Helloooo everyone! I would love to get advice on how to utilize rope drop and fast passes to see Soarin, Frozen Ever After, and Test Track all on the same day. We are going to be at Epcot on New Year’s Eve, a heavy, heavy crowd day. Currently, the park is scheduled to open to everyone at 9:00am. We have a lunch reservation at Garden Grill at 12:15 and plan to be at the park a half hour before rope drop. How would you structure your morning/day to try to experience all of these rides or is it even realistic to think we can do all of them without a long wait time for one or more?
When I think about which ride would I absolutely not want to miss out on, it would be Frozen Ever After, so I’m planning to use my FP for that ride. But, I’d love anyone’s advice on how to structure the day to have the best shot at enjoying all three. Also, I would welcome any advice on what rides to book for my other two Fast Passes.
I’m hoping to rope drop Soarin’, Single Rider TT and FP FEA.
This, I think, is pretty much the only viable option. Taking advantage of single-rider is one of the best things you can do to minimize your overall waits, and unless demand changes dramatically by the end of the year, FEA’s low capacity means it’s pretty much a FP+ must-do if you want to ride it on a 10+ day. That just leaves Soarin’, which rope drop and its expanded capacity should make manageable at least.
Edited to add: Structuring your day… obviously rope drop on Soarin’ right away and hit Test Track as early as possible - even the single rider line will get long as the day goes on. I’d try to schedule the FEA FP+ for after your lunch since between Soarin’ and Test Track (and whatever else you manage to do around them) will take up a large chunk of the morning, and you don’t want to be rushed.
That is a good strategy IMO. I have one other piece of advice if you are staying the whole day. EPCOT closes at 1AM but everyone leaves after the fireworks. Rather than dealing with the masses at the parking lot or bus stop ride your first ride of 2017. We have walked onto Spaceship Earth and Test Track before dealing with the parking lot.
I totally agree with everything above. For the other 2 FPs, I’d go with spaceship earth and mission space. but if you have kids who aren’t tall enough for mission space, I’d go for character spot.
Can’t really add much to the above; it’s certainly the approach I would take if I wanted to do all 3 in one day. Truth be told, TT doesn’t really excite me all that much so I skip it as often as I ride it…
This is a dumb question, because the name “single rider” clearly indicates one person, but…can you be in the TT single rider line with a child and still ride together? I wouldn’t want my child to ride without me, so are we able to go together and sit in the back of someone’s car? How does this work?
No, people are taken from the single rider line when there is 1 space left in a car. If the single rider line hasn’t been used in ages they might take a few, but that is unlikely. If you were to ask a CM if you could ride together they would tell you to take the normal standbye line.
Thanks @Tate. I was afraid of that. Just a follow-up question for the group, I have a 10, 7, and 5 year old. For kids that age, which you rope drop (knowing you probably won’t be able to experience the other one) Test Track or Soarin’?
For Single Rider at TT, I think if there’s a 2 and 2 riding in the car, the two 3rd seats could be filled from the single rider line. That said, you’re still not sitting with your child.
I don’t think Disney allows children under age 7 to ride standby. You may want to fact check that.
After youtubing it, my DD5 has no desire to ride Test Track. We’ll be rope dropping Soarin and FP Frozen. Single Rider TT for DH.
FP FEA early in the day is a good idea. If the ride breaks down, your FP will be honored later in the day. If you wait too long, you might run of time and could miss it altogether if that happens.
Standby is any age, as long as they meet the height requirement. Children under 7 have to ride with someone at least 14.
Single rider must be 7 or up, because they are expected to ride alone.
Our plan calls for rope drop to Test Track, then Frozen, FP Mission Space Orange, FP Spaceship Earth, Journey to Imagination, FP Sorin’, Living w/t/ Land, World Showcase
Following this - we are also planning one day in Epcot for our trip and want to do those 3 rides. FEA seems like a must-do for our family as it is new and we have young kids that want to experience it so I’m thinking we’ll have to use FPP for this one and SB for Soarin’ and TT. The only kicker…we aren’t getting to Epcot at RD that day…at least it is not the plan (but that may change over the next couple months). CL 5…so not terrible, but still need a plan.
If I only had 1 day in Epcot I would try for an 8am Garden Grill and ride Soarin first thing as reviews of those trying this are mainly great, then cross the park to Test Track which has a single rider line, and FP Frozen as reviews on doing this first thing are dependent on the ride running, I assume this will improve as time goes on.