Question about morning TT standby times

[KEVD]

For our upcoming trip in mid April, we plan to do rope drop at EPCOT on a non-EMH morning. If we were to go directly to Frozen at RD, what do you think the standby time would be like at TT if we went there immediately after riding Frozen? I was hoping to use our Tier 1 FP for Soarin'.

 

[WaterLinds]

The Touring Plans guys attempted to test this out last week, and their video on YouTube is an interesting watch (I'll try to grab the link). Their problem, and I understand it's a frequent occurrence, was that TT was down at park open...and down for a long time that day--so they couldn't fully test all the different rope drop strategies. I believe at the end they said in the last month it's been down over 50% of days in the last month? Sometimes just a few minutes, sometimes for hours.

They concluded that your best bet for a FP was either Frozen (to eliminate the need to walk over to WS when everything else there is closed) or TT (because it does break down so much, if it reopens later standby will be a disaster).

 

[WaterLinds]

Found it!

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

I’ve been watching TT wait times in the morning on and off the last month. They build much faster than Soarin, sometimes double the wait. It seems to get to half an hour in the first 15 mins during these moderate type crowds. I had been planning to FP FEA, RD Soarin first and then TT but I’ve reconsidered to at least go to TT at RD and am considering changing the FP plan to FP it instead.

You can watch wait times in MDE if you want to get an idea.

 

[Klayfish]

It would likely be an hour, give or take.

If you want to hit all 3 with just one FP+...

Go right to TT, then do FEA standby and then FP+ Soarin'. Easy, you can have all 3 done by 10:15am.

 

[CAS239]

By that time TT could be anywhere from 30 min up to 90+ min

 

[ChristineOH]

I would RD Frozen and then go directly to Soarin'. Use your FP for Test Track. The line for Soarin' is pretty much always shorter than TT.

Is there a reason you want to use your FP for Soarin' instead of Test Track?

 

[Klayfish]

I would RD Frozen and then go directly to Soarin'. Use your FP for Test Track. The line for Soarin' is pretty much always shorter than TT.

Is there a reason you want to use your FP for Soarin' instead of Test Track?

The only challenge with that is it's a lot of walking back and forth. TT and FEA are relatively close together, the walk from FEA to Soarin' is quite long. Logistically, TT can be "on your way" to FEA, so you stop there first. Then make a bee line to FEA. After that, you can then take your time heading to Soarin' if you have a FP+.

 

[3gr8boys]

My mid-April plan has been to head to TT at opening and then work counter clockwise through future world with a FP+ for Soarin'. TT is more appealing to my kids...so figured it was a better way to start the day. Now I am wondering if I need to reverse that plan and start at Soarin' and work clockwise, using a FP+ for TT. (FEA not a concern.). Planning for typical line build makes sense....not sure about hedging my bets on closure potential. Guess I will take a look at the TP video and try to check wait times periodically. Thoughts??

ADDING - watched TP video. Yowza....that is a lousy break-down rate. Going to have to play with other scenarios before my FP+ window opens next week.

 

[WaterLinds]

My mid-April plan has been to head to TT at opening and then work counter clockwise through future world with a FP+ for Soarin'. TT is more appealing to my kids...so figured it was a better way to start the day. Now I am wondering if I need to reverse that plan and start at Soarin' and work clockwise, using a FP+ for TT. (FEA not a concern.). Planning for typical line build makes sense....not sure about hedging my bets on closure potential. Guess I will take a look at the TP video and try to check wait times periodically. Thoughts??

ADDING - watched TP video. Yowza....that is a lousy break-down rate. Going to have to play with other scenarios before my FP+ window opens next week.

Crazy, right? We have an early afternoon FP for FEA and are planning to RD, so my initial plan was Soarin' first, but after watching wait times lately I was thinking we'd start at TT and work towards Soarin. I might just take TT off our plans for now since it's so unpredictable, though. If we happen to spot it functional with a short wait time, great, but we won't get our hearts set on it. We have a late breakfast at GG, too, so want to make sure we're done Soarin' before that.

 

[ChristineOH]

The only challenge with that is it's a lot of walking back and forth. TT and FEA are relatively close together, the walk from FEA to Soarin' is quite long. Logistically, TT can be "on your way" to FEA, so you stop there first. Then make a bee line to FEA. After that, you can then take your time heading to Soarin' if you have a FP+.

Yeah, that's another option. Epcot is a ton of walking no matter how you do it, unfortunately. I wonder if you did TT, FEA, and the Anna and Elsa meet if that would take you up to the 11:00 WS opening, so you could tour WS and not have to walk back out.
Doing FEA at RD requires a lot of walking for just one ride. Using a FP at FEA to work with touring the WS makes sense if your goal is to reduce walking.

My mid-April plan has been to head to TT at opening and then work counter clockwise through future world with a FP+ for Soarin'. TT is more appealing to my kids...so figured it was a better way to start the day. Now I am wondering if I need to reverse that plan and start at Soarin' and work clockwise, using a FP+ for TT. (FEA not a concern.). Planning for typical line build makes sense....not sure about hedging my bets on closure potential. Guess I will take a look at the TP video and try to check wait times periodically. Thoughts??

I would FP TT. We've had the unlucky experience of TT being down at RD, and it throws everything off. If you hit Soarin' first, you can do the Land and Seas and then move on and not have to return to that section. You can use your FP for SE, M:S, and TT and then move on to the WS. Also, Soarin' is less crazy at RD, which is another plus.

ETA: We don't usually RD Epcot anymore. We pre-book a FP for TT and then get a 4th FP for Soarin'. Once, our 4th FP for Soarin' was useless, because Soarin' was a walk on (around 7:45 pm) even though the posted wait time was 30 minutes.

 

[WaterLinds]

Does anyone have any experience trying to get a 4th FP for TT? Do the frequent closures make that more challenging?

 

[Klayfish]

Yeah, that's another option. Epcot is a ton of walking no matter how you do it, unfortunately. I wonder if you did TT, FEA, and the Anna and Elsa meet if that would take you up to the 11:00 WS opening, so you could tour WS and not have to walk back out.
Doing FEA at RD requires a lot of walking for just one ride. Using a FP at FEA to work with touring the WS makes sense if your goal is to reduce walking.

ETA: We don't usually RD Epcot anymore. We pre-book a FP for TT and then get a 4th FP for Soarin'. Once, our 4th FP for Soarin' was useless, because Soarin' was a walk on (around 7:45 pm) even though the posted wait time was 30 minutes.

Yeah, Epcot is a lot of walking, especially if you go into the WS. I'll be interested to see how the availability of FP+ all morning for FEA effects things. Before that started, we could hit all 3 "big" rides before 10:00am with no trouble. Show up at 9:00am for park open and head right to TT. Then walk to FEA...it's really not far at all. Then use FP+ for Soarin'. Alternatively, sometimes we'd go right to Soarin', then walk all the way over to FEA for standby (line was always short before 11am), then FP+ TT.

We tend to follow your plan more often now. We never rope drop...or even show up at 9am...usually 9:30 is the earliest.

Does anyone have any experience trying to get a 4th FP for TT? Do the frequent closures make that more challenging?

TT is weather dependent, so nothing you can do about that. Otherwise, it's fairly reliable. Yes, I've seen it go down, but not so often that I'd categorize it as troublesome. Just my opinion. Anyway, yes, TT is very easy to get as a 4th FP+, assuming you're not trying to book a huge group.

 

[CeruleanMoon]

Now I am wondering if I need to reverse that plan and start at Soarin' and work clockwise, using a FP+ for TT. (FEA not a concern.). Planning for typical line build makes sense....not sure about hedging my bets on closure potential. Guess I will take a look at the TP video and try to check wait times periodically. Thoughts??

This is what I'm planning. RD Soarin', hit the Land and Seas pavilions and then FP TT. This is my son's first visit to Epcot and TT is at the top of his list. I figured this was the best way to hedge our bets and make sure he was most likely to ride it. With a FP, even if it breaks down, we'll still be able to FP it later, whereas without one, you'd be at the mercy of the crowds that day.

 

[ChristineOH]

Does anyone have any experience trying to get a 4th FP for TT? Do the frequent closures make that more challenging?

Usually you can get one if you refresh enough. It's easier to get a 4th for TT than for FEA, in my experience. Soarin' is the easiest tier one, but TT is definitely doable.

Like Klayfish said, Test Track is tough sometimes, because it closes in the rain. We like to do TT on arrival day, when we get to Epcot around dinner time. Once year, we never got to ride it, because it was closed the whole evening due to the weather. If I recall, Soarin' was closed for refurb, and all we did that evening was eat at Sunshine Seasons and ride M:S and SE. My kids still thought it was the best ever, because the last trip we hadn't let them go to a park on arrival day... but I don't know if it would have been "worth it" for many people.

 

[WaterLinds]

Ok, I think I'm going to try to shift my other FPs slightly earlier and see if we can get lucky with a 4th for TT. Or if the weather is better another day maybe we'll park hop for a 4th FP. My son is really interested in it, too, but if it doesn't happen it doesn't happen.