Unexpected reaction to 4th FP+? (My scheduling)

[bladiator]

I'm going the week of 5/11-5/18. I figure that the crowds should be low enough that I can get the 4th FP and maybe more. Because of the restriction to my FPs due to tiering, I'm getting 3 FPs as early in the day as possible so that I can FP both Soarin' and Test Track and perhaps Soarin again. I wonder if WDW thought this through. I'm not even really worried about using my other FPs because let's face it, I can probably just walk on those rides anyway. But needless to say, I still reserved those FPs that someone else can't get without any interest in really using them, but mostly just so I can use 3 FPs as quick as possible.

Is this the "new" strategy and I'm just way behind on this? (I looked through the threads, I promise!)

 

[SplashMo]

That is gong to be my strategy. Use the one you care about and let the others expire...

 

[HockeyMomNH]

I was thinking the same thing for Epcot. Get the first two as early as possible, and then your first tier 1. Then hopefully there will be availability for a second and third tier 1 later in the day.

 

[mamabahama]

Yes. That exactly what we tried to do on 5/1. But get to a kiosk as soon as the third FP+ is used or the window expires. We didn't get to a kiosk until around 3pm and there was no soaring or test track available. There are no kiosks in WS.

Your third either has to be used or the window expire before you can get a 4th.

TT standby was reasonable at 9:30am with a 20ish minute wait. When we got to our Soaring FP+ at 10:30 the standby line was already 90 minutes. So FP Soaring and standby TT is the way to go.

 

[maryj11]

I was afraid of that, I mean all the popular ride fastpasses would be gone after we get our 3 used . Oh well I wonder how long soarin is right before closing ?

 

[practicallyperfect77]

Yes. That exactly what we tried to do on 5/1. But get to a kiosk as soon as the third FP+ is used or the window expires. We didn't get to a kiosk until around 3pm and there was no soaring or test track available. There are no kiosks in WS.

Your third either has to be used or the window expire before you can get a 4th.

TT standby was reasonable at 9:30am with a 20ish minute wait. When we got to our Soaring FP+ at 10:30 the standby line was already 90 minutes. So FP Soaring and standby TT is the way to go.

Am I understanding correctly that you can't just let 2 &3 expire then.....that you must use them? For Epcot, I'm actually thinking of arriving at RD and head to TT. Have Soarin' for 9-10, Living with the land 10-11 and turtle talk 11-12. However, once I ride living with the land, I can change nemo to an.earlier time and then immediately get another for Soarin'. I would think I could get my 4th FP+ before 11 so surely Soar in' and TT would still be available.

 

[PAGAS]

Once you use your fp, you can move your next fp up.

ETA: as soon as we went through the 2nd Mickey checkpoint, I got on the app and moved our next scheduled fp up, usually 30 minutes sooner.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think that makes perfect sense for the tiered parks.

 

[mamabahama]

Am I understanding correctly that you can't just let 2 &3 expire then.....that you must use them? For Epcot, I'm actually thinking of arriving at RD and head to TT. Have Soarin' for 9-10, Living with the land 10-11 and turtle talk 11-12. However, once I ride living with the land, I can change nemo to an.earlier time and then immediately get another for Soarin'. I would think I could get my 4th FP+ before 11 so surely Soar in' and TT would still be available.

Hmmm. I think your flaw is moving turtle talk earlier. I'm not sure you can do this. Maybe if you ride land early in its hour window you could move up your third time but then you would either have to ride it (thus allowing you to get another) or wait the hour for it to expire. The issue is the non-overlapping hour timeframes.

All three have to either be used or expire. And you can't move something to a time that had already passed. I played with that last night. You can't do it to get a throwaway out of the way.

The better order would be for your two throwaways to be first (9:30-10:30 and 10:30-11:30 - using 9:30 as the earliest because that's what I saw. Can someone confirm that you can get closer to 9am?) then your third is Soaring and you hit it at the very beginning of the hour window. The time before Soaring can be standby for TT soon after rope drop (less than 30 minutes for us and first time on new TT so very enjoyable) and whatever else you enjoy.

Someone who is still at the parks will need to test the moving of fastpasses closer together once one is used. Can the one hour window be narrowed? Interesting idea but not sure it can be done.

 

[mamabahama]

Cool. Of course as I was typing someone confirmed that you can do it. Very nice.

 

[bladiator]

I have been furiously changing all my FPs to earlier in the day for all of my parks lol.

 

[bcrook]

Once you use your fp, you can move your next fp up.

ETA: as soon as we went through the 2nd Mickey checkpoint, I got on the app and moved our next scheduled fp up, usually 30 minutes sooner.

wow.

 

[mamabahama]

I have been furiously changing all my FPs to earlier in the day for all of my parks lol.

But rope drop does still seem to work well. Full disclaimer this was our first rope drop at MK and it was cold and rainy. We usually arrive at 9:30 or 10. I thought about changing ours but the FP+ 4th was so new and didn't work out for us at Epcot or DHS so I kept them.

Maybe no commando-style but we did quite a bit before our first FP at 11:40.

Rope drop on 5/3
Tea cups - no wait
Pooh - no wait
Space mountain - maybe five minutes
Kids ride space mountain again - 15 minutes
DH and DDs Buzz twice - 10 to 15 minutes
(While I practically ran to sir mickeys because a DISer posted they had Elsa dresses. Bummed only size xxs but scored an Elsa animators collection doll for my niece)
Dumbo - 20 minutes
Barnstormer - 10 minutes.

Pretty good morning and didn't risk my preferred times for my 1-3 fastpasses.

 

[bladiator]

I can't see anything else in that entire post except the fact that you ran to the Tea Cups at RD, hehe.

 

[CounselorX]

This may have been answered before, but do you have to use the kiosk to get your 4th fastpass or can you use the app?

 

[mamabahama]

I can't see anything else in that entire post except the fact that you ran to the Tea Cups at RD, hehe.

Ha! I know. I had grand plans to try to do as many NFL rides as possible until the lines got long but my teenagers had different plans. They reverted to eight year olds and couldn't walk by the tea cups. Kind of cool to ride all by ourselves!

We had chef Mickey ressie at 7:05 so we had a nice long breakfast then were towards the back at rope drop. EVERYONE else was headed to Anna and Elsa! By 9:30 I think the standby line was 300 minutes.

 

[OB1]

This may have been answered before, but do you have to use the kiosk to get your 4th fastpass or can you use the app?

For now, Kiosk

 

[wisblue]

Once you use your fp, you can move your next fp up.

ETA: as soon as we went through the 2nd Mickey checkpoint, I got on the app and moved our next scheduled fp up, usually 30 minutes sooner.

So, are you saying that if you started with 9-10, 10-11, and 11-12 you could use the first one right away, move the second one up to say 9:30, use that second one, move the third one to like 10 and then use that one at 10 so you could start getting the 4th rolling FP shortly after 10?

 

[practicallyperfect77]

Once you use your fp, you can move your next fp up.

ETA: as soon as we went through the 2nd Mickey checkpoint, I got on the app and moved our next scheduled fp up, usually 30 minutes sooner.

Yup - I remember you posting this. I do think that'll be my.plan in Epcot for sure. Not sure yet about MK. It'll depend on what happens to stand by lines at RD. I might start using them at 10 instead of 9.

 

[practicallyperfect77]

So, are you saying that if you started with 9-10, 10-11, and 11-12 you could use the first one right away, move the second one up to say 9:30, use that second one, move the third one to like 10 and then use that one at 10 so you could start getting the 4th rolling FP shortly after 10?

I know you weren't asking me, but yes - as long as there is availability you can move up and technically overlap once you go thru the 2nd checkpoint.