the break though. This will be our last trip for some time, so I am going to get everything I can in there without killing us!