HS Tour Plan: High Crowds

[projectx3]

Looking for some feedback on a general tour plan at HS.
Date: 11/20 (Sunday before Thanksgiving
Cast: Family of 5, everyone will ride everything.
Park Open: 8:30am-9:00pm
Early Entry: 8:00am

-Leave POR at 7:00am via Disney Buses (early enough?)
-Arrive at HS for rope drop.
-Rock n Rollercoaster (standby)
-Tower of Terror (standby)
-Runaway Railway (standby)
-Smugglers Run with G+. Hoping for a 10:00am timeslot.
-Snag another G+, hopefully for TSMM
-Rise, again hoping for something in the 10:00-11:00 slot
-ADR at Hollywood Brown Derby at 11:20
-Play the rest of the day by ear.

If we do this we'll be doing Slinky Dog standby... I'm thinking we do this after 6:00 when hopefully the crowds thin out... I'm thinking an hour wait? We'd love to see Fantasmic but I can't justify standing in line for two hours.

Another way to approach this would be:
-Slinky (standby)
-RnR (standby)
-ToT (standby)
-Smugglers/Rise with ILL and G+ 10:00-11:15ish
-Grab a G+ for Runaway Railway
-Lunch at Brown Derby 11:20.

Are either of these doable or is that too much in the morning? Perhaps postpone Rise until after lunch?

 

[coasternut22]

I actually think your first plan is doable if you are at the front of the rope drop pack for early entry. Buses start leaving the resort at 7 AM so be there 15 minutes before that to be on the first bus. If you do you’ll be at the front of the rope drop pack. Start with tower of terror first then do rock and roller coaster. If you do these two first and early you will be able to do Mickey and Minnies runaway railway before the regular crowd arrives. When booking your G+, book Rise first then millennium falcon. You should get a 10 AM return time no problem for millennium falcon. Have a contingency plan however. The last two times I was in Hollywood studios, rock and roller coaster was closed at rope drop.

 

[projectx3]

Start with tower of terror first then do rock and roller coaster....

Have a contingency plan however. The last two times I was in Hollywood studios, rock and roller coaster was closed at rope drop.

Wow really? Granted we haven't been to HS in a few years but back then conventional wisdom was to hit RnR first, then ToT. Which we did, and walked on ToT twice. I also didn't realize RnR had reliability problems in the morning.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

Looking for some feedback on a general tour plan at HS.
Date: 11/20 (Sunday before Thanksgiving
Cast: Family of 5, everyone will ride everything.
Park Open: 8:30am-9:00pm
Early Entry: 8:00am

-Leave POR at 7:00am via Disney Buses (early enough?)
-Arrive at HS for rope drop.
-Rock n Rollercoaster (standby)
-Tower of Terror (standby)
-Runaway Railway (standby)
-Smugglers Run with G+. Hoping for a 10:00am timeslot.
-Snag another G+, hopefully for TSMM
-Rise, again hoping for something in the 10:00-11:00 slot
-ADR at Hollywood Brown Derby at 11:20
-Play the rest of the day by ear.

If we do this we'll be doing Slinky Dog standby... I'm thinking we do this after 6:00 when hopefully the crowds thin out... I'm thinking an hour wait? We'd love to see Fantasmic but I can't justify standing in line for two hours.

Another way to approach this would be:
-Slinky (standby)
-RnR (standby)
-ToT (standby)
-Smugglers/Rise with ILL and G+ 10:00-11:15ish
-Grab a G+ for Runaway Railway
-Lunch at Brown Derby 11:20.

Are either of these doable or is that too much in the morning? Perhaps postpone Rise until after lunch?

You will waste so much time in line for SDD standby. To pay for G+ and want to ride SDD standby is a major waste of money imo. Even after 6pm it will still have a long wait. I would make SDD #1 for G+, #2 Smugglers and #3 TSM. You can pick your time for Rise given it's iLL$ so book that after you secured SDD and pick something after your ADR to allow time for other rides you might get with G+. If there will be two of you trying for G+ in the am at 7am, one of you gets SDD and the other books iLL$ for Rise later in the day. And if you can't get SDD at 7am, keep checking about 10-20 min after as more buckets may be opened up. And if not, then you plan to ride standby but I'd recommend getting in line at park close not after 6p.

I would also flip flop RD and do TOT first then RNR. RNR is not always running at opening and TOT is the more in demand ride and has more G+ demand, thus making the line longer.

 

[projectx3]

You will waste so much time in line for SDD standby. To pay for G+ and want to ride SDD standby is a major waste of money imo. Even after 6pm it will still have a long wait. I would make SDD #1 for G+, #2 Smugglers and #3 TSM. You can pick your time for Rise given it's iLL$ so book that after you secured SDD and pick something after your ADR to allow time for other rides you might get with G+. If there will be two of you trying for G+ in the am at 7am, one of you gets SDD and the other books iLL$ for Rise later in the day. And if you can't get SDD at 7am, keep checking about 10-20 min after as more buckets may be opened up. And if not, then you plan to ride standby but I'd recommend getting in line at park close not after 6p.

I would also flip flop RD and do TOT first then RNR. RNR is not always running at opening and TOT is the more in demand ride and has more G+ demand, thus making the line longer.

I certainly understand where you are coming from here. My only concern though is SDD return times jump to the afternoon so fast right at 7:00am. Sure, I can book a second LL at 10:30am (two hours after park open) but I'd rather be booking my second LL before then, hopefully for an early return time. There is some data out there that suggests booking your second LL before two hours have passed since park open will get you ahead of the wave, so to speak. But booking MFSR first means SDD is a certain standby wait. It is Jersey week which might be a reasonable comparison to Thanksgiving week, and right now at 1:20pm I'm seeing:

-Swirling Saucers: 40min (5:30 LL)
-Runaway Railway: 130min (LL Unavailable)
-MFSR: 145 min (8:25 LL)
-RnR: 60 min (7:55 LL) side note: 60 minute standby is very surprising
-SDD: 155 min (LL Unavailable)
-Star Tours: 40min (3:30 LL)
-Rise: Closed
-Toy Story: 130min (5:15 LL)
-ToT: Closed

That's a lot of late return times, but to be expected for HS. I guess if I knew for certain I could get a SDD LL for something around 10:00 I'd jump all over that but from what I'm gathering, the chances of that are slim to none. Granted, we do have two days scheduled at HS as a safeguard in case Rise is down for a long time (it is by far the #1 priority for the entire trip) so there is that option as well. But it would be nice to knock out HS in one day and possibly change our second day to MK. Ugh... at least with FP+ I could schedule the times and plan accordingly.

Anyway, I appreciate the tips as it gives me something else to chew on.

 

[butterscotchcollins]

Agreed with knocking Slinky out either first ride of the day standby or with priority #1 for G+. We were there on Saturday, high crowds and there were only like 2 cars on the track so standby absolutely crawled, it was brutal.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I certainly understand where you are coming from here. My only concern though is SDD return times jump to the afternoon so fast right at 7:00am. Sure, I can book a second LL at 10:30am (two hours after park open) but I'd rather be booking my second LL before then, hopefully for an early return time. There is some data out there that suggests booking your second LL before two hours have passed since park open will get you ahead of the wave, so to speak. But booking MFSR first means SDD is a certain standby wait. It is Jersey week which might be a reasonable comparison to Thanksgiving week, and right now at 1:20pm I'm seeing:

-Swirling Saucers: 40min (5:30 LL)
-Runaway Railway: 130min (LL Unavailable)
-MFSR: 145 min (8:25 LL)
-RnR: 60 min (7:55 LL) side note: 60 minute standby is very surprising
-SDD: 155 min (LL Unavailable)
-Star Tours: 40min (3:30 LL)
-Rise: Closed
-Toy Story: 130min (5:15 LL)
-ToT: Closed

That's a lot of late return times, but to be expected for HS. I guess if I knew for certain I could get a SDD LL for something around 10:00 I'd jump all over that but from what I'm gathering, the chances of that are slim to none. Granted, we do have two days scheduled at HS as a safeguard in case Rise is down for a long time (it is by far the #1 priority for the entire trip) so there is that option as well. But it would be nice to knock out HS in one day and possibly change our second day to MK. Ugh... at least with FP+ I could schedule the times and plan accordingly.

Anyway, I appreciate the tips as it gives me something else to chew on.

You're 100% right, you won't get an early return time for SDD, never will happen. I've tried so many times, I'm not sure if I even have met anyone who's ever gotten a return time before lunch lol. I just think it's a wash when standby SDD can be so long. You will have a slight edge for your second LL if you can get a first G+ return time before 10:30a. And yeah, this week's Jersey week crowds are nutso so it's probably a good/close comparison on availability.

 

[slbgnb]

If you go straight to SDD with early entry - how's the standby line then? Is that a recommended plan? Then ride it later in the day with the LL?