DHS on arrival day?

[Sprocks]

Longtime lurker, first-time poster here. We leave for our FIRST trip in three weeks!

We arrive on 11/18, are taking ME to the Contemporary. We arrive early (plane lands at 9:30). Currently have Fantasmic Lunch Package reservations at Mama Melrose at 1:30. My plan was to eat, tour until Fantasmic! and then go home for an early-ish bedtime (plan to be at AK rope drop the next am)

Here's my question though, I'm a bit afraid that all the FPs for TSM will be gone by the time we arrive at DHS. We probably won't be returning to that park for the rest of the vacation, so now I'm questioning my strategy...

Thanks all--I'm sure I'm going to have so many more questions for this knowledgeable bunch

 

[CR Resort Fan 4 Life]

If you are able to change your schedule I would try and visit Hollywood Studios a 2nd time because by the time you would get there the Fast Passes for Toy Story Mania will be gone for that day. The best time to get them is right when the park opens, however the line up for them can be at least half an hour if you were to be there for the park opening. Now if you still can't do that then your only other option is to wait in the standby line and I would guess it would be 75 minutes or more by the time you arrive at Hollywood Studios.

 

[kohlby]

One crowd calendar does not recommend HS for that day. AK and MK are the most recommended parks for that day. So, I would not do HS that day. HS is the most recommended park for the Sunday, two days later. Crowds will likely start increasing due to Thanksgiving week though so I would wonder if HS would still be more crowded on that Sun than the Fri. But, since there will be crowds increasing at many parks that week, I'd pick a recommended park for Fri - especially since F! will be on that recommended day as well.

 

[clerkshipwanted]

this is basically us - although i didn't do fantasmic lunch package we are heading to dhs for sci fi lunch at 1:30 on our arrival day.
i assume fp for tsm will be gone so basically my son (who is 6) can wait on line with his dad if he really wants to do it (we'll see how long line is) and most likely my 4 y/o and I will be walking around the park. or we will just find a morning to head over there at rd, skip the fp, get directly on the line then leave and go to another park (we have park hoppers). he doesn't really "know" was tsm is so its not like he will be devastated if we don't do the ride.

i haven't quite figured out what day we would head there first thing in am if we really wanted to try TSM but i think it will probably be the day we are doing Epcot.

 

[kshattuck]

If you're only going that day and you really and truly must experience TSMM, then you should change up your itinerary. We went to DHS much like your schedule describes, but we were going back another day, so we weren't too bummed about missing out on TSMM.

You could either try for standby, which would obviously eat up a lot of your time for other attractions, or just save it for next time?

Whatever you decide, have fun!

 

[Sprocks]

I guess that's the thing--because I don't think my kids (8 and 5) can make it straight through from RD to F!, we basically have to choose between the two for the one day we will go over there. Like you, I think they will enjoy F! and if my 5yo (who really does love toy story) needs to do TSM, he can wait in line with DH while older DD and I do some big kid rides.

Also, older DD is going to go to WWHP with one adult on another day so the other adult could take younger DS back to TSM if he feels very strongly about it... My parents are coming with us, so we will have extra adults on hand if we need to divide and conquer!

Originally, we had planned to do MK when we arrived, because it was a recommended park, but the truth is that staying at the CR makes it so much easier to do MK for rope drop, go back and forth, etc. I kind of just want to get HS and AK (which we are doing the next day, when it is a recommended park) out of the way so we can just bop between MK and Epcot for the rest of the vacation. Of course, complicating all of this are our existing ADRs. This can really get overwhelming!

 

[sharonabe]

Don't forget the Osborne Lights will also be up and going while you're there. They are beautiful and you can go see them AFTER Fantasmic.

Just checked the hours too. You can wait and do TSM at closing. If you're in the line before 8:00, you'll still get to ride.

 

[nkereina]

Our flight arrived at 9:30 also (on a Saturday) and it took a good 90-100 mins to get to the hotel, and about another half hour to check in. Had we gone to DHS that day, we would have gotten there 12-12:30pm. We were there in September and the two days we went to DHS, the FPs for TSM were either gone by that time or had very late return times- return time of 8pm when park closed at 9pm. So either way, it wouldn't work out for you. I would plan at least another morning there, and Epcot day would be good for that because you could take the boat over.

FWIW, my BF and I (no kids, late 20s) rode TSM to see what all the chaos was about. We are not big into Pixar and thought we wouldn't get what the craziness was over this ride. It ended up being our favorite ride, so we got there at RD on two days to ride stand by and got a FP each time, so we were able to go on it 4 times during our trip.

 

[dolphindan1]

If that fits your schedule then I would do it but I would plan on staying later....I have been that week the last 3 years and its been great crowd wise and TSM never got over 60 mins....I would stay till park closing...after F! I would hit Osbourne and then jump in the TSM line right at closing...the waits will drop alot by then, although they will jack the wait time up to discourage people from getting in line....or hit TSM after F! and see Osbourne after....Osbourne will run for about an hour after official closing

We did this last 2 years and the wait time said 120 minutes but my kids rode twice in the last 45 minutes both years