Looking for feedback on my DHS plan

[PenguinWaiters]

We head to WDW next month. I've been trying to keep up with all of the changes and finding that I need to have a pretty specific touring plan in order to figure out which FP+ times work. Let me know what you think:

DHS open 9am-7pm. Crowd level 7; EasyWDW recommended park

Arrive at 8:20
Ride TSM standby
Meet Toy Story characters
Meet Sofia the First and Jake
Rock n Roller coaster with child swap (DD's favorite, DS 46")
1-4 of us ride TOT (kids aren't sure yet)
Little Mermaid and/or Legend of Jack Sparrow (never done LJS)
11:20 (if times don't change) Disney Junior Live on Stage
FP+ for TSM 11:25-12:25
Head to Indiana Jones for 12:30 show. If we are behind may try to catch 12:40 Jedi Training instead (neither of my kids would want to participate -roller coasters yes, performing in public no)
1:25 Mama Melrose ADR (F! Package)
Muppet Vision (DS's favorite)
Try to catch Phineas and Ferb M&G when it starts back up at 3:10 (if times don't change)
FP+ for Star Tours 3:25-4:25 (hope lunch has settled!)
Cars M&G if time allows
4:10 LMA show
FP+ for Great Movie ride 5-6pm
Visit Animation Building for any further M&G; pick up CS dinner
Head to F!

Thoughts? I was wondering about trying to buy food and bring it with us into F! so that we can eat while we wait. Anyone tried that? If so, where did you grab food?

Thanks!
Terri

 

[bc7ate9]

The lines for Rockin Rollercoaster could be long by the time you do the 2 character meetings. I don't know about Jake and Sofia, but Buzz and Woody take a lot of time with each guest and the line moves pretty slow. I imagine a lot of people go straight to them after Toy Story Mania too. We've had really short wait times with Phineas and Ferb in the morning - nobody really rushes to that corner of the park, but you can get there pretty easily from Toy Story.

 

[Karbase8]

Yes I would FP RNRC or do single rider as I agree with the other poster. I would skip Legend of Jack Sparrow if it's more than a 5 minute wait total waste of time. I would try to fit in Art of Animation drawing class a hidden gem. Star Tours genereally doesn't have long waits you may not need FP but it is a 7 day. I shipped snacks down to my room so you could do that or grab food at the food court.

 

[sharonabe]

The only problem with trying to take dinner from a QS into F! is they serve it on a tray. They don't have boxes and bags like fast food outside of THE world. That makes it a little difficult to hold onto while in line. There is the Hollywood Hills QS inside the F! theater (menu below), but they don't offer much.

http://allears.net/menu/menu_fan.htm

 

[davedmaine]

We head to WDW next month. I've been trying to keep up with all of the changes and finding that I need to have a pretty specific touring plan in order to figure out which FP+ times work. Let me know what you think: DHS open 9am-7pm. Crowd level 7; EasyWDW recommended park Arrive at 8:20 Ride TSM standby Meet Toy Story characters Meet Sofia the First and Jake Rock n Roller coaster with child swap (DD's favorite, DS 46") 1-4 of us ride TOT (kids aren't sure yet) Little Mermaid and/or Legend of Jack Sparrow (never done LJS) 11:20 (if times don't change) Disney Junior Live on Stage FP+ for TSM 11:25-12:25 Head to Indiana Jones for 12:30 show. If we are behind may try to catch 12:40 Jedi Training instead (neither of my kids would want to participate -roller coasters yes, performing in public no) 1:25 Mama Melrose ADR (F! Package) Muppet Vision (DS's favorite) Try to catch Phineas and Ferb M&G when it starts back up at 3:10 (if times don't change) FP+ for Star Tours 3:25-4:25 (hope lunch has settled!) Cars M&G if time allows 4:10 LMA show FP+ for Great Movie ride 5-6pm Visit Animation Building for any further M&G; pick up CS dinner Head to F! Thoughts? I was wondering about trying to buy food and bring it with us into F! so that we can eat while we wait. Anyone tried that? If so, where did you grab food? Thanks! Terri

You're not going to enjoy your vacation with all that planning

 

[Networth]

Geez and I thought I planned way too much...

 

[PenguinWaiters]

The lines for Rockin Rollercoaster could be long by the time you do the 2 character meetings. We've had really short wait times with Phineas and Ferb in the morning - nobody really rushes to that corner of the park, but you can get there pretty easily from Toy Story.

Thanks! I wonder about that too. My hope is to try to get to both RNR and TOT before 10am when the waits start building. Not sure if that will happen though...

Yes I would FP RNRC or do single rider as I agree with the other poster. I would skip Legend of Jack Sparrow if it's more than a 5 minute wait total waste of time. I would try to fit in Art of Animation drawing class a hidden gem. Star Tours genereally doesn't have long waits you may not need FP but it is a 7 day. I shipped snacks down to my room so you could do that or grab food at the food court.

I thought about FP+ for RNR but decided to only FP those rides we can all do together. We all love TSM so that seemed like the better fit for my family. Thanks for the tips on LJS and the drawing class. I would lose the Star Tours FP but there isn't really anything else in that tier that I would choose in place of it since I don't know if my kids will go on TOT. Maybe I will switch to TOT anyway to try to bypass some lines and if they decide not to do it I can try to change it on the fly.

The only problem with trying to take dinner from a QS into F! is they serve it on a tray. There is the Hollywood Hills QS inside the F! theater (menu below), but they don't offer much.

http://allears.net/menu/menu_fan.htm

Yeah, I was wondering about that whole tray issue. Thanks for the link - I will check it out as a possible option. How is the CS close to F!? We might just stop and eat before we go in.

You're not going to enjoy your vacation with all that planning.

LOL. Don't worry about us - I'm the type to plan a lot ahead of time so that I can adjust on the fly. We've been a few times before and this touring style works well for us.

Thanks,
Terri

 

[summermac]

You're not going to enjoy your vacation with all that planning

Wow that was helpful. I have times all "figured" out too just mostly to give myself an idea of how our day will go. I am sure OP isn't setting a stopwatch down to the minute while there.

OP:
Since you can't get a FP for both TSM and RNR I would recommend you do RNR at rope drop. This means TSM could become pretty crowded and as such you might only get one ride BUT I also hate to see your party miss out on on RNR or use up a lot of park time waiting for it, given that you already have a FP+ for TSM. Or split your party (after securing rider swap) and your child that is too short can go to TSM with the other parent and ride it standby getting two rides on it. Truthfully I've never felt the need to ride TSM more than once and neither has anyone in my party. But RNR, oh man I could ride that several times and still want more. Of course that's JMO.

 

[bc7ate9]

I totally agree with summermac - the previous posters would think I must enjoy punishing myself on vacation if they saw my library of planning spreadsheets! I have to do SOMETHING to keep my excitement under control while impatiently counting down the minutes till I'm there!

I also agree that you should make sure you get on RNR since that's a particular favorite. TSM is a ton of fun, but I also never want to ride more than once - it makes my arm tired!

 

[sharonabe]

Sunset Boulevard has several options for QS and all fairly close to each other, so you could go to different ones and meet up at one of the many picnic table areas to eat. Fairfax Fare has BBQ, Rosie's has burgers, Catalina Eddies has pizza. You'll see a majority of reviews on all HS QS has negative, but IMHO, these are as good as the other places around the world that have the same food.

 

[Suellen]

Depends when in February IMHO.

I would say looks good but I would definitely plan RnRC single rider line then rider switch for the rest of the riders.

Depending on weather I wouldn't attend LMA that late in the day as that theater is FREEZING. If they had a 2:00 ish show I would go to that (or closer to noon).

We LOVE Mama Melrose! Yum! Good choice! It is underrated!

 

[PenguinWaiters]

I am sure OP isn't setting a stopwatch down to the minute while there.

OP:
Since you can't get a FP for both TSM and RNR I would recommend you do RNR at rope drop.

Thanks! No stopwatch here! just trying to pick FP+ times that make sense. There are only two Lights, Motor shows on the schedule right now and we would have missed both if I'd kept the original times I picked. Once in the park we remain pretty flexible.

As to the RNR question - this is our first park day this trip so I didn't want to overwhelm my kids with RNR and TOT right away. There is a small chance my son will hit 48" before we go and both kids are considering TOT but I feel they need some easier park time first before we tackle those. I need to do some more thinking on these. Maybe if the lines are too long when we get there I can try to swap our TSM and Star Tour FP for those two rides.

I also agree that you should make sure you get on RNR since that's a particular favorite. TSM is a ton of fun, but I also never want to ride more than once - it makes my arm tired!

My DD hit one of those special targets on Buzz and beat me by A LOT one time and ever since wants to do those types of rides over and over. DS just giggles the whole ride. I like to ride twice so I can ride once with each of them

Sunset Boulevard has several options for QS and all fairly close to each other, so you could go to different ones and meet up at one of the many picnic table areas to eat. Fairfax Fare has BBQ, Rosie's has burgers, Catalina Eddies has pizza. You'll see a majority of reviews on all HS QS has negative, but IMHO, these are as good as the other places around the world that have the same food.

Thanks!

Depends when in February IMHO.
I would say looks good but I would definitely plan RnRC single rider line then rider switch for the rest of the riders.

Depending on weather I wouldn't attend LMA that late in the day as that theater is FREEZING. If they had a 2:00 ish show I would go to that (or closer to noon).

We LOVE Mama Melrose! Yum! Good choice! It is underrated!

We are going the last week of Feb. Hoping for warmer temps! Currently there is only one other LMA show on the schedule I can find and it conflicts with our MM ADR. We are from NH though so we can take the cold

 

[MarieGrace]

We head to WDW next month. I've been trying to keep up with all of the changes and finding that I need to have a pretty specific touring plan in order to figure out which FP+ times work. Let me know what you think:

DHS open 9am-7pm. Crowd level 7; EasyWDW recommended park

Arrive at 8:20
Ride TSM standby
Meet Toy Story characters
Meet Sofia the First and Jake
Rock n Roller coaster with child swap (DD's favorite, DS 46")
1-4 of us ride TOT (kids aren't sure yet)
Little Mermaid and/or Legend of Jack Sparrow (never done LJS)
11:20 (if times don't change) Disney Junior Live on Stage
FP+ for TSM 11:25-12:25
Head to Indiana Jones for 12:30 show. If we are behind may try to catch 12:40 Jedi Training instead (neither of my kids would want to participate -roller coasters yes, performing in public no)
1:25 Mama Melrose ADR (F! Package)
Muppet Vision (DS's favorite)
Try to catch Phineas and Ferb M&G when it starts back up at 3:10 (if times don't change)
FP+ for Star Tours 3:25-4:25 (hope lunch has settled!)
Cars M&G if time allows
4:10 LMA show
FP+ for Great Movie ride 5-6pm
Visit Animation Building for any further M&G; pick up CS dinner
Head to F!

Thoughts? I was wondering about trying to buy food and bring it with us into F! so that we can eat while we wait. Anyone tried that? If so, where did you grab food?

Thanks!
Terri

Looks good overall to me!! . Like other posters have said, the Toy Story characters do seem to spend more time with people, so the line does go a little slower. Didn't wait in line for them when we went, because, well, I didn't really see a reason to. (Haven't even seen their movie) But, the Great Movie Ride line really doesn't go that slow. . Theres stuff to look at in line, and since the rider cars carry so many people, it didn't take that long. When we went, we didnt even know that fast pass EXISTED, so we just waited through all of the lines. We ended up going on Great Movie Ride three times, though. . (Courtesy of me; I love that ride!). RnRC does have pretty long lines, though, so yeah.

 

[tina.tina]

I plan pretty much like this. We know what rides we're going to ride and approximately where we'll be at what time. It made our trip so relaxing because we just followed the plan unless we wanted to do something different. You could take bags or something with you to carry your food into Fantasmic! The kids got so antsy before the show started & it was hot (in April) where we were so crowded in together. DH stood in line forever at the concessions in the amphitheater to get us drinks so I highly recommend taking something in. Next time I go, I'm planning to at least take a soft side cooler with drinks & snacks.

 

[PenguinWaiters]

We went to DHS today. Thought I would let you know how the plan worked out.

We head to WDW next month. I've been trying to keep up with all of the changes and finding that I need to have a pretty specific touring plan in order to figure out which FP+ times work. Let me know what you think:

DHS open 9am-7pm. Crowd level 7; EasyWDW recommended park

Arrive at 8:20
- we arrived closer to 8:40. And stopped out front for pics. We were still among the first in the parks because we followed EasyWDW tips for rope drop. I don't think the park opened until pretty close to 9am.

Ride TSM standby
-did this no problem. Glad we did so the kids could see the full que.

Meet Toy Story characters
-we did this next. Waited about 15 mins. Our pics are stamped at 9:44. My DS decided at the last minute that he did NOT want to meet any characters, so that changed our plans a bit.

Meet Sofia the First and Jake
-DD also decided she didn't want to do M&G so we just saw these characters but didn't wait in line for photos or autographs.

Rock n Roller coaster with child swap (DD's favorite, DS 46")
-we were able to get FP+ for two members of our party during the "Day of no Tiering" so we didn't ride this at this time. Standby was at 30 mins though, which would have been OK for us.

1-4 of us ride TOT (kids aren't sure yet)
- both kids decided they wanted to do this so we went. Posted standby was 10 mins. For timing purposes, our ride photo was taken at 10:40. Both kids got totally freaked out by the story. Whoops.

Little Mermaid and/or Legend of Jack Sparrow (never done LJS)
-DS was still feeling a bit skittish so he and I skipped LM. DH and DD went. DS and I had a snack at Starring Rolls

11:20 (if times don't change) Disney Junior Live on Stage
-good show, helped DS get back into the swing of things

FP+ for TSM 11:25-12:25
-even better the 2nd time through.

Head to Indiana Jones for 12:30 show. If we are behind may try to catch 12:40 Jedi Training instead (neither of my kids would want to participate -roller coasters yes, performing in public no)
-decided to watch Jedi Training. Got there at about 12:15 so had a quick snack and used the restrooms nearby. We didn't feel at all rushed and the park didn't seem at all crowded.

1:25 Mama Melrose ADR (F! Package)
-we had a great lunch. The steak was as good as I have heard. Dd loved the spaghetti and meatballs cupcake.

Muppet Vision (DS's favorite)
- DS still loved this show and was glad Sweetums was a good guy as he is often a bad guy in the movies.

Try to catch Phineas and Ferb M&G when it starts back up at 3:10 (if times don't change)
- skipped but we stopped and watched them for about as long as it would have taken.

FP+ for Star Tours 3:25-4:25 (hope lunch has settled!).
- oops, forgot to mention that we went on this right after Jedi Training, before lunch. 10 min standby most of the day. So, we skipped our FP

Cars M&G if time allows
- we did do this. DS was OK taking pictures but didn't want to be in them. Not sure where this character fear came from but we rolled with it.

4:10 LMA show
-both kids loved this show. They also made us go ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP of the stands. That was my major workout for today!

FP+ for Great Movie ride 5-6pm
-this had been changed to Rock n Roller Coaster for DH and DD. I had changed mine and DS's to TofT but he was NOT going on that again. So, we all approached the RnR FP line and DD and DH went with their FP and I got a child swap pass. YMMV on whether or not that will always be allowed but I was not asked to scan.

Visit Animation Building for any further M&G; pick up CS dinner
Head to F!
- after two rides for DD on RnR we decided to call it quits. We found a family of four on our way out and gifted them our Fantasmic dining package tix. They were celebrating an anniversary so glad we could give them some pixie dust. They had come to DHS just for Fantasmic.

Thanks!
Terri

Overall I thought our plan worked well. It did feel like a bit of a waste of FP though. With Tiering in effect, really only the one Tier 1 pass (or 2 in this case) is valuable. GMR was never above 10 mins standby so we could have easily done that one too even though I'd given up that FP, but didn't want to risk scaring the kids again.

I hope this is helpful!

 

[bentopher]

Thanks for sharing!!! Sounds like you had a great time!!!

 

[rwu]

Thanks for coming back with an update! I'm a detailed planner too, so found your planned vs. actual itinerary very useful!