March 9th trip...questions...

[Duke07]

Heading to WDW the 2nd week in March and this is my first time with the new restrictions.

It would be helpful to learn about other's experiences with the new park hopper system (can you get shutout at the 2nd park you visit) and planning without fastpass availability.

I also seem to be hopelessly bad at securing a boarding group for RotR, but I know there's a dedicated thread for that.

Any other tips always welcome!

Thanks!

 

[Heather07438]

So far no parks have been closed to hopping due to capacity.

We used hoppers last month and they worked pretty much the same as previously, except you can't enter the 2nd park until 2pm or later and you must visit your reserved park beforehand (like if you have MK as your park reservation, you must check in there before hopping anywhere else).

 

[Duke07]

So far no parks have been closed to hopping due to capacity.

We used hoppers last month and they worked pretty much the same as previously, except you can't enter the 2nd park until 2pm or later and you must visit your reserved park beforehand (like if you have MK as your park reservation, you must check in there before hopping anywhere else).

Thanks! Can you change the park scheduled on the fly? For example, if you have AK scheduled for Tuesday and you want to change that to MK - is that relatively easy to do?

 

[Heather07438]

Thanks! Can you change the park scheduled on the fly? For example, if you have AK scheduled for Tuesday and you want to change that to MK - is that relatively easy to do?

Yes. As long as that park still has availability it's very easy to change on the fly. You'll need to cancel your existing reservation, then go and book the other. Keep in mind that HS and MK are the parks that regularly fill to capacity first. It's less risky to make one of those your reservation and change over to AK or Epcot on the fly than vice versa.

That's part of a good strategy for HS many people are doing. Book an extra day or 2 at HS and then change accordingly after you get a 7am Boarding Group or not. We put an HS day early in our trip with the intention that if we didn't get a BG we'd change it to Epcot (which is very unlikely to ever hit capacity until HarmonioUS starts). We did get a BG on the first day so we changed our back-up HS day to Epcot.

 

[Tatum20]

The lack of fastpass in a way is nice, since the standby line then moves more quickly. I'd recommend getting to each park early- I think a lot of times they are letting people in ahead of official park opening time. When we got to Hollywood Studios in mid January, the official park opening time was 9 am and they were letting people in at 8:30. We got Star Tours, Rise of Resistance, and Millennium done by 9:25.

Also, this might be different by March, but we did the park hopper for one day, and we went to AK second. This did not give us much time to enjoy AK, but we still got through a fair amount of rides because the park was DEAD. Most people would not choose AK as their second park since it closes the earliest, and those that went there first wanted to head out to a second park at 2. We didn't get to do everything we wanted though, so I'd recommend only doing this if you have a second day you can utilize for AK. I think two afternoons at AK would have been perfect.

Oh, and I would make your HS reservations NOW if you haven't already. They are already at capacity for the 13th through the 20th. As stated already, make more reservations than what you think you'll actually use. You should be able to swap for Epcot or AK easily.

 

[Duke07]

The lack of fastpass in a way is nice, since the standby line then moves more quickly. I'd recommend getting to each park early- I think a lot of times they are letting people in ahead of official park opening time. When we got to Hollywood Studios in mid January, the official park opening time was 9 am and they were letting people in at 8:30. We got Star Tours, Rise of Resistance, and Millennium done by 9:25.

Also, this might be different by March, but we did the park hopper for one day, and we went to AK second. This did not give us much time to enjoy AK, but we still got through a fair amount of rides because the park was DEAD. Most people would not choose AK as their second park since it closes the earliest, and those that went there first wanted to head out to a second park at 2. We didn't get to do everything we wanted though, so I'd recommend only doing this if you have a second day you can utilize for AK. I think two afternoons at AK would have been perfect.

Oh, and I would make your HS reservations NOW if you haven't already. They are already at capacity for the 13th through the 20th. As stated already, make more reservations than what you think you'll actually use. You should be able to swap for Epcot or AK easily.

Thanks!

Is there any point to wearing the Magic Band since FP is gone now?

 

[Tatum20]

I mean I guess if you like Magic bands? We stayed off property and just bought a one day park hopper, so we only got the credit card looking things at the gate. It was a minor hassle digging them out at RotR and at the second park, but not really anything I'd complain about.

 

[Duke07]

Is there any benefit to staying on grounds now with no FP and no extra magic hours?

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Thanks!

Is there any point to wearing the Magic Band since FP is gone now?

You can still use MB to pay for things and for ride pictures, it's also your room key if staying onsite.

 

[Tatum20]

Is there any benefit to staying on grounds now with no FP and no extra magic hours?

Well, those would be the two main reasons I'd do it .

The only remaining advantage I can see if the continuous loop of bussing and other transportation options. Local hotels do offer their own shuttle service but it's nowhere near as convenient.

And some people (not me, but a lot of people) really don't consider it a vacation unless they are completely immersed in Disney. I stayed off property last time and although I really enjoyed it, I admit it's not quite as pretty to look out your window and see office buildings and a Publix and construction on new condo units instead of Disney art and foilage.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Is there any benefit to staying on grounds now with no FP and no extra magic hours?

Transportation, Magical Express (for the rest of this year), dining reservations at 60+10, ability to purchase magic bands for $5, and the magic of the Disney bubble
It was also announced that "later this year" there will be a 30 minute early entry into the parks for resort guests only (but an exact start date hasn't been announced).

 

[Duke07]

With a Park Hopper pass, can you enter a 3rd park? For example, if you go to HS in the morning then Epcot after 2 pm, can you then go to MK later that evening or back to HS? I'm not sure if they're prohibiting that.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

With a Park Hopper pass, can you enter a 3rd park? For example, if you go to HS in the morning then Epcot after 2 pm, can you then go to MK later that evening or back to HS? I'm not sure if they're prohibiting that.

Yes you can

 

[Duke07]

Since you guys are so responsive on here...any thoughts or ways to optimize these plans?

Staying at The Dolphin for 3 days starting Tuesday
Day 1: arriving, no parks, hangout by resort and Disney Springs
Day2: HS morning hope for RotR success, Epcot in evening
Day 3: HS morning for another RotR attempt, AK later in the day, MK last part of the evening

Any tips (ex. rope drop strategy) or plan optimizations would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Paulaparm]

If you are using Disney Transportation, arrive at the parks as early as you can. Buses are advertised as running 45 minutes before listed park openings but it seemed to us that they may start earlier. Parks also are opening the gates somewhat earlier than the posted time, presumably to avoid the usual large crowds for rope drop. We planned on being at both parks we visited an hour before their posted opening times...and transportation held us up. We stayed at POP and the only transportation available to Epcot is the Skyliner (awesome by the way). We had to get off at the transfer stat ion and then we had to wait 45 minutes, as they did not let anyone on to Epcot until about 9:55 (10:00 opening). I was freaking out internally We got there, walked at a normal pace over to Soarin', and were some of the first on the ride at around 10:30. The next day, we headed to MK for a 9:00 open. Were at the bus stop at 8, and waited at least 30 minutes to get on a bus. (To be fair, there was a huge line and the buses kept coming.) We got to the MK 8:45ish and walked on the Jungle cruise.
Don't know if that helps, the answer I planned in my head was much more conscise, but my fingers kept typing away!

 

[Duke07]

If you are using Disney Transportation, arrive at the parks as early as you can. Buses are advertised as running 45 minutes before listed park openings but it seemed to us that they may start earlier. Parks also are opening the gates somewhat earlier than the posted time, presumably to avoid the usual large crowds for rope drop. We planned on being at both parks we visited an hour before their posted opening times...and transportation held us up. We stayed at POP and the only transportation available to Epcot is the Skyliner (awesome by the way). We had to get off at the transfer stat ion and then we had to wait 45 minutes, as they did not let anyone on to Epcot until about 9:55 (10:00 opening). I was freaking out internally We got there, walked at a normal pace over to Soarin', and were some of the first on the ride at around 10:30. The next day, we headed to MK for a 9:00 open. Were at the bus stop at 8, and waited at least 30 minutes to get on a bus. (To be fair, there was a huge line and the buses kept coming.) We got to the MK 8:45ish and walked on the Jungle cruise.
Don't know if that helps, the answer I planned in my head was much more conscise, but my fingers kept typing away!

Thanks! That's really helpful. I'm staying within walking distance to Epcot and HS which so that hopefully solves the morning transportation problem.

My only question at this point is whether the IG entrance at Epcot works for rope dropping?

 

[Paulaparm]

Yes! The Skyliner is at the IG. That is where we went in. Sorry I left out that bit of info

 

[Orion Nebula]

Since you guys are so responsive on here...any thoughts or ways to optimize these plans?

Staying at The Dolphin for 3 days starting Tuesday
Day 1: arriving, no parks, hangout by resort and Disney Springs
Day2: HS morning hope for RotR success, Epcot in evening
Day 3: HS morning for another RotR attempt, AK later in the day, MK last part of the evening

Any tips (ex. rope drop strategy) or plan optimizations would be greatly appreciated!

Wow... that is pretty ambitious for one day.

 

[Duke07]

Wow... that is pretty ambitious for one day.

Yeah, I'm trying to squeeze a lot in and be as efficient as possible since it's a short trip.

 

[Orion Nebula]

Yeah, I'm trying to squeeze a lot in and be as efficient as possible since it's a short trip.

What are you going to do if your boarding group is later in the day?