Park Hopper with Fast Pass

[TIGGER17179]

I've read some post about the FP+ and park hopping, where you can't get FP+'s ahead of your trip but for one park one day. We are looking at going and we usually do the park hopper ticket but from what I've read you can't really get FP's at the 2nd park guess there is no point? I don't want to spend the extra money if I can't ride anything at the 2nd park. Thoughts?

[PopPhan]

You can only pre-select FP+ for 3 attractions in one park per day. Now, if you select these for early in the day, you can use them up, or let them expire, and when you get to your next park you can go to a FP+ kiosk and (try to) get FP+ for an attraction there.

After your 3 FP+ selections have been used or expired, you can get more on a one-by-one basis in whatever park you are in. You cannot select a FP+ attraction for a park that you are not physically in, or through the MDE app.

Honestly, I would book the FP+ options for the park you will be in later in the day and go to your "morning" park early and use standby lines. Depending upon what time of year you visit, early lines can be very workable and you could get most of the "A" level attractions covered.

[DizneyRox]

I couldn't imagine a trip without Park Hopping. But, yes, FP+ makes planning a bit more difficult. Typically, the first park you have a better chance of riding the more popular rides without a fastpass. There will be waits, but usually manageable. The reson you're probably going to the second park is for popular rides, and those will be almost impossible to score a FP for with the new system.

So, picking your options at the second park makes a lot of sense. BUT, the limit of three will pretty much prevent you from getting more than 3 as you need to use them all before you're eligible for a 4th. Certainly the more popular rides will be out by the time you use three FP in a second park.

You COULD get very early FP in the first park and take you chances by running over to the second park and hope to score a FP for a popular ride, however, with the 1 hour window on most FP you'd be hard pressed to make it to a second park before 11-11:30 and that's about when most of the big rides start running out of FP anyway.

So, I think the better plan is to standby in the first park, FP the second park. YMMV

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

We're big park hoppers, and much to our surprise, found that FP+ wasn't as much of an issue as I thought.

Depending on the day, we would often book FP+ in the second park, since we found that we were still able to get a lot accomplished without FP+ early in the day.

There were times we'd get the FP+ for the first park, and planned to do things that don't need FP+ in the second park.

It isn't really all that different, FP was often hard to come by in the second park, at least for the "good" attractions.

[CleveSJM]

Biggest tip would be to go during low season. We have gone on days where we didn't really need fastpasses at all.

The regular lines aren't too bad for most rides. No one should think they can't ride anything unless they have fastpasses, even for busy times.

[AgentC]

It really depends on how you schedule your park day.

We were just there last weekend for the marathon. Sunday morning I had promised my kids some resort activities so my first FP did not start until 2. I booked 2-3, 3-4-, 4-5.

We certainly would have had time to visit a different park in the morning and then head to another park.

Also the park we were as was MK. After we used our last FP we were able to go to the kiosk and get an additional FP. I would rate the crowds as moderate.

[ANG]

You can only pre-select FP+ for 3 attractions in one park per day. Now, if you select these for early in the day, you can use them up, or let them expire, and when you get to your next park you can go to a FP+ kiosk and (try to) get FP+ for an attraction there.

After your 3 FP+ selections have been used or expired, you can get more on a one-by-one basis in whatever park you are in. You cannot select a FP+ attraction for a park that you are not physically in, or through the MDE app.

Honestly, I would book the FP+ options for the park you will be in later in the day and go to your "morning" park early and use standby lines. Depending upon what time of year you visit, early lines can be very workable and you could get most of the "A" level attractions covered.

Ditto, we did this our lady trip and it worked well. We went at park opening with minimal standby lines, took a break mid day, and then had FPs for the second park that night.

[joonyer]

The earlier a park opens, the less crowded it will be for the first couple of hours, but you really need to be there when the park first opens (arrive before opening time). This is especially true when it opens very early, like MK during Christmas week, at 7:00 a.m.! It means having to get up about 5:00 a.m. which most folks don't want to do while on vacation, but we rode almost everything we wanted during the first three hours, with no waiting (max was about 10 minutes) and without needing to use FPs. We got FPs instead for other parks in the early afternoon instead and then left MK before noon. We were able to get a 4th and even a 5th FP after we used our first three, except the there was no availability that late in the day for the most popular attractions, i.e. Soarin, RnRC, TSM, Test Track, EE, etc.
This procedure will work for other parks as well, but it seemed most beneficial for us to go to MK early.

[hope2survive]

I skipped getting park hoppers on my trip this past June for this very reason. Now, we were staying off property, though, and my kids range from 14 to 21, so it wasn't as if we were going back to the hotel to swim or take a nap. It saved money going without the park hopper and just planning the day around that park. We were able to get additional FP+ every day we were there - but, even in the summer, with good planning, and a couple days at MK, we did pretty well. Did stand in line for ToT for about 60 minutes which I haven't done in a long time, but that was only thing we did a long line for whole trip.

[TIGGER17179]

Thanks.. everyone.

[mechanic]

We. Skipped hoppers in early july. Won't do that again. Just felt like I was missing out on the flexibility. I'm not one who has to ride and do everything. So I can eatch wait times and if one park seems slower that day then go there. Jump back in evening to where I want to close up at. Also not early riser. Rarely in parks before 1030 am.

[MargaretMessler]

Honestly, I would book the FP+ options for the park you will be in later in the day and go to your "morning" park early and use standby lines. Depending upon what time of year you visit, early lines can be very workable and you could get most of the "A" level attractions covered.

This is our plan for our next trip. We are typically early risers (i.e. park openers) & have resolved to take mid day breaks, so it should work out great. I don't mind manageable lines (30 minutes and under)

[TIGGER17179]

We usually go early and then go back at lunch to rest and then go to another park that evening but not all the time, so not sure what to do. We were looking at possibly going the first week in December so not sure how the crowds or line would be. I would just hate to spend the extra money and get to a park and have to wait for everything. I had everything down perfect and worked well with the other FP system hate they changed it.

[PopPhan]

We usually go early and then go back at lunch to rest and then go to another park that evening but not all the time, so not sure what to do. We were looking at possibly going the first week in December so not sure how the crowds or line would be. I would just hate to spend the extra money and get to a park and have to wait for everything. I had everything down perfect and worked well with the other FP system hate they changed it.

If I might ask....How did you have it down? You would still have needed to get whatever FastPass(es) were available at the second park after you arrived, so you would be as limited, if not more so, than this new system. Under this new system, if you go to your first park early, you could do stand-by and get most of what you want done without too many long waits, book your 3 FP+ options for your "evening" park and work it from there.

[DizneyRox]

Using the old system, there were still FP available for many rides even later in the day. Now, not so much.

In the past I could work the FP machines pretty good and get 6+ fastpasses per day (even rides like Soarin' and TestTrack I could get 2-3 FPs between them). These days, it's 3-4 if you're lucky, and real lucky to get Soarin AND Test Track.

Maybe slower times during the year, but my experiences are July 4thish.

There were even times we would hop to Epcot, grab a fastpass for Soarin, back to another park, get some fastpasses there, back to Epcot to ride our Soarin FP, etc. The two hour window on the old system allowed you to do this.

The new system is very limiting over the old.

[mrte62]

Honestly, I would book the FP+ options for the park you will be in later in the day and go to your "morning" park early and use standby lines. Depending upon what time of year you visit, early lines can be very workable and you could get most of the "A" level attractions covered.

Agreed - seemed to work best during our trip this past October.

We found that there is a second piece of the equation that fundamentally changed our trip: MDE App. Because everyone is online checking their next FP+ time, they were also checking wait times. All week long in every park, you would hear groups of people talking about how they needed to move to a certain attraction because the wait time was shorter. 15 minutes later the wait time would double.

Not sure how to stay one step ahead of the crowd now except be at the rope drop for whatever park you start your day.

[TIGGER17179]

If I might ask....How did you have it down? You would still have needed to get whatever FastPass(es) were available at the second park after you arrived, so you would be as limited, if not more so, than this new system. Under this new system, if you go to your first park early, you could do stand-by and get most of what you want done without too many long waits, book your 3 FP+ options for your "evening" park and work it from there.

What I meant was I didn't have to plan so much as to when I had to be here for FP and when I had to be here to eat. I knew what attractions I needed a FP for and planned what I would do around that attraction until my time was up. Too much planning ahead takes some of the fun out of it.