DHS and EPCOT in 1 day advice

[mousefan215]

How would you go about scheduling FP+ for these 2 parks if trying to do them both in one day? Honestly, DHS doesn’t have a lot of “must do’s” right now for us and we were thinking spend the morning there and then hop to EPCOT. Should we just RD at DHS and schedule FP+ for EPCOT? What would you do? TIA

 

[dkrauss]

Ok so lets start with the must do's you have in both parks...........? For my wife and I there is only 1 ride that can be FP'd at Epcot. Its either Soar'in, Test Track, or the Frozen ride. that's it. At HS you can do 2 rides that we feel are must do.....TSMM and ToT So..............my advise would be RD Epcot and get in your must do there..........and set FP's for HS.

 

[mousefan215]

Ok so lets start with the must do's you have in both parks...........?

Sorry, should have included that!
HWS: RnR, Star Tours, TSMM
EPCOT: Soaring, TT, FEA, MS

 

[DisneyFive]

Either way would work fine. I would check park hours and see which one is open later and do that one in the afternoon with FP’s. Rope drop the other.

Dan

 

[iujen94]

Since you have 3 Tier 1's that you want to do at Epcot, I'd go there first and try to knock those 3 out early at rope drop. You'll still have some lines, but it would be easier than waiting until afternoon, having a FP for one and trying to standby the other 2. I'd make an early "throwaway" FP at HS that you'd just let expire (like Muppets in the morning), then have FP for RnR and ST for the afternoon. I've had decent luck getting TSMM as a 4th FP even in late afternoon, but YMMV of course. By having a throwaway Tier 2 FP in the morning, you can try for TSMM as soon as you tap in to your 3rd FP at HS.

 

[hiroMYhero]

You can book your Epcot FPs for FEA and also book 2 Tier 2 Epcot FPs that will be booked for the morning and will expire before you get to Epcot.

As soon as you enter the FEA FP Line, go on the app and look for a TT or Soarin’ FP.

TT also has the single Rider line if you’d consider that.

 

[Artygal90]

I spent allllll day yesterday researching this exact question since we have 3 days to fit in all 4 parks and have basically the same must-dos as you. We are doing our DHS/EP day on a Tuesday with Epcot EMH from 9 pm - 11 pm, so keep in mind that we are planning on having those extra two hours to fit in more Epcot time. Anyway, after reading lots and lots of articles (mostly from easywdw.com - the rope drop posts for each park have been *very* helpful), I decided that we should be at DHS first thing since it has fewer rides open, which equals less same-day FastPass availability and longer lines later in the day. Also, Epcot has World Showcase to keep us occupied if Futureworld lines are nuts in the mid afternoon.

As of right now (pending actual FastPass availability) here is our plan for DHS in the morning:

1) Rope-drop RnR @ 9 am open
2) Immediately ride ToT in standby if the line isn't too long
3) Ride TsMM at the very end of our 9 am - 10 am FastPass window (FP times are approximate, might push this about 15 min. later)
4) Ride Star Tours at the beginning of our 10 am - 11 am window
5) Check out the Launch Bay, maybe stop in at a show, work in other lower-priority experiences
6) If necessary/desired, ride ToT at the beginning of the 11 am- 12 pm FP window
7) Once we've activated our final FastPass at ToT around 11 am, start refreshing immediately to find same-day Fastpasses for whatever Tier 1 Epcot attractions we can find (our tops are Soarin and Frozen Ever After). Apparently Frozen Ever After, being newer, is still the #1 Epcot FP priority, but apparently you have a chance at a not-too-terrible standby wait if you get in line right before the park closes.

In *theory*, this should work. However, no one in my family has done a touring plan this intense before - I've never been to WDW, and the rest of my family are much more casual theme park visitors. We are also a group of six so it will be trickier getting same-day Epcot fastpasses for all of us. If you are in a smaller group I bet you'll find more availability.

Hope this was helpful!

 

[dkrauss]

Sorry, should have included that!
HWS: RnR, Star Tours, TSMM
EPCOT: Soaring, TT, FEA, MS

Given your must do's and tiering in both parks...........its a toss up You have 2 in each park.........it comes down to which Tier 1 you want. What ever park you do FP's for schedule them for the afternoon/evening and do RD in the other park and get a Tier 1 then.

Best of luck.

Doug

 

[gatorlisa]

We tend to start at Epcot and then hop to HS, with our FP+ at HS. We have rope dropped Frozen, then gone directly to Soarin', then TT single rider line, and had little to no wait doing things this way. We then hit Spaceship Earth and whatever else we feel like doing at Epcot (including lunch at Mexico QS), and then take the boat from the International Gateway to HS and spend the rest of the day there. FPs in HS usually beginning around 2:30 or so. Have done this several times and works well for us.

 

[PollyannaMom]

How would you go about scheduling FP+ for these 2 parks if trying to do them both in one day? Honestly, DHS doesn’t have a lot of “must do’s” right now for us and we were thinking spend the morning there and then hop to EPCOT. Should we just RD at DHS and schedule FP+ for EPCOT? What would you do? TIA

The tier system makes it tough, because you can't just FP+ all your must-dos. But I think you've got some great advice above.

 

[mousefan215]

I spent allllll day yesterday researching this exact question since we have 3 days to fit in all 4 parks and have basically the same must-dos as you. We are doing our DHS/EP day on a Tuesday with Epcot EMH from 9 pm - 11 pm, so keep in mind that we are planning on having those extra two hours to fit in more Epcot time. Anyway, after reading lots and lots of articles (mostly from easywdw.com - the rope drop posts for each park have been *very* helpful), I decided that we should be at DHS first thing since it has fewer rides open, which equals less same-day FastPass availability and longer lines later in the day. Also, Epcot has World Showcase to keep us occupied if Futureworld lines are nuts in the mid afternoon.

As of right now (pending actual FastPass availability) here is our plan for DHS in the morning:

1) Rope-drop RnR @ 9 am open
2) Immediately ride ToT in standby if the line isn't too long
3) Ride TsMM at the very end of our 9 am - 10 am FastPass window (FP times are approximate, might push this about 15 min. later)
4) Ride Star Tours at the beginning of our 10 am - 11 am window
5) Check out the Launch Bay, maybe stop in at a show, work in other lower-priority experiences
6) If necessary/desired, ride ToT at the beginning of the 11 am- 12 pm FP window
7) Once we've activated our final FastPass at ToT around 11 am, start refreshing immediately to find same-day Fastpasses for whatever Tier 1 Epcot attractions we can find (our tops are Soarin and Frozen Ever After). Apparently Frozen Ever After, being newer, is still the #1 Epcot FP priority, but apparently you have a chance at a not-too-terrible standby wait if you get in line right before the park closes.

In *theory*, this should work. However, no one in my family has done a touring plan this intense before - I've never been to WDW, and the rest of my family are much more casual theme park visitors. We are also a group of six so it will be trickier getting same-day Epcot fastpasses for all of us. If you are in a smaller group I bet you'll find more availability.

Hope this was helpful!

Very helpful!! I think is exactly what we’re going to do! It will just be my husband and I for a short 3 day trip, so we plan on going commando! Lol

 

[mousefan215]

Since you have 3 Tier 1's that you want to do at Epcot, I'd go there first and try to knock those 3 out early at rope drop. You'll still have some lines, but it would be easier than waiting until afternoon, having a FP for one and trying to standby the other 2. I'd make an early "throwaway" FP at HS that you'd just let expire (like Muppets in the morning), then have FP for RnR and ST for the afternoon. I've had decent luck getting TSMM as a 4th FP even in late afternoon, but YMMV of course. By having a throwaway Tier 2 FP in the morning, you can try for TSMM as soon as you tap in to your 3rd FP at HS.

I hadn’t even considered “throw away” FP’s , great idea!

 

[Artygal90]

Very helpful!! I think is exactly what we’re going to do! It will just be my husband and I for a short 3 day trip, so we plan on going commando! Lol

Woo! Have fun and report back so I know if I need to change anything before March 2018, lol

 

[mousefan215]

Great ideas guys! Thank you! This helps me decide. It’s the first weekend in February, no EMH for evenings but EPCOT closes later than DHS, and EPCOT is where we want to spend the majority of the day, spending most of the evening cruising around WS, I’m thinking we try to get in FEA at park closing and see if that works, not a deal breaker, we will be back later in the year with my 2 girls (2yo and 4yo) so I’m sure we will do FEA multiple times then

 

[mousefan215]

Woo! Have fun and report back so I know if I need to change anything before March 2018, lol

I will let you know!!

 

[mombrontrent]

I spent allllll day yesterday researching this exact question since we have 3 days to fit in all 4 parks and have basically the same must-dos as you. We are doing our DHS/EP day on a Tuesday with Epcot EMH from 9 pm - 11 pm, so keep in mind that we are planning on having those extra two hours to fit in more Epcot time. Anyway, after reading lots and lots of articles (mostly from easywdw.com - the rope drop posts for each park have been *very* helpful), I decided that we should be at DHS first thing since it has fewer rides open, which equals less same-day FastPass availability and longer lines later in the day. Also, Epcot has World Showcase to keep us occupied if Futureworld lines are nuts in the mid afternoon.

As of right now (pending actual FastPass availability) here is our plan for DHS in the morning:

1) Rope-drop RnR @ 9 am open
2) Immediately ride ToT in standby if the line isn't too long
3) Ride TsMM at the very end of our 9 am - 10 am FastPass window (FP times are approximate, might push this about 15 min. later)
4) Ride Star Tours at the beginning of our 10 am - 11 am window
5) Check out the Launch Bay, maybe stop in at a show, work in other lower-priority experiences
6) If necessary/desired, ride ToT at the beginning of the 11 am- 12 pm FP window
7) Once we've activated our final FastPass at ToT around 11 am, start refreshing immediately to find same-day Fastpasses for whatever Tier 1 Epcot attractions we can find (our tops are Soarin and Frozen Ever After). Apparently Frozen Ever After, being newer, is still the #1 Epcot FP priority, but apparently you have a chance at a not-too-terrible standby wait if you get in line right before the park closes.

In *theory*, this should work. However, no one in my family has done a touring plan this intense before - I've never been to WDW, and the rest of my family are much more casual theme park visitors. We are also a group of six so it will be trickier getting same-day Epcot fastpasses for all of us. If you are in a smaller group I bet you'll find more availability.

Hope this was helpful!

I'm pretty sure you'll actually have to be in Epcot before you can start looking for the fourth FP. You will only be able to get HS fasspasses until you go the Epcot turnstiles. At least this is my understanding anyways.

 

[hiroMYhero]

I'm pretty sure you'll actually have to be in Epcot before you can start looking for the fourth FP. You will only be able to get HS fasspasses until you go the Epcot turnstiles. At least this is my understanding anyways.

FP booking via the app changed last year.

When a person uses 1 FP in Park#1, they actually can go on the app and book their 2nd FP of the day for Park#2 and their 3rd FP of the day for Park#3.

So, a person who is in AK can have 1 FP for Studios and 1 FP for Epcot while still enjoying AK.

See the FP FAQ ADDENDUM Sticky at the top of this forum for Park Hopping tips.

 

[mousefan215]

FP booking via the app changed last year.

When a person uses 1 FP in Park#1, they actually can go on the app and book their 2nd FP of the day for Park#2 and their 3rd FP of the day for Park#3.

So, a person who is in AK can have 1 FP for Studios and 1 FP for Epcot while still enjoying AK.

See the FP FAQ ADDENDUM Sticky at the top of this forum for Park Hopping tips.

Wait.. so am I understanding that I could book 2 “throw aways” and 1 I actually use for early in DHS and as soon as I use my first FP ( Let’s say RnR) I can start scheduling FP’s for EPCOT while I’m still in DHS?

 

[hiroMYhero]

Wait.. so am I understanding that I could book 2 “throw aways” and 1 I actually use for early in DHS and as soon as I use my first FP ( Let’s say RnR) I can start scheduling FP’s for EPCOT while I’m still in DHS?

The sequence that’s best for you if you are starting with Studios is book 1 FP for Studios and as soon as you enter the line, book 1 Tier 1 for Epcot and an early Tier 2 for Epcot that will expire while you’re at Studios.

 

[mousefan215]

The sequence that’s best for you if you are starting with Studios is book 1 FP for Studios and as soon as you enter the line, book 1 Tier 1 for Epcot and an early Tier 2 for Epcot that will expire while you’re at Studios.

Great, thanks! Didn’t know you could do that while still in another park, makes it easier!