I'm gonna try this again!

[SteveInOmaha]

I tried to post another couple of fast pass questions, and somehow ended up duplicating a prior fastpass post of mine under a new title! Sorry for the confusion!!

Please tell me which fastpasses you'd book, and in which order, if this was your trip. For example, "First I'd go to Friday and book Flight of Passage. Then I'd go to Wednesday and book Seven Dwarfs Mine Train." The more I read, the more confused I get.

• We will be at Disney from Dec. 2 - 7. Fastpass has changed significantly since our last trip in 2014.
• I don't know whether to start by booking fastpasses for the end of my trip (Saturday), or to start at the beginning (Monday).
• I'll include my preferred itinerary for reference.
• We plan on a mid-day break on most days and I'd like to get fast passes for the first park, before we break and park hop.
• We won't be back for 6 - 8 years, so we want to hit all the biggies.
• When I say rope drop, I plan to be through bag check 45 minutes before advertised opening times.

THE TENTATIVE PLAN
Monday - rope drop early entry at Animal Kingdom. Hoping to do Flight of Passage and Navi River by 9am. Late afternoon park hop to Studios.
Tuesday - rope drop normal entry at Studios. Late afternoon park hop to Animal Kingdom.
Wednesday - Magic Kingdom all day. 8am Marceline to Magic Kingdom Tour.
Thursday - rope drop normal entry at the Studios, but ALL BETS ARE OFF since Rise of the Resistance opens today. How do I begin selecting fast passes when we don't even know what time the park will open? Park hop to Epcot for 4pm dinner in Japan and 6:45 Candlelight Processional.
Friday - rope drop early entry at Magic Kingdom. Park hop to Epcot.
Saturday - rope drop early entry at Animal Kingdom. Park hop to Epcot.

So have at it. And thanks for your help!

 

[hiroMYhero]

Here’s your Original thread where you could have added this new post because you’re asking about the same FP strategy for the same trip:

https://www.disboards.com/threads/fastpass-strategy.3771285/

 

[sharonabe]

Monday - rope drop early entry at Animal Kingdom. Hoping to do Flight of Passage and Navi River by 9am. Late afternoon park hop to Studios.
Tuesday - rope drop normal entry at Studios. Late afternoon park hop to Animal Kingdom.
Wednesday - Magic Kingdom all day. 8am Marceline to Magic Kingdom Tour.
Thursday - rope drop normal entry at the Studios, but ALL BETS ARE OFF since Rise of the Resistance opens today. How do I begin selecting fast passes when we don't even know what time the park will open? Park hop to Epcot for 4pm dinner in Japan and 6:45 Candlelight Processional.
Friday - rope drop early entry at Magic Kingdom. Park hop to Epcot.
Saturday - rope drop early entry at Animal Kingdom. Park hop to Epcot.

Personally, I'd start with Sat and get FoP, then I'd do Thur and Tue HS Tier 1 selections. If you can't get the headliners here, then you may want to re-work your plan. Remember, there are NO fastpass for the Star Wars attractions, so don't go looking for those, look for SDD and whichever other attraction is your family's favorite. Pretty much everything is Tier 1 at HS, so you only get 2 with your plan the way it is. You could do FP at HS on Mon in order to get one more in, but that does limit your FPs for that day.

You don't have a morning at EP, so that means you'll be trying for same-day FP at that park. Do your best to get FP+ at your morning park as early as possible, so you can start looking for late afternoon FP for those EP headliners.

 

[SteveInOmaha]

Personally, I'd start with Sat and get FoP, then I'd do Thur and Tue HS Tier 1 selections. If you can't get the headliners here, then you may want to re-work your plan. Remember, there are NO fastpass for the Star Wars attractions, so don't go looking for those, look for SDD and whichever other attraction is your family's favorite. Pretty much everything is Tier 1 at HS, so you only get 2 with your plan the way it is. You could do FP at HS on Mon in order to get one more in, but that does limit your FPs for that day.

You don't have a morning at EP, so that means you'll be trying for same-day FP at that park. Do your best to get FP+ at your morning park as early as possible, so you can start looking for late afternoon FP for those EP headliners.

Thanks! Here's the reasons I picked those days.

Monday - it's early entry at Animal Kingdom
Tuesday - Studios will be stupid crazy once Rise of the Resistance opens on Thursday
Wednesday - 8am tour in Magic Kingdom
Thursday - Rise of the Resistance
Friday - early entry at Magic Kingdom
Saturday - early entry at Animal Kingdom.

Can you suggest a way to re-structure that so I get a morning at Epcot? I REALLY appreciate the expertise!

 

[yorkieteacher]

Do you have ADR's already? If these are the days you want to go to particular parks on, I wouldn't change them unless my priority was to ride certain rides. That being said, the hardest FP remains FOP, especially on your 60 day mark. Your last day is AK so would be easier to FP FOP that day. But with EMH, you could probably could get a Navi River FP for 9-10 am and rope drop FOP. Doubtful you can do both by 9 just by rope dropping, but possible. If your HS Tuesday day is 60+1.and Slinky Dog is important, rope drop that or get a FP for it on Thursday. It is the second hardest FP to get (some would argue hardest) Waits seem to have been longer for SDD than Smuggler's-especially around later morning or later afternoon, Smugglers has had lower wait times. Then get a FP for whichever one (yeah, one!) other attraction is priority. You could get another priority FP on Thursday for about 2 pm after you wait 6 hours to ride RotR!!! The 3rd hardest to get FP remains 7DMT, if you get to do it on your tour that's the best, other wise rope drop it early entry day if you can't get a FP.

 

[sharonabe]

Can you suggest a way to re-structure that so I get a morning at Epcot? I REALLY appreciate the expertise!

About the only way I see to do a morning at EP would be your Friday or Sat. I will say, by the end of your trip, getting up for early EMH will be more difficult. The problem with using your MK day is your only other MK day, you'll be doing the tour during the morning hours. The problem with using your AK day is you will probably only be able to do FoP one time (Mon) and I'd give up a morning at EP to ride it a second time.

So, I'm thinking with three evenings in EP, you SHOULD be able to get a 4th, 5th FP to do the headliners. I don't think I would change my itinerary based on what you already have planned.

 

[Unvoiced_Apollo]

About the only way I see to do a morning at EP would be your Friday or Sat. I will say, by the end of your trip, getting up for early EMH will be more difficult. The problem with using your MK day is your only other MK day, you'll be doing the tour during the morning hours. The problem with using your AK day is you will probably only be able to do FoP one time (Mon) and I'd give up a morning at EP to ride it a second time.

So, I'm thinking with three evenings in EP, you SHOULD be able to get a 4th, 5th FP to do the headliners. I don't think I would change my itinerary based on what you already have planned.

I agree with this sentiment. I'm in park Dec 2-7 as well. Other than Dec 2, you and I have very different plans and order of park days XD. But, if I had your plan, I probably wouldn't change it. Too many wheels turning already. As was already said, with three days in EPCOT, you really shouldn't have a problem doing the big attractions.

 

[SteveInOmaha]

What if I booked all my Friday and Saturday fast passes for Epcot, beginning around 11am. I'd do early entry rope drop at Magic Kingdom on Friday and Animal Kingdom on Saturday, then leave by 10am. With 2 days of fast passes at Epcot, would we be able to cover most everything?