Hi all.
We are going to be visiting with a group with 4 adults, 2 tweens, 2 elementary aged kids, and a baby. I’m trying to figure out how to best do our FP+s. The other mom says that the 2 elementary kids are sometimes scared of rides. So I’m wondering if we should “waste” the FP+s in case they want to go on the ride that the rest of us FP or what.
Any ideas are welcome!
Maybe find out what’s the most intense ride they’ve done somewhere and enjoyed, and try to schedule something similar for the first day and focus your schedule on building up the intensity from there? Get FP for everyone assuming they’ll enjoy it all, and then if turns out not to be the case, swap out their fast passes along with one adult for something more their level, rotating who goes with them?
When we last went in 2010, my then 6 year old’s favorite was space mountain. For some reason, my twin 10 year olds were super apprehensive when we went a couple of weeks ago. We started with space mountain (“your brother did it when he was 6!”) and we got them on RnRC by Day 5.
Thanks! What do you mean by swapping out the FP? Thanks!
As soon as you realize they’ve maxed out their adventure level for this trip, modify their remaining FP for anything too high to a different attraction that will be a better fit. This may mean upsetting our carefully orchestrated touring plans, but the point is for them to enjoy the experience. Every ride doesn’t have to be ridden. It’s Disney. There are a million fun things to fill your time. Even if it’s just chasing dancing fountains at Epcot or stalking a favorite character while they do meet & greets with other guests. All the adults can pitch in so no one missed out on too much they wanted to do.
Split up into smaller groups sometimes. That has worked very well for my group. I have 2 older boys and one smaller girl, so we have one adult do thrill rides with the boys while the other one does princess meets and tamer rides with the girl. We are together a lot of the time but also have blocks of time split up. A little harder to plan for FP day on the computer but well worth it in the long run. We also sometimes do different ADRs so that my daughter can do character dining which the boys can’t stand.
It seems easier to split the group up as suggested, but I would also find out why the kids are afraid of rides as it might not be solely the intensity. My boys (4 & 6) loved the coasters on our last trip in January (Slinky, Barnstormer, Seven Dwarfs, Big Thunder). If they were tall enough they wanted to ride. BUT our oldest does not like dark rides so he did not enjoy slower/less intense rides simply because they were in the dark. He refused to ride Pirates and hid in my lap for Frozen, Haunted Mansion, and other kiddie rides (i.e. Under the Sea, Nemo).
Work up your touring plans first. You’ll get ideas on what needs FPs.
September 2019 we were at WDW with three of our great granddaughters - 8, 7 & might as well say 5. They had never been on any rides other than their dried step dad swinging then around. They knew they were up for ANYthing after, seeing some videos.
We started them out on Magic Carpets of Aladdin. From their screams of terror I figured we weren’t going to need those Rock n Roller Coaster FPs. By the end of our MK morning they’d successfully ridden Big Thunder Mtn and Splash Mtn. They did not mind (dark) Pirates at all.
Next morning the 7 year old LOVED Expedition Everest while the 8 yo tolerated it. Five yo was too short. At Dinosaur the 8 yo was enthralled by Dinosaurs!!! While the 7 yo was scared so much she was hiding behind her dad.
It’s tough to know how they’ll respond. Now the 7 yo said NO ! to Dinosaur. None of them care for Aladdin’s Carpets. The 8 yo is not sure about the coasters.
So make FPs according to your touring plans and modify them as you learn what the kids like when you’re there. Modifying for a few or all is easy. Start small and work up.
I showed my DD7 some videos of rides I was thinking of FP for her. She reacted badly to SDD but I got her the FP anyway when I saw it come available in case she loved it in person. She did NOT like it in person! So we modified to the alien saucers. Some people don’t want to watch anything in advance so that they won’t spoil the experience, but I found it to be very useful to have some advance knowledge. Now I know that if she says she doesn’t want to ride something based on the POV video she probably won’t change her mind.