Itinerary/Fast Pass Usage for park hopping with a midday break

[EMP Sweets]

Heading to Disney the last week in June for 8 days with annual passes and we are staying at the Beach Club. We have never done this time of year before and know the summer crowds and heat will be an issue so planning on a midday break each day. Is it better to book your fast passes in the morning then hope to get another one for your evening visit once you return or just rope drop and save all your fast passes for the evening park? Dining window opens on Christmas and I need to solidify some type of plan in order to choose morning and evening parks and choose fast passes. Any insight from people who have done this prior would be great! Thanks so much!

 

[donac]

I am going next month and I plan on doing rope drop and one day all my fast passes are in the afternoon and evening at AK. I wanted to ride the safari at dusk and that is 4:30 in Jan. I then have River of light and then The river ride in Pandora. Most of the rest of the days I am doing my fast passes in the morning.

 

[Gehrig1B]

I would rope drop, get in a many e-rides as possible, then fastpass rides from RD+2hours... For an 8:00 am park opening we will FP+ beginning at 10:00 am. This gives us 3 hours to hit rides with short stand-by times. We then hit FP1 near 11:00, FP2 immediately after, the try to move FP3 up, if possible. We are done with first 3 fastpasses no later than noon. You can then look for FP4 while enjoying your afternoon break.

 

[Klayfish]

There are more than one school of thought on this. We're many time summer vets, including the last 3 straight and again in '18, we love that time of year.

Some people like to rope drop and save FP+ for later. That's a fine strategy if you get up extra early to do rope drop, it makes sense. For us, rope dropping is for the birds...no way, no how. We may show up right around park open, but never 30, 45, 60+ minutes early. We'll sometimes jump on a ride standby because lines are very short, but then we blow through all 3 of our FP+ right away and start grabbing more. In summer, they're plentiful and easy to get. We get 6, 7, 8+ FP+ in a day easily.

As an alternative suggestion, I don't feel like a mid day break in the summer is a must. Nothing wrong with it if it's what you want, but it's not necessary. The crowds really aren't horrific, it's busy but nothing like major holidays. As for the heat, there are endless rides/shows/queues that are air conditioned, so it's extremely easy to plan the hottest part of the day for things that are inside. The only heat exposure you have is just walking from one to the other.

 

[Owl X]

60 Days before a trip:

• Reserve 3 Fast Passes back to back with the first time about 60-90 minutes after rope drop
  • This allows you to get in several rides before your first Fast Pass time
• Reserve a Table Service for Lunch immediately after the 3rd Fast Pass time
  • The good Table Service Park restaurants fill up months in advance

We attempt the following each day:

1. Eat breakfast at the Resort
2. Head to a Park for rope drop
3. Attempt several rides before the first Fast Pass time
4. Use the My Disney Experience App to find a nearby ride with a short wait time between Fast Passes
5. Eat Lunch
6. Go back to Resort
7. Book a 4th Fast Pass for a Night time on the ride back to the resort
8. Take a Nap
9. Eat Dinner at one of the Resorts or Boardwalk.
10. Head back to a Park
11. Use the 4th Fast Pass
12. Attempt to book another Fast Pass while in line after the check point for the Fast Pass
13. Use the My Disney Experience App to find a nearby ride with a short wait time between Fast Passes
14. Watch the Night Show

 

[Gehrig1B]

When I suggest rope drop I am suggesting you arrive at park opening. There is no reason to arrive 60 minutes prior unless you are running for 7 Dwarfs or FOP, for example. We arrive at park opening (rope drop), ride as much as possible first few hours, then use fastpasses. Why would you fastpass a ride with a 15-20 minute standby time? For us, it only makes sense to fastpass the most crowded times during the day and go back to the resort as the crowds get crazy, then get your extra fastpasses upon return.

Everyone has their own strategy. Our kids are adults so getting up early is not a problem.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We arrive right around RD. Usually no more than 15-20 minutes before park open. We do standby all morning, midday break by the pool and save our FP+ for our evening park. This is what we have done in the summer and it works great..

I am going for Jersey Week next year. Jersey week can be crazy so I'm undecided on my strategy right now. Especially since I can book just one FP+ in my AM park and then book additional FP+ for my second park after I tap that one and only FP+ in the AM park. This may work for me at Epcot and DHS. RD Epcot, FP Soarin, once done at Soarin I can book two FP+ for MK in the evening. We shall see.

 

[Klayfish]

When I suggest rope drop I am suggesting you arrive at park opening. There is no reason to arrive 60 minutes prior unless you are running for 7 Dwarfs or FOP, for example. We arrive at park opening (rope drop), ride as much as possible first few hours, then use fastpasses. Why would you fastpass a ride with a 15-20 minute standby time? For us, it only makes sense to fastpass the most crowded times during the day and go back to the resort as the crowds get crazy, then get your extra fastpasses upon return.

Everyone has their own strategy. Our kids are adults so getting up early is not a problem.

Gotcha. A lot of people here interpret the term "rope drop" as showing up at the gates 30-60 minutes early...and they do exactly that...dash to 7DMT, FoP, etc... That's just not something we're interested in. But yeah, we'll sometimes show up right at park open time, or maybe 10 minutes after. But from there, our strategy (if it's a ride focused trip) is typically to hit FP+ after FP+ after FP+. Why FP+ a ride with a 15-20 minute standby? Well, our feeling is why stand in a 15-20 minute line when I can stand in a 3-5 minute line and go right to the next one? In the summer, that's not hard at all to do. FP+ are very easy to come by, so no reason to wait in a 20 minute line if you don't have to. Last summer, I would guess that 75% of all rides we did...headliners and non-headliners...was via FP+.

 

[MNDisneyMommy]

On our most recent trip, our strategy depending on which things we were hopping too at night.

We did MK on party nights in the morning, which meant very low crowds. We didn't use Fastpasses those mornings, and instead used them for Frozen at Epcot for example. (Epcot was especially tough for us with tiering this trip).

Other mornings (like AK), we used Fastpasses in the mornings and in the evening we went without.

Even if I plan a morning fastpass, I try to get them 9-10, 10-11, 11-12 and then the first one we use right before 10 to maximize morning tour time.

So an "it depends" approach might work too - instead of just all or nothing.

I do like morning fastpasses though - we could almost always get a decent 4th at lunchtime.

 

[bladiator]

Some people like to rope drop and save FP+ for later. That's a fine strategy if you get up extra early to do rope drop, it makes sense. For us, rope dropping is for the birds...no way, no how. We may show up right around park open, but never 30, 45, 60+ minutes early. We'll sometimes jump on a ride standby because lines are very short, but then we blow through all 3 of our FP+ right away and start grabbing more. In summer, they're plentiful and easy to get. We get 6, 7, 8+ FP+ in a day easily.

This most recent trip I purchased APs which really gave me a "do what you want if its not a long line" mentality, and I have to tell you, it was great. For the first time ever, I went to MK with no FPs and then just walked through Fantasyland grabbing them as we walked up. So, did I have the e-ticket rides on FP? No. But even though I never thought I would get an IASW FP in my life, why not grab it AS I'm walking up to the FP line and cut past 15 minutes worth of people? And I was able to do this for almost everything over there by refreshing over and over (except Peter Pan). Mad Tea Party, Winnie the Pooh, Under the Sea, Dumbo, and others. Was it hard to believe I got these FPs? Not at all. But every time I grabbed one, I was grabbing the next one seconds later. Felt like I saved as much or more time than having FPs ahead of time for big ticket items.