Hollywood Studios EPH and MP help?

[Sydnerella]

I was asked by my college daughter to help with park planning - she’s going with a group from her college. For HS I’m struggling a bit with the new rope drop procedures and LLs. Can anyone please help me with her request below?

Please help me develop a park touring plan for my friend and I during early May at Disneys Hollywood Studios using early park entry and lightning lane multipass. I want to maximize the number of attractions including the best shows. Right now we don’t want to include an individual lighting lane for Rise of the Resistance. We would ride it but decided to pay for others instead during the trip since we have had it go down so much in the past. Thank you Mom!

Thanks all in advance for your help

 

[Sydnerella]

I was asked by my college daughter to help with park planning - she’s going with a group from her college. For HS I’m struggling a bit with the new rope drop procedures and LLs. Can anyone please help me with her request below?

Please help me develop a park touring plan for my friend and I during early May at Disneys Hollywood Studios using early park entry and lightning lane multipass. I want to maximize the number of attractions including the best shows. Right now we don’t want to include an individual lighting lane for Rise of the Resistance. We would ride it but decided to pay for others instead during the trip since we have had it go down so much in the past. Thank you Mom!

Thanks all in advance for your help

Bump?

Help please! Thoughts on a plan or point me to a previous thread or post to check out.

 

[cisco911]

I would actually recommend buying the LL for Rise if its a must because it does go down so often. Last time we tried to rope drop it instead of buying and it was down at park opening and we were on the other side of the park when it went back up and the lines were crazy long all day. If you buy it, you are basically guaranteed to get on at some point and can focus on the other rides. I would buy that and rope drop SDD and book LLMP for others and then strategize the rest around that.

 

[kylenne]

I second the advice to purchase Rise, but if you're not willing to do that, rope drop it and make sure you have a plan B if it's not open. It's really crucial to be near the front of the pack at EE everywhere but especially HS, for this reason. If you're at the front and Rise is down, it's a lot easier to pivot to Slinky Dog (which is relatively close by). You'll still be at a disadvantage if you have to do this BUT if it comes back up by the time you're done at SDD you're still close enough to jump over there. SDD also moves a lot faster when there's no LLs to merge.

The real reason I prefer buying Rise though is it sets you up for a much less stressful morning. Zigging when everyone else is zagging is really the best way to tackle HS. Buy Rise and prebook SDD, Toy Story Mania, and Tower. Make sure at least one of those is in the first hour of park opening.

Arrive 1 hr prior to EE, start down Sunset at Tower (if you'd like to ride it twice) or RNRC (if you don't), and work your way back. The overwhelming majority of people rope drop Rise or Slinky so you should be able to get one or both Sunset rides done during EE and still walk straight into the preshow for MMRR afterwards. The park will be officially open around this time so this is when you want to tap into your first LL. Preferably this will be one of the Toy Story attractions. When you go to start booking additional LLs prioritize RNRC and MMRR because they sell out faster than MFSR.

I like to buy Rise for about 10:30am because the earlier the better it tends to behave, barring those mornings it's down for EE. But we usually like to stop for breakfast at Ronto Roasters after MMRR and this itinerary leaves us in Batuu so we can catch Mando's first set after we eat, probably do MFSR (either via LL or standby, it's still pretty low this early), and then hit up Rise.

 

[Disnsyncey]

Arrive 1 hr prior to EE, start down Sunset at Tower (if you'd like to ride it twice) or RNRC (if you don't), and work your way back. The overwhelming majority of people rope drop Rise or Slinky so you should be able to get one or both Sunset rides done during EE and still walk straight into the preshow for MMRR afterwards. The park will be officially open around this time so this is when you want to tap into your first LL. Preferably this will be one of the Toy Story attractions. When you go to start booking additional LLs prioritize RNRC and MMRR because they sell out faster than MFSR.

Sunset has been our strategy for a while now, it's so easy to get both done! Someone "told" us that if they let EE into the park closer to 8am that Rise IS running, so we pivoted that day, only to find it down when we got to GE......so we booked it back to Sunset....still got RnR and ToT done before EE was over, but we weren't able to hop right into MMRR.....other times, we are always at MMRR before the rest of the world gets there, 3 rides done in a park of headliners is pretty amazing!

And the even better trick, RnR loads quicker than ToT, so do RnR first to get a better shot at a low line for ToT!

 

[kylenne]

And the even better trick, RnR loads quicker than ToT, so do RnR first to get a better shot at a low line for ToT!

I don't like that because if Tower's only running one side, which is not uncommon, you're screwed. That's why I always start there. Being in the first load at Tower ensures it won't affect you if they are, and RNRC cycles so many guests when the preshow's not running and no LL guests are getting merged that it doesn't make a difference. ime waits build a lot faster at Tower anyway.

I've been doing Tower - RNRC - MMRR for years now and it's easier to get both Sunset rides done at EE if you start at Tower. You also don't waste time backtracking. Only a couple of times I haven't been able to walk straight into MMRR preshow doing it this way were both when RNRC had a slight delay, but being in the first load for Tower meant I wasn't too adversely affected. Maybe I waited 5 min at MMRR.

 

[Disnsyncey]

I don't like that because if Tower's only running one side, which is not uncommon, you're screwed. That's why I always start there. Being in the first load at Tower ensures it won't affect you if they are, and RNRC cycles so many guests when the preshow's not running and no LL guests are getting merged that it doesn't make a difference. ime waits build a lot faster at Tower anyway.

I've been doing Tower - RNRC - MMRR for years now and it's easier to get both Sunset rides done at EE if you start at Tower. You also don't waste time backtracking. Only a couple of times I haven't been able to walk straight into MMRR preshow doing it this way were both when RNRC had a slight delay, but being in the first load for Tower meant I wasn't too adversely affected. Maybe I waited 5 min at MMRR.

good thoughts.....

Maybe I just have a complex that the RnR line moves so glacially slow the rest of the day so I need to be on the first limo

 

[Sydnerella]

I don't like that because if Tower's only running one side, which is not uncommon, you're screwed. That's why I always start there. Being in the first load at Tower ensures it won't affect you if they are, and RNRC cycles so many guests when the preshow's not running and no LL guests are getting merged that it doesn't make a difference. ime waits build a lot faster at Tower anyway.

I've been doing Tower - RNRC - MMRR for years now and it's easier to get both Sunset rides done at EE if you start at Tower. You also don't waste time backtracking. Only a couple of times I haven't been able to walk straight into MMRR preshow doing it this way were both when RNRC had a slight delay, but being in the first load for Tower meant I wasn't too adversely affected. Maybe I waited 5 min at MMRR.

Thanks! I get this logic, but do they skip the preshow for TOT during the first (or all) EE rides? My daughter has rode many times but friends have not so she wants them to see the pre-show. Does RNRR also skip preshow during EE? I would hope ROTR does the whole 20-min experience but guess I don’t know.

 

[Harmacist]

Do they get the onsite 7 day+ length of stay LL booking advantage and what day of trip is HS?

Ive found that if you have the 7 day booking window that on day 1 SDD is probably gone or very late in the evening, 7+1 you can get SDD early afternoon, and 7+2 you have all day availability. Of course this can fluctuate with crowd levels.

If they don't want to buy RoR and SDD is unavailable for LLMP, you want/need to rope drop one or the other. I'd probably to SDD since its a shorter ride that there's a slight chance you can rush over to RoR before real park open.

If they get SDD then the choice is made, and you try for RoR. Now the last time I hit HS for EE we walked to RoR and were told it wasn't opening for EE. We decided to rush over to ToT. We were able to hit ToT, RnR and be in line for MMRR before full park opening. This is what we usually do since we've been on Rise a lot, I'm also not going to pay for Rise again until the cannons work, though I will wait in line if its short enough.

As for what rides to book on LLMP. SDD should be the #1 choice for tier 1. If thats not available Id lean RnR. Smugglers run should be the last choice since that sells out the slowest. For tier 2 rides, TSM should be first followed by ToT. The other option is to book a filler ride (usually Star Tours) for as early at park open as possible to open up more LLMP options like stacking and better modifying options. I rarely have a tough time getting in shows without a LL so I don't really book those unless it fits easily.

 

[Harmacist]

Thanks! I get this logic, but do they skip the preshow for TOT during the first (or all) EE rides? My daughter has rode many times but friends have not so she wants them to see the pre-show. Does RNRR also skip preshow during EE? I would hope ROTR does the whole 20-min experience but guess I don’t know.

Ive skipped the reshow for ToT the last few times for EE at HS. I'm not sure if they have it running in the room if you want to watch it though. That could be an option if the video is playing, it won't be the full experience but close. The door is just open and we've just walked through. For RnR the video has been playing but we just walk through the room.