wisblue
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 28, 2003
- Messages
- 4,385
A few months ago I posted a summary of a trip we took in early November:
http://www.disboards.com/threads/spontaneity-is-not-dead-a-barebones-trip-report.3359156/
There I listed my suggestions for keeping a trip somewhat spontaneous.
Our trip last week (arrival on Saturday, April 4 and departure on Saturday, April 11) only reinforced my opinion about those suggestions. Last week there were several days that Touring Plans listed as crowd level 10 in each of the 4 parks. Yet, by following the general approach of arriving early and making FP reservations later in the day, we were able to do all of our favorite attractions (most of them multiple times) with a lot of time in the middle of the day for shows, character greetings, and taking breaks from the crowded parks. Because the weather was hotter than normal for early April, we also were able to avoid the hot sun in the middle of the day while taking advantage of the great, more comfortable weather in the early mornings and evenings. The boat rides between the MK and our "home" at the Wilderness Lodge Villas were one of our favorite afternoon attractions.
On this trip, unlike the one in November, we were able to use newly purchased DVC annual passes to make our FP reservations 60 days in advance of arrival, and those came in very handy throughout the trip.
To summarize, my general suggestions are:
1. Don't make too many ADR's unless eating at specific restaurants is a priority for you. We only had 2 ADR's, a lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern on Easter Sunday and a dinner at BOG on Thursday.
2. Make FP+ reservations later in the day. That way those FPs will not dictate what you do earlier in the day. Also, this avoids any concerns about kiosk lines and SDFP availability. We decided ahead of time that we weren't going to be trying for 4th FPs.
3. Related to number 2, get hopper tickets. The flexibility they provide lets you decide the night before or morning of where to start the day. If there is something specific you want to do, you can go to any of the parks, or sleep in a little, without giving up your FPs.
4. See those FP reservations as opportunities, not mandates. If you miss some, or have to change them, it isn't the end of the world. It's better to do what you feel like doing at the time than feeling obligated to make an appointment.
In our case, we ended up using all 15 of our originally scheduled FPs on the 5 full days that we spent at WDW. It helped that there were no weather or other issues that caused us to make major changes to our general plan.
On our arrival day, we used 2 of the 3 FPs we scheduled, but when the time came we opted for something to eat instead of Mission Space (which one of my 2 adult daughters that was with me on this trip doesn't do anyway). On Wednesday, my daughters spent the day at Universal to see the Harry Potter stuff; we had FPs for Epcot that night, but when they got back around 5:30 they opted for Downtown Disney instead, so we cancelled those FPs. On our departure Saturday, we originally made FP+ reservations for the MK but, since we spent a lot of time at MK during the week, and did everything we wanted, we decided to go to Epcot instead to get one last look at the F&G displays and do a few attractions that we didn't do earlier in the week. The night before our FP selections were somewhat limited because we had to leave by 2:30 to get back to catch the DME to the airport. Both Soarin and Test Track were available, but only for times after 4 PM. Mission Space was unavailable, though that ended up being a non issue because when we arrived at the park at 10 AM after checking our bags at the resort, the ride was a walk on. We made FP reservations for LWTL, Figment, and Turtle Talk and ended up using 2 of them.
Anyway, with this general strategy, here is the roundup of what we were able to do with respect to our favorite attractions (this counts the attractions I did alone from 7:30- 10 AM on the day my daughters went to Universal):
MK
BTMRR x4 (3 SB, 1 FP+)
7DMT x3 (1 SB, 2 FP+)
Space x3 (2 SB, 1 FP+)
HM x3 (all SB)
JC x2 (both SB)
POC x2 (both SB)
PP x2 (both SB)
Buzz x2 (both SB)
Splash x2 (both SB) (Would have been 3, but ride broke down as we were about to ride it on Friday morning)
We also used FPs at MK for Anna and Elsa and Wishes and, thanks to my obsessed daughters, we saw the Festival of Fantasy parade 3 times. Throw in standby rides on a number of the lesser attractions and a number of character greetings and we covered a lot of ground at our favorite park.
DHS
TOT x3 (1 SB, 2 FP+)
TSMM x2 (1 SB, 1 FP+)
RNRC x2 (1 SR, 1 FP+)
ST x2 (1 SB, 1 FP+)
GMR x1 (SB)
We also used a FP for the Frozen Sing along.
DAK
KS x3 (1 SB, 1 FP+, 1 FP received when EE broke down when we were 2 cars from boarding)
EE x2 (1 SR, 1 FP+)
Dino x1 (SB)
FOTLK x1 (FP+)
We did not do Kali because we didn't want to get that wet.
Epcot
Soarin x2 (1 SB, 1 FP+)
TT x2 (both SR)
MS x1 (SB)
SE x1 (FP+)
A great time was had by all.
http://www.disboards.com/threads/spontaneity-is-not-dead-a-barebones-trip-report.3359156/
There I listed my suggestions for keeping a trip somewhat spontaneous.
Our trip last week (arrival on Saturday, April 4 and departure on Saturday, April 11) only reinforced my opinion about those suggestions. Last week there were several days that Touring Plans listed as crowd level 10 in each of the 4 parks. Yet, by following the general approach of arriving early and making FP reservations later in the day, we were able to do all of our favorite attractions (most of them multiple times) with a lot of time in the middle of the day for shows, character greetings, and taking breaks from the crowded parks. Because the weather was hotter than normal for early April, we also were able to avoid the hot sun in the middle of the day while taking advantage of the great, more comfortable weather in the early mornings and evenings. The boat rides between the MK and our "home" at the Wilderness Lodge Villas were one of our favorite afternoon attractions.
On this trip, unlike the one in November, we were able to use newly purchased DVC annual passes to make our FP reservations 60 days in advance of arrival, and those came in very handy throughout the trip.
To summarize, my general suggestions are:
1. Don't make too many ADR's unless eating at specific restaurants is a priority for you. We only had 2 ADR's, a lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern on Easter Sunday and a dinner at BOG on Thursday.
2. Make FP+ reservations later in the day. That way those FPs will not dictate what you do earlier in the day. Also, this avoids any concerns about kiosk lines and SDFP availability. We decided ahead of time that we weren't going to be trying for 4th FPs.
3. Related to number 2, get hopper tickets. The flexibility they provide lets you decide the night before or morning of where to start the day. If there is something specific you want to do, you can go to any of the parks, or sleep in a little, without giving up your FPs.
4. See those FP reservations as opportunities, not mandates. If you miss some, or have to change them, it isn't the end of the world. It's better to do what you feel like doing at the time than feeling obligated to make an appointment.
In our case, we ended up using all 15 of our originally scheduled FPs on the 5 full days that we spent at WDW. It helped that there were no weather or other issues that caused us to make major changes to our general plan.
On our arrival day, we used 2 of the 3 FPs we scheduled, but when the time came we opted for something to eat instead of Mission Space (which one of my 2 adult daughters that was with me on this trip doesn't do anyway). On Wednesday, my daughters spent the day at Universal to see the Harry Potter stuff; we had FPs for Epcot that night, but when they got back around 5:30 they opted for Downtown Disney instead, so we cancelled those FPs. On our departure Saturday, we originally made FP+ reservations for the MK but, since we spent a lot of time at MK during the week, and did everything we wanted, we decided to go to Epcot instead to get one last look at the F&G displays and do a few attractions that we didn't do earlier in the week. The night before our FP selections were somewhat limited because we had to leave by 2:30 to get back to catch the DME to the airport. Both Soarin and Test Track were available, but only for times after 4 PM. Mission Space was unavailable, though that ended up being a non issue because when we arrived at the park at 10 AM after checking our bags at the resort, the ride was a walk on. We made FP reservations for LWTL, Figment, and Turtle Talk and ended up using 2 of them.
Anyway, with this general strategy, here is the roundup of what we were able to do with respect to our favorite attractions (this counts the attractions I did alone from 7:30- 10 AM on the day my daughters went to Universal):
MK
BTMRR x4 (3 SB, 1 FP+)
7DMT x3 (1 SB, 2 FP+)
Space x3 (2 SB, 1 FP+)
HM x3 (all SB)
JC x2 (both SB)
POC x2 (both SB)
PP x2 (both SB)
Buzz x2 (both SB)
Splash x2 (both SB) (Would have been 3, but ride broke down as we were about to ride it on Friday morning)
We also used FPs at MK for Anna and Elsa and Wishes and, thanks to my obsessed daughters, we saw the Festival of Fantasy parade 3 times. Throw in standby rides on a number of the lesser attractions and a number of character greetings and we covered a lot of ground at our favorite park.
DHS
TOT x3 (1 SB, 2 FP+)
TSMM x2 (1 SB, 1 FP+)
RNRC x2 (1 SR, 1 FP+)
ST x2 (1 SB, 1 FP+)
GMR x1 (SB)
We also used a FP for the Frozen Sing along.
DAK
KS x3 (1 SB, 1 FP+, 1 FP received when EE broke down when we were 2 cars from boarding)
EE x2 (1 SR, 1 FP+)
Dino x1 (SB)
FOTLK x1 (FP+)
We did not do Kali because we didn't want to get that wet.
Epcot
Soarin x2 (1 SB, 1 FP+)
TT x2 (both SR)
MS x1 (SB)
SE x1 (FP+)
A great time was had by all.
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