We will be doing a morning at Epcot without FPP’s–we are saving them for our afternoon park because we only really care about doing Test Track at EP.
We also love Garden Grill. If we manage to snag an 8 am (give or take) GG ADR, and we are out by 8:40, will that still give us an advantage on RD crowds for TT? And yes, I know it tends to be down a lot in the morings, so we take our chances on that.
And along those lines, what time does the “rope” usually drop at EP?
Alternatively, if we get an 8:45 GG reservation, is it possible to RD TT and then get to GG a few min late?
Generally, GG does not look at specific ADR times but seats people in the order they arrive. We had an 8:25 ADR there in August and were seated right at 8.
We also RD’d TT and it was such a good decision!! We left GG around 8:40 and were the third group in line at the standby line. I think they let us in around 8:58 or so. We were half way done designing our cars at 9:03. After we rode SB was posted at 60. We then went back and hopped in SB for Soarin’ and were loading within 10 minutes. We hopped to MK later than day and had made our FPs for the evening there and knocked out all of FW before noon.
We had an 8:20 res at GG this morning. We were seated right at 8, and completely done by 8:40, and that was without rushing at all. So I think you’d definitely have an advantage for TT as long as it’s not down first thing in the morning. For us, we stopped at the restroom, then went to Soarin where we were literally the first people on! We were out and done with soarin at 8:59. Oh and for the record, we really enjoyed GG! Have fun!
Good point. Since we got done at 8:40 we did have time to check with the CMs at TT to make sure the ride was looking good to go for park open. If they had said it wasn’t going to be running we had time to head somewhere else and still beat the RD crowd coming in.
Past two trips we have had 8:40 GG ADR but were seated right at 8AM. Characters come by almost right away at that time of the morning so we were done and out by 8:40, also.
We had an 8:10 at GG and it was one of the best parts of our trip! We got to the tapstyles at 7:45 AM and were the first guests in the Land Pavilion. We were seated at 8:00 AM and done by 8:45 AM. The characters were awesome there!! We were the first ones in line for Soarin’ and rode it back to back with no wait!
Oh and BTW, Rope Drop is a misnomer at Epcot - There are not ropes, only chains!!! So we have started to call it Chain Drop!!!
Your information on timing is so helpful! Thank you! I think with that kind of timing we could even get back to Soarin before the wait is too long (I think it builds up faster at TT).
The first time we did this we rode Soarin’ right after after breakfast. We were in line by 8:45. They did not let us on before 9:00 as had been reported by some people. It was more like 9:05 when we finally rode. Then we hightailed it to TT and had a 30-40 minute wait.
Second time we had TT FP so rode Soarin’ and did not worry about getting to TT. Instead we rode Living With the Land for the first time in years.
Your strategy sounds better. Looks like the lines don’t build as much early on at Soarin’ anymore.
Oh and for the record, we really enjoyed GG! Have fun!