To hop or not to hop

Walt Disney World Touring Plans
1

I am trying to figure out which parks to do on what days and am having a hard time figuring it out. There are several days that we are considering hopping, but I am not sure if this is the best plan with FP+. I feel like I have to make all my FP+ reservations for the second park and just wing it at the first park in the morning since crowds will be lower. However, if I want to hit headliners in the morning, lines start forming really quick after rope drop, at least at HS. For example, I started a personalized TP for HS from 9am-noon and threw in a bunch of big rides to see what happened. I had RnR, TSMM, ST and ToT. The plan suggested riding RnR with rider swap first, then ST. I could get through these rides quickly but then ToT and RnR were up to 45/50 minute waits already. Maybe this just happens at this specific park? So, I am wondering if we should just book our first 3 FP+ for morning and then grab 4th FP+ before leaving park for break. Then return to same park later and have at least 1 good FP+ for evening.

Do you find different strategies to be better for different parks? Do you hop or not?

As a frame of reference, we usually do rope drop at DLR and hit the parks hard in the morning. We love and do a lot of rides and never spend more than 20 minutes in line.

2

HS is probably the most problematic park to tour without FPP reservations - it can be tricky even with FPPs because of the tiering. If you are going to do it first and then hop to another park using your FPP in the second park, maybe look at a mEMH day to make it easier to get in all the headliners.

In general we do not hop or even do afternoon breaks, but I might change that strategy if we were to go during the summer. Still might not get PH tickets, as we would probably return to the same park and keep the savings for something special, like a Signature dinner.

3

Is mEMH really helpful at HS? I was planning on doing mEMH at MK but not at any other park. Also, are eEMH worthwhile at any of the parks or better to skip? I was planning to avoid the parks with them in the evenings.

4

In general, EMH are very helpful at any park provided that you are going to take full advantage of them. Take your HS plan, change the date to a mEMH day, and let it know that you are going to take advantage of EMH - you should notice a big difference.

5

Thanks! will do. We are traveling from the west coast on a red eye so I am trying to be a little cautious with morning EMH. Maybe our systems will be so confused by red eye that we can adjust to east coast time quickly.