Reserving FP: Use TP to select attractions and timing?

So I have about 10 more days till I can reserve my FP. (Where’d the time go!) I’m polishing up my personalized touring plans and trying to figure out which 3 FP/day try try for. Two questions:

  1. Do you generally try optimize the plan first (for example, maybe 61 days before your trip) and then get the top three FP attractions recommended by the TP? Or do you try to get the top one recommended by the plan, insert the FP into the TP, re-optimize, and then get the next one recommended? It seems like the latter would take too long and you’d lose out on grabbing the best FP. I hope this question makes sense - let me know if it doesn’t.

  2. As a rule of thumb, is it best to book a FP per hour for the first three hours the park is open? That way, you can maximize same day FP. Or is it best to book the FP for where the attraction falls naturally in your optimized TP?

1 Like

I would go into the FP reservation process with a clear plan, something like “On day 4 I want Flight of Passage at anytime I can get but preferably in the evening, plus Everest at 1 pm and Kilimanjaro Safaris at 2.” You’ll want to move quickly to lock in 3 per day right away. You will be able to move most of them around afterwards. The hard-to-get ones will probably have to remain as they are, although checking frequently can work if you really want a different time or day.

I like the method of plugging one FP time into your TP, optimizing, and then adding another one, etc. But you should do this BEFORE you actually book them. It’s all hypothetical at that point, but it’s worth the work to figure out a good plan in advance.

Then you try to get real FPs that are as close to your plan as possible. Once you get all of your real FP, you can go back in and update your plans. Then you can go back and forth between My Disney Experience and your Touring Plan as many times as you want, making changes if possible. Some people say “good enough” really quickly, and others fiddle with the plans 100s of times. It just depends on how much you enjoy that sort of thing.

1 Like

Thanks for the insight, Sally! I suspected that re-optimizing while making the FP reservations would take too long.

I’ve been reading threads like this one about TP accuracy. Given how off the TP numbers have been lately with Disney (maybe) changing the way it handles lower crowd levels, it looks like any plan you make months out may need to change a lot by the time you’re in the parks. I’d hate to give up the possibility for same day FP in favor of a plan that may change drastically by the time I’m in the park. I think I lean towards reserving FP for the first few hours on most days. That being said, I appreciate your perspective, and it definitely gave me food for thought!

1 Like

FWIW, I typically book my FPP starting 1/2 hour after park opens so if 9 am open, I book 930, 1030, 1130. If EMH at 8, I still make FPP at 930,1030, 1130. Then I RD and tour until 1030, tap into first FPP, then go from there, typically scanning for 4th FPP at 1135ish. This is useful for MK and AK but not so much for HS and EP IMO due to the tiers with the tier 2 rides having relatively shorter lines anyway. For AK, you get FOP when you get FOP so you have to plan around that. Last trip over spring break 2017, party of 6 used 8 FPP each at MK in one day (a few of them we split up–2 to Space, 4 to Buzz for example) with this plan.
Your point about adding your FP to your TP and then re-optimizing probably does get you the best possible plan. I would think you should be able to pinpoint the longest standby lines ahead of time so your FPP reservations would probably work great anyway.

1 Like

I would not try to get 1 FPP at a time, reoptimizing between selections - as you say, this increases the chance of you missing out on an FPP opportunity. However, that is the method that I use for planning out the FPPs that I will try to get for a given day - check out his link for more details:

1 Like

This is my first time using TP, and my first time making FP+ reservations as well. I have made a clear plan for each of my park days to give me an idea of what time I’d like my FPs to be for, and then if thing go awry, I will re-adjust my TP’s accordingly. I don’t know if this is the best way to do it but I’m hoping this works. I also chose to not get morning passes, and went for evenings. I will RD things I want to try in the morning and then FP the rest in the evening. I know I won’t have the opportunity to get any bonus passes, but I would rather secure time on the attractions that mean the most to me than to cram them all in first thing in the morning. Hopefully my method goes well!