I procrastinated too long and now I have to make my WDW MK Fast Pass selections Nov 19 for our Dec. 20 1-day trip! My DH are taking our 5 yo (over 44") and 11 yo and I can’t figure out from the touring plans which passes to get. My kids love coasters, but nothing too emotionally scary (no threatening pirates or haunted mansion). But, I’m worried that we may get to Space Mountain and find my 5yo will change his mind at the last minute, since the darkness would make it more intense than any coaster he’s been on. What do you think? If your child changes his mind, is there something nearby I could take him on while my DH and DD do Space Mountain? I am really at a loss for which passes to choose! This will be my 5yo’s first time to Disney, and we just have the one day. Thanks for any advice.
Our 5 year old son lived space mountain. So much so we rode it 6 times over 10 days. To be honest he won’t know it’s in the dark until he is on the ride anyway so it will be too late to change his mind. I would book the fast passes for it, it’s a great ride
Did you book your fast passes? What did you get? The hallway leading into Space is very long and dark. Did you get Splash and Big Thunder?
I believe there’s an exit for change-of-minders on Space Mountain? Someone plz correct me if I’m wrong re that. And if you need to take that exit, you will be able to get a child swap pass, so that up to three of you can return, thru the FP line, anytime w/i your visit.
Let us know which FPs you decided to get. And by the way, my Dgs loved all the coasters he was tall enough for when he was 4. The only one he was not tall enough that yr was RnR, which is the wildest one at Disney. Now it’s his fave, mine too.
Well, it turns out my understanding on FP was wrong, and that I can’t book until tomorrow (11/20). My DH convinced me that neither of my kids will like Space Mountain, because you get jerked/thrown around so abruptly that it’s not fun, especially when you are small - since it’s dark and you can’t anticipate/brace. (I get extremely motion sick and would definitely not do it, but DH could if one to the kids wants to.) My thought is that if both or one kid is dying to do it, maybe we can get a FP for it later that morning? I did make a touring plan, but it doesn’t suggest when/what second passes to get. I’d love to get any input on the plan in general, actually. Here is the link: Allens' Magic Kingdom One-Day Touring Plan
So, I am planning to get 7DMT, Peter Pan and Thunder Mtn for the first 3.
So, my first suggestion is to check on the list of attractions in MK and see what YOU want to do if you have not done that already.
Things near SM for a 5 yo (IMO,)
TOMMORROWLAND SPEEDWAY!!!
Astro Orbiter (might be too much for you, mom?)
People Mover is not terribly far, and you’ll get a cool glimpse of Space Mountain.
Just judging by your post, (and I might be completely incorrect,) it seems you are only using the default plan which is fine if that’s everything you want to do. If you’ve only got one day, I’d make sure to only do what I want to do, and have TP generate my best plan of attack. This will also help you figure out what fastpasses to try for. In looking at these pre-made plans, unless I missed it, the speedway is an afterthought. Maybe I like it more than most? I would not ever, in a zillion years, go to MK and not do the Speedway - Let the 5yo drive while you work the pedals.
Also, your DH might be onto something with SM being herky - jerky. I’d guess the 11yo would be fine. But I have a coaster kid who went into Space Mt assuming he would LOVE it. Not me, but HE thought he would love it. He was 7 at the time. It jerked him around too much because in the dark, you can’t see where you need to brace yourself. He will still get on any coaster, and when we go back, I guarantee you that he’ll get on SpaceMt again, but on that day, we had to change our later SM fp, because he just wasn’t feeling it. Said it hurt his shoulder or something. Nothing BAD, or anything, but WDW is supposed to be FUN, I didn’t push him to get back on. He’ll do RnR all day long, but in the dark, he just wasn’t ready to be braced, and I get it.
I hate to say this but I think you will need to plan to go to seven dwarfs very early in the morning and be prepared to pick another fast pass. Peter Pan may be an issue too?
It might be an issue to get those during that time frame 30 days out - not 100% sure of when xmas break happens for most - hopefully it will be just after for the OP, but a reminder for the OP - just because you don’t “get” the FP you want, doesn’t mean you won’t be able to get them at a later date, and then plug them into your plan and re-optimize/evaluate. People drop fastpasses all the time.
Thanks @seebee ! I’ve decided to let my 11yo know about the trip a bit early so I can let her make the call on Space Mountain. My DH will only do it if she wants to - he doesn’t really care for it. I was thinking that I’d do Speedway w/ the 5yo if they do Space Mountain on a FP if they can get one for later in the day. What’s RnR?
@PrincipalTinker, can you tell me a little more about that? Bascially, I took a MK 1 day touring plan, removed the items we didn’t want (nothing pirate, no meet 'n greets, etc) and added in some things I thought they’d like (Jungle Cruise). But I had listed Seven Dwarfs as a 9-10am FP (so first thing on opening) and when I optimized the plan, it pushed it to the third item. I wasn’t sure why. Frankly, I didn’t think Buzz Lightyear was a great first ride, because it has some dark/menacing sounds that may scare my son if we do it first thing… But if we do Seven Dwarfs first, do you think we still should get a FP for it, or just walk there first thing? I hope we do get Peter Pan, as I was only on it once as a kid and remember it fondly…my kids have never done it. Would it be better to head there first? Thanks in advance!
7 dwarfs can be a hard fast pass to get a 60 days so I am afraid it will be very difficult at 30 days. Keep an eye out for changing hours. If the opening changes to 8:00 then 7 dwarf fast passes will become available for that hour. If it does not change Magic Kingdom will open Main Street by 8:00. People will line up to get to 7 dwarfs right at opening. You will want to be there early!
7DMT will be very difficult to get for any time of the day at 30 days out. I used the strategy of getting one at a time and ended up with 2 sets of FP at different times, none of which were convenient times. So I had to change my TP accordingly (well, I let the app optimize for me). Don’t get too attached to your TP until you have FP, because some of them probably won’t happen to way you want. If your FP are all early-ish, you can then majorly strategize with the 4th+ FP. I knocked off most of our TP rides with one after the other FP after using our 3 reserved FP. Barely had to wait in line the whole day. But on the day of 7DMT, the only one I could reserve in advance was 3:45 and the park closed at 6 so couldn’t get any more FP that day only. Too late.
The other thing to note about Space Mountain is that the cars hold 3 in a line, one behind the other, no rows. So your child will not be sitting next to a parent for emotional comfort. My daughter loved it at age 8 and now 11, but the whole in-the-dark thing can be overwhelming.
Thanks, everyone. You all were correct - I was not able to get a 7DMT FP (Whew-still figuring out all these acronyms!) I still think it would be a fun first ride, so I guess we should arrive over an hour before opening and head straight there, right? Thanks!
BTW, my Fast Passes are: Splash Mountain at 9:35, Big Thunder 1:50, Peter Pan 5:35. We’ve decided to skip Space Mountain altogether. Only lunch res I could get was Tony’s Town Square - not too exciting, but okay. I would have loved Crystal Palace! I wonder if I should check daily to see if there are cancellations on Crystal Palace or Peter Pan - what do you think? I’m still trying to figure out how to do my touring plan so that we get to see fun shows and parades and keep it magical for both the 5 and 11 year old. We only have one day to make this all work! 
Set up a Reservation search on TP. It does work - just be ready to jump the moment you get notification.
Oh wow- thank you @lizzieanne771! I had no idea this existed! Just set it up - fingers crossed! :)
I would be at MK about an hour before opening. You should have a pretty reasonable wait at that time. Enjoy! You have great FPs!