The Panic Attack is officially OVER

[Randomsoulshine]

So this morning was my FP+ window and I have been having a mini panic attacks since Monday in regards to whether or not I'm going to get everything. Yesterday I spent most of my afternoon at the office answering patient calls in between writing out my plan of attack. I made a schedule of our park days, which days we were going to be there, what our ADR's were, extras like Pirate Empress makeovers, even down to what times we wanted to catch shows that don't require a fastpass were scheduled for. I had already let my office know to expect me in a little late in case things like the MDE was down and so forth. I got up extra early to make sure I was dressed and ready to go once everything was all set. I had my notes and my glasses on - I WAS READY!

7AM - I went straight for my AK day which I made for the end of our trip instead of the beginning. I nabbed FOP right away, then scored Everest and the Safari. Then it was straight to HS day which is our second park day, nabbed Slinky Dog coaster (I thought my girls and I would just go walk around Toy Story Land but my 20yr old informed me yesterday that she wanted to do the rides as well), TT and RRC.
We'll be in MK for 2 days and I was able to get SWSDMT, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Peter Pan and Haunted Mansion!!!!

Here's were the good luck ends...our Epcot day. I open that day and I saw Frozen Ever After but I went in for Soarin only because all three of us want to do that since the last time we were there in 2015 the older version was still going. So since both Soarin and FEA are top tier rides I could only score that one. My 13yr daughter is gonna be a little disappointed but I think overall I did very well. I can breath and begin our arrival day countdown.

We were there this June and didn't have a Fp for Frozen and decided around 4 to try to ride. It was posted at about 45 mins but was no longer than a 25 minute wait if that. Don't lose hope in riding it!

 

[b52hbuff]

Yesterday I spent most of my afternoon at the office answering patient calls in between writing out my plan of attack. I made a schedule of our park days, which days we were going to be there, what our ADR's were, extras like Pirate Empress makeovers, even down to what times we wanted to catch shows that don't require a fastpass were scheduled for.

Congratulations. Once things slow down, I'll share some of my resources with this board. We created a FP+ selection worksheet we successfully used to help us navigate the MDE website when we're groggy at 4AM (We live in CA ). The worksheet has a lot of the information you describe so we can know when our free blocks of time are.

….and we also sort the worksheets to maximize FP+ availability. So we order like:
Animal Kingdom (Day N)
AK (n-1)…
Disney Studios (Day N)
DS (N-1)
MK (N)
MK (n-1)
...

 

[kniquy]

My 13yr daughter is gonna be a little disappointed but I think overall I did very well. I can breath and begin our arrival day countdown.

You did well. Just a thought on saving a MK FP -- you can easily RD PPF with a very short wait (under 10 minutes). It is such a short ride with crazy long waits that I don't even feel it is worth the use of a FP. We RD going the Liberty Sq route and were on and off by 9:15. The line is interactive so is actually worth going through (just not an hour wait).

As for the frozen ride -- if you have a little extra $$ to spend, you could also look into doing the frozen dessert party. It is a great way to have perfect seats for illuminations and then after you go and ride frozen. So it would be a win-win if they happen to have the party offered on the day you are going to epcot.

 

[Pookie9922]

Congratulations. Once things slow down, I'll share some of my resources with this board. We created a FP+ selection worksheet we successfully used to help us navigate the MDE website when we're groggy at 4AM (We live in CA ). The worksheet has a lot of the information you describe so we can know when our free blocks of time are.

….and we also sort the worksheets to maximize FP+ availability. So we order like:
Animal Kingdom (Day N)
AK (n-1)…
Disney Studios (Day N)
DS (N-1)
MK (N)
MK (n-1)
...

I'd love to see your worksheet. I'm still months away from my FP day but I love to see how other's plan out their days.

 

[Pookie9922]

So this morning was my FP+ window and I have been having a mini panic attacks since Monday in regards to whether or not I'm going to get everything. Yesterday I spent most of my afternoon at the office answering patient calls in between writing out my plan of attack. I made a schedule of our park days, which days we were going to be there, what our ADR's were, extras like Pirate Empress makeovers, even down to what times we wanted to catch shows that don't require a fastpass were scheduled for. I had already let my office know to expect me in a little late in case things like the MDE was down and so forth. I got up extra early to make sure I was dressed and ready to go once everything was all set. I had my notes and my glasses on - I WAS READY!

7AM - I went straight for my AK day which I made for the end of our trip instead of the beginning. I nabbed FOP right away, then scored Everest and the Safari. Then it was straight to HS day which is our second park day, nabbed Slinky Dog coaster (I thought my girls and I would just go walk around Toy Story Land but my 20yr old informed me yesterday that she wanted to do the rides as well), TT and RRC.
We'll be in MK for 2 days and I was able to get SWSDMT, Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Peter Pan and Haunted Mansion!!!!

Here's were the good luck ends...our Epcot day. I open that day and I saw Frozen Ever After but I went in for Soarin only because all three of us want to do that since the last time we were there in 2015 the older version was still going. So since both Soarin and FEA are top tier rides I could only score that one. My 13yr daughter is gonna be a little disappointed but I think overall I did very well. I can breath and begin our arrival day countdown.

Your line up sounds exactly how I have ours planned out so far. We are doing MK, HS, EP, Rest, AK and then MK again. All your FP are what I'm hoping to get too except we will FP FEA and RD TT and then quickly go over to Soarin'. And I'm considering Enchanted Tales with Belle instead of Haunted Mansion. It gives me peace of mind that you got all you wanted!

How did you break up your two days at MK? We've never been to WDW before (although we are DL vets) so I don't know if I should do all our "must-do's" the first day and then fill in the 2nd day with our "like-to's" or if we should concentrate on two lands each day. Trying to balance seeing as much as possible but not running around the park crazy.

 

[leebee]

Saturday is my FP window and I'm feeling a little edgy. It got a bit better this morning when DD24 said she doesn't really want to ride Slinky Dog; she is not a fan of 7DMT and she knows I can't ride coasters. She said she'd rather do TSMM with me! My strategy is to get Fps to FoP (which I won't ride but want to walk the queue), then swap to DS and get the TSMM passes. Then to Epcot for our FEA (one day) and Soarin (another day). THEN I'll go day by day, booking all the "lower" priority passes... the Mountains, Peter Pan, etc.!

 

[Goofy'slady]

Your line up sounds exactly how I have ours planned out so far. We are doing MK, HS, EP, Rest, AK and then MK again. All your FP are what I'm hoping to get too except we will FP FEA and RD TT and then quickly go over to Soarin'. And I'm considering Enchanted Tales with Belle instead of Haunted Mansion. It gives me peace of mind that you got all you wanted!

How did you break up your two days at MK? We've never been to WDW before (although we are DL vets) so I don't know if I should do all our "must-do's" the first day and then fill in the 2nd day with our "like-to's" or if we should concentrate on two lands each day. Trying to balance seeing as much as possible but not running around the park crazy.

The first day we have SWSDMT, Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain . I had to also keep track of my daughter's Pirate Empress make over and 5PM ADR. The second day we have Space Mountain, Peter Pan and Haunted Mansion. Also couldn't forget our ADR with Cinderella for day 2. Having everything written down helped me keep tract of everything.