FastPass+ timing question?

[LLM]

I am trying to make my game plan for January 1st to 3rd. I am planning on arriving at the parks as close to rope drop as possible (not always easy with my 2 year old twins and will be 7 year old in tow)! I know there is a HUGE thread on FastPasses but I find the size of the thread to be intimidating! When do you pros suggest I make my FastPass+ reservations for? As soon as we arrive, mid morning, etc? I am not questioning what we should get FastPasses for, just around what time of the day we should aim for. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Lisa

 

[bc7ate9]

if you get there at rope drop, you will be able to walk on to things for the first part of the morning. I'd make FP for 11 am-2 PM. Once you use them, you should be able to get an additional FP at a kiosk.

 

[siskaren]

Honestly, it's personal preference. Some people do them early so they can try to maximize how many additional ones they can get. Other people prefer to do standby for the first 2-3 hours when ride lines are shorter anyway. And you really only need to read the first two posts in the Fast Pass thread.

 

[AzzySpazbourne]

There are 2 general strategies:

1 - Choose your 3 FPs for first 3 hours in the morning.. then "hope" to get a 4th about 2.5 hours in (you can book your 4th at a kiosk after your use your third). If you do this, best bet would be to rush to the big e-ticket attractions that you don't have FP+ for to try to beat the lines. Problem with this strategy: you might be "wasting" some good FPs sine early morning is typically lowest wait times in the day. Positive: you're more likely to get a 4th (and maybe even 5th) FP... although they will be for less popular attractions/shows.

2- Choose your 3 FPs for early-mid afternoon (busiest time in the parks), and just ride/attend as much as you can from park opening. With this strategy you're likely not to be able to get a decent 4th FP that will work for you.

 

[Paigesmom2013]

My strategy with a 2 and 5 year old is to make my fastpasses in the morning and pick our favorite things. I will hope there are walk on lines in the morning, but I know we won't make rope drop ( DH is slow as molasses.) For my children's ages, even a 20 minute line could get them squirrelly. Then we'll try for a 4th or 5th fastpass on a minor attraction.
I am nervous that standby lines are supposedly larger now. In 2013 we walked on IASW, Winnie Pooh, even Under the Sea.

 

[dlavender]

We did ours for the 10-1 time frame. We were only 2 weeks out when we planned, so we were limited off the bat. We were able to snag a 4th FP, but it was unnecessary, as the stand by for Little Mermaid was the same as the FP wait. We actually lost on that deal, as we waited in line 10 mins at the FP kiosk to get that FP. On our next trip, I wont hesitate to snag a later 7DMT if one is available. To me, getting a 4th or 5th FP is pointless.

 

[Dr Gunnie]

My $.02 - the first few hours you won't need the fp+'s. I would recommend maybe starting your fp+'s around the 10:30 mark - that's when it seems like the parks really start filling up.

 

[buzz2400]

we just came back (1st week of october). we made our fastpasses for 11, 12 and 1. We also got there at rope drop. Make sure you get these fastpasses (if you are planning on riding these): peter pan and 7 dwarf mine train; soarin; kilamanjori safari and kali river rapids; and toy story mania. These are the rides that have the longest, longest standby times. another piece of advice is when you go to magic kingdom, go directly to fantasyland (I would assume you plan on this because of the ages of your kids).

 

[shananigin3122]

So here is the thing I never understand about NOT making morning FP. Tell me what I am missing. If you go at rope drop and make 10,11 and 12 FPs, when you get to the 10:00 FP, if you get lucky and the line is less than 15 minutes (or whatever the magic number is) then can't you just ride standby and move the FP on your phone to something later in the day?

 

[Mikie]

So here is the thing I never understand about NOT making morning FP. Tell me what I am missing. If you go at rope drop and make 10,11 and 12 FPs, when you get to the 10:00 FP, if you get lucky and the line is less than 15 minutes (or whatever the magic number is) then can't you just ride standby and move the FP on your phone to something later in the day?

My personal reason not to is that the rides I choose to get FPs for are high demand rides AND we always have at least one ADR to work around, so I don't want to schedule a valuable FP during a window where I *probably* won't even need it, on the *hope* of being able to exchange it for something both desirable and convenient on the day of. Secondly, I found either the app or my phone would sometimes freeze or I'd have no good connection - I get irrationally rage-filled at tech problems & wouldn't want to risk that. Therefore, I prefer something more like 11, 12, lunch, 1:45ish

 

[gap2368]

I am trying to make my game plan for January 1st to 3rd. I am planning on arriving at the parks as close to rope drop as possible (not always easy with my 2 year old twins and will be 7 year old in tow)! I know there is a HUGE thread on FastPasses but I find the size of the thread to be intimidating! When do you pros suggest I make my FastPass+ reservations for? As soon as we arrive, mid morning, etc? I am not questioning what we should get FastPasses for, just around what time of the day we should aim for. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Lisa

how likely do you think you can get up and all get to the park by park opening at either 8 or 9 am then if you can most rides not all are walk ons for the first hour or so so you may get a fast pass for 9 am and the ride you have it for is a walk on.

I would do your first fast pass start between 10 and 1030 and just do 3 as close to gather then you can get another one either for as soon as you can or you can do it for latter in the day and go back to your hotel to take a nape

 

[CAS239]

So here is the thing I never understand about NOT making morning FP. Tell me what I am missing. If you go at rope drop and make 10,11 and 12 FPs, when you get to the 10:00 FP, if you get lucky and the line is less than 15 minutes (or whatever the magic number is) then can't you just ride standby and move the FP on your phone to something later in the day?

Yes. If you show up and standby is short then you can either ride standby and FP and get two rides in. Or ride standby and change your time to later in the day, or a different attraction. It's easy to change it up depending on if what you want to change it to is still available the day of

 

[buzz2400]

I found that the additional fast passes that you could get after your first 3 were for the lower demand rides. We could never get them for splash, big thunder, space, 7 dwarfs, etc.

 

[LLM]

Thank you all for the replies. I think I am going to aim for my first FastPass for around 10am. I am not sure what the availability will be like over the holidays, but we shall see!

Lisa