So I am kicking myself for not looking at my plans before now, 66 days out, when my FPP date is at the end of the first week of school.
If anyone wants to make suggestions I would love to hear them. Two adults, 5 day PH, one person’s first trip. Here are the details, trip is 10/31 (arrive night of 10/30) until noon on 11/4.
Plans so far:
10/31: AK for EMH until about noon, rest at hotel (Swan) then MNSSHP
11/1: late start EP day, may take a break at some point but plan on EP through Illuminations
11/2: pre-RD ADR at CP then MK until lunch, break then HS for F! and PM EMH
11/3: RD at HS, break, 5pm ADR at Ohana then MK for a couple of hours
11/4: EP for EMH then back to hotel around 11am
Here are the things I am having problems figuring out:
- how to plan my FPP on 11/1. I am sure it will be busy with F&W (which we want to check out)
- should I book the 11/2 FPP for HS to ensure TSMM and just hope for the best at RD at MK? (Could I even book FPP for during PM EMH?). Hesitant to hold off on TSMM for 11/3 in case my DSis says she has had enough HS after evening of 11/2. She told me that is the park she is the least excited about. I can see her saying let’s go back to AK on Monday instead. But I guess if that happened we could do a HS RD on our last morning?
Can I say now that I am already missing the spontaneity the old FP system allowed?
Anyway, thanks for any and all thoughts that might help me figure out a great plan. I feel a lot of pressure wanting to make my DSis’ first trip magical.
For the Epcot day on 11/1, I would plan your FastPasses for late afternoon - maybe at 3, 4 and 5? If you do a loop around WS from 11-3, then you will be back at Future World and ready for some time sitting inside by late afternoon. Maybe think of your time in Future World as your break, especially if you do some of the longer attractions.
I think you’ll be fine in MK on the morning of 11/2 without FastPasses. However, if you’re unsure about how that day will end up, you might be safer making and using FP at MK - maybe 10, 11 and 12 or even 11, 12 and 1. Then you could try for an extra FP when you go over to Hollywood Studios. I don’t remember if you can book FP during PM EMH, but surely you could get one FP in. There aren’t many things that need FP at HS, so if you did one of the big ones this night you could pick up the others the next day.
I see what you’re saying about your sister maybe not wanting to do HS again the next morning. By the morning of 11/3,she will have experienced all 4 parks for a little bit. She might be tired or have a strong opinion about repeating a different park. Plus, hitting RD after PM EMH the night before is going to be hard. The good thing about HS is that you can get a late start and still do a lot with FP there. If she’s game to stick with the plan, it will be good. I think you should make FP for HS after noon on 11/3 just in case.
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I booked all my FPP in the morning in order to at least try and get more in the afternoon. You probably won’t be able to get Soarin’ or TSMM in afternoons, but you’ll be able to do those on your RD mornings there.
This is going to sound weird, but if you’re going in mid-day, plan Soarin’s for when ever you just come in, and your tier 2’s BEFORE you plan on going to the park. THat way as soon as you do Soarin’ you can at least try for another tier 1 like Illuminations or Test Track.
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@SallyEppcot thank you, that definitely helps. Having someone else look at it is exactly what I needed and I feel too guilty asking DH to help me plan since he will be staying home with the kids (like your trip!).
@TheGraceysButler I am not quite sure I understand your suggestion. Can you give me an example? Say we plan to enter EP around 10am, stay until 2, break at hotel and then back around 6. Park is open until 10 (Illuminations is at 10).
Thank you both for the help! I really appreciate it.
If you meant late like 10 AM, I would just load one from 9:45-1045, 1045-1145, 1145-1245.
I pictured a late start like at noon. If that was the case, I’d book two throw away ones like Imagination and EO at 9 and 10 respectively, then Soarin’ for like 1130-1230 so you could go right there. After that, you’d have access to the one at a time/non tiered FP+ selection so you could have a shot at Test Track.
Wow! That is something I had never thought of doing. I love that idea. Thank you.
Yes, 10 is late for me. Our family’s first trip was Christmas week and we hit RD at EMH all but one day which was 7am so we left hotel at 6 each morning. I can’t let go of my RD or bust attitude but I am going to try and relax a little on this trip. I don’t want to scare my poor sister. 
@TheGraceysButler wait, should we do Test Track? Is it good? I have never been on it.
Test Track is definitely worth doing, and has long lines, but not as long as Soarin in general. It also has the single rider option to get you through a little quicker if you can’t get the FP.
Something just occurred to me about my HS plan. We want to do Fantasmic the evening of 11/2 and there is one show at 6:30. Assuming we need to line up at 5:30 I don’t know if I should use FPP that day. The very earliest we would arrive is 4 and the park closes at 7 (though there are EMH until 9 we cannot use FPP during that time). So at most we would use 2 of our 3 FPs if we did one between 4 and 5 and another right at 5. I am fine with doing that to get minimal wait for TSMM and ToT but is this a good plan? Is there a 3rd attraction we would really benefit from having a FP for (no RNR for us)? Would it be better to use them for MK earlier in the day, get out of MK earlier due to shorter waits on 3 attractions and get to HS more like 3?
Thanks!