WDW vets, how do you use FP+?

[eeyoresmom]

Thinking of changing all of our FP+ selections to evenings. I am thinking that we can hit the headliners at rope drop like usual and have a FP for later in the day. Am I missing anything with this reasoning? We will be there for spring break so I want to do some additional planning.

 

[TomD]

We were just having this discussion 5 minutes ago at our house. We were thinking for not park hopping and do early entry and FP in the evenings.

 

[wisblue]

The consensus definitely seems to be getting to a park early and saving FPs for later in the day, whether in the same park or hopping to a different park.

 

[MikeTex1]

I would agree with everyone else. Schedule Fastpass for the evening and get the park at rope drop. This will also allow for a mid-day break if you desire.

 

[lovethattink]

Schedule FP for your 3 attractions at a time that's convenient for you when they would typically have long lines.

 

[OKW Lover]

We've been to WDW so many times that we usually don't bother with FP at all. I'm considering booking a couple for the hard to get (TSMM or Soarin for example) attractions on our next trip. Probably won't bother with much else.

 

[mesaboy2]

The consensus definitely seems to be getting to a park early and saving FPs for later in the day, whether in the same park or hopping to a different park.

 

[sbrost13]

We're also going over Spring Break, and I just booked our fastpasses earlier this week. Our plan is to do rope drop every day, then I scheduled all our fastpasses for either the afternoon or evening (except for the safari at AK). Hopefully our strategy will work out. We're trying to be able to ride some headliners more than once. Hope you have a great trip!

 

[CanadianPaco]

Schedule Fastpass for the evening and get the park at rope drop. This will also allow for a mid-day break if you desire.

This is what we have planned for! I hope it works!!

 

[Laketravis]

The consensus definitely seems to be getting to a park early and saving FPs for later in the day, whether in the same park or hopping to a different park.

That pretty much sums it up, especially if you have evening ADR's and no time or desire to wait standby in the afternoon/evening.

 

[Aliceacc]

OK, let me add to the discussion:

We do Rope Drop, then head back to the resort from lunch till dinner.. it's August in Orlando.

So when do we FP-- late morning, before dinner or after dinner?

 

[dsneygirl]

We've been to WDW so many times that we usually don't bother with FP at all. I'm considering booking a couple for the hard to get (TSMM or Soarin for example) attractions on our next trip. Probably won't bother with much else.

We were there 10 days in Sept when it was dead and only used FP+ for TT, Soarin' and TSM. Everything else was 10min or less.

I would probably pick my top 3 at each park and try to get times close together (ie noon, 1 and 2) as we like to hop around a lot (AP holders) and are never in 1 park all day long.

 

[ses1230]

Thinking of changing all of our FP+ selections to evenings. I am thinking that we can hit the headliners at rope drop like usual and have a FP for later in the day. Am I missing anything with this reasoning? We will be there for spring break so I want to do some additional planning.

This is what we did. The only issue I had was if we didn't use one of our FP+ and wanted to change it later in the day, there were times when there was nothing available.

 

[quest4dl]

There was a post several weeks back by someone who had visited during the busy xmas/new year's season. In that post they said the issue with booking evening fastpasses is that most people do book it for then so the fastpass return line can be quite long.

So another strategy is to rope drop, book fast pass for afternoon - take late afternoon break, leisurely dinner, and enjoy night time entertainment.

 

[snowman]

I'm sure some of it was time of year and our touring style, but I used my FP+ along with the My Disney Experience app on my Android and booked, changed or cancelled FP+'s on the fly as fit where we were. We wanted to see characters at Epcot Character Spot? No problem, I added a FP+ for it and then tweaked the time....we only had to wait 10 minutes to hit our FP window. We did this frequently during our trip.

YMMV

 

[catra121]

I personally liked doing one FP+ before lunch...one early afternoon...and then one in the evening...usually after dinner (I try to schedule meals at 11am and 5pm). I felt like this really worked out well for me. I was never rushing from one FP+ to the next and could take my time around the park.

For park hopping...I would schedule the FP+ at whatever park I was hopping to...so late afternoon and evening. I would still try to leave time between them though so I didn't feel like I was rushing from one to the next.

But...I like a more relaxed pace than some...so I know this doesn't work for everyone. I like to putter around and ride non-headliners in between my FP rides. I am a planner...do 2 TS meals a day and know what parks I will be at when...but I don't like to rush around which seems to be many people's complaints with planning. I think that if you plan things too close together you are going to inevitably get stressed and be rushing around so much that you forget to enjoy yourself...so I like to leave time between my planned things (ADRs and FP+) to go at an easy pace and stop to smell the roses in between my planned activities.

If I DO plan anything close...and I always push it on arrival day...I accept that I might not make it to that ride or meal as planned and don't stress if I miss out. So far...I've never missed out...but one of these days I fully expect the pixie dust to fail me on arrival day.

 

[Dasha Hermosilla]

I'd just caution not too late on the FP+. We had ours in the evening recently 7-10 ish and they were not needed and we should have had them earlier. The 7:00 ish time frame everyone was watching the parade so the rides we slow and then it was cold so many people left before the 10 pm closing. Just one other thing to think about. I "think" the touring plan people recommend making a touring plan and then looking to see which ride would have the longest wait and then FP that ride at that time. And continue until you have booked your three rides.