FPs To Skip If Doing Rope Drop?

[Coral Reef Diver]

When spending all day in MK and arriving at rope drop, I'm guessing we would skip out on FPs for the 2-4 attractions we would ride at park opening. But how do we know how many would that be?

We are fast walkers and visiting on the Thursday and Friday of Run Disney (Feb 2018), but are not associated with the event. [the Disney Princess 5K event runs through Epcot at 6am, if that is of any significance.]

 

[Harambe]

When we do rope drop, we head right for Space Mountain, and ride a few times if possible, then head over to Buzz Lightyear. We also jump on the People Mover! And NO it is not a waste to ride this during an EMH hour - hahaha. Then we walk back towards Main Street and get in line for Haunted Mansion.

FPs would be late morning for Pirates and Splash. Then lunch and FP for Peter Pan. Although we don't do many of the Fantasyland rides, Peter Pan is a must (and 7 Dwarves has been done once and not worth it for us).

If we spend another evening at MK, the family likes to do both Splash and Big Thunder at night. They love to ride then!

 

[Delirium]

To maximize your number of rides that could potentially require FPs later in the day, I would hit Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Big Thunder, and Splash Mountain in that order. That knocks out 4 rides in less than an hour that could require a FP later in the day. And, you're not criss-crossing the park. In that scenario, your 3 original FPS could be Peter Pan, Mine Train, and Space Mountain. That leaves large capacity rides that will have same day FP availability like Haunted Mansion and Buzz as candidates for 4th & 5th FPs.

 

[Coral Reef Diver]

That's awesome, Delirium. What ideas do you have for incorporating FPs into Epcot touring?

 

[ConnecticutFlea]

To maximize your number of rides that could potentially require FPs later in the day, I would hit Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Big Thunder, and Splash Mountain in that order. That knocks out 4 rides in less than an hour that could require a FP later in the day. And, you're not criss-crossing the park. In that scenario, your 3 original FPS could be Peter Pan, Mine Train, and Space Mountain. That leaves large capacity rides that will have same day FP availability like Haunted Mansion and Buzz as candidates for 4th & 5th FPs.

Are you going to EMH? If so, only certain areas of the park are open early. You would not be able to access any of the above rides during EMH.

 

[Coral Reef Diver]

Are you going to EMH? If so, only certain areas of the park are open early. You would not be able to access any of the above rides during EMH.

Good contribution! But I still love Delirium's suggestion to tour Jungle Cruise, Pirates, BTMR and Splash Mountain first thing at MK opening. Because his touring plan is only feasible on non-EMH days (thanks ConnecticutFlea), I'm thinking our best touring strategy would be to tour MK without EMH. Thoughts?

 

[ArielDreams]

I agree - we usually rope drop Frontierland (Splash & Thunder) and then Adventureland. I plan FPs for around lunchtime in Fantasyland. Then Tomorrowland later in the day. In my experience I haven't really had problems with getting additional FPs for MK - maybe it's hard for 7 Dwarfs but we use that as a planned FP and are good with only riding once!

 

[Delirium]

Are you going to EMH? If so, only certain areas of the park are open early. You would not be able to access any of the above rides during EMH.

The OP did not indicate this was an EMH day. Personally, we never do them because those days usually turn out to be more crowded than others. Plus, we find it challenging enough to get up for rope drop, let alone an hour earlier.

 

[Delirium]

That's awesome, Delirium. What ideas do you have for incorporating FPs into Epcot touring?

I'm not the best person to ask on Epcot for two reasons.

One, is we rarely rope drop Epcot. I hate Epcot at rope drop. It's too much of a madhouse. We usually attend during F&W and find ourselves hopping over to Epcot a lot in the evening.

The second reason is that Epcot's FP tier structure is awful. There are limited Tier 2 FP choices that are worth it. Last year, for example, we used FPs in Epcot twice. One day was for Frozen (tier 1), Mission Space, and Spaceship Earth. The Mission Space helped a little, but the Spaceship Earth one was essentially unnecessary. On the second day we used FPs for Epcot, we did Soarin (Tier 1), Character Spot, and Nemo. Neither of the two Tier 2 FPs was necessary. We were unable to FP Test Track because of the tier structure and we had a very hard time finding a standby time that was under 30 minutes.

 

[jsmla]

To maximize your number of rides that could potentially require FPs later in the day, I would hit Jungle Cruise, Pirates, Big Thunder, and Splash Mountain in that order. That knocks out 4 rides in less than an hour that could require a FP later in the day. And, you're not criss-crossing the park. In that scenario, your 3 original FPS could be Peter Pan, Mine Train, and Space Mountain. That leaves large capacity rides that will have same day FP availability like Haunted Mansion and Buzz as candidates for 4th & 5th FPs.

I agree with this

 

[Coral Reef Diver]

OP here.

I had assumed that EMH would give us more morning attractions. But I didn't know about the many attractions that don't run during EMH. It was because I didn't specify EMH, that I appreciated ConnecticutFlea giving her insight that the Adventure/Frontierland plan can't be executed on an EMH day. It's like she was reading my mind and anticipating my next question.

 

[ChristineOH]

We like to do Peter Pan at rope drop. The queue is really cool, and if you FP, you miss the queue entirely. We like to do PP, then HM, and then either head into Adventureland or Fantasyland.

As for Epcot, it really depends on your interests. We did FEA for the first time in June, and we probably won't do it again unless we luck into a 4th FP or it's a really short wait. If FEA is a must do, I'd RD that, FP Test Track, and then 4th FP Soarin'.

We like to FP SE from 9-10, TT from 10-11, and M:S from 11-12. Show up and ride SE as close to 10 as possible, ride TT around 10:30, and M:S around 11:00. Then do an early lunch in WS. We take a break in the afternoons because we go in the summer, and then come back in the evening with a 4th FP for Soarin' and do the rest of FW, because there's not waits there in the evenings.

Since M:S was closed this summer, I tried a different plan. I booked a single late morning FP for TT and a lunch ADR in WS, rode TT, immediately booked FP for RnR and ToT for late afternoon, had lunch and toured WS a little, and took the boat to DHS mid-afternoon.

 

[ConnecticutFlea]

When I rope drop Epcot I go to Soarin first and then do single rider on TT. I agree that the tiers in Epcot are frustrating and other than Soarin, TT, and FEA everything else is pretty much a walk on. I think FEA is cute but not a must do. I suppose it would be a must do if I had young kids.

Whether or not I use FPs in Epcot depends on what else I'm doing that day. If I plan to go to MK that night, I'll schedule my FP for MK where IMO I get more bang for my buck. It is easy to get additional FPs for MK, but not for 7DMT or PP, and I like both those rides. Before FOP, if I was going to HS or AK that evening I would book my FPs for Epcot in the morning and schedule my 4th FP for my evening park as soon as I scanned my 3rd FP. Since I love FOP, if I scored a FP for it, I would work the rest of my day around it.