I'm guilty of using the "Bad Fastpass strategy" according to Mousehacking

[pens4821]

Some days I do an AM park, midday break at the pool and then a PM park with FP+. It’s probably FP blasphemy but it works for us. Quality over quantity.

This is what we end up doing most the time. We go to the park with AM EMH and get as many rides in as we can. Then we either head to park two, or take a break before heading to park two. We use our FP starting around 3 on average. It works perfectly for us, and we still can usually get another FP or two after. And while we may not get as many FP as some others that start them early in the AM, we ride all the rides we want to in a given day.

 

[DrunkJam]

My plan is to book things I want to ride at 60+ days that work with my ADRs / up charges
Then, if I feel like trying to grab 4th + ones day of, maybe I will, but, maybe I won't
But, it's not ALL about the rides for me. Plus I'm solo, so, it's probably easier to pick up odd ones.

 

[Nick6300]

Specific situation is always more important than generic advice. I'm doing a whirlwind 2-day trip with old non-expiring park hoppers I have days left on, prioritizing Pandora and SWGE because they're both new for me. I booked late (kind of an impulsive decision to go at all) and so my 1st day is centered around when I could get ANY Flight of Passage FP - wound up being late afternoon - 4:30 or so, so I built my day (and other FP selections) around that - no way would I ever normally use a1st 3 FP selection for Rivers of Light, but since I have no real hope for a 4th FP anyway, why not guarantee myself a seat to a show I've never seen? But since I'm now loaded up late afternoon/early evening at AK, I figure I can rope drop MK and get a few things in without FP before lunch and a transit over to AK.

Day 2 is just the opposite - I'm at DHS for rope drop (and RotR boarding group signup) and while I didn't get Slinky Dog or Millennium Falcon, I do have a decent set of early FPs (9:00 Tower of Terror, 11:00 Toy Story Midway Mania), 12:30 Star Tours), so here I'm hoping to score a 4th FP, likely to use later in the day at MK where I'm going for EMH that night.

This plan works for this trip and the availability of what I could get about 30-45 days out. It won't work for everybody and not necessarily even for me for another trip.

Congrats for getting a FoP for your first of two park days. I think the last time we had one that early was from a AK time change for an hour earlier that we were on top of.

 

[Nick6300]

The other thing I don’t understand is why mouse hacking doesn’t understand that having a 9:00 or 9:15 FP doesn’t mean you’re using it at 9:15. It’s good until 10:15 or 10:30. Then you can ride it back to back with your second FP.
Admittedly, I have on occasion used an FP at 9:15 but those were FOP and 7DMT and I was specifically avoiding backtracking in those cases. Sometimes sanity wins out over ‘good strategy’.

Nothing wrong with using a 915am FoP FP early in the slot. If you RD FoP, doing it back to back makes sense. It’s too far of a walk to go to Everest/Kali and come back, even Safari. We don’t typically score 9am FoP, but have done it back to back for this reason before (or with NRJ in between).

 

[Nick6300]

Yes, I think early FPs are the way to go everywhere followed by refresh the rest of the day. The sooner you use up your FPs, the sooner you can start getting more, and the better selection you will have for your 4th.

Generally for us too, and it’s not a measure between fewer quality FPs (starting later) and higher volume of lesser ones (starting early). We tend to get the ones we wanted most as our pre-book.

An exception to picking as early as possible is FoP - we build around when we were able to hit on those rather than forgoing an afternoon FoP for the 3 tier 2s early. Which may mean we will RD somewhere else 1st.

 

[Nick6300]

@Nick6300 thank you for posting the Mousehacking link. I had never seen this before, and it was really helpful to read through. I'm so grateful for everyone's responses on this thread. It's great to get a variety of perspectives.

We have been to WDW many times, but never during spring break. Our trip this year falls at the end of March/beginning of April and I'm really trying to figure out the best approach to address spring break crowds. The Mousehackers link makes it sound like tons of awesome FPs are available after the first three FPs are used. Is this really the case? We are a family of 4, so I get that it's easier to snag FPs for smaller groups.

Am I correct in assuming it's easier to pick up 4th and 5th FPs for the more popular rides at MK because there are more rides, and maybe less likely to pick up headliner 4th and 5th FPs at the other parks?

End of March early April can definitely see some crowds, not as intense as Christmas/New Years, but more than most other times of the yr. We actually thought about a trip around Easter, as recently as a week or so ago, only because we’re getting some time off, but decided to go in Sept this yr. we love the flower garden fest, prefer it durung end of April, early May, away from Easter/spring break.. but that’s not when we were going to have time off. EP will be especially busy on Tue’s (EMH late) and wknds. And we’d prob avoid tue at EP and wed at MK. Park hopping from emh early parks around lunch to wherever park had emh the day before or perceived low crowd park.

While there are less crowded days where we obtain 10-15 FPs at MK, even then I don’t expect to obtain a Mine Train as a 4th, it does happen, as throwaways only, but generally we’re going for thunder if avail., since we may not been there yet, and settling for buzz or pooh for 4th/5th if we’re right there and can get right on and select another after we tap. But yes, with the volume of FP selections, MK is the park where we always aim for booking 9-11 or as early as possible. Typically with 7D, Pan, Space.

AK, our FPs are dictated by how early we were able to get FoP. But we also RD FoP, and being the first ones on, we’re first on Safari, Kali, Everest, and don’t really care about getting several 2nd tiers. FoP FP were all prebooked, and while we usually get random same day FoP, we don’t expect it.

we avoid EP am’s because of the tiering, unless we have a before park opens breakfast, like last Dec. we have tried burning 2nd tier FPs there and also booking one tier 1 and then two FPs at 2nd park after tapping. I don’t have as much experience aiming for 4th FP for something like TT, because I typically only want to do it once (RD), and have no issues with single rider. Same with FEA... I only want to go once as a checkmark. Soarin would typically still be avail for 4th, but because the wait times have come done there, more people aim for FEA (would generally be all prebooked), then TT, then Soarin. We’ve never really had issues using RD and the tier 1 FP to get to all 3 fine.

HS, however, pretty common to score RnR, ToT, TSM as your 4th and beyond. While I’ve picked up thrown away Slinky Dog same day, they’re all prebooked, and typically expecting to grab one of the other 3 popular rides. The weakness for us at HS is that we sometimes prioritize riding TSM 3-4x in a row in the am over grabbing more FPs. Still seeking my first 400,000.

 

[Remy is Up]

Do what's best for you. We have zero issues getting or modifying fps. For anything. Regardless of day. But we are local enough to go every other weekend or so and refresh is second nature. Dont waste your time letting a website tell you that you are doing it wrong. If you master refresh any strategy works.

 

[Faldred]

Congrats for getting a FoP for your first of two park days. I think the last time we had one that early was from a AK time change for an hour earlier that we were on top of.

It's easier scoring FP+ when you're traveling solo.

 

[epcotobsessed]

I've not read the whole article, but do they make no mention of modifying your next FP as soon as you tap in to your current one? I'm happy for that to not be widely advertised, though it's how we usually get through about 10 rides in the first two hours.

 

[CJN]

The other thing I don’t understand is why mouse hacking doesn’t understand that having a 9:00 or 9:15 FP doesn’t mean you’re using it at 9:15. It’s good until 10:15 or 10:30. Then you can ride it back to back with your second FP.
Admittedly, I have on occasion used an FP at 9:15 but those were FOP and 7DMT and I was specifically avoiding backtracking in those cases. Sometimes sanity wins out over ‘good strategy’.

I like the way you think. Since we usually never make rope drop we do the first FP at the very end of its window, the second in the middle and the third at the beginning of its window. It all feels very back-to-back.

 

[DavidNYC]

Getting a first FP from 9-10 isn’t necessarily bad. Using it at 9am however always is! Couldn’t believe we saw people tapping at RnR at rope drop when they could have walked onto the ride and then tapped in for a 2nd ride 10 minutes later once the line had built. Or gone to ToT and rope dropped that. We often do a first FP at 9 or 9:30 and tap in right at the end of the hour and try to have the 2nd FP right after that.

 

[Remy is Up]

Whatever works best for you is the best strategy.

 

[Beer Me]

Mousehacking came out with this long article on FP strategies: https://www.mousehacking.com/blog/disney-world-fastpass-strategy. And we do this:
View attachment 469990

The reasons we do this is that we always RD, and tap 1st FP close to 10:15am. This avoids having to move up 2nd FP, because it already started. We attempt to move 3rd after tapping at 2nd, but typically can't. For most of the premium attractions like FoP, SDD, 7D, it's busy at 10:15. Usually, I spend time debating whether to stick with this when park hopping. Mousehacking, and everyone else usually recommends picking 3 in the 2nd park. For us, it depends on the parks involved. If we're going to EP first, and we try not to, we're likely going to pick 3 in 2nd park. And until Feb, it's tempting to put HS in the same bucket as EP, with their crappy tier 2's. But if we're going to AK 1st, it's difficult to pass up a FoP FP.

Mousehacking recommends that you pick FPs from 10-4, and gave an example of booking 10am, 11:15 and 12:15. When using the 1st at 10, move your (3rd FP) 12:15 to 10:05, which is still ahead of your 11:15 (originally your 2nd FP).

It seems like that wouldn't readily work during the busy seasons and depending on certain attractions. For instance, say you were able to have 7D at 10am, Pan at 11:15, and Space at 12:15. You'd try to place your most movable FP in the back, if trying to move it up. Unless it was in the value season, and even then, I don't see how you'd easily move 12:15 Space to 10:05-10:15 without a lot of luck.

Has anyone adopted this strategy with success?

It’s interesting to hear everyone’s strategies but what works for us is to make FPs as early as possible. Between this and rope dropping we get so much done in a few hours with no long waits. And it almost assures getting 4+ fps.

After the 3rd I’m on mde after scanning each one to look for the next. Also if we encounter a short line for something we have FP for I get in stand by and try to change the FP.

It works for our summer trips. With 6 or 7 park days we do everything we want and rarely wait in a line more than 30-40 minutes and usually less.

I guess my strategy is to pack in a ton of stuff early in the day and not try to strategize around more crowded afternoons. Although we navigate them pretty well with 4+ fps or just taking a break, park hopping etc.

 

[JETSDAD]

Getting a first FP from 9-10 isn’t necessarily bad. Using it at 9am however always is! Couldn’t believe we saw people tapping at RnR at rope drop when they could have walked onto the ride and then tapped in for a 2nd ride 10 minutes later once the line had built. Or gone to ToT and rope dropped that. We often do a first FP at 9 or 9:30 and tap in right at the end of the hour and try to have the 2nd FP right after that.

I agree with using the 9AM FP right at 9AM at HS with the way the tiers have been. We did the same thing. Tier 1 right at 9AM, burn two tier 2's (we used Little Mermaid and Disney Junior) and then by 9:30 we were making FP's for all the rest of the tier 1's. With the way tier 1 has been there was a lot of availability.

 

[TiggerBouncy]

I guess it depends on the park. I never got doing this for Magic Kingdom. I FP the big ones I really want to go on. If I get there at park openning, I can usually make it through all the other rides in record time as crowds don't pick up till later. So for me, I don't waste time on the big hitters, taking them in mid-day during busy times with FP's and using the morning hours for walk-ons.

But as others say, whatever works for you. It's your vacation.

 

[Nick6300]

I've not read the whole article, but do they make no mention of modifying your next FP as soon as you tap in to your current one? I'm happy for that to not be widely advertised, though it's how we usually get through about 10 rides in the first two hours.

They do recommend going on MDE for your next one as soon as you tap at the 1st check pt. As a side note to this, I think I've gently ran into the person in front of me in line at least once per trip.

 

[Nick6300]

It’s interesting to hear everyone’s strategies but what works for us is to make FPs as early as possible. Between this and rope dropping we get so much done in a few hours with no long waits. And it almost assures getting 4+ fps.

After the 3rd I’m on mde after scanning each one to look for the next. Also if we encounter a short line for something we have FP for I get in stand by and try to change the FP.

It works for our summer trips. With 6 or 7 park days we do everything we want and rarely wait in a line more than 30-40 minutes and usually less.

I guess my strategy is to pack in a ton of stuff early in the day and not try to strategize around more crowded afternoons. Although we navigate them pretty well with 4+ fps or just taking a break, park hopping etc.

We had a 10 park day trip from Thanksgiving through RotR grand opening 1st week of Dec., pretty busy time. And the longest wait was about 1 hr ea. time going through the RotR queue (and breaking down and starting over). 35 min for TSM and Space were the longest we waited other than RotR, which was pretty amazing, given 100-200 min waits on the premium ones at peak. Small World was typically 45 min with the lines wrapped around the walkway. Normally, we would have probably gone on a few of the 45 min lines occasionally instead of counting on FP, RD, last ride, rides during fireworks. But given the long trip, and having in laws in tow who aren't as Disneyfied as us, we went to the trails or shorter wait rides like Under the Sea and Living with the Land, and shows like Carousel or Lion King at the peak times to maneuver through all of the attractions throughout the trip.

 

[Nick6300]

I agree with using the 9AM FP right at 9AM at HS with the way the tiers have been. We did the same thing. Tier 1 right at 9AM, burn two tier 2's (we used Little Mermaid and Disney Junior) and then by 9:30 we were making FP's for all the rest of the tier 1's. With the way tier 1 has been there was a lot of availability.

With a lot of shows for Mermaid, and smaller demand for Disney Junior, were these the easiest to move up and burn at HS or where there a couple of other tier 2s you considered?

 

[Nick6300]

One of the tips discussed in the Mouse Hacking article was if you don't see your desired FP on your 4th+ selection, choose an open later than desired time anyway. This makes it more likely that you'll be able to get the desired slot because it's now at the top of your screen when you try to modify it (think of Seven Dwarfs being at the bottom of the search), so it's quicker for your to look. The other reason to select the desired FP is that MDE algo's are designed in such a fashion that results in easier access to that desired slot, once it's already selected (for a later time). Even if you don't see anything remotely interesting for avail. FPs at the moment, the tip is to pick one anyway and modify because the odds of winning a desired one are easier if you have one selected.

We typically do this anyhow, but I never thought I was taking advantage of some strategic method. There were also times that if I knew that I wasn't going to be able to use a premium FP later, I'd release it early so that someone could grab it, instead of letting it lapse.

 

[Heather07438]

As a party of six, we had ZERO luck trying to move FPs or pick up fourth FPs Jan 1-8. The only one we got was the completely silly useless one of Philharmagic. (Actually, I did enjoy sitting third row center for that.) So, those of you with parties of 5+ might want to keep that in mind when reading people's strategies and recs for dealing with FPs day of.
Before we cancelled a FP at Epcot because we had to get back to DHS for RotR (which then broke down three times, so we cancelled for nothing), we asked if we could just use our FP "now," 90 minutes early. CM gave a firm no and told us to change it in MDE, which of course I had already tried. So, I showed her right there on my phone how there were no FPs at all available that day for anything at Epcot except Turtle Talk. Anyone who gets on a real ride by snagging a day of FP (whether by adjusting a FP they already have or getting a 4+ FP) has hit a minor jackpot.

So book what you can when you can. These strategy tips seem to assume a lot more availability than I saw 60+8 days out right at 7am. (And frankly, seem to be written by single travelers or couples, not people looking for a group.) I did my best to just get the rides we really wanted. If you get that, consider your plan a success.

Yep, the ever changing WDW FP strategies.

Years ago we'd book our FPs starting a couple hours after park open, then take advantage of ropedrop. Then we switched to booking FPs early as possible to take advantage of the earliest and best 4+FPs (as described in OP's post).

But now? It's not as easy to find those good FPs at 1pm, etc. It was much better in the past. At this point there seems to be pros/cons with either method.