Park hopping and FP+

[amandals2007]

I know this is probably listed somewhere and I'm sorry I'm just trying to understand this. I have read the big thread about it I just still don't get it. If I am in one park in the morning and I use or let my 3 FP expire, I then can get FP at another park right? But only in a kiosk once I get to that park? This crap is really dumb our window opened last night and we are Disney vets and not planners and I hate how much you gotta plan now.

also question, let's say for example one morning we are booked to go go HS with FP selected, we decide before leaving the hotel we need to go to MK since we didn't get stuff done there, what are the chances that some good FP will be available to change ours too before we get there like same day? Pretty bad? Just wanted an estimate. We go 11 days and towards the end we kinda just decide that morning what we wanna do and go do things over or things we missed that we thought we would get to before. We ar big park hopper people.

 

[LetsTalkWDW]

I know this is probably listed somewhere and I'm sorry I'm just trying to understand this. I have read the big thread about it I just still don't get it. If I am in one park in the morning and I use or let my 3 FP expire, I then can get FP at another park right? But only in a kiosk once I get to that park? This crap is really dumb our window opened last night and we are Disney vets and not planners and I hate how much you gotta plan now.

Your understanding is correct.

Your chances for getting some "good" FP+ are better at MK, just because there are more choices. There are, of course, other variables, like crowd levels, what time you get to MK and what FP+ time you are looking for.

It looks like you are going in early September, easyWDW crowd calendar has crowd levels very low for that time, so (if that is the case), you could have a good selection available or you may not even need FP+

 

[amandals2007]

Your understanding is correct.

Your chances for getting some "good" FP+ are better at MK, just because there are more choices. There are, of course, other variables, like crowd levels, what time you get to MK and what FP+ time you are looking for.

It looks like you are going in early September, easyWDW crowd calendar has crowd levels very low for that time, so (if that is the case), you could have a good selection available or you may not even need FP+

What about the second scenario I posted changing that morning? Good chance I can change the day of?

 

[Alesia]

If you're going to hop, you might be better off saving your fastpasses for the second park.

 

[winthropf]

Changing to MK day of will probably have availability for everything except 7DMT and Anna & Elsa. Your preferred times for other rides may not be available, but there should be time available for almost everything else.

 

[LetsTalkWDW]

What about the second scenario I posted changing that morning? Good chance I can change the day of?

I would guess that you would be able to get some FP+ selections if you are going to MK. More than likely you won't get SDMT and it might be difficult to get some of the other headliners (SpaM, SplM, BTMR, PP) in the morning. If you check the availability before you leave the hotel you can plan your day accordingly. Its easier to make changes in the comfort of your hotel room than to do it at the Kiosk with a crowd waiting behind you.

None of us have a crystal ball, so this is just a guess based on my experiences (I've never gone in September). Maybe someone with more experience can chime in?

 

[amandals2007]

If you're going to hop, you might be better off saving your fastpasses for the second park.

well, i would do that and i agree with you but my parents are not rope drop people. if the park opens at 9, its like pulling teeth to get them to be there by 10ish. i make our first FP+ for 10 because they say they dont have to be there till 11. do you still think with how they tour that i need my FP+ for my second park? and generally when we hop, we go to the first park, spend till about 2-3 there, then hop over to where we are having dinner, then a 3rd park for EMH or DTD.

 

[ELSA711]

Last October we had no issues changing out FP+ the morning of if we decided to switch parks. The only thing at MK we couldn't get day of was A&E and 7DMT.
We also only hopped to EP for F&W festival in the evenings so FP+ was a necessity for our 2nd park typically.

 

[jjsdad]

Sorry to veer slightly off topic here but I was going to ask and saw this thread so I figured I would ask here. Is the general consensus to make your headliner fast pass reservations for late morning early afternoon if you plan to be at the park at rope drop? We are also big park hopper people as well as we like to eat out each night, so is it even worth it to book fast passes at animal kingdom if we plan to hop to epcot that night?

 

[amandals2007]

Sorry to veer slightly off topic here but I was going to ask and saw this thread so I figured I would ask here. Is the general consensus to make your headliner fast pass reservations for late morning early afternoon if you plan to be at the park at rope drop? We are also big park hopper people as well as we like to eat out each night, so is it even worth it to book fast passes at animal kingdom if we plan to hop to epcot that night?

you arent really veering off topic, i want to know the answer to this too. i wish my family was rope drop people...i always go alone.

 

[wdwjeffc37]

To answer jjsdad and amandals2007, if you are rope droppers you shouldn't need FP+ for anything except A&E M&G. You should be able to everything else done in the first few hours of park opening. We are also avid park hoppers so we make our FP+ for the late afternoon or early evening of our second or third park of the day. As for AK, if you rope drop then you should be able get the headliners done without FP+ so you can save them for EPCOT (either Soarin' or Test Track). We usually have 2 or 3 evenings at EPCOT so we go to Soarin' one time and Test Track another. Cheers!!!!

 

[FallsChurchDad]

Sorry to veer slightly off topic here but I was going to ask and saw this thread so I figured I would ask here. Is the general consensus to make your headliner fast pass reservations for late morning early afternoon if you plan to be at the park at rope drop? We are also big park hopper people as well as we like to eat out each night, so is it even worth it to book fast passes at animal kingdom if we plan to hop to epcot that night?

1. I think the "general consensus" varies, but most people would agree that you can do a lot before 11 am without FP, so you don't need them. The main reason to book FPs early is if you want to start getting 4th FPs before noon - especially first tier FPs at Epcot or HS. We are rope drop people. Last year, other than Toy Story Midway Mania, we did not make any FPs in any park before 10:30 am, and I think it worked well for us.

2. For our trip this November, we have one day with AK in the morning and Epcot in the evening. We are using our FPs in Epcot. It's really just for Soarin'. But we will rope-drop AK, do Safaris, then head down to Everest and Dinosaur, then back up for Kali River Rapids. Then we will wander around AK to see the animals and probably one show. If it is hot, we may wish we had FPs for KRR, but that's the only one I think could be a problem.

 

[jjsdad]

1. I think the "general consensus" varies, but most people would agree that you can do a lot before 11 am without FP, so you don't need them. The main reason to book FPs early is if you want to start getting 4th FPs before noon - especially first tier FPs at Epcot or HS. We are rope drop people. Last year, other than Toy Story Midway Mania, we did not make any FPs in any park before 10:30 am, and I think it worked well for us.

2. For our trip this November, we have one day with AK in the morning and Epcot in the evening. We are using our FPs in Epcot. It's really just for Soarin'. But we will rope-drop AK, do Safaris, then head down to Everest and Dinosaur, then back up for Kali River Rapids. Then we will wander around AK to see the animals and probably one show. If it is hot, we may wish we had FPs for KRR, but that's the only one I think could be a problem.

Thanks for the replies. That's kinda the way we planned this year with the thoughts that we would book headliners from 11-2 every day and get everything else done between RD and 11.

 

[DoingDisney]

well, i would do that and i agree with you but my parents are not rope drop people. if the park opens at 9, its like pulling teeth to get them to be there by 10ish. i make our first FP+ for 10 because they say they dont have to be there till 11. do you still think with how they tour that i need my FP+ for my second park? and generally when we hop, we go to the first park, spend till about 2-3 there, then hop over to where we are having dinner, then a 3rd park for EMH or DTD.

A lot of this depends on time of year ... but.
Actually I think in your situation FP+ really wont work well for you. This is what I imagine you will face a lot of:

If you show up to the park at 10ish, within an hour lines will start building significantly, in the past you would have been able to grab FPs to balance this out and still could have gotten a LOT done. This is kind of how we used to tour, not RD, but not late in the day either, an hour or so after park opening was quite common, though we did make RD about 50% of the time. Not having FP from 11am - 2 or 3pm ... not going to be pretty.

You are going to face lines that build faster than they used to, but without being able to use FPs in your first park.
Now, its great if you hop to another park to have your 3 FPs, one of the advantages to FP+, however with tiers in place it really limits this benefit.

Its one of the funny things about FP+ and these boards, people used to chime in all the time about how FP+ was going to be great because they would no longer have to RD .... now basically everyone says you can still get a lot done, you just have to RD.

Very tough situation...

 

[bbjunkie]

You say your family are not "rope-drop" people, but are they late-night people? I found on my last trip that the late nights at MK are fantastic for getting many, many rides in with no waits and no fast passes. Posted standby times are VERY INACCURATE!! Do not be scared off by them. If you are unsure, ask someone coming off the ride how long they had to wait. 7DMT said 75 minutes, was actually 10, Space Mountain said 35 min, was practically walk-on, no wait for HM, less than 10 minutes for Splash, posted at 1 hour.

I know a lot of people fuss like crazy over fast passes, but honestly, in a lot of ways it's much ado about nothing. If I were you, I would make them, but since you are going to be there for 11 days and are willing to park hop, you can take a more relaxed approach without worrying about being in time for your fast passes. In your second scenario, if you wake up one morning and want to switch to MK fast passes, you should have pretty good availability going in September to change to MK attractions. You might struggle to get A&E, but if that particular meet is that important to you, again, do it very late in the day and ask people how long they really waited.

 

[DoingDisney]

You say your family are not "rope-drop" people, but are they late-night people? I found on my last trip that the late nights at MK are fantastic for getting many, many rides in with no waits and no fast passes. Posted standby times are VERY INACCURATE!! Do not be scared off by them. If you are unsure, ask someone coming off the ride how long they had to wait. 7DMT said 75 minutes, was actually 10, Space Mountain said 35 min, was practically walk-on, no wait for HM, less than 10 minutes for Splash, posted at 1 hour.

I know a lot of people fuss like crazy over fast passes, but honestly, in a lot of ways it's much ado about nothing. If I were you, I would make them, but since you are going to be there for 11 days and are willing to park hop, you can take a more relaxed approach without worrying about being in time for your fast passes. In your second scenario, if you wake up one morning and want to switch to MK fast passes, you should have pretty good availability going in September to change to MK attractions. You might struggle to get A&E, but if that particular meet is that important to you, again, do it very late in the day and ask people how long they really waited.

Thats true, if you hopped to MK (esp for later night stuff) and used your 3 FP at non MK from 11 - 3 ... that might work well. Sometimes the SB wait times at MK really drop, and yes sometimes the posted are very off ...

That could be a good strategy.

 

[amandals2007]

A lot of this depends on time of year ... but.
Actually I think in your situation FP+ really wont work well for you. This is what I imagine you will face a lot of:

If you show up to the park at 10ish, within an hour lines will start building significantly, in the past you would have been able to grab FPs to balance this out and still could have gotten a LOT done. This is kind of how we used to tour, not RD, but not late in the day either, an hour or so after park opening was quite common, though we did make RD about 50% of the time. Not having FP from 11am - 2 or 3pm ... not going to be pretty.

You are going to face lines that build faster than they used to, but without being able to use FPs in your first park.
Now, its great if you hop to another park to have your 3 FPs, one of the advantages to FP+, however with tiers in place it really limits this benefit.

Its one of the funny things about FP+ and these boards, people used to chime in all the time about how FP+ was going to be great because they would no longer have to RD .... now basically everyone says you can still get a lot done, you just have to RD.

Very tough situation...

that is how we used to tour. im worried about how all of this will play out BUT the good thing for me is that i am going the second week of sept AND ill be just at disney 11 days, so ill eventually get it all done, well get done want I want to get done.

 

[JimmyV]

This crap is really dumb our window opened last night and we are Disney vets and not planners and I hate how much you gotta plan now.

Disney has a word for this............"Spontaneity"!

 

[amandals2007]

Disney has a word for this............"Spontaneity"!

right but how can i be spontaneous if i have to have my FP booked 2 months before i go?! we like to decide the morning of where we are going the last half of the trip to do things we wanna do again or stuff we missed but if it needs a FP its hard to get

 

[ArwenMarie]

As far as changing plans mid-trip or deciding the morning of what park to go to....I would try your best to plan your days and pick your FPs ahead of time. If something happens that causes you change your plans once you are there, then you can deal with it. But I wouldn't plan on that, even in September.

If you do have to change park days, you have a much better chance the day before rather than the morning of, especially once the park opens and the same-day FPs start going. MK is the better park for choices, but times can still be limited. DHS and Epcot are a disaster trying to switch the night before if you want to ride headliners IME.

Having 11 days will help immensely.