Just back - thoughts on FP+ with a toddler

[Crispity]

DH, DD (almost 2), and I spent May 10 - 18 at WDW, split stay at AKL Jambo (Arusha view hotel room) and Kidani (savannah view 1 bd). LOVED AKL - it was incredible to see giraffes and zebras right from our room, especially for DD. Mara was a great option for quick meals with a toddler, and we also enjoyed Sanaa. We rented a car, and we found it very easy to get to all of the parks.

This was our second trip to the world, and our first time with FP+. We had really enjoyed legacy fastpass on our first trip, so I was a bit uncertain about how we would like the new system. For us, it was fabulous at MK, but not that great at AK or Epcot (we didn't go to HS), due to lack of availability to make same day changes at these parks.

We spent Wednesday, May 14 and Friday, May 16 at MK. On both days, I was able to easily change times and/or experiences for our pre-booked FP on the MDE app, and there was plenty of availability for everything except Anna and Elsa, Wishes, and the parade. It wasn't super crowded on Wednesday (probably in part due to intermittent heavy rain), and we had no trouble pulling additional FP+ in the afternoon with no wait at the kiosks. Friday, on the other hand, was a beautiful day, and by mid-afternoon MK was so crowded that we felt like we could barely move. Fortunately, we did an 8:05 CP breakfast, so we were able to ride several rides with little to no wait first thing. With that, in addition to our three pre-booked FP+ (which I did change around on MDE while we were there), we were happy and decided to leave mid-afternoon rather than face the long stand-by lines or the long kiosk lines to book additional FP+.

At Animal Kingdom and Epcot, we found that there was much less flexibility in changing times and/or FP+ experiences, likely due to the fact that there are far fewer attractions. This wasn't so great with a toddler who needed naps and breaks at somewhat unpredictable times, and we missed some FP+ windows with no ability to reschedule. At Animal Kingdom, we missed our Adventurer's Outpost FP+ window when our daughter needed an earlier nap than expected, and there were no times available to re-book. At Epcot, I didn’t know which tier 2 FP+ to book, because all of those attractions had minimal wait last time we were there. I didn’t book one for Nemo, thinking that we might use a 4th FP there after lunch if needed, as that would work well with our touring plan. However, FP+ times for Nemo were gone by mid-morning, and stand-by was a 30 minute wait in the afternoon, so we skipped that one. We still enjoyed both parks, though.

I think I like FP+ better than legacy FP overall, just because MK is my favorite park and it worked really, really well there. One other note - the magic bands were fantastic! It was so convenient to have everything on the band, and I loved that I got to lock my wallet in the safe and just leave it there for the entire week. Overall, we had a great trip, and I can't wait to go back!

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

Thank you for your report. Especially the availability of the 4th FP+ at Epcot. It is so hard to figure out what is the best thing to do. Schedule your FP+s very early in the hopes of getting extra FP+s or making them for the afternoon for when SB lines are going to be long. We will be going in June with 8 & 9 crowd days. Lots of stress in planning our trip this year and we have never experienced that before!

 

[Crispity]

Definitely hard to know what to do! I think for MK, planning for rope drop and then starting FP+ around 10:00 works really well, because you can easily pull more (hopefully they will have this ability on the phone in the near future). For the others, it may be best to plan for the afternoon if you don't have to accomodate naps and can be reasonably sure that you'll be able to make the windows.

 

[DRDISNEYMD]

DH, DD (almost 2), and I spent May 10 - 18 at WDW, split stay at AKL Jambo (Arusha view hotel room) and Kidani (savannah view 1 bd). LOVED AKL - it was incredible to see giraffes and zebras right from our room, especially for DD. Mara was a great option for quick meals with a toddler, and we also enjoyed Sanaa. We rented a car, and we found it very easy to get to all of the parks.

This was our second trip to the world, and our first time with FP+. We had really enjoyed legacy fastpass on our first trip, so I was a bit uncertain about how we would like the new system. For us, it was fabulous at MK, but not that great at AK or Epcot (we didn't go to HS), due to lack of availability to make same day changes at these parks.

We spent Wednesday, May 14 and Friday, May 16 at MK. On both days, I was able to easily change times and/or experiences for our pre-booked FP on the MDE app, and there was plenty of availability for everything except Anna and Elsa, Wishes, and the parade. It wasn't super crowded on Wednesday (probably in part due to intermittent heavy rain), and we had no trouble pulling additional FP+ in the afternoon with no wait at the kiosks. Friday, on the other hand, was a beautiful day, and by mid-afternoon MK was so crowded that we felt like we could barely move. Fortunately, we did an 8:05 CP breakfast, so we were able to ride several rides with little to no wait first thing. With that, in addition to our three pre-booked FP+ (which I did change around on MDE while we were there), we were happy and decided to leave mid-afternoon rather than face the long stand-by lines or the long kiosk lines to book additional FP+.

At Animal Kingdom and Epcot, we found that there was much less flexibility in changing times and/or FP+ experiences, likely due to the fact that there are far fewer attractions. This wasn't so great with a toddler who needed naps and breaks at somewhat unpredictable times, and we missed some FP+ windows with no ability to reschedule. At Animal Kingdom, we missed our Adventurer's Outpost FP+ window when our daughter needed an earlier nap than expected, and there were no times available to re-book. At Epcot, I didn’t know which tier 2 FP+ to book, because all of those attractions had minimal wait last time we were there. I didn’t book one for Nemo, thinking that we might use a 4th FP there after lunch if needed, as that would work well with our touring plan. However, FP+ times for Nemo were gone by mid-morning, and stand-by was a 30 minute wait in the afternoon, so we skipped that one. We still enjoyed both parks, though.

I think I like FP+ better than legacy FP overall, just because MK is my favorite park and it worked really, really well there. One other note - the magic bands were fantastic! It was so convenient to have everything on the band, and I loved that I got to lock my wallet in the safe and just leave it there for the entire week. Overall, we had a great trip, and I can't wait to go back!

~Yay! I'm so glad you had a fabulous time at Disney. Thank you so much for your review, this is incredibly helpful for all of us with upcoming trips!

~You are not the only one -- I just *love* FP+ way better than the old fp, we don't miss that, at all. Anyway, I have read so many positive reviews just like yours about FP+ and Disney World overall. I can't wait to get back to Disney World!

 

[wdwlver]

OP thanks for the review. Cannot believe that Nemo fp were gone!!! That ride has been a walk on every summer when we're there with large crowds. 30 minute SB wait?! That's nuts.
Glad it worked well for you in MK.

 

[rastuso]

OP thanks for the review. Cannot believe that Nemo fp were gone!!! That ride has been a walk on every summer when we're there with large crowds. 30 minute SB wait?! That's nuts.
Glad it worked well for you in MK.

It only worked on the rainy day. then on Friday they left VERY early. Sounds to me like the low crowd window is gone, and all those thinking that FP+ was going to be wonderfully awesomely awesome are going to be quite shocked this summer.

-Jason

 

[wdwlver]

It only worked on the rainy day. then on Friday they left VERY early. Sounds to me like the low crowd window is gone, and all those thinking that FP+ was going to be wonderfully awesomely awesome are going to be quite shocked this summer. -Jason

And that's my fear...had decided against wdw this year because I knew fpp wouldn't work for us and then was lured back by fpp changes. Will do my best to work around what I can.

 

[mom2mickeyfan]

and all those thinking that FP+ was going to be wonderfully awesomely awesome are going to be quite shocked this summer.

-Jason

And this is why I'm worried about our annual June trip for the first time ever. Planning this year's trip has more worry and stress than any other trip we have ever planned including our first trip.