Park Hopping Strategies

[KathyTN]

First - if I should post this under another thread, plmk, and I will move it.
I wasn't sure how best to post this.

We have a trip planned for mid-May. 4 full days. One morning. One afternoon.
We have Park Hoppers and plan to hop (when it makes sense)
We will also be using FPP, and SDFP (when it makes sense)
We can use EMH.

We want to do dinner at BOG one night.
We want to do Evening EMH at MK one night.
We have ADRs for Fantasmic Dinner, Star Wars Dessert Party, BOG Dinner.

We're a couple of adults, no kids. We don't care about FEA.
Ride/Attraction Priorities are:
7DMT at night
TSMM (I really want to ride 4 times)
Soarin (I really want to ride 4 times)
TOT - 1 or 2 times
Fantasmic 1 time
Star Wars Galactic Spectacular 1 time
Rivers of Light 1 Time

I'm trying to figure out the best way to set our schedule.
I've only used advanced FP once - and it worked fine.
Before that, we had many visits of MEMH, rope drop, running around to get our FPs.
It looks like now, with advance FP, and Day Of FP (plus the SDFP) eveything will be much more sane.


We will arrive the afternoon of our first day, and can be at the park by 3:00. I planned to go to DHS, and see Fantasmic that night.
The next day DHS has morning EMH. In the past we've always done morning EMH. And I was palnning to do the same. We have the dessert party set for that night - but this is where I am second guessing our plans. Is it better to go to DHS at MEMH, then leave the park and hop to another park?
I have the same questions about MK EEMH. I was planning to go there on Tuesday and we have BOG ADRs that night. I really want to ride 7DMT at night. Should I use a FP for this on that day (prior to the start of EEMH?) Will we even need a FP for this ride during EEMH?
Finally - ROL. I was planning on going to AK on Monday for MEMH, hop to another park or go back to the resort, then return for ROL, using a FP. Is a FP needed for this attraction?

But - I am wondering if I should break up the days more.
And, I am concerned about saving the FP for 7DMT and also ROL until the end of the night, because that will limit any Day Of FP I can get. (Although, I know that I can use the rogue bands for SDFP.) I know that 7DMT will not have anything Day OF, or SDFP - but will ROL?

is it a good strategy to go to MEMH, without FP for that park, and instead plan to hop to another park, and book our advance FP for the second park?

I've checked FP availability in the mornings this week for the rides we want to do, and other than TSMM, it seems like there is Day Of availability. Does this seem right?

Any advice / comments/ are much appreciated.

 

[davkata]

We have gone the last 3 years during the very busy President's week in February. We always go to the MEMH park, ride until it gets busy (usually by 10/11 depending on park open time, but about 2 1/2 -3 hours worth of rides). We get in multiple headliners and sometimes multiple rides on them. This is especially true at AK for EE using the SR line. We then go back to the resort for a mid day break and return to a different park with our 3 FP for later in the afternoon/evening. Yes, waiting until late day, we probably won't (and never have) gotten a 4th or more FP for a headline ride or attraction. But, we usually go for 5 park days and using this method we always get in one MEHM or RD at each park and again later in the day with FP. During a 5 day visit we ride each headliner at least twice and many of them 4, 5 or more times. MEMH is critical to this plan. The EEMH or late openings can still be good especially very late at MK, or any park right before closing. However, in my opinion, nothing beats the AM EMH for riding efficiency! We will be using this same strategy for our upcoming late May visit and hoping for the same results!

 

[barbliny]

We always park hop - usually starting in the morning EMH park, taking an afternoon break, going back to another park at night. The night time park is often the nighttime EMH park, but it is definitely not as beneficial as morning EMH - unless it is particularly late at night.

FP+ strategy is sometimes to save them for evening in an alternate park after a MEMH, if there are rides that I specifically want to ride at night - BTMR and 7DMT, etc. The only way to get on 7DMT at night without at least a possible 60 minute wait is with a FP+. Other strategy is to start the fastpasses at the MEMH after a couple of hours into it, when the crowds start building.

When we were at MEMH at HS in January we were able to do back to back rides on Toy Story a few times. This was also possible at nighttime EMH and on a regular night before they closed down the street outside TSMM for the Star Wars fireworks.

Your first day, when you do not arrive at a park until the afternoon is the perfect day to use your FP+ for 7DMT at night - that would be my suggestion. Skip HS and do MEMH at HS the next day, since nighttime riding is not a goal.

Soarin, with the new theaters is much more doable now riding multiple times.

While same day fastpasses can be useful, they are often not left for the big headliners when you finally get around to be able to book the 4th, 5th, etc. If the biggies are left it is often for much later time slots and leave big gaps (good for afternoon breaks).

 

[barbliny]

I also want to add that if you are doing a nighttime EMH, a good idea can be to save your FP+ for that park and schedule them for a few hours before the EMH starts. It's a good way to ease into the night and not have time wasted on standby lines before EMH.

 

[jabrabu]

I agree that the morning EMH is great for riding efficiency. I remember one trip when did the EMH at MK and did 8 major attractions in the first 2 hours. By noon we had done pretty much everything we wanted.

However, now that my son is older he wakes up later, so it might be hard to get everyone up and ready early enough for the morning EMH. Some people have the strategy of choosing the park that had EMH the day before since the crowds are usually lighter the day after EMH. I'm thinking of a hybrid strategy for my October trip, where I will do morning EMH a couple of days, but plan for the family to get up later on other days, especially if planning to be up late the night before.

For park hopping, I generally try to avoid riding a bus. Hopping between EPCOT and DHS is a nice boat ride (or walk), and between EPCOT and MK you have the monorail, which is almost an attraction itself. We love the AK and can spend a full day there. We'll make a bus exception if we want to visit the AK again for an afternoon. DHS is not currently a full-day park for us, so going to EPCOT for part of the day and then back to DHS for the Star Wars Fireworks or Fantasmic.