Touring Plan with no fastpass+?

[XMom]

I have been reading on here how important it is to have a touring plan in order to be able to ride the most rides before the crowds kick in later in the day. We are going on our first trip to WDW and have a California Cast Member in our party so we are not allowed to link our tickets to MDE.

Can you suggest a plan of attack for the parks without having fast passes? We are wondering if we want to waste sweet time in the morning going to a kiosk for fast passes or if we should just wait til a bit later in the morning to go get some?

We are mostly interested in riding rides and experiencing things that only WDW has such as great shows. We are not interested in characters. We are DL pros but are feeling lost and overwhelmed about our upcoming WDW experience. We have one day at HS, Epcot and AK and two days for MK. It will be myself and my husband and a 10, 8 & 6 year old. They love big rides and action!! Any help or advice would be appreciated.

 

[ucfknight]

The best rope drop strategy right now for those who can't prebook seems to be to hit one or two headliners at rope drop, and then find a FP+ kiosk as far from the entrance as possible. Make your FP+ selections for later in the day when it will be more crowded, and then get back to riding as many rides as possible in the standby lines.

 

[JimmyV]

It appears from your signature that you are staying at AKL. If so, then you should book FP+s for as many people as are eligible before you arrive, and then, once at the park, see a CM with an i-Pad and see about linking the other ticket(s) to that account and getting FPs for the same time period. Should be fairly simple, I think. I would not wait until park arrival to get everyone's FP unless I had to. But if you are staying on site, you don't have to.

 

[RAPstar]

I'm the same boat as you, since a WDW cast member friend is getting me in for free. I'm slightly stressing about it. But my goal this trip was also to relax more, so I only have a handful of "must do's" that I want to do, and then whatever else I can fit in is just icing on the cake. Hope you have a great trip!!

 

[Karbase8]

When are you going? I would use easywdw.com for a cheat sheet/touring plan. If you do Rope Drop, then you can get to the must-dos for your party.


MK that may need FP or Rope Drop


Splash Mountain
Mine Train if its open
Enchanted Tales with Belle
Winnie the Pooh
Peter Pan
Space Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain possibly
Sometimes going around dinner time/parade/fireworks times, the standby lines are less for other attractions



Hollywood Studios

Toy Story Mania must do Rope Drop/FP when you get to the park or ride at night's end


Tower of Terror= Might be able to walk on stanby during Beauty and the Beast show and Fantasmic or FP when you get there


Rock N Roll Coaster= mainly need FP or early morning or ride single rider line


Star Tours usually less than 20 minute wait and Great Movie Ride but must be strategic going at best times


Epcot

Test Track and Soarin I hear are tiered so you would have to ride one and FP another if do Rope Drop. Test track has single rider