Who now is changing all their fast passes to early morning?

[aprincessatlast]

We leave soon and I was just wondering how many people are changing their fastpasses to all early morning/afternoon in hopes of obtaining more fast passes?

The announcement came out right after I booked all ours. So I booked all in morning except 2 days which have evening. I am debating giving those up in favor of trying to get more. 30 minute waits for the non headliners is really discouraging. Would it be worth giving up the mountains at MK for the chance to obtain more?

 

[TinkerElsasMom]

I don't think I will be doing this. The fast passes that will be available in huge evening would not be for headline rides, so there would really be no point. Additionally, if you put all yr fast passes for 11, 12, and 1pm, you can schedule the walk on, anytime rides, in the afternoon and evening. Gives you plenty of it me to take advantage of rope drop short waits.

 

[catra121]

I think it's just a personal decision based on what YOU want to accomplish in any given day and how you tour.

I am NOT going to book morning FPs and will continue to book them at the busiest time of day and be happy with my selections. That works for me because I like having a plan and just sticking to it...but I don't focus on things like maximizing the number of rides I can ride while there. I'm okay with only riding something once even if it is a favorite and tend to focus more of my energy on trying NEW things. I am not a rush from ride to ride person...I like meandering around the park, taking time to just sit and soak up the atmosphere, and usually do at least 2 TS meals a day.

I'm also in the parks all day...open to close usually...so I don't feel like I will have a problem getting on a bunch of things at rope drop. I travel during September and even though the crowds are not as low as they used to be they are still very manageable. I don't mind waiting in lines for things I want to ride...30 minutes is pretty reasonable and I don't really care if that's a 30 minute wait for POTC, Figment, or Splash Mountain...as long as I enjoy the ride I am waiting for that's all that matters to me.

I found that FP+ actually made my trip less stressful and I enjoyed the time in the parks more. I used it last September when you could double dip...but I didn't get a single regular FP the entire trip and only used the 3 FP+. I don't have a smartphone so I never used the feature of moving FP+ times around...it wasn't necessary for me.

I know my situation and preferences won't match up to most people...but my plan is still to pre-book later in the day when the park is busiest. I think everyone has to figure out for themselves what works best for them based on the way they tour and what their priorities are in the park. I think for people who want to ride the most rides with the shortest waits that booking early FP+ is the better way to go as it sounds like there is still availability for rides later in the day if you do it that way...at least right now. The real test will be on the busiest days of the year...will there still be availability later in the day after you use your initial FP+ options? Only time will tell...

 

[wuzzy6]

Generally speaking, IMO if you're going to be touring all day, it makes the most sense to schedule your first 3 FP+ times for late morning. That way, you can grab more FP+ for the same park, or a different park, for later in the day. It's a gamble, because I don't think it's been in-use long enough to determine if there will be any difficulty obtaining the 4th+++ FP times - especially for the more popular rides.

For us, the norm is to schedule FP+ times between 10:30 and 1:30. The thought behind that is to ride SB from RD to 10:30ish - SB lines are usually relatively short for a lot of rides, including many headliners. Then late morning/early afternoon, we ride our FP+ choices, filling-in the gaps with less-popular rides/activities. We usually go back to the resort for some pool time and rest. After dinner, we will head back to the parks - most of the time, it's a different park than earlier in the day. Having the option to use additional FP+ is a bonus, as long as the slots are available for what we want to ride! We tend to tour differently, simply because we visit frequently - there's no urgency to cram it all in. I definitely understand that this type of plan wouldn't work for a lot of people.

Good luck and have fun!!!

 

[robndani]

I've been wondering about this too. We're going in September with 2 small children who don't care about the "big" rides. I'm thinking we'll schedule ours earlier in the day, but not all three first thing, right in a row. Just early enough to grab one or two more later in the day!

 

[PEC]

I relooked my future plan and did move up a couple of late afternoon times to at least early afternoon.

 

[ciera321]

I bumped mine up just a little. We are RD people and most of our sets are 10:45, 11:45 and 12:45, leaving some room to get the 4th FP+ before we leave the park for a break. If there are long lines at the kiosks, forget it, but if not and I can grab an extra one, great. I refuse to wait in a kiosk line to avoid waiting in a ride line!

 

[shyjade]

Not us. I won't waste my time standing in those kiosk lines later in the day to try and get an additional FP+. I'm keeping the plan that worked well for us...first park in the morning with lower crowds, then park hop elsewhere later in the day to use our FP+ for the headliners/rides with traditionally longer waits.

IF we had the capability of booking the 4th FP+ on our devices, I might consider it. But wasting time in line like a trapped rat behinds guests who don't know what they're doing, hoping to get a decent selection? I'd rather wait in the actual ride line than take that chance.

 

[MuddyTires]

I am not.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

Not us. I won't waste my time standing in those kiosk lines later in the day to try and get an additional FP+. I'm keeping the plan that worked well for us...first park in the morning with lower crowds, then park hop elsewhere later in the day to use our FP+ for the headliners/rides with traditionally longer waits.

IF we had the capability of booking the 4th FP+ on our devices, I might consider it. But wasting time in line like a trapped rat behinds guests who don't know what they're doing, hoping to get a decent selection? I'd rather wait in the actual ride line than take that chance.

I think you read my mind - these are my thoughts exactly!

 

[Aristocath]

Not us. I won't waste my time standing in those kiosk lines later in the day to try and get an additional FP+. I'm keeping the plan that worked well for us...first park in the morning with lower crowds, then park hop elsewhere later in the day to use our FP+ for the headliners/rides with traditionally longer waits.

IF we had the capability of booking the 4th FP+ on our devices, I might consider it. But wasting time in line like a trapped rat behinds guests who don't know what they're doing, hoping to get a decent selection? I'd rather wait in the actual ride line than take that chance.

This is our strategy as well. Rope drop in one park, lunch and pool time and then hop to another park with FP+ booked at the second park where we most likely have dinner.

 

[frozengurl]

I just got back from WDW and I still think it's not necessary to change to morning FP's except for maybe HS (so you can get 2 tier ones)
We did have early FP's at MK but that was only because we were only there in the morning that day, that was how we planned it! We rode the headliners that we had our FP's for then hopped over to Epcot. We were at the Epcot kiosk at 2pm and we were still able to get a FP for TT! (There were several times available starting at 5 but we wanted to go after dinner so we chose a 7pm FP)
I really think it depends on how you tour the parks... But for me, I won't be getting morning FP's at MK... I will save my 3 FP's for the late afternoon/early evening and still do RD where I get to ride way more than 3!

 

[richmo]

It's a tricky proposition.

On the one hand, I can see your point about moving FP+'s up to earlier in the day for the opportunity to get more later in the day, probably afternoon on. On the other hand, I still like to have some scheduled later in the day, since standby lines fairly early in the morning tend to be quite a bit smaller. Of course, there are exceptions to that as well.

What I had done with the hard limit of 3 on a previous trip was to schedule my FP's for later in the day or even evening and hit some standby's fairly early (but I don't usually do rope drop), then mix in "minor" attractions, lunch, etc. midday. Now I might be inclined to go somewhat earlier with the FP's...maybe late morning, early afternoon and still do some standbys in the early part of the day.

Of course, the park matters too. 3 FP's in Epcot is probably enough (and we always use Soarin for the tiered spot, and we do single rider Test Track on standby), but not nearly enough in MK.

 

[wuzzy6]

FWIW, when we were there (at WDW) the last two weekends, the crowds at the Kiosks were nearly non-existent. The parks were crowded, but the Kiosks were NOT slammed like they had been on our March visit!

 

[2Tiggies]

I opted not to move mine. A 9.30 to 10.30 am FP is pretty worthless to us if we are opening the park in any event. I'd rather work harder at getting to the lines to ride standby first and booking my FP's for when they have some time saving value to me. If that means hopping out of the park or enjoying shows later on, so be it. I just don't see why I want to FP 3 attractions, 2 of which when there is minimal wait, so that I can see what I can get at lunch time and then ride 3 more for example, when I would have been using my original 3 anyway, having been able to do standby first thing in the morning. I think it's six and half a dozen unless you have an extreme mission for the day.

 

[GillianP1301]

I have the luxury of some time to see how things unfold, I'm 40ish days away from my booking window. Right now, my plan is to stick with peak midday times for FP+ for headliners we will be riding (not all of them since my DS is a bit on the timid side). I may or may not then try to get a less popular ride for the 4th FP, depending on how kiosk lines are. This plan assumes no changes from Disney between now and my trip and is what I would do if I were going to be there in the near future.

If they upgrade to allow 4th and on FP to be booked by app and I see evidence from peak summer travellers that there is still some good selection for day of FP, then I would seriously consider moving my first 3 FP times up to all be in the morning.

 

[mom2rtk]

I opted not to move mine. A 9.30 to 10.30 am FP is pretty worthless to us if we are opening the park in any event. I'd rather work harder at getting to the lines to ride standby first and booking my FP's for when they have some time saving value to me. If that means hopping out of the park or enjoying shows later on, so be it. I just don't see why I want to FP 3 attractions, 2 of which when there is minimal wait, so that I can see what I can get at lunch time and then ride 3 more for example, when I would have been using my original 3 anyway, having been able to do standby first thing in the morning. I think it's six and half a dozen unless you have an extreme mission for the day.

That's what I would do. You have to weigh getting the most value from your prescheduled FPs with getting the most value from the 4th and beyond. For me, it would come down to how those standby lines were moving fairly fast still in the first hour or two after rope drop. It's still possible those might slow down, in which case I'd then consider bumping my Fps up a little more.

 

[Bigmo]

I scheduled mine for as early as possible in hopes of either using them and gaining more fast passes or if I see that I am not going to need them for that attraction going onto MDE and changing them to the next attraction on my list I want at the earliest available time. I plan on doing Space Mountain at rope drop while my wife and daughter will do Enchanted Tales with Belle. We have a FP scheduled for Peter Pans Flight between 9-10am, then FP for 7DMT between 10-11, our last FP is for Splash Mountain between 11-12. I hope maybe to be able to walk on Pirates of the Caribbean and use a 4th FP for BTMRR. I also want to do HM so that is a candidate for a 5th FP if it is still available at that point. If I can get those done I will be happy and consider any more FP as extra credit for me. I want my kids to see the Parade and wishes so setting a FP up after I have reached my goals for those, if available, will be fine for me at any point after that. I would be content doing standby for everything else. The real question is how fast can 29 days go away???

 

[2Tiggies]

That's what I would do. You have to weigh getting the most value from your prescheduled FPs with getting the most value from the 4th and beyond. For me, it would come down to how those standby lines were moving fairly fast still in the first hour or two after rope drop. It's still possible those might slow down, in which case I'd then consider bumping my Fps up a little more.

Yes, the first few days are going to be a bit of a crash test and I have accepted that (eventually). I should also give full disclosure: We had booked our FP's for the first part of the day on most days in any event, although I would not consider anything before 10- 11 am, primarily because before the additional FP option came into play we scheduled more activities and visits to places outwith the parks. We also hop most days and our evening park is often either for standy rides late at night after the shows and fireworks, dinners and/or EMH. We previously rarely used FP's at our second park if we arrived late afternoon or early evening.

I could improve on our schedule in light of the recent changes, but frankly, I just got fed up with working on my itinerary for hours on end every week.

 

[Aliceacc]

Generally speaking, IMO if you're going to be touring all day, it makes the most sense to schedule your first 3 FP+ times for late morning. That way, you can grab more FP+ for the same park, or a different park, for later in the day. It's a gamble, because I don't think it's been in-use long enough to determine if there will be any difficulty obtaining the 4th+++ FP times - especially for the more popular rides.

For us, the norm is to schedule FP+ times between 10:30 and 1:30. The thought behind that is to ride SB from RD to 10:30ish - SB lines are usually relatively short for a lot of rides, including many headliners. Then late morning/early afternoon, we ride our FP+ choices, filling-in the gaps with less-popular rides/activities. We usually go back to the resort for some pool time and rest. After dinner, we will head back to the parks - most of the time, it's a different park than earlier in the day. Having the option to use additional FP+ is a bonus, as long as the slots are available for what we want to ride! We tend to tour differently, simply because we visit frequently - there's no urgency to cram it all in. I definitely understand that this type of plan wouldn't work for a lot of people.

Good luck and have fun!!!

That sounds like the perfect plan for us...thanks!