How do you decide which rides you get FP+ for??

[jacobsmommy]

We will be at WDW for five days (two of them are arrival/departure day). This will be our first trip in four years, so it'll be our first experience with FP+. My 7yo dd doesn't do thrill rides (either does my dh). My 11yo son, my mom, and I all do. My 7yo wants to meet Anna & Elsa but my son doesn't. How do you go about deciding which three things to FP+ at each park? We will have two MK days for FP+, one Epcot day, and two DHS days (arrival/departure) for FP+. We are doing a morning at AK, but park hopping to MK around lunchtime, so we are using our FP+ at MK.

 

[mom to minnie&mickey]

Your situation is not unusual. Not everyone has to have the same fp. Just book A&E for your dh and dd (assuming there is availability) along with another 2 non-thrill rides like Little Mermaid, Peter Pan etc. and book 3 thrill rides for the rest of you. All 3 mountains have long stand by lines all the time during the day so they would be a good option.

 

[tlmadden73]

It's a weird system because if you don't go often (or have NEVER been) .. how do you decide what rides you want to go on before you even get there?

The way I am doing it (last October and coming up in August) is first plan out the day .. how you are going to tackle the pack (First go to this area, then this area, etc.)

For Magic Kingdom, I'll make my fast passes for Tomorrowland and/or Fantasyland and make sure they are all in the morning (if possible) .. trying to pick them in a logical order (so you aren't criss-crossing across the park). If I know where my lunch reservation is (if I have one) .. I'll make sure that my last fast pass before lunch is near there. (For example .. I have a lunch reservation at Be Our Guest .. I am hoping to schedule my last Fast Pass of the morning at "Enchanted Tales With Belle" or "Little Mermaid" .. just so we don't have to walk far (or be late) for lunch.

I would just simply pick it on "must haves" .. your families top 3 things they definitely want to do.

And general advice:
Don't waste a Fast Pass on a show, parade, or fireworks.

 

[kay1864]

Here's what we do (I recommend RideMax for first-timers):

- First, choose "which day/which park", based on the easywdw calendar.

- Select the rides you want to do (regardless of FP). Visit Wikipedia or the WDW site for a complete list for each park.

- Of those rides, "assign" your 3 FPs (for each park) based on the mesaboy list.

- In RideMax, select FP attractions (but not times) (Note that RideMax has tiering built in)

- Then in RideMax, select the rides for each park. RideMax generates the touring plans, including FP+ times.

- Then get on MDE to select the FPs, based on the FP times in the RideMax schedule.

 

[mrsjoannh13]

There are several sites that provide you with average wait times per ride in each park. If there are rides with average wait times of, let's say, 10 minutes it probably doesn't make sense to get a FP for them. So these are good guides to determine what you should try to get FP for in each park. In my case, we are not doing a lot of the thrill rides because of a young child and 2 older parents. But there are still some things like Anna & Elsa that we'll use them for.

 

[ryanhuey]

From your info I'd suggest Anna/Elsa, 7DMT, and Peter Pan if you can get them. Check back if you can't. My wife and M-I-L do not like thrill rides so we split a couple times per day, for example one day at RD to Space Mtn and Buzz. They did like 7DMT and Splash Mtn because of the characters. When they were done with rides for the day we'd take their MBs and go multiple times with our FPs.

We just got back and I posted FP+ strategies for all 4 parks from what I learned...
http://www.disboards.com/threads/4-park-strategies-and-thoughts-on-mbs-mde-fp.3421751/

 

[jacobsmommy]

On our arrival day (10/23) we will hopefully get to DHS at around 3:00. I'm hoping to get FP for TSMM, TOT, and Star Tours. I might get my dh and dd a VOTLM FP while we do TOT.
On our first full day we will be at AK in the morning with no FP, doing MK at lunchtime to closing. I might try to get SDMT, Splash, Ariel meet and greet (ds and someone else can get one for BTMRR or Space).
On our MNSSHP day we are doing MK all day. I will try to get Anna/Elsa FP (ds and someone else can do either BTMRR or Space), maybe Little Mermaid ride or Enchanted Tales with Belle.
On our Epcot day we will get a FP for Soarin, Spaceship Earth, and one other ride??? I guess we will try to head for Test Track at park opening.
On our departure day we will get TSMM FP, TOT FP, and something else. We will try to ride RNRC at park opening.

 

[ryanhuey]

On our Epcot day we will get a FP for Soarin, Spaceship Earth, and one other ride???

Nemo, you really only need a FP for Soarin' and TT but you can't get both. I read somewhere you can cancel a FP, might be worth considering. My wife and MIL liked the GREEN space mission.

 

[jtowntoflorida]

I use FP+ on the attractions that tend to have the longest waits with really no break in those waits all day, or ones that are our absolute favorites that we would want re-rides on. So for MK it's typically 7DMT, Peter Pan (two rides with no break in waits all day), and then Splash and/or BTMRR. A&E was thrown in there when they were new, but now that the kids have met them several times, they choose not to "waste" a FP+ on them. At DHS it's always TSMM. At Epcot it's always Soarin' and Spaceship Earth (unfortunately) because we like to ride SE in the morning before moving into the WS, and that's when it has long waits.

 

[JZCubed]

We will be at WDW for five days (two of them are arrival/departure day). This will be our first trip in four years, so it'll be our first experience with FP+. My 7yo dd doesn't do thrill rides (either does my dh). My 11yo son, my mom, and I all do. My 7yo wants to meet Anna & Elsa but my son doesn't. How do you go about deciding which three things to FP+ at each park? We will have two MK days for FP+, one Epcot day, and two DHS days (arrival/departure) for FP+. We are doing a morning at AK, but park hopping to MK around lunchtime, so we are using our FP+ at MK.

Like you, we ask our child.

Use 1 FP+ for Grandma with 7 y.o. to Meet-n-Greet and for Dad & 11 y.o. on Thrill Ride in Magic Kingdom.

And MK is likely the only Park where there are too many choices.

 

[BudgieMama]

@mesaboy2 has an amazing thread with FP+ info, and we used that to help us identify which rides would have long lines (along with keeping an eye on wait times during the day in months leading up to our trip) and they really helped. We only once waited more than 15 minutes for something all week, and that was meeting Vanellope and Ralph, who didn't have a FP+ option and who we knew were leaving the park soon, so were a must do that visit.

 

[Lucius Best]

On our arrival day (10/23) we will hopefully get to DHS at around 3:00. I'm hoping to get FP for TSMM, TOT, and Star Tours. I might get my dh and dd a VOTLM FP while we do TOT.
On our first full day we will be at AK in the morning with no FP, doing MK at lunchtime to closing. I might try to get SDMT, Splash, Ariel meet and greet (ds and someone else can get one for BTMRR or Space).
On our MNSSHP day we are doing MK all day. I will try to get Anna/Elsa FP (ds and someone else can do either BTMRR or Space), maybe Little Mermaid ride or Enchanted Tales with Belle.
On our Epcot day we will get a FP for Soarin, Spaceship Earth, and one other ride??? I guess we will try to head for Test Track at park opening.
On our departure day we will get TSMM FP, TOT FP, and something else. We will try to ride RNRC at park opening.

I think you have a good plan. Definitely read mesaboy2's FP+ guide.
For MK you don't really need one for Little Mermaid ride, you can see it's pretty far down mesaboy2's priority list. Peter Pan line gets crazy long if you aren't there at rope drop, or you can FP 7DMT again.
At Epcot, doesn't really matter what third FP is, if not Mission Space, then maybe Turtle Talk.
The recommended method for reserving FP+ for a group with different choices is to initially book the same three rides for everyone in your party, and then modify individually.