DHS is my DS's favorite park. We go at least twice but we split the days into Fantasmic night and American Idol Night. (Hard to do both shows since the finale is during Fantasmic line up time).
If we only had one day, we would go at rope drop and then:
Go immediately to TSM. Unlike the get FP first theory, we would get in standby line first and then FP when we got off. This would give us a later FP time which is what we want.
Then to to Tot and RnRC which will have little to no line because everyone else will be trying to ride TSM as many times as they can in the morning.
We ride RnRC and Tot as many times as we'd like. Tot is very cool. My Ds has been riding it since he was 4.
We never miss the Indy show. I think they'd like it. Its funny. You can use your TSM fast passes any time after your time shows up. It is nice to ride again later in the day, especially when the lines are so long and you'll have FP's.
We see the Beauty and the beast show and walk to Great movie ride. We love this ride and standing in line repeating the lines to the movies is funny.
If your children like the High school musical, don't miss the show. It is a lot of fun.
We also love:
Afternoon Parade
Lights Camera Action Motor Show
Then do Voyage of Little Mermaid because the above show gets hot and voyage is a great way to cool down.
One mans dream (we love this and never miss it) The pre-tour is nice
Back lot tour (We love Universal's tour a lot better but we really like this tour)
In between, go to see the American Idol show, even if you can't see the fanale.
As you can see, we love this park and it is definitely not a one day park for us.
Don't forget to see the Pixar characters for meet and greet. Toy Story, Cars, Incredible family....we love this park!!!!