DHS- What to FP and what to Rope Drop???

[ClapYourHands]

Cool , my daughter loved the alien ride in tsl, so we did it twice! She was very disappointed we didn't get a slinky dog ride, but I feel confident with the new FP tiers I can definitely get us a ride this time.

But you're right, a second HS day will be hard to do if you can't do Star Wars things. Our second day, also half day, is scheduled for all things Star Wars while the first day will mainly be tsl, MMRR if possible, and as many shows as possible, lol. Though, I will attempt boarding passes both days. Never know what will happen and if park opens at 9, I'll only have 3 hours, and all the other star wars things, even with FPs for the rides, could fill those 3 hours easily.

Absolutely get that BG when you can! Never know if your BG timing will work with the half day. Also, the Jedi Training might take more time than you think. There’s the sign up line and “interview” of the kids, the return to get instructions and costumes 30 minutes before show time, and then the show itself. I know day two is your all things SW, but JTA might fit better in day 1.

As for our trip, I hope to get a sense of DD’s ride tolerance as the trip progresses. I also hope she will become more adventurous as the days go by. When we went a few years ago, a friend’s daughter was like no-way to Space Mountain on the first day, but rode it and loved it on the last.

The good news is that this is all new to her. I know we won’t get through everything, so there will always be something new or something she would like to repeat at another park. If I don’t think HS is a good park to repeat, there are plenty of same day FP available at MK or Epcot. And there’s always the pool!

 

[GBRforWDW]

Absolutely get that BG when you can! Never know if your BG timing will work with the half day. Also, the Jedi Training might take more time than you think. There’s the sign up line and “interview” of the kids, the return to get instructions and costumes 30 minutes before show time, and then the show itself. I know day two is your all things SW, but JTA might fit better in day 1.

Thanks for that info, I had not heard about the returning 30 minutes before showtime, I still don’t think that’ll be terrible to fit in if park opens at 8, but yeah, I’m reading an article now about it taking a full hour. I have read that people are able to sign up before park opens, so that can help get you to other things faster. Which we’ll head straight to launch bay right after signup. But if park hours stay at 9, I think I’ll take your advice and do it first day if possible. Seems like it could take closer to 5 or 6 hours to do all the Star Wars things, especially if RotR has issues, so splitting things between days is probably better if short on time.

 

[ClapYourHands]

Thanks for that info, I had not heard about the returning 30 minutes before showtime, I still don’t think that’ll be terrible to fit in if park opens at 8, but yeah, I’m reading an article now about it taking a full hour. I have read that people are able to sign up before park opens, so that can help get you to other things faster. Which we’ll head straight to launch bay right after signup. But if park hours stay at 9, I think I’ll take your advice and do it first day if possible. Seems like it could take closer to 5 or 6 hours to do all the Star Wars things, especially if RotR has issues, so splitting things between days is probably better if short on time.

Could you flip your days? Schedule TSMM and SDD on the last day, and do everything Star Wars on that first day? If it's at the end of the trip, SDD should have morning availability, especially if the addition of MMRR opens up more FP availability in SDD as I think it will. It just seems like the TSL rides are more of a sure thing in terms of timing than RotR and JTA. Also, if you build a lightsaber or droid, it would be cool to do it early and be able to carry it around and use it more than just jamming it in an hour before you leave. My ODS really wants a light saber, but I think it might be the kind of souvenir that gathers dust once it's home. YDS just had to have a light up plastic Navi dagger from Pandora as his souvenir from the last trip, and I don't think he has ever used it since.

 

[GBRforWDW]

Could you flip your days? Schedule TSMM and SDD on the last day, and do everything Star Wars on that first day? If it's at the end of the trip, SDD should have morning availability, especially if the addition of MMRR opens up more FP availability in SDD as I think it will. It just seems like the TSL rides are more of a sure thing in terms of timing than RotR and JTA. Also, if you build a lightsaber or droid, it would be cool to do it early and be able to carry it around and use it more than just jamming it in an hour before you leave. My ODS really wants a light saber, but I think it might be the kind of souvenir that gathers dust once it's home. YDS just had to have a light up plastic Navi dagger from Pandora as his souvenir from the last trip, and I don't think he has ever used it since.

All great points. I’ve flipped back and forth on things, but my wife will be with me and my daughter on the full day and not the half - her and her mom will be packing up and then doing something else. Wife will be ok with 1 or 2 Star Wars things, but not a full morning/half day.
We’ll play the day by ear and cancel things if we have to, but it does make sense at least to try RotR and jta on the full day to make the half day schedule a little easier.

 

[Angeliki19]

We’ll know so much by like March 10th. When is your 60 day window?

Unfortunately March 7! Ugh!

We currently have two DHS days (or at least parts of days) so I have a chance to grab two FPs. I'm thinking MMRR is definitely one, provided it's available. RD for that might be a mess for a while, though it does have high capacity so maybe it won't be as terrible as we're thinking. As for the other FP, I'm leaning towards SDD for now. MFSR seems to be better to ride standby (and has a nice queue from what I hear) though of course this is subject to change after 2/19 when it goes to FP. If standby wait times spike, I might change my tune.

Also, since so many people in this thread are going in May (as we are), come join us in the May thread to talk about all of our planning!

https://www.disboards.com/threads/y...thread-flowers-are-starting-to-bloom.3733317/

I definitely will!!! Thanks!

I’m planning on FP for MFSR (late morning/early afternoon), RnRC and TSMM. Rope drop MMRR and see what boarding group I get for RotR... I figure people will rush to GE - so rope dropping MMRR will be the easier of the two - if I can be near the tapstile, I may be able to ride quickly and then have the run of the rest of HS until my boarding group or MFSR fp ...

This was kind of what I was thinking... I feel like most people with rush to GE so even though I am sure both will be mobbed, it seems like the lesser of two evils?

I think it's a good plan to wait and see once MFSR goes to FP... It seems like right now the best plan is to FP MMRR, rope drop SDD and try and hit up MFSR in the evening... we did really want to do Fantasmic so I am guessing we would have to bail on that if we did that plan. But as others mentioned, once MFSR goes to FP the standby lines might be awful even in the evening. Ugh. I love Disney so much but between the boarding group drama for RoTR and the tiered FP's, it does feel very stressful this trip for some reason.

 

[Flamingeaux]

I think my strategy is going to be to get FPs for SDD, TSMM and RnRc. RD ToT and ride this two or three times. Then head over to GE and try to ride SR using single rider. Maybe do Star Tours if the wait isn't too long. Or maybe try the new Mickey ride.

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

I’m going May 31-June 4. It’s really hard to pin down a strategy right now. We’ve never been rope drop people, so I don’t have a lot of experience with that, but it stands to reason that everyone needing to be in the park at opening to get boarding passes will negate a lot of the rope drop advantage of before. We are focusing on GE this trip, too. But we’ll also want to ride MMRR. I’ll probably get a fastpass for whichever one I can get earliest in the day and then grab the other at the end of the day. But until all the new tiering goes into affect and MMRR opens and we see what the ride capacity is, it’s going to be hard to predict what wait times are going to be.

 

[CastAStone]

If it helps, here's what you would have seen as FP availability if you were the very first person into book at 7AM this morning. I am reasonably confident that at some point in the future, they will start distributing a larger number of FPs for MMRR and probably also for MFSR (they have done that over and over with new rides). That should lead to some availability to the 30 day crowd.

	MMRR	MFSR	SDD
60​	None	None	None
60+1	Evenings	Evening singles	Evening
60+2	Mid Afternoon	Evening singles	Afternoon
60+3	Early Afternoon	Mid Afternoon	Early Afternoon
60+4	Early Afternoon	Early Afternoon	Late Morning
60+5	Early Afternoon	Late Morning	Mid Morning
60+6	Mid Morning	Late Morning	Early Morning
60+7	Mid Morning	Mid Morning	Early Morning

 

[GBRforWDW]

If it helps, here's what you would have seen as FP availability if you were the very first person into book at 7AM this morning. I am reasonably confident that at some point in the future, they will start distributing a larger number of FPs for MMRR and probably also for MFSR (they have done that over and over with new rides). That should lead to some availability to the 30 day crowd.

	MMRR	MFSR	SDD
​ 60​	None	None	None
60+1	Evenings	Evening singles	Evening
60+2	Mid Afternoon	Evening singles	Afternoon
60+3	Early Afternoon	Mid Afternoon	Early Afternoon
60+4	Early Afternoon	Early Afternoon	Late Morning
60+5	Early Afternoon	Late Morning	Mid Morning
60+6	Mid Morning	Late Morning	Early Morning
60+7	Mid Morning	Mid Morning	Early Morning

This is great info. I do know that right now, we are looking at Easter weekend/spring break starting at 60 days from today, so I could imagine that week looks somewhat different in terms of FP's already scooped up vs what we'll encounter for the May travelers. Do you think it'll look much different in a couple weeks?

 

[CastAStone]

This is great info. I do know that right now, we are looking at Easter weekend/spring break starting at 60 days from today, so I could imagine that week looks somewhat different in terms of FP's already scooped up vs what we'll encounter for the May travelers. Do you think it'll look much different in a couple weeks?

I think there will be more availability, yes. Easter is always very busy with May somewhat less so, and I expect that once they understand the true hourly run rate for MMRR and aren't just guessing, they'll release more FPs/day for that ride.

 

[Angeliki19]

Anyone considering doing single rider at Smuggler's Run? I am wondering if I should FP MMRR, run at rope drop to SDD and then just take my chances on single rider. I would be sad not to get to ride it with my kids for the first time though...