I am 50 day out, anxiously waiting for 30 days to make my first ever FPP selections!! This is our family’s first WDW trip! We are staying offsite, hence the 30 day marker, and I am traveling with my DH, DD6, and DS2. I have 2 FPP questions…for now…
I kind of remembering reading somewhere that some rides have a good waiting queue, so don’t FPP them if you don’t have to. What does that mean and what rides are they referring to?
I also read that some shows, especially at HS or AK are good to Fast Pass because you get better seating, but some are a waste of Fast Pass since you do not get better seating. What shows are good to Fast Pass and which ones should I skip?
The “good waiting queue” can be two different things & I’m not positive which you’re referencing.
a) a continuous loading queue on a ride with high capacity that loads efficiently and thus results in reduced wait times. Pirates & Small World are good examples of rides with good through puts so waits aren’t bad. Peter Pan and Astro Orbiter both have slow queues which can yield long waits. Fast Passing Peter Pan is usually wise if you want to ride as a result.
b) wait queues that are just fun to observe/explore. Interactive queues that can give you something to do while you wait can be fun. Dumbo, Big Thunder, Expedition Everest, Kali, Haunted Mansion & Test Track can all be examples of this. Not sure I’d rather wait in line than FP these, but most are ones we’ll often try to ride twice so experiencing the regular wait queue at least once isn’t a terrible thing…
I’d check the Touring Plans recommendations and follow their suggestions on the best to FP. I’d tend not to bother FP’ing any shows personally as few shows “sell out” and thus you’ll be able to get a seat somewhere. But if there’s a must view show for you, your values may be different.
1 Rides like Test Track, where if you FP you don’t get to design your own car.
2 I am also interested in which shows are worth FP for the seating, not so much the view but for interaction with your children. Maybe we can make a list of why you might FP each ride, I’ll start it off.
HS Frozen Sing along, don’t need FP if you’re there 15 mins before show on an average day, however FP is a special seating area, and those seats get more attention.
EP Nemo, only gets you in faster, and not normally needed and is usually available as an ex FP.
EP Crush, doesn’t usually get you in any faster, but is the seating better?
HS Disney Junior, gets you a seat on the floor at the very front, but the only bench is along the back? Also view from the very front is not so good?
Tate - FWIW you can design your own car in FP on TT. Single Rider you can’t - well I guess you could, but you’d let most in the queue bypass you while you did it so it may not be worthwhile.
Last trip my son was really into the car design and we rode it at least once each way (single rider, FP and regular wait) and FP he still got to design a car. We did just get 1 car design station for 3 of us - I think we could have each gotten a station if we’d answered differently. With only 1 kid that was fine, but with 2, you’d probably rather get 2 stations. You can also play with the design stations AFTER you ride as well…
Although Peter Pan stand by line is usually very long, if you can get there first thing in the morning that have a “good waiting queue”. They added some magical touches and you walk through the children’s room! 7DMT is another. There are a series of interactive activities to help pass the time . Winnie the Pooh does too. One of my favorites is Everest. The attention to detail as you walk through the museum is amazing!
Yes - in FP the car we designed was the one all the comparisons were against in our car. For us we had my son design one which was used and DW and I just had “default” cars that were compared against since we only requested 1 station. I think I did a quick design when the station next to ours became available actually, but didn’t have time to tweak much.
When we rode Single Rider, we basically walked thru the design room instead of stopping to do a design. As a result all of us got default cars. We rode it Single Rider first and it was our first time with the car designs so I didn’t fully understand the process. In hindsight, I’d probably have taken the 3 minutes to do designs & let the Single Rider queue pass us by to get the unique designs done as perfecting the car design was my son’s favorite thing this trip to try to max out the ratings.
No. Here is what this very site (TP) has to say about it:
“At various points during the ride, video screens show the virtual cars designed by the guests in your vehicle and a status update on how the vehicle’s tests are progressing. Most guests figure out quickly that absolutely nothing in their car’s design has any effect whatsoever on their ride experience.”
To clarify - your ride car & experience in TT doesn’t change based on your design. But after each “test” stage the 6 designs from the people in your car are rated on various attributes - fuel efficiency, braking, handling, performance IIRC from 1-6 and displayed on a video board as you’re transitioning from 1 test to another. Then at ride end there is a cumulative score ranking the vehicle’s over all the “tests”. Those results do vary and are based upon the design you made, or were defaulted to. There’s also a maximum score for the day listed. But the ride doesn’t brake harder or go faster on the test loop based on your design.
My son (14) enjoyed trying to maximize that number over the various rides and your designs do tweak those numbers, but in a very superficial way. It’s a relatively simple math exercise, but timed so it’s tough to get everything maximized in the time allotted. Whether it’s worth the time to try likely depends on your child and if they care about their car being listed highly on the video board. I would tease my son, whenever my car bested his though - always fun
I don’t think any shows are important to FP. We got for Frozen at HS, but only because there was nothing else we wanted as a 3rd FP and Frozen was an absolute must for my daughter. It gave us seating closer to the front, but I don’t understand the person who said that those seats get more attention.
Dumbo is something to not FP because the play area where you wait is great and keeps little ones busy for quite awhile. There are other rides with nice queues (there was a blog on this that you should search for), but those tend to be rides that get long lines, and I would think that even the nicest queue is not going to seem as nice after an hour in line. But those might be good options you can do with a medium line, like from 10-11 or in the evening.
Thanks for the correction, I’m sure I read somewhere that the TT FP line doesn’t design their car, but it must have been talkng about the single rider line, or someone who is only interested in the ride and not the design side. Would my 5 & 7 year olds enjoy it or would it all be way over their heads?
I’ve definitely read in a few places that Mum’s had wished they had got FP for the Frozen sing along because those kids did get more attention, so it must vary from show to show. Myself and the girls won’t be doing some of the big rides so I’ll have FP’s to use, so I’m trying to work out where to use them.
The interface to design cars on TT is fairly simple - touch screen drag & drop type stuff. My guess is they could handle the design stuff OK at 5 & 7. Whether they’d get into maximizing the stats is hard to say, but I’d guess they’d be a touch young for that. But you still get to color the car and add a design and tires etc. so they should get a kick out of that worst case. I was a little surprised my son became mildly obsessed with it this trip. I’d imagine they’d enjoy the design somewhat at that age.
I’ve had sons absolutely love Test Track (and ride it twice - yay baby swap) at ages 5 & 7. though it was my oldest son (age 12) who was so completely into the design part, though that’s probably as much a matter of personality as age.
Am part of a 10 person group - 6 adults; 4 kids. Will be making Fps tomorrow. Can I make a FP for 4 in the group for Ride A at the same time as a FP for the other 6 at Ride B? Am I correct that each person (not the group of 10) gets to make 3 FP/park/day?
Yes but I would write it all done as I was making my FPs. You will chose the party, then the attraction and then the time. You cannot see each part as you book the FPs and you cannot overlap so sometimes it is hard to track.
