Standby at one park in the AM with FP+ booked for the pm????

[Matty_Disfan]

Hey folks, We are finally heading back.

It's been since 2011. Back then it was us and two lovely little girls (3 and 5). Now we have three children, the girls are now 8 and 10 and our son is 4.

Sooo...... I am grasping the whole FP+ reality and I was pondering booking our FP+s for the afternoon/evening and hitting another park at RD to do a headliner at RD and then peter out into some of the high capacity/less popular attractions by lunch.

In the new paradigm is this doable?

- I understand that I will limiting opportunities for the 4th FP
- We will have Park Hoppers
-Not interested in FP any fireworks or parades (luckily b/c looks like this is done with anyway)
-We will be offsite so using the 30 day window
- Travelling next March, middle so the beginning of spring break crowds

How bad are standbys in the am?

Are headliners walkons at RD if you go straight to them (thinking 7Ds, new Soarin, TSMM, KS)

 

[Robo]

1. In the new paradigm is this doable?

- I understand that I will limiting opportunities for the 4th FP
- We will have Park Hoppers
-Not interested in FP any fireworks or parades (luckily b/c looks like this is done with anyway)
-We will be offsite so using the 30 day window
- Travelling next March, middle so the beginning of spring break crowds

2. How bad are standbys in the am?

3. Are headliners walkons at RD if you go straight to them (thinking 7Ds, new Soarin, TSMM, KS)

1. Yes.
2. Depends on the crowd-levels that day.
3. Of those, all will be very busy (the focus of a majority of those waiting for park opening,) but with Safari being the most accessible.

 

[rwdavis2]

That's how we're doing it in November. Early morning standby and FP+ in the park we hop to later in the day. From what I have read the 4th FP+ does not end up with many great choices. We're also using FP+ to allow ourselves to sleep in on some days.

 

[HM]

We did it once. AK in the morning without FP and then MK in the afternoon with. It worked just fine. We were able to do the things we wanted at AK and were on a bus toward MK around 2pm. Set up FP for the later part of the afternoon.

 

[ArielSRL]

We are employing the standby at rope drop/in the AM and FP for PM after midday break philosophy. This is our first trip with FP+ as well, as our last trip was 2012. Good luck!

 

[CAS239]

Something we do every time. Makes more sense to go to one park in the morning, then break, then hop to another park in the afternoon with FP's already set up.

We don't worry about it cutting down on 4th and etc FP's, because even if you schedule your FPs back to back as early as possible, your extra FP selections will still be limited. And on that same hand, imo, booking FastPasses earlier than say 10 or 11am is a waste since most rides are a short wait

 

[jsmla]

This is my preferred way of touring. If eligible I hit any park that has morning EMH and then hop to another, (hopefully) less crowded park around lunch time. This works very well at Magic Kingdom Animal Kingdom, fairly well at Hollywood Studios and Epcot where it can sometimes be difficult to fit in more than one headliner before the lines build. Solo I won't stand in a line longer than 15 minutes or so, so YMMV.

 

[Ratpack]

We are using that strategy this summer when we go for some days. In the past before FP+, we were able to get so much done in the mornings that we very rarely ever used FP. So now we can schedule them for the evenings either at the same park or later in another park. Use the lower crowd levels in the morning to do standby.

 

[caralovesdis]

This is exactly how we plan our days as well. We sometimes make a game out of it and see how many things we can ride in MK before the crowds get crazy!

 

[pens4821]

This is what we did and it worked out well. Although never got to MK early as we made FP there for 4 days. Getting there early is the key. Last time we were there we tried this getting there 15-30 minutes after opening and while we got on things, it was no where near as good as getting there 15 minutes early.