Pulling back from so much time in HS........especially when we don't have park hoppers

[dkrauss]

I was curious how others were dealing with the situation at HS going forward. Until there's really more than 4 attractions to focus on, my wife and I are pulling back on anything more than 1/2 days at HS. When we don't have hoppers we may even reduce that.

We really like TSMM, RnRC, and Tower of Terror.........and Star Tours can be fun, always like the street performers..........FANTASMIC is cool but its not an every visit thing for us. Beyond that there isn't that much left. Closing Animation Station really bummed us out............so enjoyed the drawing class.

What are others doing with regards to HS until..........Star Wars and Toy Story are on site?

Doug

 

[olafgypsy]

We are spending one full day there during our Oct 13 to 20 trip (no hoppers). It is me, my husband, and our 2 year old. With that demographic spread it is actually a good full day for us - 2 yr old has no problem sitting through up to 30 minute shows, so we plan to do Disney Junior, Beauty and the Beast, LMA, and Fantasmic. I like to do the "big kid" rides and we will do TSMM and HISTK for our son. But if it were just adults, or if our son could not sit through shows, I would definitely balk at spending the time and money there.

 

[mom2rtk]

What are others doing with regards to HS until..........Star Wars and Toy Story are on site?

Going to DL?

I would make DHS our down day and only go for a few hours one day and spend the rest of the day at the pool or relaxing elsewhere.

 

[NicholasD]

One thing that becomes a great way to spend your time is to simply help document the history and evolution of the park as a part of your family over time - the entire park (likely) is being renovated over the next 8 years, and capturing the changes for the sake of historical journals is a great contribution - case in point, the removal of the HAT and the restoration of the Chinese Theater, including restoring the "patina" effect on the center section roof, and the re-installation of the spires. As we move forward, I intend to get to HS as often as I can to document in photos the transformation. For me personally its a personal desire as I worked the landscape installation crews which installed everything there.

 

[amylevan]

I'm contemplating making it our mid-trip "easy" day. We often take a non-park day mid-trip to relax, but I think we'll just do HS that day, and be out of the park by lunchtime. We are staying in the boardwalk area, so it's an easy commute. So I'm thinking we'll just hit RD, have early times for our FP+ and be out of there by lunch and spend the rest of our day relaxing.

Then I'll just fool myself into thinking I'm only paying the difference between the 6 and 7 day tickets for that sad day of park touring.

 

[sharona]

Our plan for our upcoming December trip, 5 days no hoppers at the Dolphin: Go to DHS for RD - hit a few of the big rides then see BATB or IJ and then head back to our resort for a relaxing afternoon. We'll be going back to HS that night for dinner and the Osborne lights and to use our FP+ for that day. If this were a non Christmas visit and no lights to see, we would use our FP+ immediately after the show and then take the night off from the parks and either hang out in the Boardwalk area or go to DTD.

 

[CandleontheWater]

We only did a half day at DHS on our trip a month ago and I didn't feel like I missed anything. We will probably only do a 1/2 day for the next 3-4-5-6? years (!!!) until the new expansions really start opening. Now that I'm thinking about it, that is really depressing, come on Disney, build faster!

 

[Gru]

We are just skipping it all together.

 

[vicb]

Even during construction I would not skip it as we love ToT, RnRC, TSM.... we always have hoppers but if we didn't have a hopper I would combine it with a water park day (weather permitting), water park at opening and book my FP+ for late day or evening. If it were too cold for a water park I would make an ADR for a late resort breakfast, resort hop or shop DTD then head into HS.

 

[Jaxasaurous]

If you're ok with using a park ticket for a possible half day then do it. Like others have said it's a good day to relax at the pool for a mid-day break, or even head to DTD for shopping in the afternoon/evening. There's also 4 mini golf courses on property that are fun that you could do for part of the day when you take a break from DHS.

 

[BradChristian]

One thing that becomes a great way to spend your time is to simply help document the history and evolution of the park as a part of your family over time - the entire park (likely) is being renovated over the next 8 years, and capturing the changes for the sake of historical journals is a great contribution - case in point, the removal of the HAT and the restoration of the Chinese Theater, including restoring the "patina" effect on the center section roof, and the re-installation of the spires. As we move forward, I intend to get to HS as often as I can to document in photos the transformation. For me personally its a personal desire as I worked the landscape installation crews which installed everything there.

This is why I am going in September... To experience before the big transformation. (only doing a half day though...)

 

[avic77]

I will be skipping it this trip but if I did put it back in I would do 1/2 there and 1/2 day at DTD.
Usually our last day is a 1/2 park day and 1/2 DTD day.

 

[PamNC]

yes - absolutely doing that. I am going in 15 days and my plan is too use my hopper pass one day to hop on over to see Fantasmic. I may or may not even return. We only have 3 full days this time so if I had a day more I would probably set aside 1/2 day to do the big ticket rides and stroll around to watch the performers. Maybe do GMR for old time sake ... if it's still open.

I like to leave my last day open and not plan. I don't do FP+ for that day or dining - just wing it. That's my tradition.

 

[Hootch]

We spent two half days there recently. We did have PHs. One of those days was a SWW, but we were there more for the show than to meet the actors from the Star War enterprise. Unfortunately, RRC was down the whole time we were there the day I planned to ride it. (Reports were that is was closed the next day and a half also.)

ToT is still fun. TSMM is still one of the better attractions. My kids and I will ride Star Tours multiple times to see which scenes we get. We caught the new Muppets intro. I went to Beauty and the Beast and my wife and daughter did Little Mermaid. (Will either or both of those be gone soon?)

If we had not had PHs, we probably would have paired DHS with a water park day.

 

[100AcreWood]

If my dd didn't love RNR coaster so much I'd skip it. We always get bored at that park. So this year we're going to Downtown Disney in the morning, eating lunch there and then heading to HS. I'm hoping to see Fantasmic because I have always loved that show.

 

[Williams5]

My middle son lobbied that we book HS on his birthday because he loves HS. I am actually more strained on that day than any other - but we are attempting to do most everything in the park whereas I think the majority only focus on a few rides. I am also planning on about 2 hours for the extremely long Mama Melrose we have booked.

I am planning to rope drop Jedi Training (if it's there to do), RnRC, then FP+ TSMM, GMR, Mermaid and/or Playhouse Jr. - then Mama Melrose Fantasmic Lunch, then Frozen (FP+), Star Tours (FP+) & Jedi. I will then do Beauty and the Beast and/or Indy before Fantasmic if there's time. Don't care about Tower of Tower and we won't bother with the Car Stunt Show Thing.

 

[LilyWDW]

I have always only done half a day at DHS. Get there at Rope Drop, hit the rides I want to do, shop a bunch, and then have the first lunch ADR at Hollywood Brown Derby. Then back to the resort. I DO usually have Park Hoppers so often would do Epcot that night (I travel during Food and Wine normally), but it would be easy to make that a DTD evening or to explore the monorail resorts.

 

[minnie mum]

We tend to have longer stays and don't use hoppers. I have no problem doing DHS for only part of the day. On our trip this spring we hit RD, stayed until after lunch, and went back to the resort to relax until dinner time, when we went back to the park for the evening. I don't forsee changing this approach until the new lands are finished. But we wouldn't skip it completely.

 

[100AcreWood]

By the way, I don't see a parade listed for HS. Do they seriously no longer have a parade?

 

[Planogirl]

Our solution was to skip the park completely. It seems sensible to go for just a few hours on a down day too.