Strategy for hopping from HS to EPCOT

[Mermaid Princess]

My fast pass selection day is coming next week for our October trip and I need some advice. We want to rope drop HS on a Wednesday, only to ride our favorite rides- ToT, RR, TSMM, and ST. Then we'll hop to EPCOT, mostly for food and wine festivities. Our only must ride there is Frozen. My question is whether I should get early fast passes for the HS rides and hope to find a fourth for Frozen that day, or should I get my fast passes in Epcot and only rely on rope drop waits for HS? Thanks!

 

[Mickey92]

Extremely unlikely that you will get a 4th FP for FEA. If that is your only chance to ride, I would absolutely FP it.

 

[fla4fun]

I did the same thing today, but in reverse. I went to see Energy and Great Movie Ride before they close. I booked my FP at DHS which was my second park, and rope dropped Epcot. I did other rides first, then Energy, then hopped over to DHS where my first FP was around 3:00 pm. I did not try to get a fourth FP, so not sure what was available.

Doing FP at the second park worked very well for me today.

 

[NeuroCindy]

My fast pass selection day is coming next week for our October trip and I need some advice. We want to rope drop HS on a Wednesday, only to ride our favorite rides- ToT, RR, TSMM, and ST.

So all of the rides in the park? It comes down to how long you're willing to spend in line. Personally, I would FP DHS and then wait for FEA, but it's your preference of where you want to stand in line.

 

[jaysmom4285]

I wouldn't write off the possibility of getting a 4th FP+ for FEA. October isn't the busiest time, and it's important to never believe the MDE app when it says there are no more FP+ for an attractions. I've gotten 4th and subsequent FP+ for all of the Tieri 1 attractions (except FoP and Navi - haven't been there since they opened) by just diligently refreshing the app until an available slot miraculously appeared. I don't know how many are in your party - obviously it's easier for two people than four or six.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I often PH from HS to Epcot.
This is what I do...
Get a FP+ for TSMM and TOT and don't get a 3rrd.
Then the day of I RD RNRC and TOT (because I love TOT so I gotta do it at least twice lol)
I make my TSMM FP+ for as early as I can. If its an AM EMH day then I do 9am-10am. If its not then I do 9:30am-10:30am.
As soon as I tap my FP+ for that I get on the app and look for something at Epcot.
So you'd look for FEA. You may end up with some luck especially if you are fine getting it for late in the day.
My plan for my trip in a little over 3 weeks is exactly that.

 

[Mickey92]

I often PH from HS to Epcot.
This is what I do...
Get a FP+ for TSMM and TOT and don't get a 3rrd.
Then the day of I RD RNRC and TOT (because I love TOT so I gotta do it at least twice lol)
I make my TSMM FP+ for as early as I can. If its an AM EMH day then I do 9am-10am. If its not then I do 9:30am-10:30am.
As soon as I tap my FP+ for that I get on the app and look for something at Epcot.
So you'd look for FEA. You may end up with some luck especially if you are fine getting it for late in the day.
My plan for my trip in a little over 3 weeks is exactly that.

Have you done this before with FEA? I know that if you book two FP and then try to book any additional in the same park, it cannot be a tier 1. Additionally tier 1 FP can only be booked as 4th or later in the same park. However, I do not know how this works when booking at a different park.

EDIT: I verified that you can book additional tier 1 FPs in different parks.
From FP FAQ Addendum
When_2 or less FP+ are booked for Park #1:
Additionally, the new changes allow you to book fewer than three FP+ and once you scan the first FP+ (from within the first park), you can at that point make FP+ selections for a different park, even if you still have a FP+ remaining in the first park.

This can be especially helpful for Tiered parks – if for example you wish to hit Epcot at rope drop, use only a Tier 1 FP+ and then still have 2 more FP+ for another park later in the day.

Additionally, there is no restriction on Tier requirements BETWEEN PARKS during one day. So if you use a Tier 1 at Epcot you can then book a second Tier 1 at HS immediately upon scanning – Also, you can even book your remaining two FP+ at two different parks if you would like!

NOTE: Splitting FP+ between parks or booking for another park can NOT be done until the same day, AFTER you have already scanned your card/MB at the first FP+ Mickey head to “prove” to the system that you’re in a park.

You cannot book for 2 different parks in advance or even on the same day until you have scanned your first FP+ (not just gotten into the park).

 

[mtemm]

We were at HS 2 weeks ago. Kids and I rope dropped toy story while dh hit RNR. We met up at TOT where there was a 5 minute wait, then hit toy story with a fp....but honestly we were done so fast with the other rides the standby still was low. After we rode tsmm, I checked times for other rides and star tours barely had any wait but we opted for great movie ride since we had a fp for star tours for later. So honestly we could have tackled everything easily without fp with virtually no waits. Now, we were towards the front of rope drop...dh was on the first car for RNR, and the kids and I were really quick to tsmm. But it just seemed like it took a bit for crowds to build everywhere but RNR. That built fast after dh rode.

My advice would be to go ahead and fp Frozen/Epcot rides and just hit the ground running at HS. Maybe I just had bad luck with Frozen. I went in March/April and we tried to rope drop it but it was down and every time we tried to get on that day it either had a crazy wait or was down. When I was there 2 weeks ago we opted to fp it because if it was down we would still get a chance to ride if it came up later. I had never ridden so it was a high priority. On our Epcot day I was able to get further fp (after our 3) for everything except FEA. even TT finally showed after several refreshes. Granted I was looking for 5 people so a lower number might be easier.

 

[anomamatt]

Have you done this before with FEA? I know that if you book two FP and then try to book any additional in the same park, it cannot be a tier 1. Additionally tier 1 FP can only be booked as 4th or later in the same park. However, I do not know how this works when booking at a different park.

It would work if a FEA FP would be available. However, it's VERY unlikely to find a FEA FP after mid day.

 

[Mickey92]

It would work if a FEA FP would be available. However, it's VERY unlikely to find a FEA FP after mid day.

Thanks. I just looked it up, I didn’t realize that was possible. Good to know.

 

[dodolitsky]

For the record, I was at Epcot on July 5. I had a pre-booked FP for FEA and my wife and I were able to get TWO additional FPs for it before 4pm that day (though the ride was down when it was time for the third one so we just left the park).

This was obviously an anomaly, so I wouldn't expect this, but it just shows that getting same-day FPs for FEA can be possible

 

[ChristineOH]

I often PH from HS to Epcot.
This is what I do...
Get a FP+ for TSMM and TOT and don't get a 3rrd.
Then the day of I RD RNRC and TOT (because I love TOT so I gotta do it at least twice lol)
I make my TSMM FP+ for as early as I can. If its an AM EMH day then I do 9am-10am. If its not then I do 9:30am-10:30am.
As soon as I tap my FP+ for that I get on the app and look for something at Epcot.
So you'd look for FEA. You may end up with some luck especially if you are fine getting it for late in the day.
My plan for my trip in a little over 3 weeks is exactly that.

This is what I'd do also. FEA isn't impossible to get as a 4th. How many people in your party? I'd look in groups of two. Keep refreshing if needed (different stuff pops up as people change plans) and then modify them till you get overlapping times. If you have a group of twelve, then I wouldn't try this, but I'd try it with my family of five. Worst case scenario, you just wait in line.
FEA has had pretty short waits before FP+ return times start at 11:00, so depending on how fast you are at DHS, you might be able to do standby without too long of a wait too.

 

[Mermaid Princess]

I often PH from HS to Epcot.
This is what I do...
Get a FP+ for TSMM and TOT and don't get a 3rrd.
Then the day of I RD RNRC and TOT (because I love TOT so I gotta do it at least twice lol)
I make my TSMM FP+ for as early as I can. If its an AM EMH day then I do 9am-10am. If its not then I do 9:30am-10:30am.
As soon as I tap my FP+ for that I get on the app and look for something at Epcot.
So you'd look for FEA. You may end up with some luck especially if you are fine getting it for late in the day.
My plan for my trip in a little over 3 weeks is exactly that.

This sounds like it might be the way to go! It's just 2 of us so hopefully that helps our chances for FEA

 

[Epcot82Guy]

Are you ok potentially splitting up via Single Rider? If so, I've recently done something similar (albeit for Test Track and Mission:Space vs. Frozen - but same idea).

-Book Frozen FP for the mid/late-afternoon. You can also grab any other Epcot FP you would like.
-Get to DHS in advance so you can hit rope drop. Buying donuts from Erin McKenna's or another bakery the day before to bring with you in
your bag to "eat while you wait" highly recommended! ;-) - or simply arrive early and walk down to grab a bite at the Boardwalk or Swan/Dolphin and walk back (calorie burn)!
-Go immediately to Midway Mania at rope drop.
-Then head right to Tower. It's line doesn't accumulate as quickly as RnRC. But, there's no single rider option.
-Upon leaving Tower, go to RnRC. Scope out standby. Sometimes it's not too bad. If it's getting longer, jump in single rider. Usually by this time, the morning rush of single riders has died down, so it's not longer than 15 minutes or so.
-Then head over to Star Tours standby.

Even if the lines are long at that time, this typically should have you done with Hollywood Studios before Noon with a 9am opening (if not before that). Then, you can take a leisurely stroll or boat ride to Epcot and enjoy the afternoon and evening.

One note - be sure to check the EMH schedule, since it sometimes changes. If you have EMH at either Epcot or DHS that day (and are staying on property), that changes the recommendation!

 

[Disney_and_Wine]

So honestly we could have tackled everything easily without fp with virtually no waits.

This is how I would tackle it. Pre-book your FP at FEA and tackle all of DHS without any FPs. There are many, many, many days where I have RD'ed DHS and knocked off TSMM, RnR and ToT (in that order) all within an hour to an hour and a half tops. Just commit to being belly-up to the turnstile for RD and not the 1,000th person through the turnstiles. At worst, it will take you 2 hours to do everything that you want to do at DHS and the trade-off will be a zero wait at FEA. If you rely on getting a same day FP for FEA, you may be shut out and will be looking at a 75-90 minute wait for just that one ride alone.

 

[ChattaAlley]

My fast pass selection day is coming next week for our October trip and I need some advice. We want to rope drop HS on a Wednesday, only to ride our favorite rides- ToT, RR, TSMM, and ST. Then we'll hop to EPCOT, mostly for food and wine festivities. Our only must ride there is Frozen. My question is whether I should get early fast passes for the HS rides and hope to find a fourth for Frozen that day, or should I get my fast passes in Epcot and only rely on rope drop waits for HS? Thanks!

It is absolutely doable to get a 4th fast pass for FEA. I have gotten them and I have heard several talk about getting them. The key is to keep hitting refresh on your MDE. It can be done. NO guarantees but give it a try.