Top 3 picks for FP+ for each park- Help me decide!

[Sydney2977]

I need help deciding what 3 FP+ to pick for our June trip. I will try to include as much detail in this original post but feel free to ask any questions that may assist you in recommending.

Travel party will be DH and myself, DS1 and his girlfriend (both 21), and DS2 and his girlfriend (turning 18 first day there and turning 17 a month later). In my sig. you can see how many times we've been as a family, plus DS1 and GF1 have been 3 times themselves (including week before Christmas and summer) and she did college program last year in Spring and Summer. DS2, GF2, and I went last year to MK, DHS, and Universal with their high school band, but that's the only time she's ever been.

I've only done this new FP+ thing twice and only for 3 or 4 people, so I want to do the best to plan now, then we can just go with the flow on the trip.

I've also never been in the summer so I don't know what to expect crowd wise. We have gone mostly during cooler months and never go back to the resort during the day for breaks or anything. We are coming from Charleston, South Carolina area though, so we're used to heat and humidity. Travel dates are June 9-16.

We will have 5 park days with hoppers. We will arrive on Sat. and just check in and have a nice dinner.

Sun. at MK for DS2's birthday, breakfast at Crystal Palace at 8:25, lunch at BOG at 1:10

Must do's at MK are (in no particular order) 7 Dwarves, Space Mt., Big Thunder Mt. Splash Mt., Peter Pan, Pirates, Haunted Mansion, Pooh, Jungle Cruise, Buzz Lightyear, Monster, Inc., Aladdin, Dumbo, Little Mermaid, Mickey's Philharmagic, it's a small world, Prince Charming Carrousel, and Carrousel of Progress

Mon. at DHS, lunch at Sci-Fi at 12:45

Not sure if Toy Story Land will be open, but if so those attractions will be must do's! Other must do's at DHS are Toy Story Mania, RnR, ToT, Muppet Vision, Frozen Sing along, and Indiana Jones. If we have time we'll do Beauty and the Beast and/or Little Mermaid shows. Definitely doing Fantasmic and SW fireworks, but don't need special seating for that- we'll squeeze in where we can!

Tue. down day where we'll do Boma breakfast at 9:30, mini golf and swimming/hanging out at resort, then dinner at Homecoming at 7:00

Wed. at Epcot, no ts meals planned (We'll probably end up snacking around the world. I almost don't know what to do because for the last I don't know how many trips we've either been for F&W or F&G- what do we do without kiosks?)

Must do's at Epcot are Test Track, Soarin', Spaceship Earth, The Land, Figment, The Seas, Gran Fiesta, Frozen Ever After, and the American Adventure.

Thu. at AK, lunch at Yak & Yeti at 1:00

Must do's at AK are FoP, Navi River Journey (only the 2 older "kids" have done Pandora), Safari, Everest, Dinosaur, Kali River Rapids, FotLK, Rafiki's Planet watch, Jungle Trek, Tree of Life Awakening and Rivers of Light (also only older 2 have seen).

Fri. is probably hopper day, ending at MK and dinner at Tony's at 6:35

We can get in anything we missed on previous days.

I realize some things I listed don't have FP+, but I figured you guys might help me figure out when to do these as well. All opinions welcomed! TIA for anything you can share to help me!!!

 

[Robo]

The top most-wanted/most-needed FP+ are listed (by park) in the FP+ FAQ Sticky Post at the top of this forum.

HERE.

 

[Eccle]

At Epcot, I would FP Frozen, rope drop Soarin followed by Living with the Land then the Seas, do TT single rider and use other FPs on Spaceship Earth and Figment before heading to World Showcase.

At AK I would FP FoP and do Navi at rope drop, then head for Dinosaur and Everest, so FP Kali and Safari (maybe try for a 4th FP for Lion King and/or RoL

HS is harder to say as Toy Story land should be open, but we don't know Tiers yet. Assuming the Slinky Dog will be Tier 1, maybe FP that, and rope drop TSM followed by RNR then use the Tier 2 FPs for ToT and the Alien ride if that is tier 2.

I would probably use 2 sets of FPs at Magic Kingdom, one day with Big Thunder, Splash and Haunted Mansion, using rope drop for Jungle Cruise, Pirates and Aladdin. Then try and pick up more FPs for Pooh, Buzz, Dumbo, It's a Small World. (The other attractions you mention should all be pretty easy to get on to I think)
Then second day FPs for 7 Dwarfs, Peter Pan and Space Mountain

Not sure if that helps, but that is how I would plan it!

 

[Darcy03231]

MK: 7 Dwarves Mine Train, Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise
AK: Flight of Passage, Safari, Dinosaur
EP: Soarin', The Seas, Character Meet & Greet
DHS: Tower of Terror, Toy Story Mania & Star Tours

 

[Dee McGee]

We typically pick the Mountains. Space Mountain and Splash Mountain for Magic Kingdom.
Test Track for Teir 1 at EPCOT although you may be more inclined to choose either Sorin or Frozen Ever After.
Flights of Passage is an absolute must Teri 1 at Animal Kingdom otherwise you will spend a good 2.5 hours waiting.
Expedition Everest for Teir 2.

 

[Davey Jones II]

Haunted Mansion is not a bad pick for a fast pass, but I would do the ride at least once with no fast pass, in order to go through the great interactive queue in the back of the Mansion. Try it in the morning; a great contrarian strategy is to go to MK at rope drop, then go anywhere but Fantasyland, since most of the herd goes there. You should have short waits for just about everything for the first couple hours.

 

[Stephanie HD]

I'm going in a week with a large group (9 adults and 4 kids) and did most of the planning. For FPs, this is what we are doing:

Ecpot- Rope dropping Test Track, breakfast ADR at Norway and then standby Frozen (Touring plans put that wait time at about 35 mins.) Then FP Soarin, Nemo, and Spaceship earth in the late afternoon, after going through WS.

Magic Kingdom- Rope dropping Frontierland (Splash and Big Thunder) with no FPs. Those wait times look minimal (4-5 mins each so basically a walk-on) that early since many people speed walk to Fantasyland. Then we are using FPs for 7DMT, Peter Pan, and Winnie the Pooh. I did those early in the day since grabbing same day FPs seems possible for rides like Little Mermaid, Small World, Dumbo, etc. We will see how that goes as we go around the park. We'll grab FPs for what we can, one at a time, and queue everything else.

AK- Rope dropping Navi RJ, Brunch ADR, FP Safari, Everest, and FoP in the afternoon.

HS- We have small kids so we got FPs for Disney JR live and Frozen sing along. Then I got the 3rd FP for RnR. I had intended to get a FP for Toy Story instead of Frozen sing along, but for some reason those FPs seemed to fly off the shelves. I'll be making that switch if Toy Story Mania FPs become available.

FYI, when I first did AK there was nothing available for FoP, so I originally had Navi RJ. Then, through checking a few times a day, I was able to get FoP fast passes for 8 people at 3pm on that day, and there were many more times available. This was at like 28 day mark. I've heard other people say the same thing. It seems like Disney has released FoP fast passes sporadically, so it is worth checking often.

I hope you enjoy your trip!

 

[Eccle]

I'm going in a week with a large group (9 adults and 4 kids) and did most of the planning. For FPs, this is what we are doing:

Ecpot- Rope dropping Test Track, breakfast ADR at Norway and then standby Frozen (Touring plans put that wait time at about 35 mins.) Then FP Soarin, Nemo, and Spaceship earth in the late afternoon, after going through WS.

Magic Kingdom- Rope dropping Frontierland (Splash and Big Thunder) with no FPs. Those wait times look minimal (4-5 mins each so basically a walk-on) that early since many people speed walk to Fantasyland. Then we are using FPs for 7DMT, Peter Pan, and Winnie the Pooh. I did those early in the day since grabbing same day FPs seems possible for rides like Little Mermaid, Small World, Dumbo, etc. We will see how that goes as we go around the park. We'll grab FPs for what we can, one at a time, and queue everything else.

AK- Rope dropping Navi RJ, Brunch ADR, FP Safari, Everest, and FoP in the afternoon.

HS- We have small kids so we got FPs for Disney JR live and Frozen sing along. Then I got the 3rd FP for RnR. I had intended to get a FP for Toy Story instead of Frozen sing along, but for some reason those FPs seemed to fly off the shelves. I'll be making that switch if Toy Story Mania FPs become available.

FYI, when I first did AK there was nothing available for FoP, so I originally had Navi RJ. Then, through checking a few times a day, I was able to get FoP fast passes for 8 people at 3pm on that day, and there were many more times available. This was at like 28 day mark. I've heard other people say the same thing. It seems like Disney has released FoP fast passes sporadically, so it is worth checking often.

I hope you enjoy your trip!

On the Toy Story FP, you can't have that and RnR as part of your first 3 as they are both Tier 1. It would probably be worth rope dropping it as I understand there are long waits at the moment as the third track isn't in use. Hope you have a good trip, we are there about the same time (travel on the 10th)

 

[Stephanie HD]

On the Toy Story FP, you can't have that and RnR as part of your first 3 as they are both Tier 1. It would probably be worth rope dropping it as I understand there are long waits at the moment as the third track isn't in use. Hope you have a good trip, we are there about the same time (travel on the 10th)

Oh wow, I completely forgot that HS also does the tiered FP system! Thanks.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

MK - Space, Splash, BTMRR
AK - FOP, EE, Safari
HS - RNR, Star Tours, ToT
EP - Test Track, Spaceship Earth, Seas w Nemo

 

[MMR76]

My choice for MK would be: 7DMT, Space & Splash. I base this on wait times we have experienced on each of our trips. I would rope drop Peter Pan.

 

[Haley R]

I’ve never been with as young of kids that you have but this is what we usually get:
Mk-7dmt, splash, space
Epcot-test track, mission space, spaceship earth
Ak-flight of passage, Kali river rapids, Everest

With such little kids you might want Peter Pan instead at mk. Most of the rides we choose wouldn’t work for your group unless you are planning on doing the rider switch.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Haunted Mansion is not a bad pick for a fast pass, but I would do the ride at least once with no fast pass, in order to go through the great interactive queue in the back of the Mansion. Try it in the morning; a great contrarian strategy is to go to MK at rope drop, then go anywhere but Fantasyland, since most of the herd goes there. You should have short waits for just about everything for the first couple hours.

That's our typical strategy. Most rides are walk on for a while and you stay out of the Fantasyland RD crowd. I'd recommend FPs for 7DMT, PPF and probably Space Mtn. BTMR and Splash are easy to do at RD - very few people go back that far into the park. Most of the other rides you can get as 4+ FPs.

I haven't been to AK since Pandora. I'm hoping to do the FOP FP and RD Navi approach with Safari and EE FPs.

DHS - Big ? with TSL possibly open then.

Ep: We FP FEA so that we can do that in the afternoon after spending the morning in Future World. RD TT and Soarin. Pick your poison on the Tier 2s. SE is probably most likely to have a line.

 

[Sydney2977]

Thanks for the replies so far! I'm loving everyone's personal perspectives.

The top most-wanted/most-needed FP+ are listed (by park) in the FP+ FAQ Sticky Post at the top of this forum.

HERE.

Thanks for that link- I'll remember to reference that when making our final decisions.

At Epcot, I would FP Frozen, rope drop Soarin followed by Living with the Land then the Seas, do TT single rider and use other FPs on Spaceship Earth and Figment before heading to World Showcase.

At AK I would FP FoP and do Navi at rope drop, then head for Dinosaur and Everest, so FP Kali and Safari (maybe try for a 4th FP for Lion King and/or RoL

HS is harder to say as Toy Story land should be open, but we don't know Tiers yet. Assuming the Slinky Dog will be Tier 1, maybe FP that, and rope drop TSM followed by RNR then use the Tier 2 FPs for ToT and the Alien ride if that is tier 2.

I would probably use 2 sets of FPs at Magic Kingdom, one day with Big Thunder, Splash and Haunted Mansion, using rope drop for Jungle Cruise, Pirates and Aladdin. Then try and pick up more FPs for Pooh, Buzz, Dumbo, It's a Small World. (The other attractions you mention should all be pretty easy to get on to I think)
Then second day FPs for 7 Dwarfs, Peter Pan and Space Mountain

Not sure if that helps, but that is how I would plan it!

Great strategy for Epcot. 4 of us haven't done FEA (DH is still bitter about Maelstrom closing, and he has the shirt to prove it!) and we've done what you suggested in FW before- good reminder. AK is always confusing for me to pick, but Kali will likely be a longer wait since it's summer I'm guessing. Sounds like Navi can be done standby but FoP needs FP. DHS strategy sounds reasonable too- I would agree with the probable tier system. The 2 sets of FP's at MK will probably be the best idea. I am just wondering if I should even do ones for that Friday since we won't know where we'll be yet in the morning. Maybe I'll just do late day FP's for MK and where we go in the morning/afternoon we'll do walk on.

We typically pick the Mountains. Space Mountain and Splash Mountain for Magic Kingdom.
Test Track for Teir 1 at EPCOT although you may be more inclined to choose either Sorin or Frozen Ever After.
Flights of Passage is an absolute must Teri 1 at Animal Kingdom otherwise you will spend a good 2.5 hours waiting.
Expedition Everest for Teir 2.

Mountains sound good to me (Space, Splash, Big Thunder, and 7 Dwarves)- maybe I'll do 2 one day and 2 the other. I guess I could pick FP based on which has the best queue. How is FEA's? Another vote for FoP- I'll make sure I do that!

Haunted Mansion is not a bad pick for a fast pass, but I would do the ride at least once with no fast pass, in order to go through the great interactive queue in the back of the Mansion. Try it in the morning; a great contrarian strategy is to go to MK at rope drop, then go anywhere but Fantasyland, since most of the herd goes there. You should have short waits for just about everything for the first couple hours.

I agree- we love the queue at HM and I don't mind waiting in that line. Good tip about doing Fantasyland in the evening too. Maybe that's what I need to plan for Friday- like do everything but Fantasyland on our first day, then make FP's for Fantasyland on our last evening.

I'm going in a week with a large group (9 adults and 4 kids) and did most of the planning. For FPs, this is what we are doing:

Ecpot- Rope dropping Test Track, breakfast ADR at Norway and then standby Frozen (Touring plans put that wait time at about 35 mins.) Then FP Soarin, Nemo, and Spaceship earth in the late afternoon, after going through WS.

Magic Kingdom- Rope dropping Frontierland (Splash and Big Thunder) with no FPs. Those wait times look minimal (4-5 mins each so basically a walk-on) that early since many people speed walk to Fantasyland. Then we are using FPs for 7DMT, Peter Pan, and Winnie the Pooh. I did those early in the day since grabbing same day FPs seems possible for rides like Little Mermaid, Small World, Dumbo, etc. We will see how that goes as we go around the park. We'll grab FPs for what we can, one at a time, and queue everything else.

AK- Rope dropping Navi RJ, Brunch ADR, FP Safari, Everest, and FoP in the afternoon.

HS- We have small kids so we got FPs for Disney JR live and Frozen sing along. Then I got the 3rd FP for RnR. I had intended to get a FP for Toy Story instead of Frozen sing along, but for some reason those FPs seemed to fly off the shelves. I'll be making that switch if Toy Story Mania FPs become available.

FYI, when I first did AK there was nothing available for FoP, so I originally had Navi RJ. Then, through checking a few times a day, I was able to get FoP fast passes for 8 people at 3pm on that day, and there were many more times available. This was at like 28 day mark. I've heard other people say the same thing. It seems like Disney has released FoP fast passes sporadically, so it is worth checking often.

I hope you enjoy your trip!

Ya know, the idea of doing TT then eating breakfast (though we'd do cs) sounds good, plus it would motivate everyone to get there by RD! We always do FW then WS, but doing it backwards might work out better. When we went with band last year, the first thing I did at MK was BTMRR. We were there at Spring Break, didn't arrive till like 10:00, and I still only waited about 30 min. Waiting in line for others and looking for FP's while we wait should work too. Thanks fo rthe tip on checking back if we don't get what we want first. Enjoy your trip too!

On the Toy Story FP, you can't have that and RnR as part of your first 3 as they are both Tier 1. It would probably be worth rope dropping it as I understand there are long waits at the moment as the third track isn't in use. Hope you have a good trip, we are there about the same time (travel on the 10th)

If we don't RD at least that would be a good idea to do first. I would rather wait in the queue at TSMM than RnR. Maybe we'll see each other- where are y'all staying? We'll be at POR.

MK - Space, Splash, BTMRR
AK - FOP, EE, Safari
HS - RNR, Star Tours, ToT
EP - Test Track, Spaceship Earth, Seas w Nemo

I didn't think we'd do FP for Star Tours since only 2-3 will probably ride it. We all love Star Wars, but it can make some of us motion sick. That just means shopping at Tatooine Traders while waiting!

My choice for MK would be: 7DMT, Space & Splash. I base this on wait times we have experienced on each of our trips. I would rope drop Peter Pan.

Another good RD idea. I have never been through the new queue but I kinda want to see it. I just don't want the 1-2 hour wait to see it!

That's our typical strategy. Most rides are walk on for a while and you stay out of the Fantasyland RD crowd. I'd recommend FPs for 7DMT, PPF and probably Space Mtn. BTMR and Splash are easy to do at RD - very few people go back that far into the park. Most of the other rides you can get as 4+ FPs.

I haven't been to AK since Pandora. I'm hoping to do the FOP FP and RD Navi approach with Safari and EE FPs.

DHS - Big ? with TSL possibly open then.

Ep: We FP FEA so that we can do that in the afternoon after spending the morning in Future World. RD TT and Soarin. Pick your poison on the Tier 2s. SE is probably most likely to have a line.

I agree- the big question mark is really DHS since we don't know about Toy Story Land opening yet. Sounds like you agree with others about MK, AK, and Epcot strategy.

Rope drop is another big question mark for this group. DH and I naturally get up early, but we may be more tired than normal after running around all day. DS's both sleep like the dead but will likely still get up when we "make" them. The girls are both late sleepers normally, though they may be more inclined to get up going to Disney. It's vacation, so I don't want to be the commando and want everyone to enjoy themselves.

Our first day we do have 8:25 ADR at Crystal Palace and they supposedly open MK at 9:00. Now I'm wondering if I should change that and just try to get to the park early.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

MK - Space, Splash, BTMRR
AK - FOP, EE, Safari
HS - RNR, Star Tours, ToT
EP - Test Track, Spaceship Earth, Seas w Nemo

I should clarify to say that we aren't huge fans of SDMT so we rarely FP it (shocking I know) but if you want to ride it I would definitely FP it over one of the 3 I mentioned .

 

[Sydney2977]

I should clarify to say that we aren't huge fans of SDMT so we rarely FP it (shocking I know) but if you want to ride it I would definitely FP it over one of the 3 I mentioned .

We love 7DMT and will likely FP it. It seems to always have long lines. We got spoiled last trip since that is where GF1 worked on her college program and was off that day so she got us on like 3 times in the FP line.