FP+ overall order of attack

[MousetersInc]

I can find plenty of sources advising me on the best FP+ choices for each park, but when it hits 7am on that special day I want to have a plan of which order to attempt FPs for the entire trip--all parks, all days. Sure, I know it starts with "FEA and FoP, who cares when or how," but what about after that? So I thought I'd submit my current rankings within each park, and get input on the overall ranking of FP+ rarity. I'm assuming the decision comes down to the rarity of the FP weighted by where it falls within our trip.

(Since it's my first time I also don't know how easy it will be to switch between parks or days during the booking process or whether I'd lose valuable time that way--e.g. "FoP at AK for day 7! now NRJ for day 3! Now to EPCOT for Soarin'! Now to MK!". Depends a lot how long those processes take on the site, or whether it's worth it to book all of one park/day at a time.)

We'll be spending 6 days in the parks, but we have a (60-day) resort reservation for the evening we arrive, so our FP bookings will start with day 2 of our window. I'll refer to days with this in mind, i.e. first day of parks is Day 2 and our final half-day before hitting the road is Day 7. Visit is in late March; touringplans rates crowd level as 6-7. We're not hopping.

MK
On Day 2 we're doing Early Morning Magic, effectively knocking out Fantasyland. We'll also do MK on Day 5, which has evening EMH (which we may or may not fully use). This raises questions about FP+ overlap--we'll have 6 FPs to spend on the Mtn Range, Pirates, and Jungle Cruise--do we duplicate one on the 2nd day? use it on HAE? do a 7DMT in case we didn't get enough during EMM?
Priorities:

1. Space Mtn
2. Splash Mtn
3. BTM
4. Pirates
5. JC

AK
Day 3, has morning EMH; also doing final half-day of trip, day 7. Same questions about 2-day overlap.

1. FoP as Tier 1 for day 7; NRJ for day 3 (unless I can only get FoP day 3, in which case opposite)
2. Kilimanjaro
3. Everest
4. KRR
5. Dinosaur

HS
Day 4

1. SDD for Tier 1 (rope-drop TSM)
2. RnR
3. ToT
4. Star Tours

EPCOT
Day 6, has morning EMH

1. FEA for tier 1; rope-drop TT and then Soarin
2. Spaceship Earth
3. LwtL

(Am I making a mistake relying on finding a good spot for IllumiNations, not using a FP?)

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So there you have it. In which order do I attempt the FPs? My initial thoughts--tell me if I'm wrong--are:

1. FoP for day 3
2. If no, FoP for day 7
3. Frozen for day 6
4. NRR for whichever day isn't FoP
5. Mtn Range for day 2
6. SDD for day 4
7. Kilimanjaro and Everest for day 3
8. RnR and ToT for day 4
9. Space Mtn, Pirates, Jungle Cruise for day 5

At this point I lose track--I guess everything else in whatever order.

 

[StarSeven7]

I would book SDD right after you book FoP. It doesn't look like you're doing 7DMT? If you plan at that at all, I would do that 3rd. After that probably FEA (I haven't found this one too difficult to get) and then I would probably just switch to doing it day by day because you're not going to have difficulty getting any other ones if you're booking 60+ days out.

 

[WaterLinds]

SDD on day 4 is going to likely be harder than anything other than maybe FOP on day 3 (and definitely harder than fop on day 7).

Other than those two and SDMT if you want it, nothing else should be hard at 60 days. If you do try for SDMT on day 2 you will likely have pretty limited times, later in the trip it shouldn’t be bad.

I would book those three things first and the rest you can go slow on.

 

[MousetersInc]

The lack of 7DMT is because we have EMM and are planning to head straight to it; from what I hear you can ride it more than once during EMM if you so desire. I'm debating including one for it on the second MK day, but I have a feeling our 7 and 9 yr olds will be more interested in the Mountains.

 

[KMarston]

NRJ is great I guess, but hardly worth a second trip to the park and a tier 1 FP. I think your kids would rather ride FOP two times if you're sold on two days at AK! Many people report low waits for NRJ at rope drop.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

I had no trouble with FEA for my late Feb / early March booking.

I'd do SDD first, since day 4 is the only day you're trying for it. Then, FoP 3 if possible, FoP 7 if not. You're going to get FoP on 7 at the very least, but you may not get SDD at all if you wait. Then work on FEA.

As to the others, I would then work day by day, rather than bouncing around, starting with day 2. You're going to be fine getting the FPs somewhere in that day but, if you are particular in what times you want them so that you can have them back to back to back, you are going to have trouble the earlier in the week you are. I had a couple of MK days that were for super easy FPs, so I put them last. When I got there, I couldn't book 9:30-10:30-11:30 like I wanted, so had to move one to after lunch. Not a huge deal, certainly, but if you cant get your first three done before lunch, you can spend your time waiting it eat refreshing into your 4th.

 

[PSUGuy]

FWIW I had to go to day 60 + 9 to get an AM Slinky, got early FoP a day earlier and FoP the evening of 60 + 5. This was Oct 18 - 26 2018.

Bill From PA

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

This raises questions about FP+ overlap--we'll have 6 FPs to spend on the Mtn Range, Pirates, and Jungle Cruise--do we duplicate one on the 2nd day? use it on HAE? do a 7DMT in case we didn't get enough during EMM?

There is no FP for HEA, or I'd definitely be using it one of my MK days. Are you kids going to want to visit any of the MK characters? Lines for the FP eligible princesses and for Mickey can get really long, so that's a good use of a pre-booked FP, if it's something they're interested in. I don't know that you're going to want to ride 7DMT much after EMM. People are reporting a good half dozen rides on that in addition to the other eligible rides before the park opens and you have to head down to breakfast.

 

[MousetersInc]

NRJ is great I guess, but hardly worth a second trip to the park and a tier 1 FP. I think your kids would rather ride FOP two times if you're sold on two days at AK! Many people report low waits for NRJ at rope drop.

I forgot! Yes, I've definitely thought of FPing FoP twice and rope-dropping NRJ. I think that's smart.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I would do SDD on day 4 and FOP on day 7 immediately after. Go look for FOP on day 3 when you are done but I doubt it'll be available either way.

After that just go day by day. I wouldn't hop around. Everything after those two are easy to get.

Illuminations isn't hard for a good spot. We showed up about 5 minutes before the start during Jersey Week. We sat in Japan and had a good spot!

 

[MousetersInc]

There is no FP for HEA, or I'd definitely be using it one of my MK days. Are you kids going to want to visit any of the MK characters? Lines for the FP eligible princesses and for Mickey can get really long, so that's a good use of a pre-booked FP, if it's something they're interested in. I don't know that you're going to want to ride 7DMT much after EMM. People are reporting a good half dozen rides on that in addition to the other eligible rides before the park opens and you have to head down to breakfast.

Actually, one daughter is kinda character-averse and the other is take-it-or-leave-it. (I like to joke that their personalities are basically Elsa and Anna--dramatic and prone to paranoia vs leap-first-look-later. But we have Cinderella's Royal Table, which will give Anna her fill of princesses and which Elsa agrees to endure. Possibly will wear her Rae (Star Wars) costume to CRT while Anna is in full Belle.

Ironically, Slinky isn't even the most important thing to us, but we don't want to miss it.