Advice for a quick trip with park hopping

[jcshiff]

Hello experts! I am planning a trip, and want to double check that my plan makes sense. The plan is:
0) The Friday night before MLK day, arrive at WDW resort and go straight to bed
1a) Saturday. AK with morning EMH. My kids don't like thrill rides, and we don't like getting wet in January, so we'll probably just visit Pandora, safari, and maybe the bug show
1b) Hop to MK around lunch time, and enjoy rides and fireworks
2a) Sunday. DHS with morning EMH, mostly to see Star Wars Galaxy's Edge and Toy Story Land. No thrill rides means no ToT or RR, which sucks because RR is my favorite roller coaster, but such is the life of a parent.
2b) Hop to Epcot after lunch, and do as much as we can before the new night time show.
3) Monday. MK until we have to leave for the airport.

My biggest concern is getting FP+ right. Monday I'm not too concerned about; I'll just follow one of the many rope drop guides. For day 1, I figure I'll get passes for FoP or the Pandora boat ride and Kilimanjaro Safari, then get whatever passes I can at MK. Day 2 is the big question. We would like to ride the Star Wars rides multiple times, and I'm sure the Toy Story rides will have long enough lines that we'll want as many Fast Passes as we can get. But I am concerned that if we don't book Epcot passes in advance, we'll have to wait hours to go on Soarin' and Frozen. Should I rely on my EMH to do all of the Studio attractions I want without FP, or book my FPs there so I'm sure to get the attractions I want most?

 

[Ensusieasm]

Getting a fast pass for FoP at 60+1 is most likely not going to happen. Usually that is more likely at 60+4.

 

[Mome Rath]

1a) Saturday. AK with morning EMH. My kids don't like thrill rides, and we don't like getting wet in January, so we'll probably just visit Pandora, safari, and maybe the bug show
1b) Hop to MK around lunch time, and enjoy rides and fireworks

If you guys can get up early and get to AK an hour before rope drop (so if the EMH is at 8, you'd need to be there and through bag check around 7), you can do FoP first, and then head to NRJ. So, if that's possible, read up on AK rope drop strategy.

But I am concerned that if we don't book Epcot passes in advance, we'll have to wait hours to go on Soarin' and Frozen. Should I rely on my EMH to do all of the Studio attractions I want without FP, or book my FPs there so I'm sure to get the attractions I want most?

You will be standing in lines at Studios because of the rides you want to do, but do take advantage of EMH and keep following along with strategies at maximizing your rides. Also, because of ride tiers what you can do with FP's at DHS are a bit more limited, but you can always try refreshing day-of for more. Soarin' is usually manageable now, or you can refresh to try for a FP when you are done at DHS.

 

[bopper]

Do you need to do all 4 parks?

 

[jcshiff]

Thanks for all the advice!

@Ensusieasm, that's disappointing, but I guess better to be disappointed now rather than when I'm trying to book.

@Mome Rath, I don't know how I'm going to convince my wife that we need to get to the park over an hour before it opens. I just hope I can get the kids to watch Avatar before we go, so they'll appreciate Pandora.

@bopper, I guess we don't need to do all 4 parks. The main reason we're going is Galaxy's Edge, and I want to see Pandora because I've heard great things about it. I guess we could spend all day at Studios and skip Epcot, especially because TT will be closed, and I think SSE refurbishment will be started by then.

 

[twinmom13]

I just hope I can get the kids to watch Avatar before we go, so they'll appreciate Pandora.

Don’t worry if they won’t watch it — neither my kids nor I have seen Avatar but we definitely appreciated Pandora.