FP+ planning strategies

[NurseMcStuffins]

I am also stressing about this FP+. I have 2 weeks to get my act together and plan this trip out.
My kids are 12, 7, 5 (the older two are girls, youngest is a boy). The must do list includes: Mine Train, Elsa & Anna, Star Tours, Rock 'n Roll Roller Coaster, Buzz Lightyear ride, and Toy Story.
What should my plan of attack be? What strategies work for you guys? What time of day should I try to make FP for?
Thank for the input!

 

[scrapquitler]

We find it most useful to ride some of the headliners first thing in the morning, then have our FP+ reservations for the afternoon, when lines tend to be longest.

 

[Lucius Best]

First tip: read mesaboy2's guide to FP+
http://www.disboards.com/threads/fa...ed-priorities-and-strategies-part-ii.3326057/

Your FP+ strategy depends on your overall preferences: rope drop, sleeping in, park hopping, afternoon breaks?

Our strategy was to get as many FP as possible, while keeping afternoons flexible for breaks. So we did rope drop, with FP+ reserved 10am/11am/12pm. Then grab 4th FP at kiosk, and have counter service lunch wherever we happened to be. Then we would wing it in the afternoon, stay in park and get more FP, or back to hotel for pool, or mini-golf, etc.

If you are staying on-site and booking FP+ 60 days in advance, should have no problem getting everything you want.

 

[DrummerBoy523]

I am also stressing about this FP+. I have 2 weeks to get my act together and plan this trip out.
My kids are 12, 7, 5 (the older two are girls, youngest is a boy). The must do list includes: Mine Train, Elsa & Anna, Star Tours, Rock 'n Roll Roller Coaster, Buzz Lightyear ride, and Toy Story.
What should my plan of attack be? What strategies work for you guys? What time of day should I try to make FP for?
Thank for the input!

A lot of people think you should get FP for morning - but we try to get FP for the rides in late afternoon and early evening. What we do is hit rope drop and ride everything we want multiple times w/o FP in the morning, and then we will have a relaxing afternoon, come back and use our FP+s that evening when everyone else is waiting 75 minutes for Splash Mtn!

 

[abouley]

This is our first time with FP+ but in general I like to plan out my mornings and keep my afternoons/evening flexible so I am planning to do FP starting mid morning starting at either 10 or 10:30. I've been playing with touring plans and trying to figure out what works best as far as what to do at RD and what to get FP for. I've read all the advice and I see the point of getting FP's for the evenings but knowing how we tour in the past we like to hit the rides hard in the morning and do shows/take it easy in the evening. I think the only thing that could backfire on me is if it's busier at RD than what all the advice/touring plans suggest! We'll probably try for a 4th FP after using our 3 but not count on it!

 

[mom2travel]

What time of day I book our FPs depends on what our plans for the day include, like ADRs, hopping, breaks at our resort... I usually do not book morning FP; we are night owls - I figure that if we are at the parks early in the morning, lines won't be bad and we can ride SB. For our upcoming trip, I have a mix of 11am-3pm FP and early evening (4-8pm) depending on which parks we are doing and at which one I thought it made the most sense to get FP.

Are you staying onsite? if you are, you can book your FP for each day at your 60-day mark. My strategy for that is to book the day with the hardest-to-get FPs first, then go for next hardest or the ones for which the times are most important for me. So last week I booked one of our MK days first, because I wanted A&E and 7DMT; if I hadn't been able to get them, would've switched to a different MK day and tried again.

 

[msmama]

I think it depends how many vacation days you have too. For instance we had 2 MK days so I planned one day FPs for tomorrowland and another for fantasyland. Others we could knock out at RD or with relatively low waits. The reason I prefer FP+ to regular FP is because I hate park crossing!!

I tried for FPs between 11 and 3ish. Though I did end up with earlier and later. Aside from TSMM and Mine train I was able to make changes to every other ride up to the night before.

 

[NurseMcStuffins]

What do you suggest for the Frozen characters? Where in the park are they located?

 

[scrapquitler]

What do you suggest for the Frozen characters? Where in the park are they located?

The Ana & Elsa meet and greet is in the Magic Kingdom.

 

[HollywoodTowerHotel]

Anna and Elsa is behind the castle in the MK near Peter Pan.

For what you listed, Toy Story Mania, Anna and Elsa, and Seven Dwarfs Mine train need FPP. Rock n Rollercoaster is a close one, but TSM and RnR don't get along in fast pass land. Since you must pick three, we always go with a "whatever", a ride we are fine to miss if we get moving late.

 

[NurseMcStuffins]

Thanks for the advice.
I was thinking of doing FPP for TSM and then heading to RnR and Tower of Terror as soon as park opens. Hopefully, it works out because honestly my day will have to revolve around TSM, because my kids love it. I have been stalking out the wait times on the app.
I had thought I would go out 830 breakfast in Norway, then head to TT, then to Soarin (with a FPP). The wait time for TT was 45 minutes at 9:45 this AM!
I am probably over thinking all of this