We are 30 days from fast pass selection day and trying to get our plans nailed down. One thing I am trying to consider this time that I haven’t in the past is what fast passes I should reasonably expect to get same day as my 4th and 5th. I feel like this impacts my selection of the first three advance fast passes to some degree.
Animal Kingdom (CL 2)
Advance FP - FOP, EE, and KS
First attempts for same day - KRR and Dinosaur
Magic Kingdom (CL 1 - I absolutely cannot believe this is remotely close to correct!)
Advance FP - Splash, Space, Big Thunder *
First attempts for same day - POC and JC
*We are attending both EMM and MVMCP so I think we will have our fill of 7DMT, PP, and Pooh during those times.
Hollywood Studios (CL 4)
Advance FP - RNRC, TSMM, ToT (RD Slinky)
First attempts for same day - ???
Epcot (CL 4)
Haven’t thought about much at all yet
Obviously I’ve fleshed out plans for MK and AK a lot more than the other 2 parks. Would love recommendations for those as the decisions seem much tougher for those for some reason.
I should add, we will be in each park multiple days except HS, so we will have other opportunities. I just want to make sure our first days in each park are planned just right.
Your choices seems reasonable, though if you find a 7DMT or PP for MK, then take it. Space is usually available at a variety of times throughout the day. Splash and Big Thunder are, but sometimes only later in the day (unless the weather is cold, in which case Splash is pretty easy to get throughout the day).
For Hollywood Studios, TSM (they dropped the other “M” from the name of the attraction!) was pretty easy to find during my most recent visit (in mid July). If you can get SDD, then grab it. It’s worth riding twice, particularly if you get one in the morning and another in the afternoon.
For Epcot, Frozen Ever After seems to be the toughest to get during the day, followed by Test Track. These days Soarin FPP are usually available if you keep checking a couple times.
TSM is an absolute family favorite so I was afraid to not fast pass or rope drop it, but I’ll reconsider that knowing that there are usually same day fast passes available for it. We plan to be in the park that day from RD to close, so it should allow plenty of time to snag one. Would you think it’s possible even for a party of 6?
I’ve only been to the Studios once since Toy Story Land opened (in mid July), but FPP for TSM were plentiful during that trip. Even standby waits were reasonable in the mornings. If everything is running at RD, you could ride Slinky Dog, Swirling Saucers, and Toy Story Mania standby within the first hour the park is open. However, if it’s a family favorite, then you may want to ride more than once, so including it is a FPP selection to make sure you get to ride (and maybe get to ride twice) is a good plan.
With the group I was with, however, SDD quickly became my 11 year old cousin’s new favorite attraction, and same day FPP for that won’t be easy to find, so if you think there’s a chance that might happen in your group, then keep that in mind!
We did TSL twice for EMH in July. First time we rode SDD, then AS2 and then hopped on TSM around 3 times. Waits for TSM were fairly short - I remember one day it was 18 minutes for our first ride and then 14 minutes for the 2nd as they opened a 2nd track. The 2nd day we did SDD again and then hit TSM immediately and rode 4 or 5 times all with relatively short waits. I think we also rode TSM late one night after the Star Wars fireworks with only around a 25 minute wait.
Basically SDD was drawing all the people so the waits were pretty low for TSM which also has very high capacity making for very reasonable waits. We were also able to grab some 4th FPPs for TSM, but I would definitely prioritize FP for SDD over TSM for now…