Fastpass+ plan /park strategy questions

[colinmacleod24]

My Fastpass+ day is coming up next week, 60 days ahead of our trip in March (2 adults/1 child).

I have looked ahead at the tools and believe it looks like all rides should be available when I book.
Have 6 days and planning 2 for AK, 1 for MK, 2 for HS and 1 for Epcot. Not planning park hopper.

My fam will likely want to do most by fastpass+ as we hate lines and I'm not sure how close to rope drop we will get tho we will try (For sure we will be in early for HS days for ROTR BG lottery).

I did some trial runs where I pretended to book on what was avail on touring blog (knowing it might not be exactly the same). Here are my concerns/questions, mainly about fastpasses

1) AK - was planning FP+on FOP one day and NRJ the second day. Have started to wonder if I should do FOP twice instead and try to rope drop NRJ second day (arriving afternoon first day so no rope drop that time). My concern is my family might love FOP and then when we do NRJ they might say they liked it but it was no FOP (and hence my idea to FOP twice). I was thinking lines for NRJ will be shorter in the morning. Is there anyone out there who regretted a FP+ for NRJ and wished they'd FOP'd twice?

2) HS - Choosing 2 of MFSR, MMRR, and SDD for tier 1 FP+ on my two days. Expecting HS to be slammed in morn and our wait time tolerance maxes at around an hour so might not be able to get any of these at RD. My son loves star wars, so feel MFSR is a must. SDD has long lines and looks great. But I want the shiny new toy as well! The reviews and high loading capacity of MMRR have me leaning towards a FP+ for MFSR and SDD and just hoping on MMRR. I know that you can get lowish lines on MFSR later in day, but worried my fam will fade after the early start. Any thoughts?

3) AK - with 4 tier 2 slots, gonna plan everest twice, then safari once and debating whether to do safari a second time or do DINO. Some indicate easy to get DINO FP+ day of. Safari twice idea was the animals might not be out one or the times. I was planning 5pm for first safari run... I guessing that is not "dusk" in florida?

4) MK - what is hardest to get same day FP+ for ?

5) Epcot - This park looks the most skippable due to construction and lowish number of rides. But will go and do test track. How hard is it to get 4th - same day fastpass to soaring? Do the tier 2 decisions really matter (ie, it seems you can get those ones pretty easily). Anyone out there who feel epcot is skippable?

Thanks for any help you can provide!!!

 

[Calee]

1. If you think they will like FOP that is definitely more worth the FP, even twice. Rope dropping navi or doing it late is not hard.

2. Why not plan a break? With high crowds and the early morning you could take a break and return for the night and try to get on something late.

3. If you have any desire to do Kali River Rapids that's another good one to FP. The line is long and brutal. Dino isnt hard to get as a 4th FP usually. Also if you rope drop Navi on your full day, you can probably get on dino or even everest afterwards with minimal wait while everyone else is waiting for FOP.

4. Seven dwarves mine train hands down. Then the mountains can be tough...splash, space, big thunder.

5. 4th FP for soarin has not been hard. Or standby was 10 minutes at some points yesterday. I dont love construction, but unless you are people that get to go multiple times a year, I dont like skipping any parks.

 

[Erica Ladd]

Agree. We regretted FP Navi. But we looove FoP!!! Yes 7DMT is hard to get any time you try but we did get it as a 5th or 6th one night! We have also gotten Soarin as an after FP. Even TT once I think but that was luck )

 

[colinmacleod24]

1. If you think they will like FOP that is definitely more worth the FP, even twice. Rope dropping navi or doing it late is not hard.

2. Why not plan a break? With high crowds and the early morning you could take a break and return for the night and try to get on something late.

3. If you have any desire to do Kali River Rapids that's another good one to FP. The line is long and brutal. Dino isnt hard to get as a 4th FP usually. Also if you rope drop Navi on your full day, you can probably get on dino or even everest afterwards with minimal wait while everyone else is waiting for FOP.

4. Seven dwarves mine train hands down. Then the mountains can be tough...splash, space, big thunder.

5. 4th FP for soarin has not been hard. Or standby was 10 minutes at some points yesterday. I dont love construction, but unless you are people that get to go multiple times a year, I dont like skipping any parks.

I forgot to mention I'd have 7DMT covered. Big thunder is down when I am there, and my wife won't do splash and I won't do space. So I'm hoping most of the rest are easyish to get with a 4th FP.

I would love Kali, but don't think my wife will do any wet rides...

Thanks for the info, very helpful.

 

[Erica Ladd]

We will be there around the same time. Still bummed about BTMR especially because I decided my last time on SM was exactly that - my last time!! Now if they put in seats with an actual headrest then maybe...

 

[Tink9721]

I forgot to mention I'd have 7DMT covered. Big thunder is down when I am there, and my wife won't do splash and I won't do space. So I'm hoping most of the rest are easyish to get with a 4th FP.

I would book Peter Pan in advance if you want to do it. That's a hard one to get as a 4th.

 

[Heather07438]

1) AK - was planning FP+on FOP one day and NRJ the second day...
Yes, try for FoP twice. The second day will be a back-up should anything go wrong the first day and I don't think your family will regret 2 rides. Try to put your FP slots early that second day and try for Na'vi. Between the 2 days it shouldn't be hard to find an opportunity to do the much less demand ride Na'vi, either at rope drop, park close, or extra FP.

2) HS - Choosing 2 of MFSR, MMRR, and SDD for tier 1 FP+ on my two days...
SDD is definitely the priority. FP another and try to rope drop,park close or extra FP the last one.

3) AK - with 4 tier 2 slots, gonna plan everest twice...
We have always found Dino much easier to get as an extra FP than the Safari. I think many more families cancel Dino FPs than Safari, and Dino also sees lower wait time dips. Between your 2 days you should have a relatively easy time working in Dino.

4) MK - what is hardest to get same day FP+ for ?
7DMT, Space Mtn, Thunder Mtn & Peter Pan.

5) Epcot - Anyone out there who feel epcot is skippable?
We love Epcot because the rides are great for all ages to do together, like Spaceship Earth, Soarin' and Ratattoullie when it opens. Space220 Restaurant might open for your trip, I'd try to see that! We've also grown fond of seeing the music shows and festival food booths. Lately many people are saying that they're skipping Epcot but personally I wouldn't.

Thanks for any help you can provide!!!
Have a great trip!

 

[colinmacleod24]

1) AK - was planning FP+on FOP one day and NRJ the second day...
Yes, try for FoP twice. The second day will be a back-up should anything go wrong the first day and I don't think your family will regret 2 rides. Try to put your FP slots early that second day and try for Na'vi. Between the 2 days it shouldn't be hard to find an opportunity to do the much less demand ride Na'vi, either at rope drop, park close, or extra FP.

2) HS - Choosing 2 of MFSR, MMRR, and SDD for tier 1 FP+ on my two days...
SDD is definitely the priority. FP another and try to rope drop,park close or extra FP the last one.

3) AK - with 4 tier 2 slots, gonna plan everest twice...
We have always found Dino much easier to get as an extra FP than the Safari. I think many more families cancel Dino FPs than Safari, and Dino also sees lower wait time dips. Between your 2 days you should have a relatively easy time working in Dino.

4) MK - what is hardest to get same day FP+ for ?
7DMT, Space Mtn, Thunder Mtn & Peter Pan.

5) Epcot - Anyone out there who feel epcot is skippable?
We love Epcot because the rides are great for all ages to do together, like Spaceship Earth, Soarin' and Ratattoullie when it opens. Space220 Restaurant might open for your trip, I'd try to see that! We've also grown fond of seeing the music shows and festival food booths. Lately many people are saying that they're skipping Epcot but personally I wouldn't.

Thanks for any help you can provide!!!
Have a great trip!

Great tips. Thank you.
Do you think safari warrants 2 trips to make sure we see the animals or is that overkill. Was thinking 5pm on a sunday for the first one but don't know if that's a good time or not....

 

[Calee]

Great tips. Thank you.
Do you think safari warrants 2 trips to make sure we see the animals or is that overkill. Was thinking 5pm on a sunday for the first one but don't know if that's a good time or not....

I think that depends on your family. For my kids, they would prefer more of the other rides. Then if we happened upon a low line for Safari, or a 4th FP great, but they would prefer to use our initial FP and time on more rides on other things, and time to see all the shows, trails, etc.

 

[DisneyChris2016]

If you have an opportunity to get two FP+ for FOP, I would do it. NRJ is OK - it's pretty, but the ride itself isn't much. I honestly can't understand why it's still a Tier 1 at AK... If you do FOP and for some reason DON'T like it, you can always change the second FP+ to something else, and ride NRJ a number of ways without much wait.

We love the safari - it won't be close to dusk at 5:00PM though, at that time of year. If you want to experience it at different times of day, you may want to use two FP+ for it. It's generally a long, hot wait in standby.

I would not personally skip EPCOT. There are actually several rides there my family loves, and World Showcase is mostly unaffected by the construction at the front of the park. But we DID skip it on our first family trip, and still had a great time (and we NEVER spend just one day at MK). If you're on the fence, you might want to plan a second day at MK instead.

 

[Kaadk]

We don't usually use FPs on Safari. The family prefers to RD (mostly) the Safari and try to catch the animals first thing in the morning when they're up and active before the heat of the day kicks in. At that time, the Safari rarely has long waits as most other people are concentrated on RDing FOP or Navi. Last time through it still a walk on by the time we got off the ride.

 

[colinmacleod24]

My options for safari is sometime on the afternoon evening on mothers day or sometime during my second day. On the second day, want to rope drop NRJ so would not get to safari until after than on a fastpass most likely. I could put safari later on the mothers day although we had planned on checking out Rivers of Light. If going safari later, what is optimal time. Are the best times really opening and after dinner?

 

[colinmacleod24]

We have A ROL dining at Tusker at 550pm. I am guessing i could safari at 7 or 730 and still make it to Rivers of Light?

 

[Kaadk]

We have A ROL dining at Tusker at 550pm. I am guessing i could safari at 7 or 730 and still make it to Rivers of Light?

Depends when ROL is occurring during your trip. Our last trip, ROL was at 7:30 I think?

As far as the Safari, on our first few trips there we've done middle of the day, and everything was lethargic (including us). Since then, we've only done mornings, so that's our experience with it. Somebody else would have to comment on the post-dinner time activity of the animals.

 

[colinmacleod24]

The only one that comes up on Mothers Day seems to be 845pm? Does that seem right?