jagafen
Wine drinker, family CEO/CFO, uber planner
- Joined
- Jun 3, 2007
Given the short length of our trip this time, my lack of real time experience with the new FP+ system (I've read everything I can about it and understand it, in print), and all of the newness at HS (and new to us) at AK, DH and I are considering the club level 3 extra FP program during our stay in Late July. I spent some time roughing out our plans for our first 3 days (the days we'd use the program). We'll be on property, landing in Orlando at 7:30 am on Saturday. We'll use the program for our park days Sat (EP/MK), Sun (HS), and Mon (AK). For clarity, OUR FASTPASSES that each guest gets will be bolded, and those from the CL program will be underlined. With the club level program, those CMs will book our regular Fastpasses for us for only those days that we're using the program. Since our trip is so short, and we've planned HS and AK for earlier in our trip, I want to make sure that we're able to get on what we want, as much as we'd like, since for our immediate family, this is our last trip for a while.
My general strategy is to book OUR FASTPASSES earlier in the day, after rope drop. There is an obvious "break" in the middle of the day for securing #4FP+ from the available pool, if any, and for catching shows and doing non-ride things at the parks. My Gameplan, for now, is to use the CL program FPs for the early evening, when presumably, all the FPs are gone for the day.
A bit about us: This is our 5th or so trip, the first since 2012. We're traveling with 2 17 y/o boys (our son, and a friend). They'll be off on their own for the most part. To keep things simple, I'm booking FPs as a group of 4, and then they're free to modify theirs as the day goes on.
I'm planning on being in Epcot between 9:30-10:00 am, given our 7:30 landing, taking DME to Beachclub, then walking over.
Saturday-Epcot Day, MK evening:
10:00 hour Soarin for DH and I, Test track for the boys
11:00 hour Mission Space FP for all
12:30 Lunch (ADR at Via Napoli). Will probably change this to Space 220 once it opens.
1:00 Pixar show for all.
I normally wouldn't FP Pixar, but it's something everyone wants to do, and we're not into any of the character meets. After our 3rd FP is used in Epcot, the gameplan is to FP something over in MK for the evening. The boys will spend as much time as they want in Epcot. After lunch, DH and I will walk the countries, then head back to Beach club via international gateway to unpack (as long as our room is ready by then) and rest/change before heading out again at 4:00 for MK.
MK:
5:00 BMTRR for all
5:35 Dinner ressie for the adults at Jungle Navigation. Boys are doing CS for dinner
6:30 7DMT for all
7:30 Space Mtn for all
MK closes at 10 this night, so if we're able to secure FPs for the later evening earlier in the day, the boys can bounce around doing what they'd like. 7DMT is on DH's list (he mostly wants to check out "new" stuff). I'm just along for the ride.
Sunday HS all Day, evening EMH from 9:00p-11:00p:
9:00 Park open, get Boarding Pass, RD Smuggler
10:00 MMRR (since we'll be able to book this at 90 days roughly, I think it'll be available)
11:00 Star Tours
12:00 RNR
Somewhere in there will be a CS lunch
1:25 Oga's Cantina (mid day heat break)
2:00 Smuggler's
3:25 One teen boy building at Savi's, the other watching
5:30 Dinner at Sci-Fi
6:30 SDD
7:30 TSM
9:00 Park closes, EMH begins. After Toy Story land, we plan to head back over to GE to catch some of the nightmosphere. We'll hang in the park for as long as we feel like staying.
Monday, AK all Day, AM EMH 8-9:
8:00 RD Pandora/FoP
9:00 Navi River Tour ( I usually wouldn't FP something this early, but I want to bump our 3 out of the way)
10:00 EE
11:00 Kali
CS Lunch at some point
3:00 FotLK (struggled with this--> any suggestions? It's the show DH said he'd most like to repeat, if we need to).
4:00 Safari
5:30 Dinner at Y&Y
6:30 FoP We want to be in Pandora during the evening (nightmosphere).
Tuesday will be a full day at HS for the Boys. Secure boarding passes, (I'll book any am/early afternoon Tier 1 that's available), and a half day for DH and I. We have reservations at Victoria and Albert's at 5:30, so we need to shower/get ready/change.
We plan to Rope drop Toy Story Land this time, and knock out this side of the park. FP Tier 1, plus Star tours and RNR before 1:00 (hopefully). DH and I will leave for beach club at 2, and catch a taxi to GF at 5:00. The boys will be on their own.
Wednesday is our transfer day to Universal. We plan on spending the morning in HS, grabbing boarding passes and some lunch, then heading back to Beach club to catch our ride to the hard rock. Tee gameplan is to RD GE on this day, and I"m super crossing my fingers that a morning FP for Smuggler's will be available so we can ride it 2x.
For those that think it's a lot of HS time, it is. DH is a huge SW geek, and he really wants to maximize his time there. MK is nostalgic for us, but nothing is really a "must do". Epcot is more of a strolling park for us, and once we hit our favorites and visit the countries, we're good. AK is tough for us to plan out our mid-day effectively with the CL FP plan. I generally don't FP shows, but there is really nothing that we "need" to do, and at least it's long and in the air conditioning!
Any tweaks/suggestions/error corrections are welcome. This is just my thinking about how to use the CL FP plan. I've been looking for other real-life implementation strategies, but I'm having a hard time coming across anyone else's plans to review. With us going during a busy time in the summer, for a relatively short amount of time, I want to front load our first 3 full days with our MUST DO's. FWIW, our last half day in HS isn't 100% a given, but will probably happen. Just need to talk to the other teen boy before I start setting plans into stone.
Thanks for looking things over and offering your input!
My general strategy is to book OUR FASTPASSES earlier in the day, after rope drop. There is an obvious "break" in the middle of the day for securing #4FP+ from the available pool, if any, and for catching shows and doing non-ride things at the parks. My Gameplan, for now, is to use the CL program FPs for the early evening, when presumably, all the FPs are gone for the day.
A bit about us: This is our 5th or so trip, the first since 2012. We're traveling with 2 17 y/o boys (our son, and a friend). They'll be off on their own for the most part. To keep things simple, I'm booking FPs as a group of 4, and then they're free to modify theirs as the day goes on.
I'm planning on being in Epcot between 9:30-10:00 am, given our 7:30 landing, taking DME to Beachclub, then walking over.
Saturday-Epcot Day, MK evening:
10:00 hour Soarin for DH and I, Test track for the boys
11:00 hour Mission Space FP for all
12:30 Lunch (ADR at Via Napoli). Will probably change this to Space 220 once it opens.
1:00 Pixar show for all.
I normally wouldn't FP Pixar, but it's something everyone wants to do, and we're not into any of the character meets. After our 3rd FP is used in Epcot, the gameplan is to FP something over in MK for the evening. The boys will spend as much time as they want in Epcot. After lunch, DH and I will walk the countries, then head back to Beach club via international gateway to unpack (as long as our room is ready by then) and rest/change before heading out again at 4:00 for MK.
MK:
5:00 BMTRR for all
5:35 Dinner ressie for the adults at Jungle Navigation. Boys are doing CS for dinner
6:30 7DMT for all
7:30 Space Mtn for all
MK closes at 10 this night, so if we're able to secure FPs for the later evening earlier in the day, the boys can bounce around doing what they'd like. 7DMT is on DH's list (he mostly wants to check out "new" stuff). I'm just along for the ride.
Sunday HS all Day, evening EMH from 9:00p-11:00p:
9:00 Park open, get Boarding Pass, RD Smuggler
10:00 MMRR (since we'll be able to book this at 90 days roughly, I think it'll be available)
11:00 Star Tours
12:00 RNR
Somewhere in there will be a CS lunch
1:25 Oga's Cantina (mid day heat break)
2:00 Smuggler's
3:25 One teen boy building at Savi's, the other watching
5:30 Dinner at Sci-Fi
6:30 SDD
7:30 TSM
9:00 Park closes, EMH begins. After Toy Story land, we plan to head back over to GE to catch some of the nightmosphere. We'll hang in the park for as long as we feel like staying.
Monday, AK all Day, AM EMH 8-9:
8:00 RD Pandora/FoP
9:00 Navi River Tour ( I usually wouldn't FP something this early, but I want to bump our 3 out of the way)
10:00 EE
11:00 Kali
CS Lunch at some point
3:00 FotLK (struggled with this--> any suggestions? It's the show DH said he'd most like to repeat, if we need to).
4:00 Safari
5:30 Dinner at Y&Y
6:30 FoP We want to be in Pandora during the evening (nightmosphere).
Tuesday will be a full day at HS for the Boys. Secure boarding passes, (I'll book any am/early afternoon Tier 1 that's available), and a half day for DH and I. We have reservations at Victoria and Albert's at 5:30, so we need to shower/get ready/change.
We plan to Rope drop Toy Story Land this time, and knock out this side of the park. FP Tier 1, plus Star tours and RNR before 1:00 (hopefully). DH and I will leave for beach club at 2, and catch a taxi to GF at 5:00. The boys will be on their own.
Wednesday is our transfer day to Universal. We plan on spending the morning in HS, grabbing boarding passes and some lunch, then heading back to Beach club to catch our ride to the hard rock. Tee gameplan is to RD GE on this day, and I"m super crossing my fingers that a morning FP for Smuggler's will be available so we can ride it 2x.
For those that think it's a lot of HS time, it is. DH is a huge SW geek, and he really wants to maximize his time there. MK is nostalgic for us, but nothing is really a "must do". Epcot is more of a strolling park for us, and once we hit our favorites and visit the countries, we're good. AK is tough for us to plan out our mid-day effectively with the CL FP plan. I generally don't FP shows, but there is really nothing that we "need" to do, and at least it's long and in the air conditioning!
Any tweaks/suggestions/error corrections are welcome. This is just my thinking about how to use the CL FP plan. I've been looking for other real-life implementation strategies, but I'm having a hard time coming across anyone else's plans to review. With us going during a busy time in the summer, for a relatively short amount of time, I want to front load our first 3 full days with our MUST DO's. FWIW, our last half day in HS isn't 100% a given, but will probably happen. Just need to talk to the other teen boy before I start setting plans into stone.
Thanks for looking things over and offering your input!
Last edited: