First time trip, DD2 and a crowd hating husband. We have two days planned at MK, 1 day at AK, and planned 1 day at HS in mid September. I planned this thinking Star Wars was going ro open in December. I LOVE Toy Story, and only planned for HS specifically for TSL. I am now worried the crowds will be too much for our first trip, but ive already bought our tickets. Should we save HS for a different trip? Will TSL have acceptable CL? Ive heard horror stories of waiting 2 hours just to get in the park on CL7 days. If we skip HS, which park should we add another day in?
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We will be there mid September too. We had the same thoughts that Stars Wars would not be opening until late Fall. This has thrown a wrench in our plans and we are waiting to see if we will get more info after Star Wars opens at Disneyland. I am hoping that the crowds will be in line for Star Wars and Toy Story will not be to bad. Are you staying on property? If so, I would do HS with the extra magic hours and try to do rope drop. Although that could be hard with a little one. Or, try to do Toy Story right before the park closes. I hope your family enjoys your first trip and it magical even with the opening of Star Wars.
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I’m mostly thinking about Pandora and FOP as a model here. I think that the long waits to get in are for those folks who want to be at the front of the line when the park opens. That will be important for whichever ride(s) are the hot ticket(s) at that time. If you don’t want to ride that/those attractions, then you can show up shortly before RD and hang at the back of the crowd and still enjoy short lines.
I’m guessing that when Star Wars opens, most folks will be headed for the one SE ride that will be going at that point, meaning that people who want to RD other parts of the park should be in a good position. The main thing that I’m wondering about is whether there’ll be a smaller but still sizable contingency of people still heading to TSL to RD SDD. I am guessing that TSL will be relatively empty in the morning and then fill waaaay up as the day goes on and people trickle from SEGE to other parts of the park.
Do you have hoppers? If it were me and I wanted to do TSL but had little interest in the rest of the park, I’d RD HS and get my TSL fix and then hop over to Epcot.
This is all my opinion, of course! Just my best guess based on what I’ve seen and read about for other new, popular rides. YMMV.
I don’t see Epcot on your list! That was my kids’ favorite park last time. Not what I expected from my 5 and 2 year olds 
I’d go to Epcot if I wasn’t doing DHS.
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It’s really hard to know what it’s going to be like but on a short trip, I’d skip it and do EP. There is so much for kids at EP! People think they will get bored but I doubt it.
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Ok. Thanks for all the advice. We didn’t get hopper tickets. I think i will make an epcot touring plan and watch how things go with the disneyland opening. If it looks like it will be bad closer to our trip, we will plan to do epcot.
Please report back after your September trip! We’re considering skipping HS in January and doing 2 MK days instead. Our girls (5&7) don’t care about Star Wars, and not ready for ToT or RRC.
That leaves Toy Story Land (which they would LOVE) and some really cute shows, but not enough to justify a full day with a base ticket and no park hopper. Our thinking is they won’t miss TSL if they don’t see it, but being short-changed at MK will be sadder for them. Tell me if my thinking is really off!
I sure will. So far, we are still planning HS, but back up plan of epcot. We will be watching the forums and wait times etc very closely starting Sept 1. I know how you feel. Problem is, I am also a very big TS fan, and I know what we will miss. LoL
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Park Hoppers is the best way to hedge your bet. They would allow you to bounce into HS to use any FPP you get and bounce back out to another park if the HS crowd is overwhelming.
We are also going in September, and have the same worries as you. What I decided to do is tour TSL in the EMH time period, see a few shows and then head out of there before lunch. Since we are getting there so early, I figured a nap/rest would be appreciated. Then I made a Sci Fi Diner reservation for 5:00, and got fast passes in the evening. If the park is jammed at night at least I have fastpasses and reservations, and I’ve heard that if the park is full to capacity they give you preference in getting in if you have an ADR.
We are going at the end of September - trip was planned before the SWL announcement. We purchased park hoppers specifically because my DS4 is dying to ride SDD - we will utilize the EEMH and go just for TSL then hop on out of there.