Spring break, last week of march. Getting prepared!

[bound4wdw]

Although we said we would never do it we are going during a peak season, as to not take our daughter out of school. So we are headed to WDW during spring break and by all accounts it's going to be crowded. What are some of your strategies you use to stay sane at the parks? We have gone in June! and it was nice but definitely not like September or January.

 

[crostorfer]

I think those of us going in late March are the true guinea pigs for the newest phase of the FP+ testing. It's going to be interesting to see what happens with no legacy FP- machines in any park. The Christmas/New Years guests still had that advantage in some capacity, and were still able to get KTTW cards, albeit with a fair amount of hassle.

Although, the crowds this weekend, and over Presidents Day next month will swell as well, maybe they'll determine some things from those times and tweek things again before March.

 

[libba]

We will be there as well. Can't wait but dreading the crowds a bit!

 

[purpledisneyprncess]

We are considering spring break too. Except ours is the week before Easter. I think crowds are supposed to more crowded that week than the last week of March. I worry that with crowd levels so high and only 3 FP+ we might not get to ride as much as we have in the past. I think we are going to chance it and go!

 

[grealock]

Any suggestions for ride orders with fp+?

 

[tndisney5]

Spring Break has nothing on our last trip---NYE and New Year's week. Now that's crowded! I think you will encounter crowds for sure, but I know lots of friends who go on spring break and have a great time.

I will be using FP+ for the first time in a few weeks. Our times for FP+ are all over the place, but for crowded times I've heard the best thing to do is try to get the park early, at rope drop, and do lots of rides early--ones you don't have passes for or one you couldn't get a FP+ for that might have a longer stand by line by the afternoon. Then reserve your FP+ attractions for the afternoon hours when the parks are more busy.

Another tip is go to the park that had late night EMH the night before. It will be less crowded.

We also found during our NYE trip to AVOID parks with EMH. While this usually sounds like a great idea we found that if you miss the EMH in the morning then the park is really busy by the "usual" opening time. It also seemed like the park with EMH was definitely the most popular and more crowded.

 

[LeahA]

We will be there too! Not sure if I'm going to like the new FP+ system, but oh well, what can I do about it but go and deal with it!!!!

I am going to pick Space Mountain for sure at MK
I am going to pick Expedition Everest for sure at AK
I am going to pick Toy Story Mania for sure at HS
I am going to pick Soarin for sure at Epcot

I read to pick your FP+ for in the afternoon when crowds are the highest.

Here is some Pixie Dust for us all to have a great trip!!!

 

[turrethouse]

We haven't been to Disney for several years and I'm trying to figure out all the new strategies and how FastPass+ will work compared to regular Fast Pass.

I was hoping to sneak in a leisurely 9 am breakfast at Whispering Canyon before heading to Hollywood Studios. But I'm afraid that not arriving til 10:30 or so we will never get a ToyMania Fast Pass.
Would you skip the breakfast?
We are going the last week of March.

 

[harbin]

We will be there 3/26-4/5. So expecting crowds as well. However, we have only ever been in the peak of summer (July-August), and dealt with the crowds just fine. We are not rope drop people at all.... just can't get out of bed that early for anything while on vacation. Last summer we managed to ride everything we wanted to, using only 2-3 fast passes per day and never waited longer than 30 min. I am looking forward to cooler temps though, July was on fire! We plan on centering our FP+ selection for afternoon and just going with the flow. It should be a great time!

 

[Laketravis]

If you're staying onsite and have park hoppers, maybe you'll find this useful:

FP+ Strategy

 

[turrethouse]

we aren't doing park hoppers this time around....

How are you all getting 'selected' for the FastPass+?
I haven't confirmed our dates as I'm waiting to hear back on some old non expiration tickets I have before we confirm....but does pretty much everyone get selected for FastPass+???

 

[bound4wdw]

Once you book your room and link your tickets or passes to your reservation you can do fast pass +.

 

[sdkuhn77]

We will be there 3/29 to 4/4. Hopefully with Easter being so late this year that the crowds won't be too bad. I have an idea of what rides to pick for fp+ next week. Should be interesting next week.

 

[cheesemouse]

My biggest tip for keeping sane with the crowds is to get there early - either at rope drop or a bit before that. Then take a break after lunch and come back in the evening. The crowds are worst between 1-5pm so if you just leave and relax during that time you'll be good to go. And by arriving when it opens you can still get as much done (if not more) as if you had stayed all afternoon with a later arrival.

 

[Partridge4ever]

I was hoping to sneak in a leisurely 9 am breakfast at Whispering Canyon before heading to Hollywood Studios. But I'm afraid that not arriving til 10:30 or so we will never get a ToyMania Fast Pass.
Would you skip the breakfast?
We are going the last week of March.

You can make your Toy Story Fast Pass pick from home. That's the one "plus" I've found so far. No more rushing to get to HS right at opening. We leave March 22, so our window opened today.

 

[Oomiak]

Although we said we would never do it we are going during a peak season, as to not take our daughter out of school. So we are headed to WDW during spring break and by all accounts it's going to be crowded. What are some of your strategies you use to stay sane at the parks? We have gone in June! and it was nice but definitely not like September or January.

Last year I had to take off work when my son had spring break. I thought we can hang around the house for a week or go to a super crowded Disney World. We went to Disney World! We arrived at rope drop each morning and headed back to the resort around 1:00 and returned sometime in the evening. We enjoyed it so much we are doing it again this year! I used easywdw to help choose the parks to visit, arrived at rope drop and hit the attractions that slow down later in the day. We saved fast moving lines for later in the day and had a blast. I didn't plan everything to the minute, I just had a good strategy for moving through the crowds and it paid off.

 

[aubriee]

Once you book your room and link your tickets or passes to your reservation you can do fast pass +.

Some of us can't prebook fast passes though. We are annual passholders that stay offsite. We'll be there March 21st-31st (normally go in early May, but due to my husband's job couldn't this year). We plan to make rope drops and get what we can done, then leave and do other things in the Orlando area. We also have annual passes for Universal and are staying two nights onsite over there, so will have front of the line passes over there, which will help. We also have Fun Passes for Sea World so will be spending a couple of days over there. Their unlimited quick queu passes are only $19.99/day for unlimited front of the line pass. We'll also be spending a day (maybe two) at the beaches.