Help with fp+ strategy

[Wendydagny]

This is not our first trip with fp+, so I know how the system works. But I have a specific day on our upcoming trip (first week of July) that I can't decide the right strategy for.

Our plan is to go to the magic kingdom for rope drop (recommended day) and stay until we break for lunch (staying at the poly). Then we plan to go to ak (non recommended day) in time for the 4:00 and 6:00 shows of nemo and lion king. We also want to do kali and the safari, and we will stay until about 730, before heading to jiko for dinner.

My daughter will have the disability pass.

Not sure which park I should schedule the fp+ in. We will not be doing any mountains that day at MK, and we have Anna and Elsa a different day. Our big goals for that morning are to meet tinker bell and tiana. I'd like to be able to knock animal kingdom out this day, but we are on a longer trip and can come back if we don't....

Help!

 

[richmo]

I'm going to leave the disability pass factor out of this, mostly because I'm not at all well informed on how that works.

With that out as a factor, I'd be inclined to make my FP's at Animal Kingdom. If you're hitting MK early, I would think you'd be able to hit whatever you need to on standby early. Kali can get especially crowded in late afternoon, since the strategy is often get wet, then leave the park to dry off. The Safari can also be quite crowded, so it would be useful to book that in advance.

You could gamble and take 3 FP's at MK, then hope to get another at AK, but the probability of getting both Kali and Safari that way is pretty small, since you'd have to ride one before getting the other. I left AK about 2:30 this past Sunday and availability for those rides was either limited or gone, and it wasn't a terribly busy day at AK. Remember that with the current rules, you can't book another FP at a different park until you arrive at that park (I asked over the weekend in case the rule had changed)

 

[SueM in MN]

I agree with the other poster about getting your Fastpass Plus times at Animal Kingdom.
You should be able to hit a lot of things at Magic Kingdom between the waits being shorter because of arriving at rope drop and it being the recommended park. You can use DAS for some of the attractions with longer wait times. For posters who don't know about DAS (Disability Access Service), follow the link in my signature to the disABILITIES BOARD. There is a post about DAS stuck near the top of the board. The first post in that thread is DAS FAQs.

The hard thing for Animal Kingdom, I think, will be timing if you want to see all the shows plus a few other things.

 

[bluwater]

This is also our strategy.
Rope drop at park 1 - ride standby until the crowd swells and lines get long.
Leave for lunch break / nap / swim at resort.
Return 4:30-5 to park 2. Have my FPs booked for as soon as we enter park 2.
Hoping to pull a 4th but not counting on it. We'll see.
This will also help us with that one inevitable morning when nobody wants to get up, our feet hurt and we decide to sleep in....we'll at least have late afternoon fast passes.