test track or soarin' fast pass?

[suedisney]

we are going to epcot on an evening EMH on Sept 29, so rope drop will be at 9am. I had a FP for Soarin' at 9:15 with plans to go to TT after that., but have since heard two close friends say they waited over an hour for TT and had a small wait for Soarin'. Any thoughts? Has TT lines grown since new experience debuted. We were there March and July 2014 but didn't notice a difference. I went on Touring Plans yesterday at 8:04 am ( early EMH) and TT WAS 50 MINUTES AND SOARIN' WAS 20! Help! I just switched my Soarin' for a TT and now am so nervous I wanna switch back lol

 

[SeilerBird]

What I always do is to head straight for TT at RD and get in the single rider line. Then head over to Soarin' and use my fast pass. Last week when I did this I got to TT at 9:04 and was exiting the ride at 9:14. There was a 45 minute wait for the stand by line at 9:04. I had both rides over in 45 minutes.

 

[suedisney]

thanks. Is a TT FP worth it for the 6 of us then? Will we get through there faster?

 

[richmo]

September 29 likely won't be too busy.

If you're into rope drop, the above advice is good. I'm not. I would still schedule a Soarin' FP and single rider line Test Track. The single rider line is usually good in the morning...sometimes 10 minutes or less.

As far as the single rider aspect, keep in mind they will really separate you, but not until you actually board the ride. So you're apart for about 5 minutes and there's a chance you may be in the same car, one behind the other. The other thing with single rider is you don't get to do the full design a car experience. Instead, you pick just a few things out. If you want the full experience for a future ride, as you exit, before the showroom, there's three full design stations. Design your car, then the next time you go single rider, use it (Skip the express design).

 

[mom2rtk]

The truth is nobody can predict what the conditions will be when you get there. That's one of the issues with scheduling 60 days out. If it's rainy, TT generally closes, but there's no way to know that in advance.

In general Soarin tends to back up more quickly, and TT does have single rider. But not everyone desires to go single rider (some have MM and want their group photo together and some just prefer to ride with their family).

 

[suedisney]

our idea was that our friends who were there at RD said they waited 45-60 mins for TT ( had FP for Soarin') and waited outside. They were rethinking this decision as they waited in the AC for Soarin" but were out rather quickly with their FP

 

[ChloesDaddy]

I'm thinking about this for our trip next year as well. A few things I've read and noticed are pointing me toward doing FP+ for TT. First, from what I've seen just checking wait times, it looks like TT builds lines faster in the morning and waits are longer. Second, TT tends to break down more, so having a FP can be sort of an insurance policy -- if it's down when you show up for your FP+ window you can come back later and not have to wait standby (I think that's right). The one consideration that may push you to FP+ Soarin instead is that you miss the full experience of designing your car in TT if you skip the standby line. I watched a Youtube video of the full experience and determined it wouldn't be worth a long wait for our family.

Again, this is all based on reading on the DIS and elsewhere and watching wait times, so I'm interested to hear actual experiences and whether what I've read is representative.

 

[suedisney]

I didn't realize that you didn't get to design your car if you used a fp for TT. I always chose a FP for Soarin' on previous trips

 

[Disney Dynamite]

Our usual strategy is to get a FP for Soarin' and either go through the single rider line at TT or try to hit the standby line at park opening. During our trip last year (in mid September), we also caught the standby line a couple of times when it was down to 20 minutes. Soarin', on the other hand, never seemed to drop below 60 minutes. If having your entire party in one car or being able to have the full car design experience is important to you, I think I'd go with the TT FP.

 

[alliecat523]

Would definitely recommend FP for Soarin' and single rider for TT. We've had great luck with single rider on TT and have often been in the same car (even though it's never a guarantee).

 

[mesaboy2]

I didn't realize that you didn't get to design your car if you used a fp for TT. I always chose a FP for Soarin' on previous trips

Unless it's changed in the last few months, SR allows you to choose from 32 premade designs and FP funnels into the same design room as standby.

 

[bluezy]

we are going to epcot on an evening EMH on Sept 29, so rope drop will be at 9am. I had a FP for Soarin' at 9:15 with plans to go to TT after that., but have since heard two close friends say they waited over an hour for TT and had a small wait for Soarin'. Any thoughts? Has TT lines grown since new experience debuted. We were there March and July 2014 but didn't notice a difference. I went on Touring Plans yesterday at 8:04 am ( early EMH) and TT WAS 50 MINUTES AND SOARIN' WAS 20! Help! I just switched my Soarin' for a TT and now am so nervous I wanna switch back lol

If someone had over an hour wait for TT at rope drop, I'm going to guess that: A) They weren't *really* there right at rope drop - more like they arrived at the park at 9:00 and by the time they walked to TT a long s/b line had already formed; B) They were actually near the front of the masses when rope drop occurred but they walked very slowly; or C) The ride broke down for a short period of time.

Personally, I would keep the Soarin' FP and do TT standby at rope drop. We've done TT at rope drop numerous times and we've never waited more than a few minutes to get on. I kept detailed notes from our trip in June and Epcot officially opened at 8:53 a.m. that day. We walked into the TT Building at 8:57. We were part of the first 30? people in the Design Room (and FTR, when we walked into the building, the s/b wait time was already listed as 30 minutes). We designed our cars, rode the ride, and spent a few minutes taking pictures in the exhibition area at the end of TT and we were still walking out of the building at 9:15. We've also had good success with riding TT at the end of the night -- when everyone else is staking out a spot for Illuminations. When my husband and daughters did that on our June trip, they were in the stand-by line at 8:25 p.m. and were back out front (no stopping for pictures this time) at 8:45.

 

[maxiesmom]

Are you all adults? Use the single rider line for Test Track if you want to get on it quickly. At open I was the only person in my car.

 

[MomForFrozenAddicts]

It is also my norm to get FP for Soaring and arrive early for TT or use the single rider. I believe Josh recommended to get Soaring FP for his guide. His reason is that TT is down frequently and the wait could skyrocket after a down time.

 

[richmo]

... The one consideration that may push you to FP+ Soarin instead is that you miss the full experience of designing your car in TT if you skip the standby line. ...

Unless it's changed in the last few months, SR allows you to choose from 32 premade designs and FP funnels into the same design room as standby.

The Fastpass line combines with the standby line. FP's get the full design experience; it's only the single riders that do not.

 

[BuenaVistaBound]

While standby for Soarin' is air conditioned and in the shade, it is booooring! At least at TT there are things to look at in the queue, and the aforementioned single rider line gives you an option of saving some time. Keep the FP for Soarin'.

 

[DisneyFan8tic]

My family enjoys Test Track better, so we would chose that FP over Soarin. If you could only do one, what would it be? That's the one I would get the FP for.

 

[mom2AidanAndEli]

We were there last week for Rope Drop and there were a TON more people heading to TT than Soarin at that hour. Seemed like everyone was heading left and we turned right! We did Soarin right away with no wait at all and then had a FP for TT a little bit later. That way we did Soarin with no wait and still got to do the full car design on TT. I know it's opposite to what a lot of people say but it worked great for us!

 

[hooch11bear]

We were there a few weeks ago. We went to Epcot three different days. Two of the days we did FP+ for Test Track and one morning we had one for Soarin. I would definitely get the FP for TT and head to Soarin first. The majority of the people were headed to TT and the line was much longer there.

 

[chicagogrl]

I have a 9 am Fastpass for Soarin. Hopefully we can get to test track first thing and back to Soarin afterwards.