Extra Magic Hours vs. rope drop?

[BrusselsSprout]

Hello,

First a quick overview: my husband and I will spend 7 days / 7 nights (7-day tickets with Park Hopper) in POFQ in November (6-12). It is the first visit of WDW for both of us (honeymoon!). We are interested in attractions (mostly), shows and parades (less interest for meet and greet).

So far, I plan to do a lot of attractions in the morning (jet lag from Europe will hopefully help ), with quieter afternoons / evenings (wandering, shows, TS restaurant, maybe swimming at the hotel).

I am a bit concerned about the crowds. So, this is my question: what is the best between:
1) Rope dropping a park without Extra magic hours, and spend (most) the day there
2) Rope dropping a park with Extra magic hours, and hopping to another park later - in that case, should we "hop" in time to rope drop the other park, or later in the morning?

Thank you for your input!
(PS: Please excuse any language error, as I am not a native English-speaker)

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

Congratulations on your upcoming marriage! And

Either approach can work, although I wouldn't try to hop in time for rope drop at a second park. Extra magic hours are only an hour in the morning, and it can take an hour to go from park to park once you walk back to the entrance, take a bus or boat or monorail, and go through security again.

Wherever you start, plan to be at the park 30-60 minutes before park opening - if you don't have FP+ for Slinky Dog Dash, Flight of Passage, or Seven Dwarfs Mine Train and want to rope drop those attractions, be there an hour before. It is better to arrive before park opening on a regular opening day than to arrive partly through extra magic hours on an early day.

We go in the summer and have the benefit of longer hours but the drawback of heat and crowds, so we go to one park until lunchtime or after, take a break at the resort, and go to a second park around dinner until park closing.

 

[gap2368]

If staying on site and with park hopper I would rope drop the park with extra Magic Hour ( and this mean getting there at lest 30-45 sometimes an hour early). Park hopping can take up to an hour. So I would not hope to another park in till latter in the day ( 11 ish). The afternoon tend to be more crowded so going back to the hotel for a rest or a swim and then back in the evening for then show might be a good idea.

Another note you will get more then one way to do this and not one way is better then another

 

[JETSDAD]

We prefer to do non-EMH parks. The extra hour of sleep is appreciated plus we can get more done during regular park hours with FP's than we can during EMH.

 

[sponica]

I'm not sure if there's a best approach, it's really about what approach will work best for you.

I'm rarely at a park for proper rope drop, but the earlier you get to a park, generally speaking, the lower the crowds are. When I park hop, I usually finish at park 1 around noon or 1.

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

We rope drop all AM EMH and hop to another park around 11am where we start using our Fastpasses. Then back to the resort for a rest and back out in the PM to possibly a third park.

This is the method that works best for us.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[Mome Rath]

We are early risers so we mainly do 2. We rope drop EMH and do whatever we want there first, then hop to a different park. Usually lunch decides where we stay or hop to.

 

[Sara_H]

Our plans are different depending on the park. For instance, we enjoy the EMHs because we don't mind being up early but even with EMH we sometimes stay at the same park most of the day (MK, EP). For HS, we did the EMH and then left by mid-afternoon and hopped to another park because HS is not a full day park for us. You could also do this at AK because there just aren't that many rides, however some would disagree and stay at AK all day. I wouldn't plan on EMH and then hopping to another park for their rope drop just because you wouldn't have enough time.

 

[Day-Day]

The parks are usually not so crowded during the dates you plan to visit. The wait times for attractions can still be long though if they are not running at full capacity and the parks are not open as long as they are during other times of the year. I don't know what will change due to Star Wars : Galaxy's Edge by then.

The attractions only use standby lines during the Extra Magic Hour (EMH) so the standby queue moves quicker than later in the day. Once the fastpass lines open up, the standby lines slow down and begin to grow longer.

We always rope drop; sometimes for Extra Magic Hour and sometimes a park that only has regular opening. It is usually very easy to see that the parks become more crowded after 2 or 3 hours in the park. If we are there during a crowded period, we often leave the park around 1100 before eating lunch or eat lunch and then leave and usually go to the resort before going back to a park.

When we leave the park around 1100, I am always amazed at the number of people that are entering the parks as we are exiting.

 

[Meglen]

I'm going to say do neither... Just book early morning fps and refresh your way to other rides. When me and my husband went for the first time for our honeymoon (congratulations btw) we went with the same plan. Early morning and head back at mid day. Didn't work out that way we we're up and out by 7 am and didn't return most nights till 12am. It's such an amazing place but you lose track of time . This go around we are not leaving our resort till 9am at the earliest.

GL with what ever plan ! It's going to work out and be a blast either way.

 

[jess20k]

Rope drops are key to get in a good chunk of attractions. EMH rope drops are obviously the best option, but even regular rope drop will help a lot. If it is EMH and it starts to get really crowded after a couple hours, then head over to another park for a bit. This is what we tend to do. Then we go back to our resort to relax and swim. Then we head out to a park later for dinner and more fun. But, rope drops really are a huge huge help. I don't schedule my fast passes until at least an hour or so after park opening if we are doing rope drop, because you get so much done in that hour or so.

 

[cgattis]

First let me say please don’t apologize for your English—it’s better than many native speakers

I would recommend planning in some down time at your resort, like a romantic carriage ride, a night in the lounge with YeeHa Bob, and/or a boat ride over to Disney Springs for dinner and drinks. It’s your honeymoon—try to squeeze in some romance LOL. Just saying the resorts are all lovely in their own ways too; if it’s your first visit, you’ll enjoy seeing some of them. Plus, even if you’re “just walking around,” 7 straight park days is pretty brutal. But you can see a LOT of it in 7 days and still make a little time to rest in between. You’ll be back

 

[glamdring269]

I usually do #2 but have considered opting for a different option than either of the ones you've listed.

3) RD a non-EMH park. Hop to another park later. It's basically the same strategy as #2 but you get more sleep.

Granted we will be going during F&W and the parks will now have crazy EMH so will have to do RD-EMH for some parks regardless.