Pre selection Fastpass+

You get to choose 3 and none of them can possibly overlap because the system is set up so that it won't allow that to happen. My DH and I have used the FP+ for many weekends now and our favorite way to use it is 2 back to back that are very close to each other and the other one is our "wild card." For example, we would pick Splash mountain 1:30-2:30 and BTMR 2:30-3:30. We would get to Splash Mountain at 2:15 and as soon as we are off the ride it would be time to get right onto BTMR. The third one is always a wild card. We almost always change that one around while we are in the park. Unless it's an impossible day of FP+ like 7DMT or TSM. We would never get rid of those.

Not sure if my strategy is right but I've picked headliners and planned them in for about an hour after park opening. That way I can get in early, ride the other big rides in that quieter hour, do my 3 Fastpasses then hopefully hop to the kiosks to book another one, and so on.
I've also tried to get different Fastpasses on each of my park days, with the exception of ToT, TSM and 7DMT I have tried to use them wisely and not double up during my stay, that way I can be hopeful to ride every ride at least once...
Also by booking my 3 early I can use 4+ in other parks later in the day.

It seems from what I have read that everyone has their own method which they swear by....

My method for last week was basically I made up an itinerary for my days, and within each park kind of worked up my own touring plan. Guesstimated what times I would be in what areas of each park. After I picked the three (mainly headliner) attractions, I'd try to schedule the times around my itinerary. So for say, last Sunday, I knew I was going to be in the Magic Kingdom. I knew I was going to get there between 1-2 PM. I knew I wanted to ride Haunted Mansion first, but it doesn't have as long a wait as Splash Mountain and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad which are both in Frontierland, which is where I was going after HM anyway. So I made my FP's for BTMRR from 1:25-2:25, and Splash 2:25-3:25. This would give me plenty of time to get to HM, ride it, and walk to Frontierland before 2:25. And since Splash is like, 10 feet away, I could use my FP there immediately after.

I then knew the next attraction I wanted for the day was 7DMT, and that was a crapshoot of times so I just picked what I thought would work best, which ended up being 6:30-7:30 PM. This kept me from grabbing multiple FP's afterward, but I didn't need them that day anyway.

The only day I really purposefully scheduled my FP's early to grab extras was a day I was starting off in the MK but would possibly go to EPCOT. I didn't go to EPCOT, but I did grab two extra FP's in MK just because I could. But scheduling them early just to use them and get more FP's is a very fine balance, because I don't like to feel like I'm "wasting" a FP and if Space Mountain is practically a walk on before 11 am anyway, what's the point of using a FP there? One day, I knew I was going to be at Animal Kingdom in the morning, and Hollywood Studios at night. I know AK's waits are never as horrid as HS, so I didn't even schedule FP's for the morning. Only in the evening for when I hopped over, because I knew they'd be more useful. So it does really depend on what's more important: the quantity of your FP's or the quality of use!

Of course I went during a pretty slow week, so results may vary!

We don't bother with the extra FP's because there are several headliners that we don't even ride, so our need for FP is much less than more adventurous people.

When it's just the two of us, I like to stack up three in a row starting around 9:30 or 10:00. We usually leave the park in the afternoon to go to DTD, hit the pool, grab a nap, ect. so afternoon FPs are often useless to us. We hit the headliners that we like early and on FP, so we practically always walk on. If there's not much of a standby, we'll ride standby first and then use the FP.

If I'm in MK, I like to be holding FPs for Peter Pan (love the ride, but that interminable line is infuriating), BTMR (I hate the queue, but I love the ride, so that faster I can be on and off, the better), and now 7DMT (just love it and it's such a hot ticket right now). We do sometimes mix those up depending on where we're planning to start touring that day.

At EPCOT, it's TT or Soarin' plus Maelstrom (well for this trip yet anyway) and one throw away. I usually pick Journey into Imagination because I love Figment.

At DHS, it's TSM and Star Tours for sure and lately our third has been Little Mermaid because it's tough to get into that show on standby without waiting forever. I kind of wish they'd do a reserved seat kind of thing with FP+ for Animation Academy. Oh and I did grab one for the Frozen sing-a-long this trip. I have not yet broken that news to Benn

At AK, usually we pick Kilimanjaro so we can ride twice, primeval whirl, and I think this time we have Kali--sometimes that's FoLK instead. We don't do EE.

I'm out 65 days out so Katie and I are seriously stressing about Fast Pass Planning!

This whole Fast Pass planning thing is entirely new for me. In the past I think I've used a total of 4 Fast Passes ever, we tend to travel at slower times of the year and just haven't ever planned our rides like that. Since we tend to split up during the day, but there are some things I want to do as a family, Katie and I decided to use those for our FastPass+

Mickey Mouse Meet & Greet - because I really want to get a nice family picture or two on this trip.
7DMT - because it's new and none of us have been on it.

Be Our Guest Lunch - We really want to get a BOG FastPass for lunch, but here's my question. Since you do this through a special website, does the BOG FastPass count as one of the three that you can schedule or is it sort of extra?

No it doesn't count! It is its own extra FP.. at least when we were there in October it was. It doesn't even show up on My Disney Experience. It was kind of weird not having anything that referenced it on the app or website. But we had a confirmation email and they had all the info when we checked in.

Perfect! That's what I was hoping to hear!

Three weeks from start of vacation and today I received an email invitation for lunch at BOG, but since we have reservations for dinner on Jan 15, I did not log in. Have done both lunch and dinner and really prefer dinner. It seems as though it is much more crowded at lunch...I truly think they add tables and then remove them for dinner! It appears that alcohol is not available at lunch time....has anybody else found that to be true?

I have not been there for dinner so have nothing to compare it to, but it was VERY crowded when we were there for lunch the first week of September. We actually had trouble finding a table...the place was packed! You are correct about the alcohol, it is not available at lunch.

I keep checking every day on the BOG FastPass site, from what I'm hearing things generally open up around that 3 week mark. We would have loved to do dinner, and I check every day for a dinner spot to open up as well. Sadly, when we booked the trip we were already well past the 180 day mark so all the dinner reservations were taken.

It occurred to me yesterday that if I do get a BOG lunch reservation I'm going to have to come up with a table service dinner reservation for that day because we would be trading out Liberty Tree Tavern. So now I'm not sure if I should make an "extra" table service reservation for dinner just in case we get the lunch BOG. I don't want to be stuck three weeks before vacation and not a table to be had in the Magic Kingdom for dinner.

Just booked our BOG lunch FP today! It opened up at the 27 day mark for the day I wanted. I've been wanting to see this restaurant so will finally get our chance next month.

That's fantastic! I'm so excited for you! What'cha gonna eat?

Last time I tried it was the 27 day mark too!

Thanks! Not sure yet, but we'll probably start with the French Onion soup. I didn't pick the option where you pre-select your meal options.

What is the link for this site???????????

Morning MM - this is the link for the BOG FP..."beourguestlunch.disney.go.com". It should open up at day 27 for whatever day you are looking for.

Thank YOU ~!

I believe it was 27 days for us to back in August.

What we did was use the FP+ for things we DID NOT want to miss. I spaced mine out throughout the day. Most of the time, I ended up cancelling the last one due to walking up on the attraction and not having to wait. Some rides they are just a must for! Toy Story Mania being the biggest one.

as others stated...it opened right at 27 days, - score!

Fantastic!