Advice needed regarding hop or not? Arrival day possible to do 2 parks? using genie from home before arrival?

[Ellen]

I am arriving MCO at 12 noon Wednesday 5/11check out late 5/16 staying at Swan. My plan was to arrive at Swan and walk over to HS. Can I use genie from home to book at 7AM or do I have to be checked in first? I was then going to go to MK for extended evening hours. Not sure if it is worth trying to do both parks or just go to MK.
I am planning HS 5/12 AK 5/13. My sister and brother in law are joing me for 5/14 MK 5/15 Epcot they are not getting hopper. I am going to try and get tickets for gardens of galaxy for D23 for 5/15.
I have always gotten hopper in past I like to be able to go from park to park for meals or later openings. I have gone to WDW at least once a year but with Covid it has been 4 years and so much has changed I went from expert to novice lol
I have to make park reservations soon so hard to decide which park
hanks for any recomendations
Ellen

 

[Disturbia]

If you don’t have young kids, I would get the hopper. If you are completely unsure, you can always add it on during the trip (price will still be the same even for a day).

If you’re arriving at MCO at noon, I wouldn’t book any rides until 1:30 pm. There is a 15 min grace period so a 1-2 pm will still allow you entry at 2:14:59 pm) and you can enter an attraction 5 mins prior.

On your check in day (as long as you have HS park reservations AND park hoppers; I would add Genie+ before 6:45 am-app crashes esp at 6:59 am).

1. 7 am you can book SDD and then ROTR AND SDMT (ROTR pushes into the evening fast and sells out in seconds; there is a second release at 7:17 am for ROTR if you don’t get the right time then set a timer for 1 hr 57 mins after park opening

* keep checking hours as they are added 2 weeks before checkin and ADRs are also added for evening extensions.

2. At 10:30 am book TOT (will push into 6 pm+) or MMRR (less runaround and likely you can get 3-5 pm)

* SDD 1:30-2:30 pm; ROTR 3-4 pm; MMRR/TOT 3:30-4:30 pm SDMT at 7-8 pm

*you want to ride your Genie+ rides so you can book another right away (hard to do at HS); you can get a refund if ROTR breaks down but need to wait in a GET line

3. At 12:30 pm book whatever is available at HS OR book a MK ride (super refresh can probably get TSMM or MFSR at HS; or Big Thunder/Space at Mk). Ride ROTR and MMRR and if you can get another ride then hop to MK for dinner/fireworks

4. At 2:30 pm book a MK ride

Look at current hours (Easter crowds) and plan on those being the hours during your trip (Epcot was only open till 9 pm spring break; MK will change hours to 11 pm close - noticed you have access to extended hours on Wed 5/11 so Mk extended hours will change 11 pm-1 am most likely; HS will open at 8:30 am).

Double check hours few days prior to your trip.

 

[loves to dive]

If you are arriving at the airport at noon, I wouldn't plan on being on property until 12:30 or 1, depending on if you check luggage and how you plan to get to Swan. The above plan would work as far as when to book rides but even if you got the two from 11-12 and 11:30 -12:30, you probably wouldn't be there in time to ride them. Also, you might and might not get a refund if RoTR breaks down, depends on if they get it back up during that day. They rarely refund money for it, they will give you a different return time.

I'm a big fan of hoppers and always have them, even when my son was a toddler and there were only two parks, we hopped. The only two differences in now and the before times are: you have to have a park booked for the day and you have to tap into that park before you can move on and you cannot hop until 2 pm. Otherwise, it's pretty much business as usual. Our park on arrival day is usually Epcot but that is because we drive down and just snack in the car so are usually pretty hungry when we get there. There is almost always a festival going on so eating at the booths on that day works great for us. Then we decide from there whether we want to move on to another park or stay. Other than booking our first park for the day, we keep all other plans loose and decide on the fly. I've been once since Genie+ was introduced and didn't use it but that is because I go often and there is absolutely nothing I need to pay to ride. I don't mind standing in line and while we enjoy riding rides we aren't determined to ride as many as we can. We like to just go with the flow, right now my son has a 1 year old who was 5 months old the first time we went and will be about 16 months old the next time they go. You really can't plan with a little one (and we did hop when she was there the first time and will hop in August).

 

[Disturbia]

If you are arriving at the airport at noon, I wouldn't plan on being on property until 12:30 or 1, depending on if you check luggage and how you plan to get to Swan. The above plan would work as far as when to book rides but even if you got the two from 11-12 and 11:30 -12:30, you probably wouldn't be there in time to ride them. Also, you might and might not get a refund if RoTR breaks down, depends on if they get it back up during that day. They rarely refund money for it, they will give you a different return time.

I'm a big fan of hoppers and always have them, even when my son was a toddler and there were only two parks, we hopped. The only two differences in now and the before times are: you have to have a park booked for the day and you have to tap into that park before you can move on and you cannot hop until 2 pm. Otherwise, it's pretty much business as usual. Our park on arrival day is usually Epcot but that is because we drive down and just snack in the car so are usually pretty hungry when we get there. There is almost always a festival going on so eating at the booths on that day works great for us. Then we decide from there whether we want to move on to another park or stay. Other than booking our first park for the day, we keep all other plans loose and decide on the fly. I've been once since Genie+ was introduced and didn't use it but that is because I go often and there is absolutely nothing I need to pay to ride. I don't mind standing in line and while we enjoy riding rides we aren't determined to ride as many as we can. We like to just go with the flow, right now my son has a 1 year old who was 5 months old the first time we went and will be about 16 months old the next time they go. You really can't plan with a little one (and we did hop when she was there the first time and will hop in August).

I edited my response to include travel time from MCO and to the park.

We also book Epcot for checkin day and usually have Remy, Test Track and Frozen (super refreshed for an hour to get Frozen). We arrived at MCO at 2:30 pm, it took a while to get bags (airlines are understaffed); MEARs only took 35 mins as we were the first stop at AOA and someone had booked express for AOA (they got on our bus). The Skyliner stopped running briefly and we had to wait 30 mins at the CB stop at 4 pm so we missed our first pass for Spaceship earth that ended around 4:30 pm. Epcot was only open till 9 pm.



Checkout day is also Epcot and flights are constantly changing/cancelling and this time around all flights cancelled for 3 days so we had to drive 17 hours back (keep an extra day on the checkout as flights have been crazy recently). Our kids are 2, 5 and 13 so we don’t park hop (rest/pool instead).

Another thing to consider is that it’s a long walk from Remy to Test track. Budget 20 mins to get from one end to another. Food booths had long lines (15 min+)

 

[Ellen]

Thanks for advice Think I will get hopper and maybe uber to Swan to get there faster. Hopefully I can get internet on plane so I can access Genie

 

[Disturbia]

Thanks for advice Think I will get hopper and maybe uber to Swan to get there faster. Hopefully I can get internet on plane so I can access Genie

I got the Frozen Genie+ right before we were asked to turn phones into airplane mode. It was frustrating to keep refreshing and I saw availability pop up twice during that hour.

Good luck!