Why get a 9:15 AM FP for Jungle Cruise?

[erc]

This was probably the strangest thing I saw last week. I don't even know why we decided to do the Jungle Cruise so soon after park opening since it wasn't on my plan, but my wife and kids insisted since we were walking by it and the wait time was 10 minutes (which was only 5 minutes in reality), so we decided to go ahead and do it. While we were about to enter the Standby queue, I saw a family "touching their Mickeys" in the FastPass entrance. I didn't even know FastPasses were scheduled that early. But Jungle Cruise? That was one of their 3 selections and during a time when there was practically no wait time?

 

[ModernArtist]

This may have been their first trip. If this was their first experience with the new FP system it's quite possible they didn't understand that there might not be a wait at JC at 9:15.

 

[kmb584]

This may have been their first trip. If this was their first experience with the new FP system it's quite possible they didn't understand that there might not be a wait at JC at 9:15.

This is my thought too. Also, some people like to schedule their FP+ as early as possible in order to get 4th, 5th, 6th, etc. while the offerings are still decent.

 

[LBIJim]

This was probably the strangest thing I saw last week. I don't even know why we decided to do the Jungle Cruise so soon after park opening since it wasn't on my plan, but my wife and kids insisted since we were walking by it and the wait time was 10 minutes (which was only 5 minutes in reality), so we decided to go ahead and do it. While we were about to enter the Standby queue, I saw a family "touching their Mickeys" in the FastPass entrance. I didn't even know FastPasses were scheduled that early. But Jungle Cruise? That was one of their 3 selections and during a time when there was practically no wait time?

I suppose they just took whatever time Disney assigned them, not knowing a FP was unnecessary for JC so early in the day. Or maybe they were only planning on spending three hours in the parks that day, and wanted their allotment of FPs.

Were they the only group in the FP return line?

 

[mom2rtk]

Because if you can, someone will.

Under legacy FP, the first return time was 40 minutes after park open. Now it starts straight up at park open.

 

[Mikie]

I also wonder how many people know that you don't have to just take one of Disney's 3 suggested FP schedules - that you can adjust them all around. And as PP stated, people may certainly not know what things develop lines and at what times of day.

 

[erc]

Were they the only group in the FP return line?

Yes, as far as I noticed. By the time we got to the front of the standby queue, the boat ahead of us was almost full and that FP family did get into that boat, so technically, they did save time over us. But we got into the next boat behind their boat.

 

[wisblue]

Maybe it was somebody who thought that it was a good idea to "burn through" their first 3 FPs as quickly as possible so that they could start getting more.

I've never agreed with that as an effective strategy, but there are people on these boards who have recommended it.

It's also possible that it was somebody who was on their departure day and was just getting a few hours in at the MK before leaving and made 3 early FPs.

 

[mom2rtk]

We used an "any/time/any attraction" FP on the astro orbiter once when there was almost nobody behind us. The CM looked like we had lost our minds. But it was our departure day, we had it left from earlier in the week, and waiting for even the next ride rotation would have put us behind schedule. So us it we did.

 

[IrishNYC]

I know for myself I plan to schedule some early things either just to use them or let them expire so that when we hop to another park later on we can try to get 4th FPs.

 

[LBIJim]

We used an "any/time/any attraction" FP on the astro orbiter once when there was almost nobody behind us. The CM looked like we had lost our minds. But it was our departure day, we had it left from earlier in the week, and waiting for even the next ride rotation would have put us behind schedule. So us it we did.

I sometimes wish Tiki Birds was a FP attraction so I could waste an anytime/any attraction pass there.

 

[soniam]

I was trying to do this with Star Tours, but I can't get that early of a time. I guess this family got my slot There aren't very many FP+ at DHS that are worth anything.

 

[Good Morning Dewdrop]

We only schedule FP that early if it is our departure day. Then we do FP roughly at 9, 10 and 11 with the goal of leaving around noon. We however aim for the later part of the hour to take advantage of the magical RD timeframe.

 

[bumbershoot]

It's also possible that it was somebody who was on their departure day and was just getting a few hours in at the MK before leaving and made 3 early FPs.

Agreed. You just never know what's on someone's schedule that day, which could explain what seems like odd behaviour.

 

[mylittlebuttercup]

I would venture one of two guesses:

1) Not that familiar with WDW and/or the Fastpass+ system.
2) Flying out that day but trying to get a few hours in the park first. Fastpasses can only be made in hour increments, so if they want to leave the park by noon, they could only do 9-10, 10-11, and 11-12 fastpasses. (We did this on our last day, but I think our first fastpass was for a much more popular ride like 7DMT that would be busy that early.)

 

[kwdw]

I've got a couple "early day" FP's for things that likely don't "need" them. This is strictly based on a touring plan. IE - I have a Test Track for 9:25-10:25. If we hit the park at opening - that makes NO sense. But - if we arrive at 10 am - and then take 15 minutes to walk there - there *may* be a bit of a wait at 10:15. Based on the rest of the day - we just need to get TT over with - as we are spending until late in the day at World Showcase. But - since I don't know how long we'll be in WS - I don't want to schedule a FP for TT later - as I don't want us to have to walk to the front of the park JUST for that. I did this with Splash Mountain, too, one day. We'll head over there first - but will spend rest of that day in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.

 

[wareagle57]

We used an "any/time/any attraction" FP on the astro orbiter once when there was almost nobody behind us. The CM looked like we had lost our minds. But it was our departure day, we had it left from earlier in the week, and waiting for even the next ride rotation would have put us behind schedule. So us it we did.

Strange, I've only ever ridden AO once and it was the longest wait of the night at MVMCP. We tried again this year and ended up getting out of line after about 10 minutes and hardly moving at all, once again at a CP. I always thought the AO was a "red" attraction, meaning do it at rope drop or at the end of the night or don't do it at all.

 

[disnut8]

For my husband and I, Magic Kingdom is our least favorite park (I know, horrors) so if we were in the park that early, that would be something I would want. Get in, get it done, do two more FastPass attractions, go to another park for the rest of the day.

 

[nat8199]

If I had a throw-away FP to waste, I would do that. With my crew, I would rather use it up then wait even 10 minutes.

 

[mom2rtk]

Strange, I've only ever ridden AO once and it was the longest wait of the night at MVMCP. We tried again this year and ended up getting out of line after about 10 minutes and hardly moving at all, once again at a CP. I always thought the AO was a "red" attraction, meaning do it at rope drop or at the end of the night or don't do it at all.

That's actually part of the reason we ended up using it that morning. After 10 days in the parks (including a bunch of days in the MK), we had not found a time to ride it with a short wait, so it was the only thing we had not yet done.