Touring advice

[bigcrit]

Coming in to visit DD who is a DCP'er for 4 days 11/9 - 11/12. Would really like to do two days at MK and 1 at AK and Epcot. Our big concern is riding Flights of Passage. I hear it is nearly impossible to get a fast pass 30 days out. To save money we bought base tickets. Any thoughts on a strategy? Couple of important items.

We are staying offsite - Sheraton Vistana
We have a rental Car
Looking to take the group out to dinner at least twice - Once offsite (El Tenampa)

Who has the most accurate Crowd Calendar? I have seen calendars from Touring Plans and Kenny the Pirate. Not sure which is considered to be more accurate?

Thanks in advance

 

[Mickey92]

It is highly unlikely that you will get a FOP FP at 30 days out. It is worth a try, but do not count on it. Your best bet will probably be to rope drop FOP.

I personally like the touring plans calendar, but Kenny the pirate is excellent also. All the calendars are just estimates anyway, there is always going to be some degree of uncertainty regarding crowds.

There are tons of restaurants on site. What type of food does your family like and what price range are you thinking?

 

[10CJ]

I would be flexible on which day you do AK. How many people do you need FPs for? I would check all your days and keep checking.

As a back up plan I would plan to RD AK on a regular hours day and get there early.

 

[sharonabe]

Our big concern is riding Flights of Passage. I hear it is nearly impossible to get a fast pass 30 days out. To save money we bought base tickets. Any thoughts on a strategy?

Your choices for FOP without a FP are to get to AK about an hour before opening and ride it as soon as they let you in. Most times, that is about 30 min before official opening. OR wait and ride FOP as the last thing just before AK closes.

 

[DisMommyTX]

We were not able to get FP for FoP at 60+3 days. However, we did snag two that opened up about 2 weeks before our trip. Just keep checking. The best strategy I've heard for FoP standby is to either 1) arrive 1 1/2 hours before rope drop on a non-emh day; or 2) go later in the evening. Keep checking wait times throughout your AK day because some have reported short lines mid afternoon, but most suggest evening. Wait times tend to drop later and are often inflated near closing. Many have reported posted waits 50-80 minutes that were actually half that. The morning reports are not as promising. Those who arrive shortly before rope drop find that they are still waiting 100+ minutes in line and the longest waits are often early-mid morning. Also, we are night owls and just love Pandora at night!

Crowd calendars are less effective than they used to be. I combine Tourinplans, Kenny the Pirate, and Undercover Tourist. They are often contradictory and don't often make much difference.

Over your dates, there are Christmas parties every night except Sat Nov 11, which is Veterans Day. That is the only day you could stay at the park past 6pm and your only chance to see the HEA fireworks, but MK crowds will be massively worse on that day than any of the others, but it is worth it! I would put EPCOT on Thurs or Sun. F&W can get crazy on Fri and Sat, especially on a holiday weekend.

Assuming that all four days are full park days, not travel days, I would do:
Thurs Nov 9 - MK until 6pm, then head to Disney Springs or a nice dinner at a monorail resort then watch the Christmas fireworks from one of the beaches or walkways
Fri Nov 10 - AK
Sat Nov 11 - MK
Sun Nov 12 - EP

Have fun!!

 

[mamamelody2]

I would definitely say stay away from Epcot on that Saturday as it is the last Saturday of Food & Wine.
I also recommend getting in line for FoP maybe 20 minutes before AK closes. The "running of the bulls" to FoP at rope drop is pretty crazy.
As to crowd calendars, I look at them all and make my best guess. They're making their best guess, too, that's all any of us can do!

 

[bigcrit]

Thank you all for the wonderful advice. Not having park hoppers has been the toughest, but the additional 300.00 hardly seems worth it for such a short trip. I think we will have to go commando at rope drop AK. We always rope drop every park, this one will need to have to be a little more militant . Any advice on the past path to FoP at rope drop?

 

[sharonabe]

Thank you all for the wonderful advice. Not having park hoppers has been the toughest, but the additional 300.00 hardly seems worth it for such a short trip. I think we will have to go commando at rope drop AK. We always rope drop every park, this one will need to have to be a little more militant . Any advice on the past path to FoP at rope drop?

There's only one path to FoP at rope drop. Everyone must follow the leader; you can't miss it.

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Here's the thing. IMO, 90 minutes of waiting is 90 minutes of waiting. If I have to choose between the two, waiting 90mintues in the FoP queue is more interesting than 90minutes outside the front gate of AK. I daresay, part of the queue is at least as interesting as the ride's preshow.

Now I'm not 100% on top of what the mid-afternoon waits are, but if you aren't going during a very busy time then the afternoon standby probably won't go much above 90minutes. Mind, when we were in line, we were told 2-2.5 hours. We were off the ride in about 75minutes.

We arrived about 7:50am on an EMH morning, and went straight to FoP. When we got off FoP, the line was shorter than when we got in line.

I don't think ours was the best strategy. Everyone goes to Avatar first, mostly FoP. Every other queue is empty that first hour. If you are at AK in the RD hour, you'd cover a lot of ground going to the rest of the e-rides in the park.

 

[bigcrit]

Have thought of doing FoP at park closing but, we really want to see the River of Lights Show.