I’ve previously introduced myself, but a quick recap- we are a couple in our late 30s taking our 2 boys ages 4 & 7 to WDW. It’s our first trip as a family, so we consider ourselves first timers.
We are going in May 2019 but I’m trying to familiarize myself with the parks and make a touring plan so I can start to figure out what fast passes I’ll want to try for when the time comes and how we will weave through each park. Day 1 is Epcot, so that’s where I’m starting. There are Magic Hours that day (8 am- 9 am) and we plan to be there before 8 am. My plan is to get to the popular rides 1st thing (Frozen, Test Track, Sorain) I have a 4 year old who may or may not love big rides, so I’d like to start with something easy and fun- Frozen Ever After seems safer than Test Track. So I moved Frozen to #1, then meet Anna & Elsa, then Test Track to #3. I am pretending I have a 10 am fast pass for Soarin. When I optimize, it does NOT use all of my Fast Passes that I’ve entered (obviously I’m pretending to have 3). It only uses 1 of the Fast Passes for character spot and has me going to Soarin’ (no fast pass) around 11 am. How is that a good plan? Why wouldn’t it use my Fast Passes??
If anyone has tips on the best way to use Optimizations, I’d love some help. Or should I just make my own plan and Evaluate? I was hoping to use this tool to help me get around the park and have a plan…
One other question about Epcot- we are planning to take a mid day break around noon, head to the hotel for lunch and a nap, then back to Epcot around 4 or 5:00. Would you break the day up like first half: Future world, second half: World Showcase. Or would you just go wherever makes sense throughout the day? (I do know World Showcase opens later) The Touring Plan had me hit up a couple of things in World Showcase around 11:30 before we leave on our break, then had The Seas with Nemo and Spaceship Earth later in the evening.
TP will only use your FP if they help making your plan better. If your FP times are less time-saving than what the plan can do without them, it just doesn’t use them (do take that with a grain of salt though as predicted wait times have often been way off recently).
You can avoid this by ‘‘evaluating’’ instead of ‘‘optimizing’’. Once you have played around a bit and decided on what you will do and in what order, evaluating will not change the order so that will effectively ‘‘force’’ the system to use your FP times.
I may be wrong and need to double check but character spot may have switched to tier 1. Someone else could correct me but that could be causing issue with the touring plan. I’m planning an EP day too and wanted similar FPPs
Character spot is now tier 1, so you won’t be able to get that and Soarin. If character spot is a must, I would choose that and get a 4th FP for Soarin. Character FPs are much more difficult to find same day FPs.
This. The switch of Character Spot to Tier 1 was made just a couple months ago. When I was in Epcot last month we skipped Character Spot because Frozen Ever After was a must for my 3 year old and we did not plan on a rope drop day for Epcot.
My off the cuff thought (for what it’s worth) is that you might consider:
My concern is that by the time you rope drop Frozen, Meet Anna and Elsa, and then walk back to future world, you will lose more less crowded morning time, then if you do the reverse.
Now if you concern is that you want to introduce your 4 year old with a “tamer” ride like Frozen instead of Soarin’, then I get it. Just recognize that the touring plan will likely be less than ideal from a lines perspective and you may end up with a longer wait for whichever of Soarin’ or Character Spot you don’t use your Tier 1 FP on on. For what it’s worth, we definitely made some of those trade offs with my 3 year old because we wanted her to go on the tamer rides first.
I’d RD FEA, FPP TT, and get same day FPP for Soarin’. TT goes down a lot so it’s nice to have a FPP for it. There are currently lots of day of FPP for Soarin’ if you catch a drop. And FEA is a good intro ride. You can ride the Donald Duck ride in Mexico on your way back to FW. Most of WS doesn’t open until 11:00 so it’s hard to skip it in the afternoon for a break.
How many Epcot days do you have? Will you have a stroller?
Interesting!! Good to know. I hadn’t seen that it had switched to Tier 1. I guess I have a decision to make. Does everyone agree that Character Spot is harder to get than Soarin? Eeek! Tough decision. Good things I have months to think about it. ha!
We have 1 day at Epcot. I was nervous I wouldn’t be able to get Same Day FP for Soarin, but 2 people have advised that now. Sounds like that may be a good plan. Now to decide between FPP Test Track or Character Spot. Both are must-do. (It bothers me a character spot if Tier 1, btw.)
The switch of Character Spot to Tier 1 happened earlier this summer. We went in September and were able to get character spot as a 4th FPP easily. I believe it was a crowd level 3 day, but we had our pick of times and I didn’t even book it until we were back in the room during our afternoon break.
I agree with @disneygirlmama: I’d FP+ Test Track since it goes down quite often.
Your plan to RD Frozen Ever After followed by Anna & Elsa seems good with yound children.
After that, I do think you would have the time to get to Character Spot before 9:00am (and even see Baymax and/or Joy & Sadness).
On a day without Xtra Magic Hours in March 2018, there were like 3 groups waiting in line at 9:45am for Character Spot.
I’d go something like this:
8:00am: RD - Frozen ever after
8:20am: Anna & Elsa
8:45am: Character Spot
9:00am to 11:30am: Use your 2 Tier 2 FP+ (Spacehip Earth & Turtle Talk with Crush or Mission Space make the more sense) and Use your Tier 1 FP+ for Test Track., with the Seas and/or Figment between them.
At 11:30am, you should be able to grab a 4th FP+ for Soarin’ late afternoon / early evening, when you’ll return to the park.
After Soarin’, I’ll head to to World Showcase to finish off the day (and still watch if any FP+ might be available near your exiting time).
@OncleBoum I agree!! That looks perfect. I’ll just put that in and evaluate. Thanks so much for your help.
Honestly, my boys may not care about Ana & Elsa and we can head straight to Mickey and Baymax after Frozen, whom they love. But I’ll put it in so I’ll remember to ask them if they want to, the scrap it and head to character spot.
ONE OTHER THOUGHT- For those that have Rope Dropped Frozen Ever After… would entering the back entrance be better? Or front gates? I can’t tell from the map which is shorter walk/better entrance.
Both entrances get there about the same time. We rope dropped from the front gate and waited maybe 5 minutes in the queue. It is a long walk no matter which way you go.