This used to be fun!

[Beezle2]

Anybody want to help on a 1 day 3/13 HS plan. I am getting close and still not feeling confident. TP is showing a 10/10 crowd with a 10 pm Fantasmic. We are onsite at BWV so will have early entry and plan to arrive around 7-7:30 for 8 am opening. I will buy G+ which is estimated at $29 pp for the day. Hubs is pissy about getting ILL for RoTR for another $25 each..we are a party of 4. I agree since we have all ridden it before but we do want to ride it again. Thoughts on how you would approach the day for 4 adults who want to do everything in the park?

 

[Leahc117]

While the extra cost is irritating I have found G+ to be worth it. My preferred use is to use them as we go which usually allows us to get done what we want in a half day, then stack for evening at another park. Since you will be there all day you could combine those methods if needed. I would grab rise and your first G+ right at 7 (have friend or hubby do one while you do the other because they could be gone within seconds). First G+ for something popular, rope drop next most popular ride. We got lucky a lot with the refresh feature in the modify screen. If the wait times are later then you would like just book anyway because it starts the 2 hour cool down and then try to modify. I think you should be able to get everything done with some time to relax too!

 

[Beezle2]

I'm ok with the cost of G+ and I do think it will help. G+ and a ILL made the hubs cranky, lol. We are going to do both on our Epcot day because we have never been on GoTG and want to do it twice. I used to be able to plan a day and not have to say.."and this is going to cost, and this is going to cost"..

 

[TikiRob]

I don't know if you could do "everything" in Hollywood Studios during Spring Break without G+ & ILL. Now you could probably do "most" if you were dedicated and moved quickly with little to no breaks. I'd also say that the second option would definitely be the least fun.

 

[ghtx]

I agree; definitely bite the bullet and get G+ and the ILL for ROTR. Get your first G+ ASAP for Slinky Dog Dash, then be sure to get one new one every two hours or sooner if your ride time comes up. Have fun! I'm jealous!

 

[coasternut22]

Absolutely take advantage of staying at BW and being able to walk to HS. In order to be at the front of the rope drop pack, and before the skyliner and bus crowd starts to arrive, you need to be at the tapstiles by 7am. I suggest earlier since you will be making your LL selections. If you are at the front of the rope drop pack, and you walk fast to your first attraction, you will have a 5-10 minute wait, if that. If you are in the middle, you will have a 20-30, and if you are at the back of the rope drop pack, you will have an hour plus. Since you are purchasing Rise, you have two options. Rope drop Slinky, TSMM, and Aliens or rope drop Tower, Rockin, and MMRR. If you are at the front of the rop drop pack, you can get these done during early entry or within 15 minutes or so after, well before the regular park crowds start to develop. If you choose to rope drop slinky, G+ Tower. If you choose to rope drop Tower, G+ slinky.

For example, if you G+ slinky, and rope drop tower, you can get off, get on and off Rockin by 8:30. Walk fast to MMRR. They may be letting regular guests in at that point, so the line will start to build for MMRR, but not too bad. Say a 20 minute wait by 8:40. So a half hour after official park opening, you have done three rides. Head to TSMM, Alien, get those done by 10am. Use your Slinky G+, and all you have left to G+ is Millenium and Star Tours. You'll also be able to G+ Tower and Rockin if you want. Sounds like an easy day to me.

Couple of tips:
Link your accounts and have one or two people try for the slinky G+ and the other two people try for the Rise LL.
Get to the tapstiles before 7am.... please. This is the key to your entire plan.

 

[Philsfan77]

We were just there on Thursday and it was a 9/10 projected by TP due to winter breaks and princess weekend (to give you an idea of wait times, Rise was 240 minutes when I looked around 1PM and a Alien Saucers was 85 minutes...most i've ever seen it be). We were staying at Riviera and arrived around 7:45 for 8:00 early entry (people were already being let into the park when we got there) on an 8:30 park opening day. We did ILL for Rise at 2pm. Used Genie+ as well (our prices weren't as high). First Genie+ we went with slinky dog and we got that for 11:40.

How we planned the rest of our day went like this.
- Ride 1 - Runaway Railway (got in line around 7:55, started moving right at 8 and we were on and off the ride by 8:15).
- Ride 2 - Tower of Terror walked here and got there around 8:20 (still ahead of normal theme park entry) posted wait time was 30 minutes at this point, but it took 10-15 minutes. Right after we got off, the ride went down so we got lucky here (looked like it was down for maybe 15-20 minutes and when it came back online wait times were around 70 minutes posted).
- Food Stop 1 - walked to starbucks on the corner (took about 10-15 minutes here)
- Show 1 - got in line for Frozen ever after (saw the first showing at 9:30)
Characters - Donald and Daisy were on the grass between Frozen and Disney Jr. area. Stopped by to watch them waive to everyone and then heading towards Disney Jr. Area, and took pictures with Vampirina and Pluto.
- Show 2 - Did the 10:30ish Disney Jr. Dance party (also booked 2nd genie ride of day while here).
***Genie+ Ride 2 selection (able to book at 10:30) - Originally got a 2:20 return time for toy story mania. Spent about 5-10 minutes, modifying and refreshing and finally got a return time for 11:50AM (love the modify feature and it was a game changer for this trip versus our last experience with genie+).***
- More Characters - Buzz was standing at the entrance to toy story land, got in line and took pictures with him.
- Mobil order around 11ish (put in for some snacks at woody's lunch box for a mobil order pick up of 12:20 start time).
- More Characters - Toy Soldiers drum line came out around this time, and we watched them (near Alien Saucers).
- Potty break
- Mickey Ice Cream for the kids (bought near slinky dog prior to doing slinky dog)
- Ride 3 (first genie+ cashin) - Slinky dog at 11:40ish...waited maybe 10 minutes in queue after entering and that might have been on the high side.
- Ride 4 (2nd genie+ cashin) - Toy story Mania around 12ish...same thing, waited maybe 10 minutes in queue.
***Genie+ ride 3 selection - Alien swirling Saucers (posted wait time at this point in the day was 50 minutes) - got a return time here for 1:40 originally and took about 2 minutes (maybe 5 swipes) to modify to 12:50 return time.***
- while boarding toy story mania I hit we are here for Woody's. Picked that up after we got off around 12:30-12:35ish.
- Rested for a little bit and ate our snacks.
- Ride 5 (3rd Genie+ cashin) Aliens - got in line around 1:10ish and boarded within 10 minutes.
***4th genie+ selection after aliens scan in - Tower of Terror again (got a 4pm return time) which i Modified out twice to later times (settled on 6:20-7:20) eventually.
- Walked around starwars land until rise cash in.
- Ride 6 (ILL Cashin) - Rise of Resistance at around 2pmish - got through and off ride around 2:45ish.
####### Went back to hotel after this######
- Ate a late lunch/early dinner at Primo Piatto (food is awesome here for all meals - I had the vegetable skewers and as a fat man who loves burgers and fries, this veggie skewer thing was awesome).
- Kids swam for about an hour
- Regrouped around 5:30ish and headed back via skyliner to Hollywood Studios
- Show 3 - Lightning McQueen
- Ride 7 (4th Genie+ cashin) - Tower of Terror (2nd time today) - this is my mother in law and wife's favorite ride and we try to do it once in morning and once at night - way more fun at night.
- Grabbed snacks and the kids some mac and cheese and fries for dinner at Fairfax Fare (adults shared a BBQ brisket bowl and glimmer and shimmer blondie)
Exited the park around 8PMish via Skyliner back to Riviera.

We could have definitely adjusted our genie+ selections and gotten Smugglers run and done toy story mania or aliens later in the day or at night, but we were happy with how our day/schedule lined up. We also could have filled in rides/shows during the time we went back to our hotel and swam). Could have definitely gotten 5 genie+ selections as well if we wanted to, but again...we wanted that 3 hourish break in the middle of the day when the heat was at it's worst (was pushing 90ish on Thursday).

Only things we didn't do were Indiana Jones, Beauty and the Beast show, Muppets and Smugglers run. Definitely could have done it all though.

Hopefully this information helps, as you'll experience similar crowds to what we did IMO.

Also - I know the cost can be frustrating for something that used to be free. However, I'm not sure we would have been able to accomplish everything we did under the old tiered system that was free...given that we wouldn't have gotten 1 of slinky/rise/Runaway railway, via rope drop or fastpass+ and would have had to stand in that line. With this system, we were able to basically knock out all 3 and waited maybe 30-45 minutes total in line for them....would have probably been looking closer to 2-3 hours of wait time under the old system. Also with Rock N Roller Coaster down...that would have funneled even more people that would have taken that in Tier 2, to some of the other tier 2 rides making those harder to get, because with fastpass+ everyone had access to it...where genie+ is restricted to people who opt to pay for it.

 

[gottalovepluto]

*I haven’t tried this since F! came back so I don’t know how much this dynamic has changed*

Right before park close used to be the best way to do ROTR. I had it reading just under an hour, I waited just under 20 mins a couple times. With no ILL to compete with the line moves much quicker.

 

[ktlm]

A large part of the south/midwest/west are on Spring Break that week--- I know a lot of major districts in Florida (including Orlando); Oklahoma; Texas; Arizona; and California all have that week as spring break. I think you are likely going to need the G+ and ILLs that week.

 

[ghtx]

We were just there on Thursday and it was a 9/10 projected by TP due to winter breaks and princess weekend (to give you an idea of wait times, Rise was 240 minutes when I looked around 1PM and a Alien Saucers was 85 minutes...most i've ever seen it be). We were staying at Riviera and arrived around 7:45 for 8:00 early entry (people were already being let into the park when we got there) on an 8:30 park opening day. We did ILL for Rise at 2pm. Used Genie+ as well (our prices weren't as high). First Genie+ we went with slinky dog and we got that for 11:40.

How we planned the rest of our day went like this.
- Ride 1 - Runaway Railway (got in line around 7:55, started moving right at 8 and we were on and off the ride by 8:15).
- Ride 2 - Tower of Terror walked here and got there around 8:20 (still ahead of normal theme park entry) posted wait time was 30 minutes at this point, but it took 10-15 minutes. Right after we got off, the ride went down so we got lucky here (looked like it was down for maybe 15-20 minutes and when it came back online wait times were around 70 minutes posted).
- Food Stop 1 - walked to starbucks on the corner (took about 10-15 minutes here)
- Show 1 - got in line for Frozen ever after (saw the first showing at 9:30)
Characters - Donald and Daisy were on the grass between Frozen and Disney Jr. area. Stopped by to watch them waive to everyone and then heading towards Disney Jr. Area, and took pictures with Vampirina and Pluto.
- Show 2 - Did the 10:30ish Disney Jr. Dance party (also booked 2nd genie ride of day while here).
***Genie+ Ride 2 selection (able to book at 10:30) - Originally got a 2:20 return time for toy story mania. Spent about 5-10 minutes, modifying and refreshing and finally got a return time for 11:50AM (love the modify feature and it was a game changer for this trip versus our last experience with genie+).***
- More Characters - Buzz was standing at the entrance to toy story land, got in line and took pictures with him.
- Mobil order around 11ish (put in for some snacks at woody's lunch box for a mobil order pick up of 12:20 start time).
- More Characters - Toy Soldiers drum line came out around this time, and we watched them (near Alien Saucers).
- Potty break
- Mickey Ice Cream for the kids (bought near slinky dog prior to doing slinky dog)
- Ride 3 (first genie+ cashin) - Slinky dog at 11:40ish...waited maybe 10 minutes in queue after entering and that might have been on the high side.
- Ride 4 (2nd genie+ cashin) - Toy story Mania around 12ish...same thing, waited maybe 10 minutes in queue.
***Genie+ ride 3 selection - Alien swirling Saucers (posted wait time at this point in the day was 50 minutes) - got a return time here for 1:40 originally and took about 2 minutes (maybe 5 swipes) to modify to 12:50 return time.***
- while boarding toy story mania I hit we are here for Woody's. Picked that up after we got off around 12:30-12:35ish.
- Rested for a little bit and ate our snacks.
- Ride 5 (3rd Genie+ cashin) Aliens - got in line around 1:10ish and boarded within 10 minutes.
***4th genie+ selection after aliens scan in - Tower of Terror again (got a 4pm return time) which i Modified out twice to later times (settled on 6:20-7:20) eventually.
- Walked around starwars land until rise cash in.
- Ride 6 (ILL Cashin) - Rise of Resistance at around 2pmish - got through and off ride around 2:45ish.
####### Went back to hotel after this######
- Ate a late lunch/early dinner at Primo Piatto (food is awesome here for all meals - I had the vegetable skewers and as a fat man who loves burgers and fries, this veggie skewer thing was awesome).
- Kids swam for about an hour
- Regrouped around 5:30ish and headed back via skyliner to Hollywood Studios
- Show 3 - Lightning McQueen
- Ride 7 (4th Genie+ cashin) - Tower of Terror (2nd time today) - this is my mother in law and wife's favorite ride and we try to do it once in morning and once at night - way more fun at night.
- Grabbed snacks and the kids some mac and cheese and fries for dinner at Fairfax Fare (adults shared a BBQ brisket bowl and glimmer and shimmer blondie)
Exited the park around 8PMish via Skyliner back to Riviera.

We could have definitely adjusted our genie+ selections and gotten Smugglers run and done toy story mania or aliens later in the day or at night, but we were happy with how our day/schedule lined up. We also could have filled in rides/shows during the time we went back to our hotel and swam). Could have definitely gotten 5 genie+ selections as well if we wanted to, but again...we wanted that 3 hourish break in the middle of the day when the heat was at it's worst (was pushing 90ish on Thursday).

Only things we didn't do were Indiana Jones, Beauty and the Beast show, Muppets and Smugglers run. Definitely could have done it all though.

Hopefully this information helps, as you'll experience similar crowds to what we did IMO.

Also - I know the cost can be frustrating for something that used to be free. However, I'm not sure we would have been able to accomplish everything we did under the old tiered system that was free...given that we wouldn't have gotten 1 of slinky/rise/Runaway railway, via rope drop or fastpass+ and would have had to stand in that line. With this system, we were able to basically knock out all 3 and waited maybe 30-45 minutes total in line for them....would have probably been looking closer to 2-3 hours of wait time under the old system. Also with Rock N Roller Coaster down...that would have funneled even more people that would have taken that in Tier 2, to some of the other tier 2 rides making those harder to get, because with fastpass+ everyone had access to it...where genie+ is restricted to people who opt to pay for it.

That's a pretty awesome day! Lots of rides in, even with plenty of time visiting characters and a mid-day break. Nicely done!

 

[Philsfan77]

That's a pretty awesome day! Lots of rides in, even with plenty of time visiting characters and a mid-day break. Nicely done!

The ability to modify and overlap experiences is a big pro for me compared to the old system where you couldn't overlap. Still hate that we have to pay extra for it, but I've been converted at least for busy weeks/weekends after our experiences at MK, Hollywood and Epcot this past weekend.

 

[Davey Jones II]

I'm planning for an October trip, and TP has DHS as an 8/10 on most days. Only Wednesdays are predicted as lower than that. Is that accurate?

 

[Philsfan77]

I'm planning for an October trip, and TP has DHS as an 8/10 on most days. Only Wednesdays are predicted as lower than that. Is that accurate?

When in october? Probably right if its around Columbus/Indigenous people day.

 

[elaine amj]

If your husband is not happy about ILL for Rise, get there at 7am for your 8am early entry. Be at the front of the pack and u should have no problems walking onto Rise. Then Genie+ the rest of your day - the modify feature helps a lot!

 

[Davey Jones II]

When in october? Probably right if its around Columbus/Indigenous people day.

Our park days are Oct. 16-26.

 

[austinelsa]

Absolutely take advantage of staying at BW and being able to walk to HS. In order to be at the front of the rope drop pack, and before the skyliner and bus crowd starts to arrive, you need to be at the tapstiles by 7am. I suggest earlier since you will be making your LL selections. If you are at the front of the rope drop pack, and you walk fast to your first attraction, you will have a 5-10 minute wait, if that. If you are in the middle, you will have a 20-30, and if you are at the back of the rope drop pack, you will have an hour plus. Since you are purchasing Rise, you have two options. Rope drop Slinky, TSMM, and Aliens or rope drop Tower, Rockin, and MMRR. If you are at the front of the rop drop pack, you can get these done during early entry or within 15 minutes or so after, well before the regular park crowds start to develop. If you choose to rope drop slinky, G+ Tower. If you choose to rope drop Tower, G+ slinky.

For example, if you G+ slinky, and rope drop tower, you can get off, get on and off Rockin by 8:30. Walk fast to MMRR. They may be letting regular guests in at that point, so the line will start to build for MMRR, but not too bad. Say a 20 minute wait by 8:40. So a half hour after official park opening, you have done three rides. Head to TSMM, Alien, get those done by 10am. Use your Slinky G+, and all you have left to G+ is Millenium and Star Tours. You'll also be able to G+ Tower and Rockin if you want. Sounds like an easy day to me.

Couple of tips:
Link your accounts and have one or two people try for the slinky G+ and the other two people try for the Rise LL.
Get to the tapstiles before 7am.... please. This is the key to your entire plan.

Quick question for you - What do you think about rope dropping both MMRR and TSMM? Is there time to do those during early entry or are they too far apart? Im not gonna attempt Slinky since my HS day is our first park and the kids wont be ready to ride it day 1 - need to ease into it with smaller coasters first. We would LL Smugglers at 7am.

 

[coasternut22]

Quick question for you - What do you think about rope dropping both MMRR and TSMM? Is there time to do those during early entry or are they too far apart? Im not gonna attempt Slinky since my HS day is our first park and the kids wont be ready to ride it day 1 - need to ease into it with smaller coasters first. We would LL Smugglers at 7am.

Super easy. Neither get long lines during early entry. You can be off MMRR and on TSMM by the end of the half hour.

 

[Beezle2]

If your husband is not happy about ILL for Rise, get there at 7am for your 8am early entry. Be at the front of the pack and u should have no problems walking onto Rise. Then Genie+ the rest of your day - the modify feature helps a lot!

I think this is how we are going to roll. It is a hard choice between MMRR/TSM or Star Wars at rope drop. But we should be able to pick those up with G+ pretty easily through the day.

 

[Boomatt]

Be ready to book Slinky LL at 7am on the nose then buy ILL for ROTR immediately after but try to get a spot later in the day when all the good G+ LLs will be gone. Be at the gate 30 minutes BEFORE the early entry time. Rope drop Tower and you’re done with that side of the park. Then standby Mickey and Minnie’s. Ride slinky as soon as your LL is available and book another for Toy Story. Single rider for millennium falcon. *** and star tours will likely have lightning lanes available later in the day so you can wait for that or standby them. Shows are easy, just be at the on time.

If early hours are at 8:00, my family has typicall ridden everything by 11:00-12:00, and that’s with Rockin open. We aren’t show people and usually have lunch at that point and hop to another park that I have been making LLs at throughout the day. Biggest thing is get there BEFORE the scheduled early open and be ready to hustle to the first couple attractions.

 

[RoseGold]

Staying deluxe, you have after hours at Epcot that day, including a free GOTG queue.

That's FL and TX Spring break. It's going to be brutal, even with ILL and G+. You might get locked out of both. I'd expect to prioritize and have to do at least a couple rides standby.

I'd skip Slinky. But if you must ride it, I'd rope drop it because it will be impossible in G+.