FP+ matrix - many more things to consider

[2goofykiddos]

This thread has changed my life!

I really hated to use a FP on Nemo and Turtle Talk when I have always walked on. Now I think I will go with EO and Figment early on and let them burn.

May keep my plan for HS, but we have 2 days there for SWW so we'll see how it goes.

Great thread! I am really warming to the FP+ idea!

 

[practicallyperfect77]

Quick question on FP+. We have a ETWB at 7:50, followed by Mermaid at 8:50. Say we get to Belle at 7:45 and hit the second Mickey head allowing use to try to move up Mermaid to maybe 8:30 can I do that on the app? I know the 4th FP comes from the kiosks, but can we still adjust times of e 1st 3 FP' while in park from the app or website?

Others have been able to do this on other rides. Of course it all depends on availability too, but basically as soon as you're through the 2nd checkpoint you can move up your next FP+.

OP - thanks much for this thread. I'll hoping to learn lots before my next trip!

 

[2goofykiddos]

Ok I am realizing I have a question. If I just let my first 1, or 2, FP expire, while doing something else in the park, I can just move on to 3 and then begin booking again with 4, right? So if I have Captian EO and Nemo at 9 and 10 and ride TT and Soarin and then have a FP for Soarin at 11, I can get on that again and then begin to book my 4th FP after that ride?

This is not really our plan, just thinking out loud.

Thanks!

 

[Mommy2Corinne]

Do we want to add the question/strategy of rider swap to this FP+ discussion? For those of us with toddlers who can't ride certain rides, our FP+ strategy will likely include rider swap issues.

 

[JimmyV]

We need more data from crowded days before any of this can be filed away as winning strategies. The reports so far have come from visits on crowd calendar days that ranged from 2-5. The game changes when the crowds are 7-10. Especially at Epcot. If you rush to burn through your FPs at lesser attractions so that you can open your window for the "rinse and repeat" portion of your day, and the only times you can get for Soarin' or TT are 7:45 p.m., what have you accomplished? At the end of the day, you will have had 4 FP. One each for the major Tier 1 attractions, and two that you either didn't want, didn't need, or didn't use. And you will have wasted the valuable RD advantage by visiting lesser attractions. On crowded days, the "old strategy" of arriving at RD and hitting popular attractions early will always be the best strategy. I can't see how heading straight to Captain EO and Figment at 9:00 (or going to a late breakfast and arriving at 11:15) will ever be the better approach if you can only get one additional Tier 1 FP, and it is for a time after dinner. Much of what is being discussed here assumes a day when hitting up the kiosks early and often will result in instant gratification and endless visits to TT and Soarin'. Not going to happen on crowd days of 7-10. You'll be lucky to get one extra FP and it will likely be for a time later in the day. When that happens, you will lock yourself out of FPs for the remainder of the day. Remember those old threads about the "Math" of FP? They still apply.

 

[helenb]

Jimmy has expressed exactly my concerns. We will be there in June when the crowd levels are 9 each day. I have planned the FP+ I want between 11 am and 2 pm. After the third one I will try to get a 4th, but I'm doubting there will be much 'good stuff' available, outside of possibly MK. If there is, great, I'll take it, but if not, I'll have my touring plans.

Looking forward to reports from Memorial Day weekend and other upcoming 'high crowd' days!

 

[jade1]

We need more data from crowded days before any of this can be filed away as winning strategies. The reports so far have come from visits on crowd calendar days that ranged from 2-5. The game changes when the crowds are 7-10. Especially at Epcot. If you rush to burn through your FPs at lesser attractions so that you can open your window for the "rinse and repeat" portion of your day, and the only times you can get for Soarin' or TT are 7:45 p.m., what have you accomplished? At the end of the day, you will have had 4 FP. One each for the major Tier 1 attractions, and two that you either didn't want, didn't need, or didn't use. And you will have wasted the valuable RD advantage by visiting lesser attractions. On crowded days, the "old strategy" of arriving at RD and hitting popular attractions early will always be the best strategy. I can't see how heading straight to Captain EO and Figment at 9:00 (or going to a late breakfast and arriving at 11:15) will ever be the better approach if you can only get one additional Tier 1 FP, and it is for a time after dinner. Much of what is being discussed here assumes a day when hitting up the kiosks early and often will result in instant gratification and endless visits to TT and Soarin'. Not going to happen on crowd days of 7-10. You'll be lucky to get one extra FP and it will likely be for a time later in the day. When that happens, you will lock yourself out of FPs for the remainder of the day. Remember those old threads about the "Math" of FP? They still apply.

Spot on.

MK is like 60,000 when we visit, what is it these days 20,000?

So far great news though for slow season IMO.

 

[mom2rtk]

Spot on.

MK is like 60,000 when we visit, what is it these days 20,000?

That sounds spot on. I know we were there in mid-December a couple years ago and enjoyed a fairly low crowd day on a Friday (party day) then remarked the next day on a Saturday how crazy it was. The CM said they had 30K the day before but were expecting 60K that day.

 

[jade1]

That sounds spot on. I know we were there in mid-December a couple years ago and enjoyed a fairly low crowd day on a Friday (party day) then remarked the next day on a Saturday how crazy it was. The CM said they had 30K the day before but were expecting 60K that day.

You should try to stay with slow season visits if you can-I remember you have an aggressive touring style so hopefully your feeling a bit more confident/hopeful at least early on. But yea it may only be 20K recently.

 

[margaret07013]

I just came back from 6 days ( 5/4 to 5/10 ) and here is my take about FP+ additional selections:

1) if you read reports when someone did 10 rides - check the date and park events. If there is no electrical parade and the crowd level per Josh is 3 --- you will be able to do a lot in MK with no big wait lines.

2) Do not expect the same thing in AK, HS, Epcot --- there is simply not enough rides and your 4th maybe not be there for you OR be very late in the evening. on my AK day Kali Rapid rivers FP+ was not available OR available very later - after 4:30pm. on HS day - TSMM - no FP+ available at all when I checked them.

I checked 3-4 times but I was not interested in spending 30 min on my iPhone to see if FP+ appears.

3) RD still works for any park and take advantage of it.

4) Find out which rides "load" faster so you know that "20 minutes" wait time on Little Mermaid is in reality 5-10 min walk on.

5) Be smart about your dinner reservations and sometimes its better to waste a FP+ on something to gain something else. For example: if you are interested in seeing Electrical Parade and dont want to wait "2 hrs" to grab a good viewing of it - use your FP+ on the parade and do 2-3 rides with minimal waits. this goes to parents with small kids ( like me ) who have strollers and it would take them forever to find a good viewing spot.

Jimmy has expressed exactly my concerns. We will be there in June when the crowd levels are 9 each day. I have planned the FP+ I want between 11 am and 2 pm. After the third one I will try to get a 4th, but I'm doubting there will be much 'good stuff' available, outside of possibly MK. If there is, great, I'll take it, but if not, I'll have my touring plans.

Looking forward to reports from Memorial Day weekend and other upcoming 'high crowd' days!

 

[mom2rtk]

You should try to stay with slow season visits if you can-I remember you have an aggressive touring style so hopefully your feeling a bit more confident/hopeful at least early on. But yea it may only be 20K recently.

I'm really sort of agnostic on the system since the addition of extra FPs. I need to hear the reports from lots of others during the time we typically travel. We're heading to DLR again this year, but hope to get back to WDW in 2015. Problem is my daughter will be in high school by then, so I doubt I can take her out in the slowest times like I used to. One of the things I disliked about FP+ was that it threw so much uncertainty into these last couple years we could take her out of school without any big issues.

 

[jade1]

I'm really sort of agnostic on the system since the addition of extra FPs. I need to hear the reports from lots of others during the time we typically travel. We're heading to DLR again this year, but hope to get back to WDW in 2015. Problem is my daughter will be in high school by then, so I doubt I can take her out in the slowest times like I used to. One of the things I disliked about FP+ was that it threw so much uncertainty into these last couple years we could take her out of school without any big issues.

Oh gosh high school, well at least over the next year you should have a pretty clear picture of seasonal results for an informed decision. Did DL last year-vastly improved from the 80's trip and very fun, many things were better than WDW-but one day covered it, so maybe go back in about 10 years if in CA for something.

 

[mom2rtk]

Oh gosh high school, well at least over the next year you should have a pretty clear picture of seasonal results for an informed decision. Did DL last year-vastly improved from the 80's trip and very fun, many things were better than WDW-but one day covered it, so maybe go back in about 10 years if in CA for something.

We spent 5 days at DLR in December and still felt like we didn't have enough time. Part of me is missing WDW and wishing we could get back this year, but won't commit cash there until there's a more predictable outcome.

 

[clsteve]

We need more data from crowded days before any of this can be filed away as winning strategies. The reports so far have come from visits on crowd calendar days that ranged from 2-5. The game changes when the crowds are 7-10. Especially at Epcot. If you rush to burn through your FPs at lesser attractions so that you can open your window for the "rinse and repeat" portion of your day, and the only times you can get for Soarin' or TT are 7:45 p.m., what have you accomplished? At the end of the day, you will have had 4 FP. One each for the major Tier 1 attractions, and two that you either didn't want, didn't need, or didn't use. And you will have wasted the valuable RD advantage by visiting lesser attractions. On crowded days, the "old strategy" of arriving at RD and hitting popular attractions early will always be the best strategy. I can't see how heading straight to Captain EO and Figment at 9:00 (or going to a late breakfast and arriving at 11:15) will ever be the better approach if you can only get one additional Tier 1 FP, and it is for a time after dinner. Much of what is being discussed here assumes a day when hitting up the kiosks early and often will result in instant gratification and endless visits to TT and Soarin'. Not going to happen on crowd days of 7-10. You'll be lucky to get one extra FP and it will likely be for a time later in the day. When that happens, you will lock yourself out of FPs for the remainder of the day. Remember those old threads about the "Math" of FP? They still apply.

Many of the posts are about letting the 9/10am throwaway FP's (EO and Figment being examples) expire while following a standard RD standby strategy, followed by an early Tier One FP to close out the first 3 - not actually riding the 1 or 2 throwaways that are expiring while riding major attractions SB. It would work for some (like us).

Everything in this is crowd dependent and very subject to change based on how high the percentage of pre-booked FP's continues to climb, as this matures. I believe Rasulo said off-site is still in the 25% range, so there's still a large opportunity for that to increase- causing all of this to change.

Hey, it's a start at developing some strategic options. However, the biggest concern, as we go through this are any changes to the rules. And, we all know they change without any notice.....

 

[JimmyV]

Many of the posts are about letting the 9/10am throwaway FP's (EO and Figment being examples) expire while following a standard RD standby strategy, followed by an early Tier One FP to close out the first 3 - not actually riding the 1 or 2 throwaways that are expiring while riding major attractions SB. It would work for some (like us).

How is:

1. Book FP #1 for EO at 9:00 and FP #2 for Figment at 10:00, but don't use them.
2. Arrive at RD and ride Soarin' as a standby and then head to Mission Space as a SB and then go to Sum of All Thrills.
3. At 11:00, go use TT using FP#3

better than:

1. Book FP #1 for Mission Space at 9:30
2. Book FP # 2 for Spaceship Earth at 10:30
3. Book FP #3 for TT at 11:30
4. Arrive at RD and ride Soarin' as a standby and then head to Sum of All Thrills.
5. Between 9:30 and 10:30, begin using FPs.

If you are going to arrive at RD and ride rides waiting for your Tier 1 FP to kick in at 11:00, why not use your first two FPs for things that you are going to ride anyway? The EO and Figment FPs will be there as your 4th and 5th later in the day.

 

[practicallyperfect77]

How is:

[*]Book FP #1 for EO at 9:00 and FP #2 for Figment at 10:00, but don't use them.
[*]Arrive at RD and ride Soarin' as a standby and then head to Mission Space as a SB and then go to Sum of All Thrills.
[*]At 11:00, go use TT using FP#3


better than:

[*]Book FP #1 for Mission Space at 9:30
[*]Book FP # 2 for Spaceship Earth at 10:30
[*]Book FP #3 for TT at 11:30
[*]Arrive at RD and ride Soarin' as a standby and then head to Sum of All Thrills.
[*]Between 9:30 and 10:30, begin using FPs.


If you are going to arrive at RD and ride rides waiting for your Tier 1 FP to kick in at 11:00, why not use your first two FPs for things that you are going to ride anyway? The EO and Figment FPs will be there as your 4th and 5th later in the day.

Another option:

Arrive RD and ride TT
Book it to Soarin' for 1st FP+ 9-10.
Once thru 2nd tap style move up 2nd FP+ (and ride Living with Land)
Once thru 2nd checkpoint on Land move up your 3rd once for Nemo
Once done with Nemo (say around 10:30) get your 4th FP+ for a retire on Soar in'.

Of course this assumes you don't wanna do mission space or spaceship earth, but I bet you could easily make those rides work with this approach too.

 

[clsteve]

How is:

1. Book FP #1 for EO at 9:00 and FP #2 for Figment at 10:00, but don't use them.
2. Arrive at RD and ride Soarin' as a standby and then head to Mission Space as a SB and then go to Sum of All Thrills.
3. At 11:00, go use TT using FP#3

better than:

1. Book FP #1 for Mission Space at 9:30
2. Book FP # 2 for Spaceship Earth at 10:30
3. Book FP #3 for TT at 11:30
4. Arrive at RD and ride Soarin' as a standby and then head to Sum of All Thrills.
5. Between 9:30 and 10:30, begin using FPs.

If you are going to arrive at RD and ride rides waiting for your Tier 1 FP to kick in at 11:00, why not use your first two FPs for things that you are going to ride anyway? The EO and Figment FPs will be there as your 4th and 5th later in the day.

Our RD Strategy, in that time period, would be:

• Soarin SB
• Sum of all Thrills
• Mission Space SB
• TT twice in single rider
• Soarin FP

To get that done, I would let the EO and Figment FP's expire instead of using a Mission Space FP - just so we weren't time constrained to get the above priorities completed. We could grab an MS FP instead of Figment, but it would still be the one we let expire to get the others accomplished.

Then, we would grab a Tier One for the evening as we leave for either Soarin, TT, or Maelstrom (whichever worked time-wise), and then hit a few countries as we walked back to the Resort for lunch, the pool, and break time.

We would return late afternoon/early evening to FutureWorld (after a stop by La Cava, of course!) when the crowds have moved to WS for (hopefully) Spaceship Earth as SB, (possibly) Living with the Land SB, The Living Seas, etc., our 4th Tier One FP, and then Illuminations (we like it, very much).

 

[bcrook]

Our RD Strategy, in that time period, would be:

• Soarin SB
• Sum of all Thrills
• Mission Space SB
• TT twice in single rider
• Soarin FP

To get that done, I would let the EO and Figment FP's expire instead of using a Mission Space FP - just so we weren't time constrained to get the above priorities completed. We could grab an MS FP instead of Figment, but it would still be the one we let expire to get the others accomplished.

Then, we would grab a Tier One for the evening as we leave for either Soarin, TT, or Maelstrom (whichever worked time-wise), and then hit a few countries as we walked back to the Resort for lunch, the pool, and break time.

We would return late afternoon/early evening to FutureWorld (after a stop by La Cava, of course!) when the crowds have moved to WS for (hopefully) Spaceship Earth as SB, (possibly) Living with the Land SB, The Living Seas, etc., our 4th Tier One FP, and then Illuminations (we like it, very much).

Does anybody know, are the illuminations passes being sucked up early?

 

[crazymomof4]

Jimmy has expressed exactly my concerns. We will be there in June when the crowd levels are 9 each day. I have planned the FP+ I want between 11 am and 2 pm. After the third one I will try to get a 4th, but I'm doubting there will be much 'good stuff' available, outside of possibly MK. If there is, great, I'll take it, but if not, I'll have my touring plans.

He expressed my concerns as well. I have no experience at all with FP+ yet. Even tho we are going in Sept., based on the response to FD this year, I'm not expecting the very low crowd levels of Septembers we enjoyed years ago. So, I'm thinking 3 FP+s "in the hand" are worth more than however many there may be "in the bush".
We've always been a RD family. My plan, for right now, is to get there at RD and ride our favorite headliners until the standby lines get too long. Arounnd that time, our FP+'s will be waiting for us. Plan to schedule them around 11-2pm., give or take. After that, snag the best of whatever FP+ are available and also take advantage of shorter lines during parade times (we are not wild for parades). Having hoppers will help set my mind at ease too bc we can always snag some headliners during an EMH here and there and being at BC it will be easy to "hop" over to Epcot and DHS.

 

[jade1]

Does anyone know if 1/2 your party can go home at lunch, the other 1/2 take "ALL" the parties bands to a 2nd park and use them for the 4th FP+ etc and use "ALL" the bands there as well? TIA.

Pretty sure you can if 1/2 stay in the "current" park, but not sure on hopping.