Start at AK, hop to HS, or start at HS, hop to AK?

[XoxoAmy]

Trying to finalize one of our park days - this will be Sat 2/26 (runD princess weekend and the end of President's Day week- expecting it to be crowded!). We will have Genie+ and we are fine with buying the $ILLs for the big rides. Here are our 2 options (we are big fans of table service meals to break up the day - kids are 8, 10 and 12):

Option 1:
Start at AK - we will likely arrive at 8:30am
Start with Safari
$ILL for FOP (I will get this at 7am)
Do other rides/shows with Genie+ (bummed that EE is closed! Does that mean FOP is the only $ILL right now?)
Lunch at Tusker House 11:25am

Back to Hotel (GF) for a break, maybe swim

2-3pm hop to HS
Hopefully have $ILL for Slinky and ROR (I will get these early in the day)
Do as many other big rides as we can (MF, TOT, etc)
Dinner at H&V 6:45

Option 2:
Start at HS - 8:30am early access
Get ILL for Slinky and ROR (hopefully, will do at 7am)
Do as many other big rides as we can (MF, TOT, etc) with Genie+
Lunch at Hollywood Brown Derby 11:30am

Back to Hotel (GF) for a break, maybe swim

3-4pm hop to AK
Hopefully have ILL for FOP and Safari (I will get these later in the day)
Do other rides/shows with Genie+
Bonus here is seeing Pandora at night, which we've never done, but I also know that the AK safari is better in the morning?
I've also heard that AK is less crowed in the last few hours
Dinner at Tusker House 7pm (walk out after park closing, which I love)


Which would you chose?

 

[snikki]

I would hop to HS and start stacking at HS at 7 am and ride standby at AK in the morning. That is our plan for our future trip (based off of reports I've read and watching G+ return times on the app).

7 am grab ILL for ROTR and G+ for SDD for sometime after 4 pm/Grab ILL for FOP
Arrive at AK around RD
Ride FOP, Safari, Navi, Dinosaur and whatever else we want to do all stand by
11 am- Grab G+ for Smugglers Run
1 pm - Grab G+ for TSM/ToT/RnRC

Leave midday break

3 pm - Grab G+ for any ride we didn't get
5 pm - Grab G+ for any ride we didn't get
Arrive to the park with 6 stacked G+
Ride MMRR at park close if possible

Do you have any other time at either park? We absolutely love AK at night but believe you can get more done at HS if you hop there with G+ and ILL.

 

[XoxoAmy]

I would hop to HS and start stacking at HS at 7 am and ride standby at AK in the morning. That is our plan for our future trip (based off of reports I've read and watching G+ return times on the app).

7 am grab ILL for ROTR and G+ for SDD for sometime after 4 pm/Grab ILL for FOP
Arrive at AK around RD
Ride FOP, Safari, Navi, Dinosaur and whatever else we want to do all stand by
11 am- Grab G+ for Smugglers Run
1 pm - Grab G+ for TSM/ToT/RnRC

Leave midday break

3 pm - Grab G+ for any ride we didn't get
5 pm - Grab G+ for any ride we didn't get
Arrive to the park with 6 stacked G+
Ride MMRR at park close if possible

Do you have any other time at either park? We absolutely love AK at night but believe you can get more done at HS if you hop there with G+ and ILL.

This is super helpful. I was thinking that if we did HS first, we may be foiled by only being able to get ROTR or SDD in the afternoon. The stacking strategy is smart. We will have some open time to do another half day at either park, so it's ok if we miss a ride or two on our list.

 

[Kerr84]

Editing my comment: I wasn't thinking when I said that. SDD isn't a paid one.

 

[Skippyboo]

I might be wrong, but I think you can only have two $ILL per day. So, you wouldn't be able to buy FOP, SDD, and ROTR all in one day.

SDD is regular G+ not paid Lighting Lane. ROTR and SDD go super quick at 7am , probably need 2 people to do with one getting SDD other buying ROTR and FoP

 

[ambula603]

I was just watching an Allears video on Youtube that suggests rope dropping at HS and then following up with AK. Molly's reasoning - most people will choose AK because of the earlier hours. But the bigger rides are at HS so you would do better to rope drop there and then go to AK while everyone is leaving.

It was either the Park Hopping with Genie or Extreme Disney World Challenge video, should you want to watch it.

 

[Turksmom]

I'm planning a split AK/HS day with G+. We've had good luck with short-ish waits for FoP during Early entry, so we plan to do that first (we've ridden it enough that we don't care if we miss it, if the wait is too long) . If all goes well, I'll book safari at 7, hopefully with a fairly early return time and the start stacking for HS as soon as I'm eligible. I find that safari is the only line at AK that gets really unbearable and we aren't interested in SDD, so I think I can make it work.
This is the only day I sort of have a plan for. Everything else is just. I tried, it made my brain hurt- I'll be at the pool

 

[Kerr84]

SDD is regular G+ not paid Lighting Lane. ROTR and SDD go super quick at 7am , probably need 2 people to do with one getting SDD other buying ROTR and FoP

Yes, I realized that one minute after I said it and tried to change it! It just seems like it should be the paid one and not MMRR.

 

[CynBeth]

I also would do AK then HS. We went around Thanksgiving and could not book ROTR on our first Studios day was able to get it the next day for a 6 pm time after a day at AK. Then when we arrived found it had broken down. Thankfully it came back up in an hour.

 

[emmabelle]

@XoxoAmy

I would stack HS all day. I was able to get all these on this past Saturday. We rode the first at 6pm and we’re done around 7:40pm lol

 

[gharter]

I was just watching an Allears video on Youtube that suggests rope dropping at HS and then following up with AK. Molly's reasoning - most people will choose AK because of the earlier hours. But the bigger rides are at HS so you would do better to rope drop there and then go to AK while everyone is leaving.

It was either the Park Hopping with Genie or Extreme Disney World Challenge video, should you want to watch it.

RD HS and then hop to AK was my thought as well.
AK is less crowded later in the day. Didn't notice a big drop at HS until close to closing.