Help me plan our day AK and HS Park hop

[Redsred3]

Hello! We are doing a quick weekend trip, and doing one park day. We will start at AK and then HS mid afternoon (around 3ish). I can't really tell what time you can get certain lightening lanes and FOP ILL, but I want to use our time well, so we can go back to the resort for an hour or two in between the two parks. I do remember Kilimanjaro Safaris didn't have a first thing LL last time, but that might have been because we had early entry. We will have early entry this time too, and plan to rope drop. We have been before, except one person. But she is pregant and willl set out a lot of things anyways. We will be using Genie+ and will buy an ILL for FOP (prefer not to rope drop this). But I feel like I heard somewhere the times for that don't start right away. Basically, I need help figuring out the order I should try and get lightening lanes, based on it being a park hopping day, and stacking for the afternoon. Here are the things we want to make sure we do at each park:

AK:
FOP
Na'vi
Kilimanjaro Safaris
Everest
Festival of the Lion King
*birds of flight if we have time
*MAYBE Dinosaur, but not a must do

HS:
ROTR
Smugglers
TOT
TSM
Indiana jones/ or an indoor show to get away from heat
MMRR
Fantasmic
**I have a reservation at Round Up Rodeo...should I cancel this? Or will we have time?

Thanks for any input or light you can shine for me! With G+ last time, we were able to knock a lot out, in a shorter amount of time..BUT we are going in a busier time (June vs early Feb) an park hopping, so I am a little overwhelmed figuring it out.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Wow, now that is an ambitious day at the parks! It sounds like you're staying at a Disney resort, so you should be on the app at 7AM to purchase ILLs for FOP and ROTR (for later in the day). Then you should prioritize your first LL purchase. You won't be able to make a second LL selection until 2 hours after AK opens that morning (unless you actually tap in and ride your first selection, then you can make a second LL at that time). But your second selection for LL might be something you'll want to do later at HS, based on your preferences. Remember, you can start making LL selections at the second park after the return times for that attraction have reached 2PM. Then in between your ILL times and LL selections, you'll have to decide which standby lines make the most sense for you! If crowds aren't too bad, you should get to many of the attractions on the list!! As for cancelling RUR? You need to eat sometime, right? Why not there?! Have fun.....

 

[Redsred3]

Wow, now that is an ambitious day at the parks! It sounds like you're staying at a Disney resort, so you should be on the app at 7AM to purchase ILLs for FOP and ROTR (for later in the day). Then you should prioritize your first LL purchase. You won't be able to make a second LL selection until 2 hours after AK opens that morning (unless you actually tap in and ride your first selection, then you can make a second LL at that time). But your second selection for LL might be something you'll want to do later at HS, based on your preferences. Remember, you can start making LL selections at the second park after the return times for that attraction have reached 2PM. Then in between your ILL times and LL selections, you'll have to decide which standby lines make the most sense for you! If crowds aren't too bad, you should get to many of the attractions on the list!! As for cancelling RUR? You need to eat sometime, right? Why not there?! Have fun.....

Do you know the earliest ILL times they have for FOP? I've done a search, but can't find anything..and it won't let me see on MDE yet. If I can get it relatively close to park open, I think my plan would be to RD safaris, then head to pandora and do ILL FOP/ 1st LL Na'vi...then book a LL for later at HS (prob TOT or MMRR will be in the afternoon by then). Then really the only "ride" left at AK is Everest, and that usually is 30'ish min tops.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

I believe the time windows for ILL begin at 'official' park opening (not the early 30 minute opening time). The earliest times might be popular, though, and go quickly.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

OK- so the easy stuff first, Roundup Rodeo is a long meal. I've not eaten there but there's been lots of reviews and folks on the boards that have mentioned that it's slow. Might want to look further into that since you're short on time. You will have no real issues at AK but DHS may prove otherwise. What time of year are you going as crowds may dictate what you get done?

FOP- if you buy the iLL$, you get to choose the time, unlike G+, you sort of take what you can and modify later. As long as you're staying at a disney resort, you can do this at 7am. Safaris are not running first thing for ETPE so I would RD Navi and try for safaris post Navi. Are you going to buy an ilL$ for ROTR?

Make sure your G plans are prioritized and you've included your park you plan to hop to in MDE. You'll need to keep checking for LLs and as the ride return times begin to show up post 2pm. I think your DHS plans may be hard pressed if you keep RR ADR but it's doable, just not sure what you'll accomplish with G+. You'll really need to keep refreshing and checking G+ often. It's all doable but you'll likely have some standby waits.

Your G+ DHS priority order should be smugglers, MMRR, TOT, in that order but again since hopping, you may not hit those. You could reverse engineer your plans and RD DHS, hop midday to AK and return to DHS for the evening but that's just more logistics and if you're doing the bus, can eat up some time.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Do you know the earliest ILL times they have for FOP? I've done a search, but can't find anything..and it won't let me see on MDE yet. If I can get it relatively close to park open, I think my plan would be to RD safaris, then head to pandora and do ILL FOP/ 1st LL Na'vi...then book a LL for later at HS (prob TOT or MMRR will be in the afternoon by then). Then really the only "ride" left at AK is Everest, and that usually is 30'ish min tops.

FYI-If AK is open early for resort guests, ETPE, the Safari isn't open yet for ETPE- here's what's open for ETPE-
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/guest-services/early-entry/

Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park

• Avatar Flight of Passage
• DINOSAUR
• Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain
• It’s Tough to be a Bug!
• Na’vi River Journey
• TriceraTop Spin

*Please note that attractions are subject to change and may not always be operational. To learn about any unplanned closures or long-term refurbishments, please view details about the attraction on our website or mobile app.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Do you know the earliest ILL times they have for FOP? I've done a search, but can't find anything..and it won't let me see on MDE yet. If I can get it relatively close to park open, I think my plan would be to RD safaris, then head to pandora and do ILL FOP/ 1st LL Na'vi...then book a LL for later at HS (prob TOT or MMRR will be in the afternoon by then). Then really the only "ride" left at AK is Everest, and that usually is 30'ish min tops.

I know you won't be at AK all day but DTB has some good RD strategies for AK-
https://www.disneytouristblog.com/early-entry-animal-kingdom-park-opening-strategy/

 

[Redsred3]

FYI-If AK is open early for resort guests, ETPE, the Safari isn't open yet for ETPE- here's what's open for ETPE-
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/en_CA/guest-services/early-entry/

Disney's Animal Kingdom Theme Park

• Avatar Flight of Passage
• DINOSAUR
• Expedition Everest – Legend of the Forbidden Mountain
• It’s Tough to be a Bug!
• Na’vi River Journey
• TriceraTop Spin

*Please note that attractions are subject to change and may not always be operational. To learn about any unplanned closures or long-term refurbishments, please view details about th++e attraction on our website or mobile app.

Thank you. So maybe I RD Na'vi, try for an early FOP ILL after Na'vi (at park open) if I can. And then head to safari? Unless I can't get FOP early, and then Ill just zig zag and go to Safari and Na'vi and then back to Pandora whever my ILL ends up being.

Yes, we are going to get an ILL for ROTR. We did HS last time, went around 1pm for a few hours, went back to the resort, and then around 6 went back to HS. We were able to do everything I listed, plus Star Tours twice and SDD. BUT we did Woodys Lunchbox..so it was faster. And it was February. But we used G+ last time too. It worked out really well...which is probably why I feel like I can park hop it with AK (the day we did AK that trip, we were done by 1pm). But G+ with park hopping, and the fact its June, may make it more tricky.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Thank you. So maybe I RD Na'vi, try for an early FOP ILL after Na'vi (at park open) if I can. And then head to safari? Unless I can't get FOP early, and then Ill just zig zag and go to Safari and Na'vi and then back to Pandora whever my ILL ends up being.

Yes, we are going to get an ILL for ROTR. We did HS last time, went around 1pm for a few hours, went back to the resort, and then around 6 went back to HS. We were able to do everything I listed, plus Star Tours twice and SDD. BUT we did Woodys Lunchbox..so it was faster. And it was February. But we used G+ last time too. It worked out really well...which is probably why I feel like I can park hop it with AK (the day we did AK that trip, we were done by 1pm). But G+ with park hopping, and the fact its June, may make it more tricky.

That's the downside with G+, sometimes we end up backtracking too. I agree to RD Navi over Everest since that standby line is rarely that long. I think the only potential issue with DHS is your ADR. Even if the meal doesn't take that long, say just an hour, that will cut into park time. I think you can do it all too but you just never know what the Genie will give you lol-

 

[Redsred3]

That's the downside with G+, sometimes we end up backtracking too. I agree to RD Navi over Everest since that standby line is rarely that long. I think the only potential issue with DHS is your ADR. Even if the meal doesn't take that long, say just an hour, that will cut into park time. I think you can do it all too but you just never know what the Genie will give you lol-

They had just come out with the modify feature the last time we went and that was a GAME CHANGER for us with G+. But we might have just gotten lucky. I guess I can just play it by ear on the ADR for Roundup Rodeo, depending on how my LL stack at HS.

 

[glocon]

It’s been a while since I’ve been, but if it were me, I’d rope drop Navi, then head to EE and D! then head to the Safari.
FoP whenever you can get the ILL$ and FotLK between rides. Bird show between rides when it fits as well.

I feel like from all the reading here on the Dis, you could get those first three rides done in the first half hour-45 minutes if you are at the front of ride drop.

I wouldn’t try and squeeze FoP in first thing since it takes a bit of time and you’ll get a ILL$ for it. You could probably be in line for the Safari at or near regular park open time that way.

I’d use all the G+ for HS and stack as mentioned above.

And if you read about Roundup Rodeo on the restaurant boards you see that it has been taking about 1.5-ish hours and sometimes longer to eat there, so I’d skip it unless you skip resort time (unless you’re driving yourselves or Ubering, you may have time to go back to resort).
Since Roundup Rodeo takes so long, you’ll have plenty of time to sit in the a/c and rest, so maybe schedule that for when you first get to HS for downtime there.

Like I mentioned above, I haven’t been since pre-C19, but have been reading up here to plan our September trips and this is what I would do.

 

[Redsred3]

It’s been a while since I’ve been, but if it were me, I’d rope drop Navi, then head to EE and D! then head to the Safari.
FoP whenever you can get the ILL$ and FotLK between rides. Bird show between rides when it fits as well.

I feel like from all the reading here on the Dis, you could get those first three rides done in the first half hour-45 minutes if you are at the front of ride drop.

I wouldn’t try and squeeze FoP in first thing since it takes a bit of time and you’ll get a ILL$ for it. You could probably be in line for the Safari at or near regular park open time that way.

I’d use all the G+ for HS and stack as mentioned above.

And if you read about Roundup Rodeo on the restaurant boards you see that it has been taking about 1.5-ish hours and sometimes longer to eat there, so I’d skip it unless you skip resort time (unless you’re driving yourselves or Ubering, you may have time to go back to resort).
Since Roundup Rodeo takes so long, you’ll have plenty of time to sit in the a/c and rest, so maybe schedule that for when you first get to HS for downtime there.

Like I mentioned above, I haven’t been since pre-C19, but have been reading up here to plan our September trips and this is what I would do.

Thank you I have two strategies for AK. Either RD Na'vi (while everyone else is doing FOP) or RD towards Safaris and hang out on the Gorilla Falls trail until park open and then jump in line..then do Na'vi/FOP depending on my ILL time and EE around it. Think we may just do the feathered friends show and skip Festival of the lion king and the showtimes for that are tricky.

I figure if everyone is doing well and wants to stay longer at AK, we can. But planning about 2 hours in between just in case people are cranky or too tired. I think my plan as of now is to probably cancel Round up Rodeo, but wait until day of, just before the 2 hour window. Because if everyone is good to go to HS earlier and not worried about resting in betweeen (2pm instead of 3-3:30), then we have time to probably do it. But if they want to relax a bit, I'll have time to cancel.