next up? .... FP+....any suggestions? tips? pitfalls to avoid?

[Westcoastwild]

If you go 2 days- splash, dwarves, space, Peter Pan, haunted mansion and pirates. I would probably choose pirates over haunted mansion. Occasionally HM does seem to have a short line.

If not, splash, dwarves, and space. Peter Pan as alternative if that's a must ride for you.

 

[P800aul]

thanks for the link...i'll check out the thread..

i definitely do spreadsheet planning!!!
you don't want to see the schedule that i had for our cruise on allure of the seas...
an excel with pretty much every minute scheduled!!!
i'm a nutjob!!

i haven't seriously looked at what's particularly important or difficult yet..
i have to consult with the rest of our 8 people group (specifically DD and DS)..

but the things i'm sure i'll try to get FPs for are:
Epcot:
anna and elsa character meet
soarin
the ride in norway whatever it's called now
maybe test track? does mission space have a line on the wimpy side? it never used to, but i don't know what FP did to it..

i know that's more than 3, but we'll be there for 3 weeks, so i can spread out the FPs

AK:
not sure....i suppose maybe KS? and dinosaur?
are they recommended for the shows (festival of the lion king and nemo?)

DHS:
TSM
TOT
?? (is there anything else in this park? we don't do RNRC)

MK:
hmmm....tough one to figure...way too many things to do...
splash mountain
space mountain
talking mickey
pooh?
peter pan?
dwarves?
that car driving ride (the kidlets will adore this one)
what about haunted mansion and pirates - are they still safe? or do we now need FPs?

I would really look at the FAQ I gave the link for all of the info is in there including what to FP+ and what not to.

Regards

Paul

 

[california37]

Just my 2p....

We prefer to FP stuff we really want in the morning and try to grab more on the fly for the afternoon/eve-just be cautious that it's unlikely you will get experiences which are not at the top of your list. For example we were there in February (technically a low visitors week!) and we wanted to do buzz in MK but I didn't prioritise a FP for it and by 3pm all FP were unavailable for this attraction where they ordinerily should have been. Aladdin carpets on the other hand I could get! (Based on a party of 3 people) sayingvthis- some people do cancel their FP plans which means they are put back in the system. For example on the same day-we managed a 1pm FP for PP which wasn't there earlier.

Parks have a tiered system too which means that you can't for example get a FP for the same day for both sorin' test track and frozen ride in Epcot. You can only pick one of these and two from other attractions... Like figment and nemo. This is with the exception of MK which has no Tiers.

Anna and Elsa m&g does not have a FP so that is a queue only! I have heard however that it is not as crazy as it was in MK to see them... But then in summer who knows?!?

So basically choose 3 attractions which your party wants to do for sure per day and be more flexible for the rest. As there is a big group of you-sometimes if you are trying to get FP for more than 1/2 people, it may say there are none for the partY-but of you look individually-they sometimes come up-e.g one person gets sorin' at 11:50, another at 11:55, another at 12:00 etc... But you all ride together in the same ride window of 12:15...

As you are doing rope drop too this will also help!

You can book FP for the second park if you hop once your initial 3 are done which is great! E.g done 3 in MK and hop to HS where you can get another.
(You missed Star Tours as a FP for this park

I personally don't see the need for a FP for AK Shows as they have big capacity but again when we were there FotLK was full so did turn some stand by away-that plus pandora opening - crowds are likely to be higher for AK for a whole... Again book if needed to see! I don't think you get better seats tho for doing it. The frozen stage show in HS however I think are good seats for FP as you are seated nearer the front

I'm sure most of this is covered in the FP+ sticky thread as meantioned but I thought I wound post as I'm stuck for a whole putting baby DS ti bed (fingers crossed for more than 3 hours tonight!)

Happy planning!

 

[disneyholic family]

Just my 2p....

We prefer to FP stuff we really want in the morning and try to grab more on the fly for the afternoon/eve-just be cautious that it's unlikely you will get experiences which are not at the top of your list. For example we were there in February (technically a low visitors week!) and we wanted to do buzz in MK but I didn't prioritise a FP for it and by 3pm all FP were unavailable for this attraction where they ordinerily should have been. Aladdin carpets on the other hand I could get! (Based on a party of 3 people) sayingvthis- some people do cancel their FP plans which means they are put back in the system. For example on the same day-we managed a 1pm FP for PP which wasn't there earlier.

Parks have a tiered system too which means that you can't for example get a FP for the same day for both sorin' test track and frozen ride in Epcot. You can only pick one of these and two from other attractions... Like figment and nemo. This is with the exception of MK which has no Tiers.

Anna and Elsa m&g does not have a FP so that is a queue only! I have heard however that it is not as crazy as it was in MK to see them... But then in summer who knows?!?

So basically choose 3 attractions which your party wants to do for sure per day and be more flexible for the rest. As there is a big group of you-sometimes if you are trying to get FP for more than 1/2 people, it may say there are none for the partY-but of you look individually-they sometimes come up-e.g one person gets sorin' at 11:50, another at 11:55, another at 12:00 etc... But you all ride together in the same ride window of 12:15...

As you are doing rope drop too this will also help!

You can book FP for the second park if you hop once your initial 3 are done which is great! E.g done 3 in MK and hop to HS where you can get another.
(You missed Star Tours as a FP for this park

I personally don't see the need for a FP for AK Shows as they have big capacity but again when we were there FotLK was full so did turn some stand by away-that plus pandora opening - crowds are likely to be higher for AK for a whole... Again book if needed to see! I don't think you get better seats tho for doing it. The frozen stage show in HS however I think are good seats for FP as you are seated nearer the front

I'm sure most of this is covered in the FP+ sticky thread as meantioned but I thought I wound post as I'm stuck for a whole putting baby DS ti bed (fingers crossed for more than 3 hours tonight!)

Happy planning!

that was VERY helpful!!! thank you!!
i forgot about the frozen show...yes that's a must for us..
we'll definitely FP that one.
and yes, at AK the two shows - FotLK and Finding Nemo - are extremely important to us...we see both of them several times each time we're at WDW....so yes....i would be CRUSHED (so to speak) if we didn't get to see them multiple times..

oh i forgot about pandora...yes of course we'll have to FP the rides there..
and you're right, i'm sure the crowds will be more intense because of it..

anna and elsa are standby only?????????????????????
yikes!!!
when DD and DSIL were there in 2015, A&E were FP not standby..
so the only way to do that meet and greet is standby?
i don't think our group will be up for that...the line must be insanely long...
hmmmm.....i suppose there must be strategies for when the best time is for that as well..
the just turned 3 year old in our group is in love with anna and elsa...
but then again, he's only 3, so he won't even know that they're available to meet if we don't tell him

.

 

[california37]

Glad it was some help

Yes A&E since moving to Epcot they are standby only... In MK they had FP as they were in the princess hall. Only place to see them too I believe (other princesses have dining options!) in sure lines are consistently 20-30 mins to meet them-or to see them do the usual strategies such as rope drop/late eve. Good that they are open to meet from rope drop and not from when the world showcase opens!!

Not sure why they didn't FP them-I guess all characters around the world showcase are not FP so they continued the theme...

Can also meet Olaf in HS which is again anything up to a 20 min standby line. He is actually consistently 5 mins in my opinion !

Overall with FP, when you look at your 60 day window-don't think that what the app gives you for times is all that's available-play around with it and you should score what you want!

Happy planning!

 

[disneyholic family]

Glad it was some help

Yes A&E since moving to Epcot they are standby only... In MK they had FP as they were in the princess hall. Only place to see them too I believe (other princesses have dining options!) in sure lines are consistently 20-30 mins to meet them-or to see them do the usual strategies such as rope drop/late eve. Good that they are open to meet from rope drop and not from when the world showcase opens!!

Not sure why they didn't FP them-I guess all characters around the world showcase are not FP so they continued the theme...

Can also meet Olaf in HS which is again anything up to a 20 min standby line. He is actually consistently 5 mins in my opinion !

Overall with FP, when you look at your 60 day window-don't think that what the app gives you for times is all that's available-play around with it and you should score what you want!

Happy planning!

he doesn't like olaf - he loves the princesses and the original characters (mickey, minnie, goofy, etc).
but even though he just turned 3, he's mainly into the ladies..

so we have ADRs at cinderella's royal table and akershus....right at the beginning of our stay...so that's good

 

[disneyholic family]

i just realized, i have to learn how to use child swap...
this is our first trip where we'll possibly need it...

 

[Bex258]

I had issues with my ADR's so I'm hoping FP+ will go better but like you I have not done it before so I can only offer odd bits of info I picked up.

Peter Pan I'd do either rope drop, 2nd ride or FP. (I remember doing extra magic hours at Disneyland Anaheim and we did that at 7am and by 8am before the park opened it was already at 40mins!) Dwarves is like that too from what I've seen/head and TSM for Hollywood as well although it's meant to have calmed down a little bit now when they added a third track.

This is probably on the FP+ thread but just I case you were not aware:-

The new Pandora rides are both tier one (Epcot and Hollywood Studios have this as well) as well so you'll have to FP one and ride the other. I'm thinking of doing those on a separate morning because I want to do KS first and then I'd want to go off to Everest.

Also I used Kennythepirate .com and his character locator with touring plans for help. You can see some of it without paying although I did pay the $7.99 to see all of it, I found it helpful. There are other websites too that do the same or similar though like touringplans .com (just had a quick search and they have queue estimates based on time of day as well) and I think undercover tourist does one as well. This might help you once you know what all of your party want to do to help you plan. I have a spreadsheet and a list of times I want ideally for different FPs.

If you can add it to your budget (I'm doing this for my trip but I only have to pay for me so doesn't affect my budget too much and this may be way too expensive for you/people in your group but I thought I'd mention it just in case) and are ok getting up early there's Early Morning magic at MK ($69 adult and $59 child + tax) on Sundays and Tuesday's during August. You get to ride Peter Pan, SDMT and Winnie the Pooh and get a buffet breakfast from 7:45am and you'll be able to get in line for something else ready for park opening (I'm planning to get in line for the Princesses and then leave to do other things and I really wanted a castle photo with an almost empty park as I could not get a 8am ADR thanks to technical difficulties). I read that is was basically walk on for those rides and you could go on multiple times, it might be handy for little ones as you can do Peter Pan and Pooh a few times.

 

[disneyholic family]

I had issues with my ADR's so I'm hoping FP+ will go better but like you I have not done it before so I can only offer odd bits of info I picked up.

Peter Pan I'd do either rope drop, 2nd ride or FP. (I remember doing extra magic hours at Disneyland Anaheim and we did that at 7am and by 8am before the park opened it was already at 40mins!) Dwarves is like that too from what I've seen/head and TSM for Hollywood as well although it's meant to have calmed down a little bit now when they added a third track.

This is probably on the FP+ thread but just I case you were not aware:-

The new Pandora rides are both tier one (Epcot and Hollywood Studios have this as well) as well so you'll have to FP one and ride the other. I'm thinking of doing those on a separate morning because I want to do KS first and then I'd want to go off to Everest.

Also I used Kennythepirate .com and his character locator with touring plans for help. You can see some of it without paying although I did pay the $7.99 to see all of it, I found it helpful. There are other websites too that do the same or similar though like touringplans .com (just had a quick search and they have queue estimates based on time of day as well) and I think undercover tourist does one as well. This might help you once you know what all of your party want to do to help you plan. I have a spreadsheet and a list of times I want ideally for different FPs.

If you can add it to your budget (I'm doing this for my trip but I only have to pay for me so doesn't affect my budget too much and this may be way too expensive for you/people in your group but I thought I'd mention it just in case) and are ok getting up early there's Early Morning magic at MK ($69 adult and $59 child + tax) on Sundays and Tuesday's during August. You get to ride Peter Pan, SDMT and Winnie the Pooh and get a buffet breakfast from 7:45am and you'll be able to get in line for something else ready for park opening (I'm planning to get in line for the Princesses and then leave to do other things and I really wanted a castle photo with an almost empty park as I could not get a 8am ADR thanks to technical difficulties). I read that is was basically walk on for those rides and you could go on multiple times, it might be handy for little ones as you can do Peter Pan and Pooh a few times.

oh no...i've never heard of the early morning magic, but throws a monkey wrench in my schedule!!!
one of our MK days is on a tuesday..
so if there are already people there before rope drop that screws things up for us...arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....
so glad you gave me that heads up!!!!!

and i agree that peter pan gets a terribly long line very quickly!!

 

[Bex258]

oh no...i've never heard of the early morning magic, but throws a monkey wrench in my schedule!!!
one of our MK days is on a tuesday..
so if there are already people there before rope drop that screws things up for us...arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh....
so glad you gave me that heads up!!!!!

and i agree that peter pan gets a terribly long line very quickly!!

I nearly didn't mention it because as it was an additional cost but I'm glad I did seeing as it happens on one of your MK days. As its a limited ticket event (and you need a park ticket to get in with it), numbers wise I think its not too bad so it shouldn't affect lines as bad as Extra Magic Hours would. All the YouTube videos I've seen have people just walking onto the rides so it has to be a small number.

 

[disneyholic family]

I nearly didn't mention it because as it was an additional cost but I'm glad I did seeing as it happens on one of your MK days. As its a limited ticket event (and you need a park ticket to get in with it), numbers wise I think its not too bad so it shouldn't affect lines as bad as Extra Magic Hours would. All the YouTube videos I've seen have people just walking onto the rides so it has to be a small number.

that's now...but in the summer there are zillions of people there...so annoying..
i don't see how we can change our schedule now...it's just too locked in with all the ADRs already set..
that's what i hate about ADRs, you're so locked into a set schedule...very little leeway for spontaneity....
it makes it so difficult to just go with the flow, they way we prefer to visit the parks...
thanks so much for letting me know...even if i can't change our schedule, we'll at least know what to expect..

 

[Bex258]

I think some of the videos and reviews I've seen have been for June/July. I know that's not August but it was pretty busy around that time at least from my last experience. But yeah and at least you know in advance.

I would think most of the Early Morning Magic people would move on from Dwarves and Peter Pan its the breakfast ADR's that'll be queueing up by park opening. I would just do Dwarves at rope drop followed by Peter Pan or if your in MK for opening another day do one of them then. Otherwise get them on FP+ and spend the morning on other things.

I've not dealt with ADR's before but I was aiming for mostly breakfasts anyway. My worst one is Crystal Place breakfast, can't get anything other than 8:55 or 10am at the moment. Where I had computer problems I lost any hope of an 8am breakfast ADR for my whole trip. I only have one lunch (I managed to improve the time by checking back on the app a couple of days later) and one dinner ADR everything else is going to be quick service or snacks.

 

[disneyholic family]

I think some of the videos and reviews I've seen have been for June/July. I know that's not August but it was pretty busy around that time at least from my last experience. But yeah and at least you know in advance.

I would think most of the Early Morning Magic people would move on from Dwarves and Peter Pan its the breakfast ADR's that'll be queueing up by park opening. I would just do Dwarves at rope drop followed by Peter Pan or if your in MK for opening another day do one of them then. Otherwise get them on FP+ and spend the morning on other things.

I've not dealt with ADR's before but I was aiming for mostly breakfasts anyway. My worst one is Crystal Place breakfast, can't get anything other than 8:55 or 10am at the moment. Where I had computer problems I lost any hope of an 8am breakfast ADR for my whole trip. I only have one lunch (I managed to improve the time by checking back on the app a couple of days later) and one dinner ADR everything else is going to be quick service or snacks.

yes, everyone wants the first ADR of the morning so it's really hard to get..
we used to do breakfast character meals, but now we only do lunch or dinner TS...
for lunch, we'll sit in the restaurant for a very very very long time cooling off after having fried our brains out in orlando weather..

 

[Bex258]

yes, everyone wants the first ADR of the morning so it's really hard to get..
we used to do breakfast character meals, but now we only do lunch or dinner TS...
for lunch, we'll sit in the restaurant for a very very very long time cooling off after having fried our brains out in orlando weather..

Yeah, I would have mixed it up a bit but some of the buffet menus were very meat heavy (I'm a vegetarian) and what was left didn't take my interest. I'm sure they could sort out something for me but I don't eat too much for lunch when its hot. It would work better for me to eat more at breakfast although looking at the size of the new Bon Voyage Adventure I think I'm going to have to put some of those pastry things in a sandwich bag and save them for in the park.

 

[disneyholic family]

Yeah, I would have mixed it up a bit but some of the buffet menus were very meat heavy (I'm a vegetarian) and what was left didn't take my interest. I'm sure they could sort out something for me but I don't eat too much for lunch when its hot. It would work better for me to eat more at breakfast although looking at the size of the new Bon Voyage Adventure I think I'm going to have to put some of those pastry things in a sandwich bag and save them for in the park.

what's the bon voyage adventure?
i'm also vegetarian...
most restaurants are ok, though it seems the vegetarian options aren't as good as they used to be...
but it's ok....

 

[Bex258]

It's the new character breakfast at Trattoria al Forno (Boardwalk) its breakfast with Ariel, Rapunzel, Eric and Flynn Rider/Eugene. I was thinking of asking the sausage or bacon bit to be left off of the Tangled eggs.

One of the first reviews with pics of the food if you wanted to have a look.
http://www.easywdw.com/easy/blog/tr...racter-breakfast-review-at-disneys-boardwalk/ (chiisai gave me this link from another thread)

Ah cool, all I remember last time was eating veggie burger/garden burgers with fries for a lot of the time. I've gotten a little less fussy since then so there are a few more things I want to try so I wouldn't be able to tell if its better or worse.

 

[disneyholic family]

It's the new character breakfast at Trattoria al Forno (Boardwalk) its breakfast with Ariel, Rapunzel, Eric and Flynn Rider/Eugene. I was thinking of asking the sausage or bacon bit to be left off of the Tangled eggs.

One of the first reviews with pics of the food if you wanted to have a look.
http://www.easywdw.com/easy/blog/tr...racter-breakfast-review-at-disneys-boardwalk/ (chiisai gave me this link from another thread)

Ah cool, all I remember last time was eating veggie burger/garden burgers with fries for a lot of the time. I've gotten a little less fussy since then so there are a few more things I want to try so I wouldn't be able to tell if its better or worse.

oh yes, i've heard of it, but didn't know the name or any of the details really...
sounds interesting...
it's nice having one of the male characters!

as for veggie burgers, sadly they've eliminated the veggie burger from cosmic ray....they have a felafal burger or something...yuck!!

 

[Bex258]

oh yes, i've heard of it, but didn't know the name or any of the details really...
sounds interesting...
it's nice having one of the male characters!

as for veggie burgers, sadly they've eliminated the veggie burger from cosmic ray....they have a felafal burger or something...yuck!!

Last time I went we basically didn't meet any characters, the guys in the group didn't want to stop.
I don’t mind some falafels so that burger is on my list to try and the falafel dish at Skipper Canteen too.

 

[disneyholic family]

Last time I went we basically didn't meet any characters, the guys in the group didn't want to stop.
I don’t mind some falafels so that burger is on my list to try and the falafel dish at Skipper Canteen too.

i like falafel as falafel, but i'm not interested in a falafel burger..
we loved the veggie burger at cosmic ray...don't know why they had to get rid of it..

 

[londontime]

thanks for the link...i'll check out the thread..

i definitely do spreadsheet planning!!!
you don't want to see the schedule that i had for our cruise on allure of the seas...
an excel with pretty much every minute scheduled!!!
i'm a nutjob!!

i haven't seriously looked at what's particularly important or difficult yet..
i have to consult with the rest of our 8 people group (specifically DD and DS)..

but the things i'm sure i'll try to get FPs for are:
Epcot:
anna and elsa character meet
soarin
the ride in norway whatever it's called now
maybe test track? does mission space have a line on the wimpy side? it never used to, but i don't know what FP did to it..

i know that's more than 3, but we'll be there for 3 weeks, so i can spread out the FPs

AK:
not sure....i suppose maybe KS? and dinosaur?
are they recommended for the shows (festival of the lion king and nemo?)

DHS:
TSM
TOT
?? (is there anything else in this park? we don't do RNRC)

MK:
hmmm....tough one to figure...way too many things to do...
splash mountain
space mountain
talking mickey
pooh?
peter pan?
dwarves?
that car driving ride (the kidlets will adore this one)
what about haunted mansion and pirates - are they still safe? or do we now need FPs?

MK - HM needs a FP, its always been packed in my experience. Speedway is lighter in the morning. Splash, Space and 7DMT will all need FP. Pooh tends to be about 20mins to Half an hour.
EPCOT - Frozen Ever after and Soarin are top tier FP'S so can't be booked in advance for the same day. Soarin line moves much quicker than it used to since they added the 3rd screen. Mission space has differing levels of thrill.
AK- If your going after end May the Avatar rides will definitely need FP as it looks like theres not that many, and everyone will want to see it.
DHS - Star Tours gets a bit busy so that might be worth FP'ing