Curious, do people think the get-in-line-right-before-close trick will be effective for Smugglers Run?

[fractalpotato]

My fiancee and I are going to be in the World 9/27 to 10/4, we booked it way back when in an attempt to catch the Illuminations/Epcot Forever switchover. It worked! We were so stoked, but the excitement started to fade as we set in to a mild panic. SWGE getting moved up has us feeling like our trip is going to be overrun by Star Wars crowds combined with F&W crowds. Working on a tentative schedule, we think we found a way to cope, but it basically means avoiding DHS except for one evening and one attempt at the super early morning. Now, I'm assuming the super early morning will be better used to hit up anything but SW:GE if possible, especially with the FP+ change. So our plan is to basically use that time to hit RnRC, ToT, TSM, SDD and maybe Star Tours.

However, we were thinking, during our one evening in DHS (We have an ADR at Brown Derby) we'd finish dinner, do our souvenir shopping and right before park close, jump in line for Smuggler's Run. I don't mind a long wait as long as we're not burning park time. We think this plan will go a long way to taking the sting of the unexpected SW:GE opening out and we've only ever done a park closing ride once before. Do you all think it'll work out well? Or am I in for a three hour wait anyway? Or is there a reasonable expectation they will close that line earlier?

It helps that we're sleeping in the next day before settling in for an evening at Epcot, so I don't mind being up a bit late, but I don't want to be up too late!

Thanks,
Matt

 

[Rach3975]

The problem is that they haven't announced how they're handling access to SWGE yet. At Disneyland today was the first day where people could visit without an advance reservation. They admitted people until the land was full, then they did a virtual queue. When it was your group's turn, they sent you a notification and you had 2 hours to enter. (That was the maximum amount of time they allowed between when they sent the notification and when you arrived, not a limit to your time in SWGE.) You didn't sign up for a specific time, it was more of a first come first served system that let you know when there was room for you. No one knows yet if there will be a similar system in WDW, how often they'll be full and need to use it, how early the wait list to enter will fill up, etc.

 

[MomOTwins]

Agree with PP--I think your plan will not work because SWGE will be at capacity and no longer accepting virtual queue by the end of the day.

The super early morning is, IMO your best bet to ride Smugglers Run since you will not have to compete with off-site guests that don't have EMH access.