Help with mid/late August trip- Hopping, FP+ and EMH!

[rdevine10]

Well, I have spent many hours in the last few days looking at crowd calendars, how the new FP+ works, etc.

At first I was thinking to go by the easy wdw calendar for crowd levels. And get FP+ for the morning park and try for later in the day. Then the more I read the more confused I got!

Right now I am thinking we are going to do extra morning magic hours at the parks that offer it during our 5 night stay (arriving Sunday August 16th in the late afternoon). Its going to be HOT and we are morning people so I think an extra hour in the morning will be beneficial. Then we are going to go back for a mid day break at our hotel (Contemp) and hop to a park recommend by easy WDW. I <think> it might be better to save the FP+ for the evening parks as I <think> we might be able to get quite a bit done with the extra time in the morning.

Thoughts??? Of course, I might use the FP+ for our AK day as we are likely only going there the one day (its our least favorite park).

Help!!!!! I swear vacation planning shouldn't require so much thought (especially when we have been to Disney so many times!)

 

[rdevine10]

Well, I have spent many hours in the last few days looking at crowd calendars, how the new FP+ works, etc.

At first I was thinking to go by the easy wdw calendar for crowd levels. And get FP+ for the morning park and try for later in the day. Then the more I read the more confused I got!

Right now I am thinking we are going to do extra morning magic hours at the parks that offer it during our 5 night stay (arriving Sunday August 16th in the late afternoon). Its going to be HOT and we are morning people so I think an extra hour in the morning will be beneficial. Then we are going to go back for a mid day break at our hotel (Contemp) and hop to a park recommend by easy WDW. I <think> it might be better to save the FP+ for the evening parks as I <think> we might be able to get quite a bit done with the extra time in the morning.

Thoughts??? Of course, I might use the FP+ for our AK day as we are likely only going there the one day (its our least favorite park).

Help!!!!! I swear vacation planning shouldn't require so much thought (especially when we have been to Disney so many times!)

BTW I really really wish I could spread my 3 FP+ to more than 1 park! That would be problem SOLVED!

 

[srauseo]

We went mid-August this year and I think your plan makes great sense. We were at the front of the line at rope drop every morning and were able to accomplish so much in the first hour. One MK EMH morning we did Winnie the Pooh, Peter Pan, Dumbo, Barnstormer, and Tea Cups in the first hour. We took a waffle break while my sister and niece met Anna and Elsa with FP+ and then rode Haunted Mansion and Small World and Journey of the Little Mermaid with almost no wait and walked into Enchanted Tales. I think we squeezed the Carousel in there somewhere as well. It was ridiculous. We were so ahead of schedule. We had an 11:30 lunch ADR at Crystal Palace, which we all really enjoyed, and then we left for a nice long midday pool break. We went back that night and did Jungle Cruise, Pirates and Space Mountain with FP+, and also Tiki Room and Magic Carpets standby with little to no wait, and my nephew and Mom did the Speedway with FP+. It worked really well.

One thing I am contemplating for our next trip, when we plan to stay at BLT, is to take our midday break from AK at the AK Lodge instead of riding all the way back to the Contemporary. You can't use the pool (legally) but the hotel is so nice to wander around and Sanaa is great for lunch and there are lots of nooks and crannies to find a comfortable chair for a rest.

 

[Tomh]

My strategy for late August with FP+ was to schedule our first FP+ between 9:30 and 10:30. We would get to the park before opening, and standby as much stuff as we could in that first hour. By 10:00, lines are starting to build up a bit, so we would burn the first FP+. I would then try to bump the 2nd FP+ up a bit if at all possible, which usually worked out, and we were able to go straight to FP+2. At that point, it would usually be somewhere around 10:45 - 11:00, with our 3rd FP+ scheduled for 11:30 - 12:30.

We would usually use the time before the 3rd FP window to get a drink, use the bathrooms etc. We would also bump that FP+ up to an earlier time if there was availability, though that wasn't always possible. At any rate, we would be at FP+ ride #3 right at the opening of our window, and done with that ride usually before 12:00. If time allowed, we would visit an FP+ kiosk before lunch to see about drawing a 4th FP+

Using that system (we always stay in the same park all day) we would have done maybe 3 or 4 rides in the first hour, then three more with FP+ before lunch, so 6 or 7 rides before lunch. We took a long lunch break (in the park) to cool down, rest up, recharge our batteries (and those in our phones) and then hit up the rides that typically have short lines, and shows in the afternoon.

Very similar to your plan, only our "break" was in the park. This should work well for you.

 

[rdevine10]

thanks for the thoughts. If anyone else has any suggestions, please keep them coming

 

[Hootch]

I expected to use our FP+ picks in the evening park also. When we sat down to plan out parks and FP+s, we are only using them one evening. There were two main factors;

1) The tiering system for DHS - we wanted to do both Soarin' and Test Track at Epcot. We'll FP one and head to the other the one morning we are opening at Epcot. (We have an evening there dedicated to the World Showcase.) We're going to DHS two mornings and will have FP+ for TSMM one day and Rockin' Roller Coaster the other (a Star Wars weekend day) and try to rope drop the other.

2) Currently the MK is scheduled to be open until midnight every night we are there. That will be our evening park at least three of our five days. We will open there one day and will have one night with FP+ so that we can hit the major attractions and see what FP+ are available later in the evning.