Help me pick a 2-day park-hopping itinerary!

[MousetersInc]

Planning a trip for the MLK zone, January 14-15 (with a couple of days before at Universal). This is our second trip to Disney; our first was in 2019. There are of course many things that are new since then! I won't use the phrase "must-dos," but there are certainly goals that I'd like to achieve. On our first trip we did no park-hopping, just one day per park, so I don't have the practical experience to set realistic expectations of how much we can accomplish. Help me plan a 2-day itinerary, taking into account ILLs, maybe EEH, etc. We're not commandos and don't want a breakneck pace, but the youngest kid is 11, so we can move reasonably.

Goals:
* Galaxy's Edge. We love Star Wars, and it would be good not only to ride Rise and Smugglers, but to have a pace that lets us fully appreciate Black Spire and feel like we're there. Not making any promises about Saavi's or Droid Depot, but at least want to do the land itself justice.
* As long as we're at HS I'm sure we'd like to do ToT and Aerosmith; plus, we missed Mickey's Runaway Railway last time.
* Cosmic Rewind—I'd be really disappointed if we didn't manage to ride this.
* Would be nice to ride Ratatouille too, though that's less vital. We also missed TestTrack last time, so would like to do that. And might eat at Space 220, though I'm not sure about the $$$....
* Although there's nothing new that I know of at AK or MK, I'm sure we'd like to do the major headliner rides.

 

[g-dad66]

I think Hollywood Studios is the most effective park to stack afternoon and evening Lightning Lanes for, and Animal Kngdom is the least effective.

Magic Kingdom is probably the second best park to stack afternoon and evening Lightning Lanes for, so I recommed hopping to HS and MK.

Epcot is only slightlly problematical as one of the two morning parks. If you are willing to pay ILL$ for Guardians, you will for sure be able to ride it. Then you could get your first LL for either Remy or Test Track, and rope drop the other one. You'll be fine without LL for everything else at Epcot except Frozen Ever After.

At Animal Kingdom, if you are willing to pay ILL$ for Flight of Passage, and if you rope drop Navi (during early entry 1/2 hour, if eligible for it), then do Safari (which won't start running until official park opening), you won't have any need for LL at AK at all. If not eligible for Early Entry, you might just want to skip Navi (you won't miss much).

So I would recommend hopping from AK to HS, and getting Slinky Dog as your first LL at 7:00-ish a.m.

After your first LL at Epcot, you should be able to get late afternoon time for Jungle Cruise or Peter Pan at MK.

 

[g-dad66]

This is really interesting.

I got to thinking about how I would do a 2-day 4-park trip, and in checking out thrill-data.com's data for today, here is what could have been done today.

Hop from AK to HS
7:05 am: Get Slinky Dog LL (3:00)
11:30 am (Nothing else at HS will be after the 2:00 park hop time until 11:30): Get Millenium Falcon LL (2:00)
1:30 pm: Get Rock n Roller Coaster LL (3:00)
3:00 pm (tap in RnRc): Get Tower of Terror LL (5:00)
5:00 pm: Get Mickey & Minnie Railway LL (6:30)
6:30 pm: (tap in MMRR): Get Toy Story Mania LL (7:00)

Hop from EP to MK
7:00 am: Get Test Track LL at EP (10:00)
10:00 am (tap in Test Track): Get Jungle Cruise LL (3:30)
12:00 pm: Get Peter Pan LL (5:00)
2:00 pm: Get Splash LL (5:00)
4:00 pm: Get Big Thunder LL (5:30)
5:30 pm (tap in Big Thunder): Get Space Mtn LL (7:00)
7:00 pm (tap in Space): Get Haunted Mansion LL (10:00)
9:00 pm: Get Pirates LL (9:30)

Hmm...I'm giving serious thought now to a 2-day WDW trip instead of the 4 to 6 day trips of the past. Purchasing G+ for 2 days, and purchasing 3 ILL$ (would skip the Mine Train) has got to be a lot cheaper than 2 to 4 extra days of park tickets and lodging.

Of course, what would work today wouldn't work during busier days, but we could sure try to avoid peak days!

Thanks for giving me the impetus to see the money-saving possibilities.

 

[g-dad66]

OK, now I've really gone off the deep end!

Here is how I would try to do our "ideal 2 days" assuming the LL choices in my previous post would work out:

AK
7:30 am: Navi
8:00 am: Safari
8:45 am: Everest
9:15 am: Dinosaur
10:00 am: Lion King
10:45 am: Lunch
11:30 Feathered Friends
12:15 Flight of Passage ILL
1:00: Bug or Kali

HS
2:00: Falcon LL
2:30: Star Tours
3:00: RnRC LL
3:45: Rise ILL
5:00 Tower of Terror LL
5:30: Dinner
6:30: Mickey & Minnie LL
7:00: Toy Story Mania LL
8:00: Fantasmic



EP
8:00 Remy
8:30 Soarin
9:00 Guardians ILL
10:00 Test Track LL
10:30 Mission Space
11:00 Spaceship Earth
11:30 Club Cool
12:00: Lunch in Japan
1:00: American Adventure or Frozen

MK
2:00: Monsters Inc Laugh Floor
2:45: Mickey’s Philharmagic
3:30: Carousel of Progress or Hall of Presidents or Mine Train ILL
4:30: Jungle Cruise LL
5:00: Splash LL
5:30: Big Thunder LL
6:00: Peter Pan LL
6:15: Dinner
7:00: Space Mtn LL
7:30: TTA
8:00: Buzz
8:30: Under the Sea
9:30: Pirates LL
10:00: Haunted Mansion LL

We could hit everything we would want to do in just 2 days. I'm stoked!

 

[MousetersInc]

This is really interesting.

I got to thinking about how I would do a 2-day 4-park trip, and in checking out thrill-data.com's data for today, here is what could have been done today.

Hop from AK to HS
7:05 am: Get Slinky Dog LL (3:00)
11:30 am (Nothing else at HS will be after the 2:00 park hop time until 11:30): Get Millenium Falcon LL (2:00)
1:30 pm: Get Rock n Roller Coaster LL (3:00)
3:00 pm (tap in RnRc): Get Tower of Terror LL (5:00)
5:00 pm: Get Mickey & Minnie Railway LL (6:30)
6:30 pm: (tap in MMRR): Get Toy Story Mania LL (7:00)

Hop from EP to MK
7:00 am: Get Test Track LL at EP (10:00)
10:00 am (tap in Test Track): Get Jungle Cruise LL (3:30)
12:00 pm: Get Peter Pan LL (5:00)
2:00 pm: Get Splash LL (5:00)
4:00 pm: Get Big Thunder LL (5:30)
5:30 pm (tap in Big Thunder): Get Space Mtn LL (7:00)
7:00 pm (tap in Space): Get Haunted Mansion LL (10:00)
9:00 pm: Get Pirates LL (9:30)

Hmm...I'm giving serious thought now to a 2-day WDW trip instead of the 4 to 6 day trips of the past. Purchasing G+ for 2 days, and purchasing 3 ILL$ (would skip the Mine Train) has got to be a lot cheaper than 2 to 4 extra days of park tickets and lodging.

Of course, what would work today wouldn't work during busier days, but we could sure try to avoid peak days!

Thanks for giving me the impetus to see the money-saving possibilities.

Thanks! If you don't mind, as a hoppin' newbie, I'd like to "unpack" some of these details:

• How are you getting from park to park? I mean, I imagine EP to MK is probably best via monorail. And AK to anywhere has to start with bus. Is it best just to stay on the bus the whole way, or does one save time by jumping onto something else halfway through? (And I suppose Uber could always improve on just about anything.)
• In your second post, it looks like you've got only an hour for "ride your last ride in the first park, make your way out of the park, get to second park, get through security, get to first ride in new park." I'm worried about how long that process could take, but an hour sounds good?
• We'll be driving to WDW. I assume that the worst park-to-park transportation option is "get back to your car, drive to the second park, park there, etc." In fact, if we're staying at a Disney hotel, I imagine the best strategy is "leave your car at the hotel, take Disney transpo to rope drop." Right? Or does the fact that we don't have to wait for the next bus negate the hassle of parking?
• It looks like you're using LLs mainly on the second park of the day. Is that just because the overall theory is "use lower morning crowds to your advantage in the first park, then LLs and ILLs in the afternoon park"?
• Looks like you accomplish all this without EEH or After Hours. If one did shell out (via hotel or via AH) for them... would it be crazy to put the EEH park first and then come back to it for EEH? Like, say, start the day at EP, hop to MK, and after dinner come back to EP to get a second ride on Cosmic Rewind? Hm—as I say it out loud, no, it doesn't sound crazy. Now I just need to decide: if we can in fact "do it all" without EEH, is it worth it to "do some extra," or can I downgrade to a non-deluxe (or even off-property)? Hm... the prospect of exploring Galaxy's Edge at night with low crowds, and no worrying about what's next on the day's itinerary does sound enticing... but so does saving literally thousands of $$...

 

[g-dad66]

We have never had a car at WDW, so we use Disney bus to get from one park to another (or Monorail for MK/EP, and Skyliner if we were to do EP/HS). An hour has been enough time for us to get into the second park even if we should have to wait 30 minutes for a bus.

If you have a car, I'm not sure what your best way to hop is. Coming back for EEH at the first park could make sense if you have left your car at the first park.

And yes, the theory is that you will get the most LLs by stacking them for the second park while using Early Entry and early morning hours to take advantage of lower wait times and not need LLs in the first park.

Of course, if you don't stay onsite and thus are not eligible for Early Entry, then that would cut back on how much could get done in the first park.