How many FP's to plan on?

brymolmom

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 8, 2005
Messages
3,833
Hi there.

I was always a bigger fan of the 'old' legacy FP system because my family and I would get so many FP's in a day...When we went to FP+ that SIGNIFICANTLY reduced the # of FP's that we would use in a day.

Now that you can get extra FP's on your app after the first 3 are used, can anyone with experience tell me about how many you average per day? I realize that the 'top' attractions might be gone by then, but if we are looking to not wait in a line and are flexible, how many do you think we could reasonably get in a day?

I have a friend who went recently who said she got in the high teens FP's in one day...I find that a bit difficult to believe but I guess in theory possible.

We go at the beginning of August and crowds are likely going to be high - so it would be good if we can return to the days of 8 - 10 FP's in a day and little to no line waiting.
 
My daughter and I were there in March. We rode 19 things - 14 with fast passes. And we left the park three hours before it closed. And we took an hour off to wait for and watch the parade. And we ate dinner at BOG. And we didn't ride junk - like Philharmagic.

That said - I much prefer the paper fast passes. More riding, less planning. Plus - the advantage is to those who are in the park and are willing to walk over to the attraction to get the pass. A much more active crowd.
 
Obviously it depends on what attractions you want to get FPs for or if you even need them for a specific attraction. I'm sure there are Carousel of Progress FPs available all day long.
 
We rode mostly what I would call mid-tier stuff but also scored a few tough ones. We had the Dwarves, Pan and Buzz as our first three. The rest of the day we picked up a Splash, another Pan, another 2 Buzz, a Pooh, a couple of Small Worlds, a Dumbo, 2 Ariels, and a Big Thunder. You get to 19 from the stuff we rode without them - including a few Dwarves after our BOG breakfast.
 

We just got back from a last minute trip. We got FP's when they were available, but did most of our touring old school. Rope drop or EMH, do a land,
ride the attractions that draw the crowds before 11am.
We did Space and Buzz (standby) at rope drop one day, had FP's at 9:50 for Space, rode again, then rode IASW, had 10:55 HM FP, rode Splash & Thunder (standby) and had 1pm Pirates FP. We got on our phone, got Jungle Cruise FP for 8:50pm and went back for a swim and lunch.
returned after dinner, rode everything standby, went on HM, Pirates, Thunder after dark (the best) and Splash during Fireworks (even better).
Used FP for Jungle (didn't really need it) and left.
The next day we did EMH, Fantasyland. Mine Train, Pooh, Peter Pan, Little Mermaid, Small World, all before 10:30am. Used our Fast Passes on Splash, Thunder and Dumbo. Rode the rest of the day standby. If lines were longer than 45 minute, we'd do another attraction. Most of the time, HM was less than 30 minutes, Pirates was 5-15 minutes. Around Fireworks times Splash and Thunder would go to 20 minutes or less.
We used the same approach at Epcot. Right to Frozen, pulled FP for Test Track, MS and Soarin'. Standby Nemo, Ellen, and timed SSE right in the afternoon, less than 10 minute wait even though time said 25 minutes.
We never pulled more than 4 FP's per day the three days we were there. We probably could have gotten away with two per day. Most of our rides were early and late with lunch and a swim at the hotel mid day. Every one of the days had a noon time to one pm mob that would take over the parks. When that happened we exited.
 
For us in March it seemed pretty easy to get 5 FPs per day. It is easier for a small group (we were just 2) to get more FPs for the headliner rides. I was able to get a "day-of" FP for FEA one day by refreshing the MDE app 20-30 times and paying attention. And then all of a sudden someone dropped FEA and I got it.

:wizard:
 
Was there 2 weeks ago, the week after Easter. We were able to get fastpasses for everything we wanted to ride. Just used the app, and kept refreshing. Different times would pop up each time. Was easy, and fun to just walk right onto a ride.
 
In January/February, we mostly scheduled our FP+ before noon. As soon as we scanned our band to enter the line for FP #3, we pulled up the app and scheduled our next FP. Usually, the next one was within 30 minutes. I think the most we did in one day was probably about 17 extra, including about 5 times in a row on EE. The least we did was about 4 extra and that was because we decided to head to the resort for a break and then to DS.

During my June trip, I doubt we will get more than 3-4 extra on any given day and not for the hard to get attractions. The main reason for this will be that we will be a group of 7.
 
Hi there.

I was always a bigger fan of the 'old' legacy FP system because my family and I would get so many FP's in a day...When we went to FP+ that SIGNIFICANTLY reduced the # of FP's that we would use in a day.

Now that you can get extra FP's on your app after the first 3 are used, can anyone with experience tell me about how many you average per day? I realize that the 'top' attractions might be gone by then, but if we are looking to not wait in a line and are flexible, how many do you think we could reasonably get in a day?

I have a friend who went recently who said she got in the high teens FP's in one day...I find that a bit difficult to believe but I guess in theory possible.

We go at the beginning of August and crowds are likely going to be high - so it would be good if we can return to the days of 8 - 10 FP's in a day and little to no line waiting.

The first Saturday in April we used 8 fast passes in 4 parks, but after our first three we were totally flexible about what FP we got and in which park it was located (We used express transportation and decided our park order based on where our next FP was going to be -- and we did score a Toy Story FP about 1 hour prior to the time slot that evening, so we got pretty lucky).
 
We were just at MK on April 25. I got my first 3 FPs, and then we got 5 extra, we could have gotten more, but we chose to watch the castle show and ride Peoplemover. Mine train FP was already gone(duh), but we got passes for Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Thunder Mt. All of these were for times that were almost instant or in 30 minutes. Epcot we used about 6 FPs and still could've gotten more, but we left early.
 
In MK we can easily get 12 to 15 additional fastpasses per day.
 
I have done like six total. Could prob do ten or so but the thing Is most of them are not anything you want to ride or need a fp to begin with. For example, getting a fp for A Carpets at 8pm isn't needed or worth the time to book it most nights
 
There are so many factors - how many people in your party, how picky you are on what to do next, etc., etc.

I did a solo day in MK where I'm pretty sure I used high teens to 20 FP. And I left at 6:30 for dinner reservations.

My sister and I also did one day in MK - it was super busy (45 minute waits posted for small world - what is this madness?!?!) and I think we ended up using 12 FP. It was slightly easier because we weren't riding mountains, but we pre-booked Pan, Pooh, and HM. Then got FP through the course of the day for: Tea Cups, Dumbo, PoC, Small World, Jungle Book x 2, Buzz x 2, Monsters Inc, and Under the Sea. Plus we rode without FP: Carousel of Progress, PhilHarmagic, Tiki Room, Country Bear Jamboree. Ate lunch at BOG. At various points in the day we saw all rides as FP options on the app including random sightings of Seven Dwarves, Space Mountain, and Enchanted Tales with Belle.

A couple of things that helped were (1) being flexible; (2) start looking for your next FP ASAP -- you can book your next one as soon as you tap into the line at your current FP ride (it was great, because usually we had something and knew where we were headed next before we boarded the ride); and (3) if you don't like your options, keep refreshing - availability (or at least what was shown on the app) would change dramatically from second to second.
 


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