Epcot Fastpass Re-Tiering

[AngiTN]

For me, it’s the standing in line with a toddler. I don’t think FP is offered to meet Mickey at DHS and AK, and there are so many rides at MK that I was hoping to avoid using a FP to meet Mickey there. Using a Tier 2 FP at Epcot looked to be our best option for avoiding a long line.

AK offers FP for Minnie/Mickey. Matter of fact, AK is the only place you can get photos with Mickey and Minnie together. As such, it is the only place we meet them

As if finding Tier 2 fastpasses at Epcot wasn't hard enough already......This is just crazy. We were planning on FPing Epcot twice on our 8 day trip in order to secure for 2 of the Tier 1 attractions, and I was already struggling to come up with 4 Tier 2's. Will likely revisit now, only FP 1 day and look for Rope Drop and Late Night options for the Tier 1's

Truthfully, you're likely worrying about it for nothing.
Not sure how many FP you are looking for (how big your group is) but Epcot FP last late in to the day. We were there last week, needing 3 FP. I was able to get Soarin', TT and FEA as 4th and on FP every day I looked. FEA was the hardest, least available but I got it on 2 days. Soarin' and TT was routinely available till mid afternoon, at least. Every single day. Maybe not for large groups but for groups of 4, no problem finding them

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

We've only done it twice with FP and both times the wait was close to 30 minutes with the FP. No clue if that's typical.

Same here - we had FPs and had to wait at least 30 minutes. After the second time this happened we stopped doing it because of that. The same trip we went to see Baymax and Joy and Sadness and the wait was less than that without FPs.

 

[Suejacken]

I guess I have to contact Disney and ask them about it. I booked the character spot as a tier 2 for myself and great nephew for 7/4 while the rest of our party does Mission Space. We all have FEA as our tier 1. I don’t want to lose that. Our window had opened in early May.

 

[bcinohio]

With moving this to tier 1 it is hard to use 2 other tier 2's so you can book a 4th FP. We will FP soarin and do TT at rope drop but then will have to use 2 other tier 2 FP in order to get a 4th FP. Always did Character spot so we could get 3 characters right in a row without waiting in 3 different lines.

 

[uncleozzy]

Obviously it's not the same characters and setup, but isn't the Chase character meet adjacent? We have a Chase checking account, guess we'll have to look into getting the Disney debit card...

 

[AngiTN]

Obviously it's not the same characters and setup, but isn't the Chase character meet adjacent? We have a Chase checking account, guess we'll have to look into getting the Disney debit card...

Yes, it is right nearby and should have at least one, often 2, of the characters that you'd find in the Character Spot.

 

[AngiTN]

I guess I have to contact Disney and ask them about it. I booked the character spot as a tier 2 for myself and great nephew for 7/4 while the rest of our party does Mission Space. We all have FEA as our tier 1. I don’t want to lose that. Our window had opened in early May.

Did you need to make a change? You won't loose anything if you already have them booked.

 

[AngiTN]

With moving this to tier 1 it is hard to use 2 other tier 2's so you can book a 4th FP. We will FP soarin and do TT at rope drop but then will have to use 2 other tier 2 FP in order to get a 4th FP. Always did Character spot so we could get 3 characters right in a row without waiting in 3 different lines.

We most always book Spaceship Earth and Mission Space as our Tier 2 FP. We don't ever do Character Spot so this change has no impact on us. SE and MS are decent uses of Tier 2, both can have lines similar in length to Character Spot, depending on the time you go. And even if you don't save time with the FP, at least you've used it so you can go on and get to booking the 4th earlier

 

[bigbear]

I guess I have to contact Disney and ask them about it. I booked the character spot as a tier 2 for myself and great nephew for 7/4 while the rest of our party does Mission Space. We all have FEA as our tier 1. I don’t want to lose that. Our window had opened in early May.

I think you'll be ok. Just read this from Kenny the Pirate: 'If you already booked Epcot Character Spot Fastpass+ as a Tier TWO Fastpass+, it will still be honored as such.'

 

[mster425]

We most always book Spaceship Earth and Mission Space as our Tier 2 FP. We don't ever do Character Spot so this change has no impact on us. SE and MS are decent uses of Tier 2, both can have lines similar in length to Character Spot, depending on the time you go. And even if you don't save time with the FP, at least you've used it so you can go on and get to booking the 4th earlier

I'll have to watch videos of MS green and see if it'll make me hurl. My family does not know it exists.

 

[epcotobsessed]

I'll have to watch videos of MS green and see if it'll make me hurl. My family does not know it exists.

Soarin' does not make me hurl. No roller coasters in the parks make me hurl and I have tried all of them. MS makes me hurl, either level. If you have any motion sickness of any kind I strongly recommend not trying it!

 

[Suejacken]

I think you'll be ok. Just read this from Kenny the Pirate: 'If you already booked Epcot Character Spot Fastpass+ as a Tier TWO Fastpass+, it will still be honored as such.'

Thanks for the info. I sent a tweet to Disney parks but didn’t hear back yet.

 

[AngiTN]

Thanks for the info. I sent a tweet to Disney parks but didn’t hear back yet.

You mean about having the FP already and now they changed it? You are fine, you can keep both FP. This has happened many times in the past with other rides. You get both Tier 1 rides. You just can't make changes. Possibly let you change times, not even sure about that. But you have zero concerns about using the FP as you have them booked.

 

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

You mean about having the FP already and now they changed it? You are fine, you can keep both FP. This has happened many times in the past with other rides. You get both Tier 1 rides. You just can't make changes. Possibly let you change times, not even sure about that. But you have zero concerns about using the FP as you have them booked.

FYI:
I’m holding a FEA as well as a Character Spot for a day in August. I am unable to modify the time of the C.S. FP. The only options presented to me when I attempt to modify C.S. are other tier 2’s.

 

[SouloTravlr]

I'm confused as to why there's consternation about this when you can meet these characters in basically every other park.

What am I missing?

You can knock all of them out with one stop and then your character obligation is done. If I had little kids, we'd do the same thing. One and done!

 

[VandVsmama]

I'm going to be really blunt here.

This is stupid. There's no way that ANY character meet & greet should ever be considered a Tier 1 FP. I'm sorry, but a meet & greet is not even on the same playing field as Soarin' or Test Track. I see the benefit of having FP available for meeting characters (we're Disneyland veterans and Disneyland doesn't do FP for meet & greets), especially for younger children.

We have FP for next Monday at Epcot for Test Track, Spaceship Earth, and the character spot. Looks like I'm not going to be changing around THOSE FP! You know why we picked the character spot FP at Epcot? We did it as a filler FP. For example, we didn't select FP for any of the following....

• Mission: Space - not interested in a puke fest
• Living with the Land - based on ride through videos I've seen on Youtube, this honestly looks like the most boring thing around and there is no way I would waste a FP on it.
• Pixar Short Film Festival - watching a video isn't FP worthy
• Figment - not FP worthy
• Turtle Talk w/Crush - we've done this at California Adventure and it's always a 'walk on' there. The only waiting you do is for the next "show."
• The Seas w/Nemo & Friends - meh

Why don't they just skip the FP tiering at Epcot altogether and put it all in 1 tier?

 

[JETSDAD]

I'm going to be really blunt here.

This is stupid. There's no way that ANY character meet & greet should ever be considered a Tier 1 FP. I'm sorry, but a meet & greet is not even on the same playing field as Soarin' or Test Track. I see the benefit of having FP available for meeting characters (we're Disneyland veterans and Disneyland doesn't do FP for meet & greets), especially for younger children.

We have FP for next Monday at Epcot for Test Track, Spaceship Earth, and the character spot. Looks like I'm not going to be changing around THOSE FP! You know why we picked the character spot FP at Epcot? We did it as a filler FP. For example, we didn't select FP for any of the following....

• Mission: Space - not interested in a puke fest
• Living with the Land - based on ride through videos I've seen on Youtube, this honestly looks like the most boring thing around and there is no way I would waste a FP on it.
• Pixar Short Film Festival - watching a video isn't FP worthy
• Figment - not FP worthy
• Turtle Talk w/Crush - we've done this at California Adventure and it's always a 'walk on' there. The only waiting you do is for the next "show."
• The Seas w/Nemo & Friends - meh

Why don't they just skip the FP tiering at Epcot altogether and put it all in 1 tier?

While I do agree that the M&G shouldn't be a tier 1 FP, if EPCOT did away with tiers then nearly everyone would make their FP's for TT, FEA, & Soarin'. Those FP would then be gone quickly and people with shorter trips would have troubles getting any decent FP's.

 

[VandVsmama]

While I do agree that the M&G shouldn't be a tier 1 FP, if ECPOT did away with tiers then nearly everyone would make their FP's for TT, FEA, & Soarin'. Those FP would then be gone quickly and people with shorter trips would have troubles getting any decent FP's.

that's a fair point.

I really hate having to schedule rides before I even get there. I wish that WDW would just go back to the rule of you can't get a FP until you've gone through a turnstile at a park...and then no 2nd, 3rd FP until you've used the 1st FP.

 

[AngiTN]

FYI:
I’m holding a FEA as well as a Character Spot for a day in August. I am unable to modify the time of the C.S. FP. The only options presented to me when I attempt to modify C.S. are other tier 2’s.

I didn't think it would let you do any modifications. Wasn't positive about times but not surprised that you can't do any changes at all.

 

[Suejacken]

You mean about having the FP already and now they changed it? You are fine, you can keep both FP. This has happened many times in the past with other rides. You get both Tier 1 rides. You just can't make changes. Possibly let you change times, not even sure about that. But you have zero concerns about using the FP as you have them booked.

Yes thank you. I was concerned about losing the character spot fast pass because I know my great nephew won’t do mission space. I didn’t want to lose the Frozen one either