We’re going for a first-time-probably-last-time WDW trip with my wife, two adult kids, one daughter-in-law and one adorable 1.5 year old granddaughter from Jan 7 through Jan 15. We have 8 day park hopper tickets. We’ve pretty much mapped out our strategy (we’ve allotted two days per park), looking at the crowd levels, factoring in our ADRs, etc. and have come up with touring plans for all the parks except Hollywood Studios… and HS is proving challenging.
Any suggestions? We want to take in SWGE, and have a Savi’s workshop reservation for noon on the last day of our trip. We figure rope-dropping both days, and trying to take in ROTR at rope drop one day; and Smuggler’s Run the other. But we also want to do Slinky Dog. Should we just not factor in the SWGE rope drop rides in our touring plan? We opted for the HS days that had the lower crowd levels, but neither one of those has an EMH. Do you think it’s safe to say that there will still be no FPP for the two SWGE rides in January?
Sorry for the stream of consciousness. Using the personalized touring plans for the other parks has been great, but an HS touring plan (probably because of the unknown SWGE factor) has been a bit tough. We’re trying to avoid doing a ton of park criss-crossing because of the toddler.
I’ve got to say that these forums have been invaluable for our trip planning and our peace of mind. We look at a lot of different forums and the TP forums are the best.
I think I would consider the RD as you stated for RotR and MFSR. Especially if you could make an early Savi’s or Oga’s reservation to get you in the park an hour early to potentially get in the line quicker for those attractions. I am just not sure about FPP being available. We will be there at the end of January and I am not holding my breath. I do have a theory that in about a week, we may find out more information. Just because of the 60 day window for FPP coming in for post November 2nd dates (which is the last day of the planned EEMH) will be next week. So Disney might show their hand if they are thinking of starting FPP. Otherwise, I think they may go with a wait and see approach while using the queue system for crowd control.
One question I have for you out of nosiness, why the park hopper option on the tickets if you have two days per park planned? Seems like more money to spend to me that you might not need to do. Just a thought.
Good question. We just wanted maximum flexibility because of the people in our party. Some might want to split away; my wife and I might want to go back in the evening, but to a different park; that kind of thing.
And thanks for the thoughts… maybe we’ll think about the early morning dining reservation thing.
I believe we will have a much better feel of DHS post swge by the first week of November (when EEMH are supposed to end, and before your FP day). I would schedule time on that week to study blogs and articles about it.
I am in a similar situation planing for my September 30th day om DHS. I made my bet on FPs, and now I am just accepting that I won’t know enough to establish a real TP until next week, so I am trying (and failing) to be patient
Yes, HS is hard to plan right now! But I think you’ll know a lot more well before your FP day. You mention wanting to RD the 2 GE rides but also ride SDD as if that’s a complication. Since one of your HS days is the last day of a long trip, you should be able to get a SDD FP pretty easily.
Our trip begins the afternoon of 11/2, so I make FPs a week from today. I don’t think they’ll make any announcements about hours after 11/2 until a while after that. Even if opening week is crazy crowded, I think they’re going to want to see if it lasts before they make any decisions.
I’m planning to RD MFSR, and TP put it as a 99 minute wait. Since I’m going to arrive very early (1.5-2 hours early), I think it will be less. So I put it into my TP as a 1 hour break from 9-10.