Feedback on our ride strategy for weekend visit in February?

[smiles33]

We are returning for a 2 day weekend visit in Feb. and haven't been for 2 years. I'd love to get some feedback on how to approach our ride planning. I *know* things always come up, but I want to have a plan and back-up options to make the most of a very short 2 day trip.

We are staying off-site and will not have MM as we're only going to be in the parks for 2 days. I am opting for parkhoppers as Space Mountain and RSR are our two favorite rides and I want to maximize the number of times we can ride over our 2 days. We do rope drop, but given our DDs' ages, we tend to return to the hotel by 8 or 9 pm. We are also just flying in for the weekend so on Sunday, we have to leave the park by 5 pm to get our 7:20 pm flight out of SNA. So I'm trying to be realistic about what we can do: RSR and HSM as many times as we can! Everything else will be icing on the cake.

Day 1 (Saturday):

• Start at DCA at 8 am (since DL will have MM and EE) and ride RSR together in standby. Does Wide Right still work?
• I want to pick up RSR FP at some point Saturday morning either before or after we ride standby. Is it possible to get 2 sets of FP in one day? Should I try to get FP before we ride standby?
• After RSR, I will head to DL for HSM FP while DH and DDs will ride TSMM (I like it, but it sometimes makes me dizzy so I'm fine skipping it). Anyone know what the return time for HSM FP tend to be? When do they run out?
• DD9 and I will ride Screamin' standby (I hope!) while DH takes DD6 to Ariel and maybe some of the Paradise Pier rides.
• We have a lunch res at Carthay Circle (we've never been!) at 12 noon. I hope we will ride HSM after lunch. If HSM is after lunch, then we can do the Lunar New Year meet-and-greet beforehand (starts at 11 am at Paradise Pier Gardens). If HSM is before lunch, I hope we can still get back to DCA by 12 noon. Should I change the time of this res?
• Assuming it will start to be really crowded after lunch, we might do the character M&Gs at DL, the Frozen sing-along, The Disney Jr show, Jedi show, etc. depending on where we are (DL or DCA). Maybe try to get Soarin' FP, too, as that's something we can do all together. Then we'll watch the parades and fireworks at DL. I'm hoping to get a RSR FP for evening/night time to end our first day!

Day 2 (Sunday):

• Start at DL since DCA has EE for on-site guests. DD9 and I will head straight to HSM. I'm not sure what DH and DD6 will do--maybe send them to Fantasyland for Dumbo and TeaCups? I'll ask DH to get 4 HSM FP while DD9 and I ride it standby.
• I'll run and get RSR FP while DH takes DDs to something (maybe a show or whatever character M&G/shows we didn't see the day before).

Feedback? Should we not be avoiding the park with early entry? Tips? Thanks in advance!

 

[agamble]

• I want to pick up RSR FP at some point Saturday morning either before or after we ride standby. Is it possible to get 2 sets of FP in one day? Should I try to get FP before we ride standby?

You can get 2 sets in a day if they don't run out too fast that day and you get them early. I would say send DH to get FP and the rest of you go get in line. Others may say that is rude though and not recommend.

• Assuming it will start to be really crowded after lunch, we might do the character M&Gs at DL, the Frozen sing-along, The Disney Jr show, Jedi show, etc. depending on where we are (DL or DCA). Maybe try to get Soarin' FP, too, as that's something we can do all together. Then we'll watch the parades and fireworks at DL. I'm hoping to get a RSR FP for evening/night time to end our first day!

If you want your girls to be in the Jedi show, you'll have to pre-register them. If you want to just watch the show then it doesn't matter.

• Start at DL since DCA has EE for on-site guests. DD9 and I will head straight to HSM. I'm not sure what DH and DD6 will do--maybe send them to Fantasyland for Dumbo and TeaCups? I'll ask DH to get 4 HSM FP while DD9 and I ride it standby.

You don't really need your DH to get the FP for you. You and DD9 can get the FP on your way to get on the ride. That way your DH and DD6 can head straight to Fantasyland for their rides without having the long walk into Tomorrowland.

Short trips can be fun. I just want to say expect it to be busy as weekends can be crazy. Have a good trip!

 

[smiles33]

Thanks, agamble! I have to research the Jedi show, as the girls only watched the Stars Wars movies this year so we never did it before. I didn't realize we had to pre-register!

Also, I'm the FP runner as DH will be in an ECV (he's had 1 knee surgery, 2 hip surgeries, and is about to get a third hip surgery later this year, all at the "ripe" old age of 40!). I can understand how annoyed people might be if I slip in late to the standby line to find my family because I got FP first. I'll just get them after we ride.