Fastpass + strategy? About This Page:

[suzanne1972]

Hi,

My FP+ day is next month and since it's been 2 years since I last made FP+ and I believe it's changed how it's done etc. do you have any tips on how to get the Pandora/Frozen rides?

I thought I could mess around on the app 'to practice' but it won't let me see the new layout etc until I get to my 60 days.

Any tips much appreciated

Suzanne xx

[Pris]

No particular strategies, but I would definitely go for the Pandora rides first when you get on line. You might try them for later in your vacation as a bit fewer people would be eligible to try for them the farther out you can go. The Frozen FP are a little easier to get.

[Dznygurl]

I was able to do my Fp's on July 4th and actually I was able to get the pandora ones but still havent been able to snag a Frozen one. If you want to ride Frozen then try for that one. I dont even see the Frozen one on the list.

[suzanne1972]

I managed to get the FPs for when and what I wanted I decided to go in order of difficulty rather than date order.

Dznygurl hope you got you're frozen one

Xx

[TLCdisneyfan]

Fantastic! Enjoy your trip.

[DisneyWitch]

Suzanne,

yeah...it's long. <<hugs>>

I just made our FP+ selections this past Monday and the website’s pretty straightforward. Like you, we haven’t been to WDW in nearly 3 years, and things have changed a little bit. I was able to get every FP that I wanted, and I think my success was due to my PassPorter family helping me to better prepare myself – and now I get to pay it forward! I totally understand your anxiety, and I’m sendin’ ya pixies because it can be a little stressful! Hope it’s ok for me to share what I’ve learned!

You received some great advice above; I second, third and fourth everything that's been said. If you want to get Frozen / Flight of Passage / Na’vi River FP’s, book them towards the end of your park days. I also found that there was more availability earlier in the day – but not every family is good with being in the park at rope drop! Remember that the two Pandora rides are on the same “tier”, so you can’t book both of them for the same day. I had to book one for my first AK day and the other for my 2nd AK day. Now, once I’m in AK and have used up my 3 FP’s, I think I can see if there’s another FP for these rides, but that is kind of a gamble.

As a side note, the Disboard has a pretty good explanation sticky thread on FP+, how the tier system works, and popular strategies – you might want to add that to your research. I’m not usually a fan of that site because people aren’t as nice there as they are here on PP, but sometimes you can find good information.

Focus on rides that have long lines, but remember that even if you don't get FPs for your intended rides, the queues are pretty awesome (like the 7 Dwarfs Mine Ride), so consider it a win-win! In my research, I heard that the queue for Flight of Passage is freakin’ AMAZING and if you can spare the time to walk through it, it’s worth it to see at least once. FP’s are more for convenience than anything else, and you’ll still get to ride! <<smile>>

Of course, you should choose attractions that your family prefers. In my opinion, I would focus on:

MK - 7 Dwarfs, BTMRR, PeterPan, Buzz Lightyear
DHS - Toy Story, Tower of Terror, R&Rcoaster, Star Tours
Epcot - Frozen, Soarin', Test Track
AK - anything in Pandora, Kilimanjaro Safaris

As I got closer to my 60 day mark, I found it helpful to check the wait times in the park on my MDE app during the day. This let me see which attractions had the longest lines and which ones weren’t as bad as I had feared. The Avatar ride lines have been blowing my mind for months. Some rides turned into “Backup FP attractions” rather than “Really Want” because of this. I’m kinda hoping that the new baby tigers will ease the congestion a little in Pandora by October!

What I did that really helped, and what I would recommend, is to research which rides are FP+ eligible (especially that whole "tiered" concept in Epcot & Animal Kingdom) and which ones are popular. I then made a worksheet - ok, just a piece of paper - that listed our park days, which park we plan to be in, and which attractions we wanted to fastpass, in order (just in case my first choice was not available). What that did was give me a little bit of a road map on my FP day to go in & focus on the rides I wanted. So...each line went like this:

October 23 – Epcot – Frozen, Mission Space, Nemo
October 24 – MK – 7 Dwarfs, BTMRR, Buzz
October 25 – Epcot – Frozen, Turtle Talk, The Land
October 26 – No Park
October 27 – DHS – Toy Story, Tower of Terror, Star Tours
Etc.

Also, this might allow your family to help participate in the planning! If you have any questions on what I did, or just want some moral support <<laugh>> feel free to PM me!

I really hope this helps.

[House of Mouse]

I love that idea checking wait times, DisneyWitch! Thanks!

[elbodans]

what everyone said regarding booking difficult to get fastpasses for later in your trip. i literally logged on at 7am 60 days out and was unable to get anything for flights of passage for our first day. i did get an evening time for our fifth day--and i booked navi river for the morning of our first day. so i suppose my advice is: have an idea of what you want, but be flexible and be prepared to change it up at the last second.

also: you mentioned using the app. i've found it easier for me to book on the regular website. so if you have access to a proper computer, consider that instead. it's faster and provided you have a good internet connection, there's less chance of tech issues.