What Does Everyone Reserve or their FP+ at their 60 day mark???

[PoohsFan1]

We are about 2 weeks away from being able to reserve our FP+ for our May trip and I was just wondering how do you, all that have done it before, go about doing this? I get how to do the process but which attractions/shows/M&Gs do you reserve before you leave, which ones are the most important, do you think, we should reserve first and if we have to we will change them later. I just want to get a feel for how everyone is reserving their FP+. Also, we will be doing a lot of TS restaurants while there, will the system know that and will it be able to give us times to coordinate with them, how about those ADRs that are out of the parks? Sorry for all the questions, I know everyone is sick of reading about FP+, but I am still trying to get my barrings straight before we leave . Thank you so much for all of your help, it is greatly appreciated .

 

[puffkin]

We are about 2 weeks away from being able to reserve our FP+ for our May trip and I was just wondering how do you, all that have done it before, go about doing this? I get how to do the process but which attractions/shows/M&Gs do you reserve before you leave, which ones are the most important, do you think, we should reserve first and if we have to we will change them later. I just want to get an feel for how everyone is reserving their FP+. Also, we will be doing a lot of TS restaurants while there, will the system know that and will it be able to give us times to coordinate with them, how about those ADRs that are out of the parks? Sorry for all the questions, I know everyone is sick of reading about FP+, but I am still trying to get my barrings straight before we leave .

I was wondering the same thing.

 

[TDC Nala]

I have never reserved anything at 60 days (over 3 trips). I don't see the need to do it now. Most of my reservations were made the morning before I went to the park. Haven't been there since offsite guests have been included though.

Might have to for Mine Train when that comes online.

 

[PoohsFan1]

I have never reserved anything at 60 days (over 3 trips). I don't see the need to do it now. Most of my reservations were made the morning before I went to the park. Haven't been there since offsite guests have been included though.

Might have to for Mine Train when that comes online.

I am thinking the Mine Train will be a big one for us as well, along with the Mountains, RnRC, ToT, and any other main attractions. But I was just wondering what else everyone reserves, if they do (M&Gs, shows, other attractions). We will be there from 5/23-6/2 (very busy time of year) therefore I plan on reserving some of the attractions now and if need be, we will change them later, but at least we have something. I am nervous about the crowds and want to make it as painless as I can for my family .

 

[TDC Nala]

What does your family like? They may not have the same favorites I would have. I regularly get them for Haunted Mansion but everything else changes around.

 

[PoohsFan1]

What does your family like? They may not have the same favorites I would have. I regularly get them for Haunted Mansion but everything else changes around.

My family loves to do everything in Disney, they are not picky, well with the exception of seeing Captain EO and Stitch . We will also watch every show, but are not too big on the parades (we would much rather take that time and ride the rides)...however, we do plan on staking out a spot to watch the new one that is starting up in MK. We will be skipping out on AK this trip so not worried about those attraction but will be going to DHS for 2 days and both MK and Epcot will be 2 1/2 days. We are also huge into seeing the characters but are doing a lot of character meals so we can alleviate standing in lines at the parks to meet them, but if a character that we haven't seen before or one that we don't see at a meal is out, we will jump in line to say hi and give them a hug.

I am more or less just asking this question because I am not sure how to start out making plans for FP+. This is so new to us, and am a bit nervous by it (more so because of all the negativity that I have been reading, but am trying to keep a positive attitude by it). I know once we do it, and when we are there, everything will calm down. It is like anything else that is new to me, I get so frazzled by it but once I do it and understand it, I know I will like it.

 

[xlsm]

I'm just planning to book the ones I think we will benefit from the most or will save us the most time since we'll be there at a busy time of year. Pirates and HM are my favorite rides, but I don't mind waiting in line for those. We're also doing rope drop, so we may rearrange during the day of if we've had our fill of something. We're not afraid of standby lines. Right now we plan to book:

MK Day 1 -
PP Flight (this is not for sure...might hit this right at rope drop and use FP for something else)
Mine Train
Splash

MK Day 2 -
The 3 Mountains (maybe MT if it's spectacular, otherwise we'll join the masses at rope drop if we want to ride it again)

EP Day 1 -
Soarin'
Mission Space
Turtle Talk (not for sure)

EP Day 2 -
Test Track
MS
Spaceship Earth (a must-ride, but not sure if FP will be all that necessary. Might change)

AK -
EE
Safari
Kali

DHS Arrival night -
RR
Star Tours
ToT

DHS day -
TSM
Star Tours
ToT

I was a fan of old fastpass, but I like being able to have my FP at a set time that I know beforehand instead of the wishin' and hopin' that went along with pulling paper.

 

[jade1]

I'm just planning to book the ones I think we will benefit from the most or will save us the most time since we'll be there at a busy time of year. Pirates and HM are my favorite rides, but I don't mind waiting in line for those. We're also doing rope drop, so we may rearrange during the day of if we've had our fill of something. We're not afraid of standby lines. Right now we plan to book:

MK Day 1 -
PP Flight (this is not for sure...might hit this right at rope drop and use FP for something else)
Mine Train
Splash

MK Day 2 -
The 3 Mountains (maybe MT if it's spectacular, otherwise we'll join the masses at rope drop if we want to ride it again)

EP Day 1 -
Soarin'
Mission Space
Turtle Talk (not for sure)

EP Day 2 -
Test Track
MS
Spaceship Earth (a must-ride, but not sure if FP will be all that necessary. Might change)

AK -
EE
Safari
Kali

DHS Arrival night -
RR
Star Tours
ToT

DHS day -
TSM
Star Tours
ToT

I was a fan of old fastpass, but I like being able to have my FP at a set time that I know beforehand instead of the wishin' and hopin' that went along with pulling paper.

Like it, we would maybe skip any at AK-just the one AM we usually open a park. Should be able to kill that by noon, then have FP+ at MK (or DHS) later that afternoon.

Would put these later in the day, then either do other AM activities (we will) or open a different park.

 

[Golf4283]

we more or less just take a guess at which park we will be in on those days when we did ours. If it changes we'll just reschedule them that day.

 

[morethananyonex]

We booked everything all together close to 60 days out and modified as needed. We weren't worried about things running out that early. A big reason we did this was to protect ourselves just incase MK or AK became tiered overnight. Better to have times in place and if changes happen that you like you can modify then instead of kicking yourself if changes happen that you don't.

Since you currently have to book all 3 FP at once, if you want one thing on a certain day you'll have to do all 3 anyways.

 

[KelleyK75]

We are probably a little different than most, because we have a 6 & 4 year old, so we are reserving what they want to ride and character m&g's. I go for them, so I don't ride the big rides. I pretty much let them choose what they wanted.

The FP+ system will recogonize your ADR's when giving you times to choose for FP+.

So I did Toy Story Mania, Disney Jr Live and Voyage of the Little Mermaid for HS.

Epcot, Turtle Talk with Crush, The Seas with Nemo and Friends, & Meet Disney Pals at Epcot Character Spot.

MK day 1 - Meet Mickey Mouse at Town Square Theater, Dumbo, Meet Cinderella

MK day 2 - Festival of Fantasy Parade, Monsters Inc Laugh Floor, Peter Pan's Flight

AK -Kilimanjaro Safaris, Finding Nemo, Meet Favorite Disney Pals.

I know some of these probably aren't the most popular attractions and I could do without the FP+, but that's what the kids want to do, so I wanted to make sure we did them.

 

[KittyKat1978]

As I am going solo, I can do single rider lines but here are my FP+.

HS - TSMM, TOT, Star Tours (I can do RR SR)

Epcot - Soarin', Living with the land, SE (I can do TT SR)

AK - Safari, EE (can do SR, but I felt there was nothing else worth a FP+ as I don't do Kali), Dinosaur

MK day 1 - BTMR, SM, POTC

MK day 2 - PP, MAOWTP (Winnie the Pooh), HM

I don't actually like FP+ as it ties me to a schedule and makes me run around the park (I usually do one land completely, then move on to the next). But I know if I want to ride the big ones and not wait in a long line, I have to use it.

Although last May, I don't remember grabbing many FP-. I guess I will have to wait and see how this May goes.

EDIT: Yes, they will book your FP+ overlapping your ADR's. Just pick what ever rides/MG you want and change the times after you book. It's very easy.

 

[cheesemouse]

Sure, I can tell you what we did at our 60 day mark. We had many ADRs booked as well. If you have your ADRs linked on MDE then yes, the FP system will know when you have a meal planned and will not let you schedule anything too soon before or after the meal.

Here's what we booked ahead of time (60 days out because we could)
-MK arrival day: space mountain, buzz lightyear, tomorrowland speedway
-DHS: Toy story midway mania, tower of terror, star tours
-MK day 2: Big thunder mountain, enchanted tales with Belle, haunted mansion (at 8-9pm as a place holder for the evening parade which you can't book until later)
-AK: Expedition everest, kilimanjaro safari, kali river rapids
-MK day 3: Peter pan, pirates of the caribbean, town square Mickey.
-Epcot: Test track, soarin, spaceship earth (full disclosure, got the extra tier one ride during a short lived glitch in the system).

Of note, our youngest kid is under 40" so we will be using the rider switch system to help with re-rides of the more popular attractions at MK, thus freeing up some FP+ for other minor attractions. I wouldn't normally recommend using a FP for Pirates of the Caribbean but by that point in our trip we will have done the bigger things more than once and it's something that the whole family can ride late in the afternoon with big crowds.

Hope this helps.

 

[PoohsFan1]

Thank you all so much for your responses, they are really helping me with my planning. I just wanted to get a general consensus of what everyone is choosing for their FP+ when you reserve them before you leave. My family loves all the big attractions therefore I will probably reserve those, but wasn't sure if I should reserve attractions such as POTC, HM, JC, Maelstrom, Star Tours, etc..... Also, thank you to those that answered my question about ADRs and FP+, you guys set my mind at ease .

 

[brie182]

I figured out which parks I was going to start my day at and then tried to figure out where I might be in the afternoon/evening and booked my fp for the afternoon park. Not sure if this was the best way to do it especially if we change our mind about which park to go to. Too many decisions.

Brie

 

[JZCubed]

We are about 2 weeks away from being able to reserve our FP+ for our May trip and I was just wondering how do you, all that have done it before, go about doing this? I get how to do the process but which attractions/shows/M&Gs do you reserve before you leave, which ones are the most important, do you think, we should reserve first and if we have to we will change them later. I just want to get a feel for how everyone is reserving their FP+. Also, we will be doing a lot of TS restaurants while there, will the system know that and will it be able to give us times to coordinate with them, how about those ADRs that are out of the parks? Sorry for all the questions, I know everyone is sick of reading about FP+, but I am still trying to get my barrings straight before we leave . Thank you so much for all of your help, it is greatly appreciated .

'Must-do' attractions and/or those attractions that will have long lines all-day are where I would focus FP+ priority.

MesaBoy has a list to assist with prioritization:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=3143281&highlight=fp+priority

The My Disney Experience will show you if you have a time overlap with your schedule.

At 180 days you can book dining reservations.

At 60 days you can book FP+ (assuming you're staying on-site).

I start by planning which Park for each day. Then I select 1 dining reservation for each day (my family does not like having more than 1 per day). Then at 60 days, I make FP+ reservations with a focus on Toy Story, Test Track, Soarin', Kilimanjaro, and Enchanted...Belle - those attractions my family enjoys most AND most likely to be limited in availability over time.

But as my wife will tell ya', "There are 1,000 ways to change a babies diaper." Planning for Disney is the same - there are 1,000 ways to plan.

 

[PoohsFan1]

Thank you, thank you, for the link JZCubed, that is really going to help me figure out which attractions I will make a priority to get FP+ and then so forth and so on. This is awesome .

 

[Winnowill]

I did a mix of rides, shows, and M&Gs. We're doing FPs at DHS and AK once each, EP twice, and MK four times. I planned them using touringplans.com to optimize. I hope it turns out as I want it to!

 

[jessrose18]

I don't want to buy my tickets until about 20 days before we leave. Will there still be toy story mania times left if I wait until 2 weeks before we leave in early may? I don't know how fast these things are booking up? thanks!

 

[redrosesix]

We are about 2 weeks away from being able to reserve our FP+ for our May trip and I was just wondering how do you, all that have done it before, go about doing this? I get how to do the process but which attractions/shows/M&Gs do you reserve before you leave, which ones are the most important, do you think, we should reserve first and if we have to we will change them later. I just want to get a feel for how everyone is reserving their FP+. Also, we will be doing a lot of TS restaurants while there, will the system know that and will it be able to give us times to coordinate with them, how about those ADRs that are out of the parks? Sorry for all the questions, I know everyone is sick of reading about FP+, but I am still trying to get my barrings straight before we leave . Thank you so much for all of your help, it is greatly appreciated .

No apology needed -- it's refreshing to have a different kind of FP+ thread.

We got our tickets from group reservations so only 5 days before our trip -- which was lucky in a way. But we didn't book every day even then. It wasn't our first trip so we had a feel for where we'd be on some of our days.

For example, we didn't want to book a park day for the day after arrival (because our flight got cancelled last year) and the next day had EMH at AK so that had to be our first park day. But MK at night so we booked our must-do's there (since BTMRR was closed last year we had to have that, and we had to do HM and PoTC).

We wanted to use one for F! (because my family was fighting over whether to use it for RnRC or TSMM and F! was the only thing everyone could agree on). So that meant we had to be at DHS on the only day we'd all be together for F! And if you book one, you have to book all 3...

Etc, etc, etc. Yes, it does leave room for your ADRs by warning you if you have a time conflict. I would start from those, add in what you know you'll do. We found it easier to write it down on paper first.

We didn't actually book more than 2 days worth of FPs before we left home, but with offsite getting advance booking soon I would probably just get something in there at least a week before. You can always re-arrange them and change them when you're there. But at least you'll have something.

I should add -- we found that having them 2 hours apart meant that we were basically scheduled into those 3 hours because it's hard to find something to do that won't conflict with your next FP time. You're constantly looking at your time and wondering if that SB line is going to make you miss your next FP. So further apart is good. Back to back also works for rides that are close together -- since you'll do one and then walk to the next one. Be careful about scheduling one right after an ADR, or right after arrival at a park -- restaurants and buses aren't under your control.