FP+ and wait times

I’ve been looking at the WDW LInes app at the wait times, and I often see Fastpass+ availability that starts at a time before the current posted or expected wait time would get you through the line. Does that mean that someone who is able to get a FP+ can just walk up to a kiosk, grab a FP+, and walk right through the FP+ line ahead of those who are expecting to wait in line, e.g., for an hour?

Yes, that is the strategy for the 4th, 5th, or 6th FP. It won’t work on the super headliners like 7DMT or TSMM. After you have used your 3 FPs, you should check both wait times and FP return availability. You may find some time saving opportunities.

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Correct. Just back from a April 26 to May 2 trip, and that was how it was. It was bizarre, we’d be getting FPP seconds before and walk right by swarms of people standing in line. I couldn’t help wondering why all these people were standing in line when they could be doing what we were doing, but if everyone was aware of how the system worked, the FPP pool would empty far earlier, so it certainly helped us.

Wow.

This is one of the drawbacks of getting a FPP for late in the day (e.g. for Wishes) - it prevents you getting additional FPPs earlier and you may end up standing in long standby lines that could otherwise be avoided :frowning:

We went back in February and I think it was a crowd level 3 or 4. We booked FPs several weeks in advance for the bigger rides but, the morning we headed out to MK, we noticed that there was still tons of availability throughout the day. We ended up switching some FPs so that they were all in the morning - never waited for than 5 minutes for a single ride and got nearly 75% of the park done by lunch. (Granted my kids are 2 and 4 so we skipped the big coasters!!)
Because there were so many available, we were able to decide which ride was next, select a new FP for that ride, and hop right on! We started the day in Adventureland and saved Tomorrowland for the end of the day - so we were only steps away from the FP kiosk when choosing our 4th, 5th, and 6th FPs.