HS Plan Options... or "When do I do SDD?"

Walt Disney World Touring Plans
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Well, this is a big topic of conversation lately… when is the right time to do SDD?

I just watched the YouTube video where Brian and Steve RD Toy Story Land. It says they were there on a CL4 day… that’s what 12/8/19 (when we plan to go) is predicted to be.
If you look at the published touring plans, at least one says to wait for SDD until the last hour… hoping to get a day-of fastpass, and if not, lines should be shorter that last hour as people start waiting for F!.

So, our background. Family of 4, DD6, DS10, Mom, and Dad. DD6 should be tall enough to ride RNR, but I haven’t measured her lately, and she was just shy of it, last time. We’ll be staying at the Boardwalk Villas the night before, so we just plan to walk over in the morning. Early rising should be doable (we’re up at 6CDT, normally). Park hours are 9am - 8pm. No special events planned, from what I can see.

While we expect to be in the park before RD (leave BW around 8?), I don’t have any aspirations to be at the very front of the mob as they run toward TSL. Is there a mob? Will we be trampled if we even try to go that way? If we expect to be middle-of-the-pack, how unhappy will we be?
I’ve made a couple of plans, trying to estimate what it’ll be like to either RD SDD or wait until end-of-the-evening. In either case, I’ve had to fudge the numbers a bit… because I expect our wait to be slightly shorter than posted times. Is that reasonable?
Option 1
Option 2

What do you smarties :nerd_face: think of these plans? We haven’t done HS since 2014, so I’m feeling a bit more lost there than the other parks.

Second question that I’m going to tack on here, if anyone’s made it this far… What’s Jedi Training sign-up look like these days? Where do we go? Can we do it before park opening? If not, can we do it after TSL and still get reasonable time slots?

Thank you!!

ETA: This is 60+1 for us, so I REALLY doubt we’ll get SDD FPs.

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We’re going on a CL7 day and not planning to arrive until 10. So, I’m plannjg on a 60-80 min wait. I’ve heard that the last hour, while the fireworks are going on is best.

On the WDW prep podcast, she’s mentioned a few times that he Jedi training isn’t as competitive to get into and that slots were still open until 12.

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I like plan 1 better but both list SDD as FP so if that is the case you are not needing to worry about the crowds?
I’m hoping for SDD or AS2 FP. Then whichever one I don’t get FP for I will RD. Then do TSM. Thus is the scenario that makes me worry about crowds. Other option is to RD other rides and do TSL nonFP ride at end if day. Everything I have read is up in the air to what is better. I would be interested in what others have to say who have been there recently.
I’m still toying with idea of going to EMM for TSL the day we are there :flushed:

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Yep - exactly what you’re saying… do I RD the non-FP rides or do I do them at the end of the night?

I have SDD as FP in the plans ONLY because I expect the wait to be shorter than posted… either because we get there before RD and beat the crowds, or because Disney over-inflates the wait at the end of the night. I do NOT expect to get a FPP in either case, unless I get VERY lucky. I’m worried that my plan is under-estimating the waits, but I don’t really know how else to show it.
For example, in option 1, I really have from 6:30 until 8:30 to wait in line, and ride SDD.
In Option 2, I really have from 8:45 (or whenever they let us in) until 9:40 to wait and ride.

I heard someone say that the TSMM queue is better than the SS queue, so that’s why I don’t have FP for TSMM in the plan.
Also, I’ve heard that TSL is really cool at the end of the night… so that’s another vote for option 1…

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My limited 2cents…TSL is much cooler at night. Tried the last 30min during fireworks and we definitely started moving faster 15 min before listed park close. But right as we were getting to the front, ride went down for the night. We did get 3 anytime FPPs each good for 3ppl for next day (did all 3 TSL rides in 30 min next day). Was much hotter during day and limited shade in some waiting areas. Would not have waited in heat.

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My TSL experience last week. We did RD arrived around 08:05. We were on the very first front of the line for park entrance (3rd party). Park opened around 8:40 and we rode SDD with riders switch before 9am. While wife was riding sdd I went to the aliens one with my daughter… twice as we had fastpasses for tsmm.

But never give up. After lunch I checked fpp and there it was… SDD for the 3 of us. So we rode it again. It was a CL3 day. Bottomline is I would always go for RD.

If you RD you can still take a break and check back on park closing. But if you skip RD… you will be exposed to temporary closings, weather… and your chance is gone.

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I’ve been thinking a lot about what you said:

You’re right - it’s safer to RD and have to adjust the “easier” things later, if something goes wrong.
So, that’s what we’ll do!! It’s our first day in the world, so it should be easy to get everyone up and going.

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That sounds like a good plan and then you can go back and check it out at night!

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My kids are similar ages, and I will tell you that after RD and a 2:10 jedi training, we were done very early. We were back at the hotel around 4 pm. There’s not a ton to do, so unless you were going to go only in the evening, or go back to the hotel and rest for several hours, RD is the way to go.

There’s also practically no shade at TSL so keep that in mind too.

You’re so close being at BV that it’s easy to get there for RD.

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Did you skip any of the rides? Which shows did you do? We’re trying to pick-and-choose some shows for the afternoon, to relax a little, but still stay in the park. I’d like to see it at night, all lit up.
I hope there’s lots of folks that still only do a half day, there! That’ll make it pleasant in the evening. :smiley:

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We skipped Fantasmic! (actually tried to see it on arrival day, but it rained :frowning: ) but I would love to see it.

We went during mid-August when they were doing the EMH at 7 am. No way was I getting everyone up and there before 7 am, so we arrived at 7:55, beelined to Jedi training sign ups where we signed up very fast and then split up. My son and I hit TSL and rode Aliens and TSMM, then Star Tours twice all by 10 am.

My daughter and husband rode RNR and ToT, something insane like 4 times each in the same time period. They had a fast pass for one of those (my son and I had a Star Tour fast pass.)

My kids are not really show people but we did the Frozen Sing-A-Long at 10 am, which they requested and we fast passed and they loved. We grabbed a quick lunch, which we stayed at later because it started raining. Since the rain started around noon, we ducked into the Little Mermaid show, which was a one and done for us.

We dashed into the Star Wars Launch Bay, met all the characters, including Boba Fett who was randomly there, and left around 1:15, then did our Slinky Dog Dash FPP+

I will say, and your experience may vary, there were still sign ups for Jedi training when we returned for our show at 1:30.

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