What makes sense for MK tour plans with FP+?

[dizzyinwdw]

Hi all-
Trying to plan out my April itinerary. In the past I relied on TP and easyWDW, etc sites to sketch out a general park schedule so I could make park ADRs, etc. Our touring style with little ones is to arrive at RD and then leave mid-afternoon, return evening for MSEP and Wishes and close out the park. In the past we would use legacy fast passes late morning/early afternoon after doing short(er) SB lines in the morning, then leave around 2-3 pm. I am in a quandary this time with our days. How is FP+ affecting standby lines? For example, does it make sense to do morning EMH at MK even though a not recommended park with predicted crowd level of 6 or do MK on a recommended park day with crowd level 5? We are staying onsite so I will make FP+ in advance; how should I leverage these? Should I use them in the morning when we used to ride mostly SB? With limit of 3 FP+ I will need to use them wisely...
So sorry I am so many questions but I am confused...
TIA

 

[Vincent405]

Hi all-
Trying to plan out my April itinerary. In the past I relied on TP and easyWDW, etc sites to sketch out a general park schedule so I could make park ADRs, etc. Our touring style with little ones is to arrive at RD and then leave mid-afternoon, return evening for MSEP and Wishes and close out the park. In the past we would use legacy fast passes late morning/early afternoon after doing short(er) SB lines in the morning, then leave around 2-3 pm. I am in a quandary this time with our days. How is FP+ affecting standby lines? For example, does it make sense to do morning EMH at MK even though a not recommended park with predicted crowd level of 6 or do MK on a recommended park day with crowd level 5? We are staying onsite so I will make FP+ in advance; how should I leverage these? Should I use them in the morning when we used to ride mostly SB? With limit of 3 FP+ I will need to use them wisely...
So sorry I am so many questions but I am confused...
TIA

We were there from the 15th to the 21st. We did RD Thursday (EMH), Friday, Sat, and Tuesday at MK. With RD, we had short lines all over and took advantage of those. I had set up all of FPs for late afternoon or eve after dinner. That way, we hit out lunch adr and had a FP or 2, then had a dinner adr and still had a FP before heading out.

Lines overall were long and we just didn't ride anything with a line longer than 25 min. We would walk around or usually head to to tea cups and see if the wait on the app was correct. It seemed to usually be the shortest wait and my DD loves that ride.

If you plan on leaving in the afternoon and coming back, I'd make the FPs for later in the eve or late afternoon before any dinner adrs. If as you are getting ready to leave the park, you find that your family is done with the park for the day, you could try to change your FPs for as close to the time that it is as possible and still use them right away. Will that time always be available, no. But, I'm thinking that if you are not coming back, you could at least try.

Or, just leave them and maybe the family mood will change and you have them to still use. It would have to be based on what was happening at the time and, well, you know your family. You'd know if there was a chance they would rebound and want to go back.

 

[Vincent405]

double post

 

[Tripletsplusone]

We just returned from our trip Jan 21-27th. I would take advantage of EMH at MK. Head to Fantasyland and do everything you want to do there that typically has longer lines (Peter Pan, Pooh, Dumbo). I would save your FP+ for later in the day when the parks are crowded. We were happy with our FP+ choices.
First day at MK: Enchanted Tales with Belle, Big Thunder Mountain, Barnstormer (not a high priority ride for all, but my boys love it).
Second day at MK: Space Mountain, Peter Pan, meeting Rapunzel

We pretty much rode all of our favorite rides both days. We decided that we wouldn't wait over 20-30 minutes in a standby line. We used the app to check wait times and it was pretty accurate. If lines were long, we came back later in the evening. The only LONG line we waited in was Space Mountain the first day. The stand by line said 25 minutes so we got in line. We ended up being in line for 75 minutes. It was torture with our 4 kids (2 bathroom breaks The FP+ system does cause big delays when you are in the standby line. We saw several times when 50 people would come into the FP+ line all at once. They let every single one of the FP riders in front of the standby line. It is great when you are in the FP line and not so great when you aren't!

Overall we had a good experience with FP.

 

[Magpie]

This might be too obvious, but...

You said you've used EasyWDW in the past to plan. Have you looked at Josh's updated cheat sheets for the Magic Kingdom? They include notes on FP+.

http://www.easywdw.com/cheatsheets/mk_cheat_sheet_fastpass_plus_v2.pdf

 

[JimmyV]

This might be too obvious, but...

You said you've used EasyWDW in the past to plan. Have you looked at Josh's updated cheat sheets for the Magic Kingdom? They include notes on FP+.

http://www.easywdw.com/cheatsheets/mk_cheat_sheet_fastpass_plus_v2.pdf

TP has also updated its computer models to allow for the addition of FP+, and even has the tiered feature built in. So if you have used that in the past to success, you might want to try it again.*

*No affiliation with or financial interest in that paid-for service.

 

[BuckeyeBama]

TP has also updated its computer models to allow for the addition of FP+, and even has the tiered feature built in. So if you have used that in the past to success, you might want to try it again.*

*No affiliation with or financial interest in that paid-for service.

I actually like the TP models better than Josh's because, other than Peter Pan, we don't ride the other kiddie stuff anymore. Josh's suggestions include too many things that we just don't do - seems geared toward young children.

 

[dizzyinwdw]

thanks everyone!
I hadn't seen the updated easyWDW cheatsheet--this is great. I have used TP before with some success; one of my main questions was should we tour with morning EMH at MK as both sites say that I should skip this park on that day; also how FP+ has been affecting morning SB waits and if that would make early morning EMH more attractive. Sounds like both sites have made considerations for FP+

 

[BuckeyeBama]

thanks everyone!
I hadn't seen the updated easyWDW cheatsheet--this is great. I have used TP before with some success; one of my main questions was should we tour with morning EMH at MK as both sites say that I should skip this park on that day; also how FP+ has been affecting morning SB waits and if that would make early morning EMH more attractive. Sounds like both sites have made considerations for FP+

Unless you plan on hopping out of MK before noon, I would not go to MK on an EMH day. Yes, you will ride plenty of rides in the first 3 hours on a monrning EMH day, but after that it can become a mad house. When we were there 2 weeks ago, FP+ was not impacting stand by lines. Others have reported differently. So I don't know what to say.