Advice for Last Minute Trip 3 Parks in One Day

[Yorel]

Hi. We (DH, DS (16), DS (14) and I) are planning a last minute trip to WDW in 2 weeks. We'll be there Saturday August 17th. We're doing a park hopper, planning to go to Epcot, HS and MK (probably in that order). Yes I know this is crazy. Its a Saturday, its going to be brutally hot and crowded, many good fast passes are gone and 3 parks in one day is probably insane. Nevertheless we want to just hit a few of our favorites at each park.

My question is should I schedule FP for later in the day when we will probably be at MK (5PM -10PM) or start using them in the AM? I'm afraid of locking up our FP for the day but also worried that there won't be much left for us by the evening.

We want to ride the following:
Morning - Epcot: Test Track, Soarin, Mission Space (maybe Frozen because we've never been on it);
Afternoon - HS: Either Rockin' Roller Coaster or Tower of Terror (FP are done for both), and Toy Story, and Star Tours;
Evening/Night - MK: Splash Mountain; Big Thunder, Buzz Light Year, Space Mountain, Pirates of The Caribbean, Peter pan (maybe)

I am thinking of reserving early evening (5PM) FP for Splash Mountain and Space Mountain now.

Appreciate your thoughts and/or any feedback on strategies generally.

Thanks

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I don't think that there is EMM at MK but it might be worth it to see as you could then start your day at MK and have some guaranteed rides with little to no waits. I think it is Sundays. Also, I'd check the same for DHS, not sure what day of the week TSL has EMM. If not, I'd keep your plan as is.

Epcot -TT first thing is smart since it may go down later in in the day. Frozen has some crazy wait times whereas Mission Space usually doesn't, I know it's back tracking but you have to go back to Future World to catch a bus so maybe rope drop TT, ride Soarin then head to Frozen and hit mission space on the way out.

DHS in the afternoon, if you do wait for Slinky Dog in TSL, just be prepared it's a hot, non covered wait.

Evening MK- Space and PP may be crazy for ride time but if you hold that for during fireworks or close to closing time, you should be able to get on.

As far as your FP+ strategy, when we hop I tend to keep them for our later parks too, I very rarely have had good luck getting subsequent desirable (not really necessary) FP+ as a family of 4 (our kids are younger so we don't usually split up) later in the day. If you do split up you may have better luck than we do.

 

[Yorel]

Thank you. All good suggestions. I forgot about splitting up. We haven't been in a couple of years. Now that they are older, we probably will have better luck splitting up -maybe even single rider. Slinky Dog sounds like its not going to happen if we have to wait in the sun.

 

[Dis Dragon]

You get more bang for your FP at MK, we hardly ever reserve FP for Epcot anymore unless our day is only going to be there - i wouldn't be concerned with RD TT, Soarin then Mission Space.

Toy Story land is going to be brutal. But if your FP options for HS is very limited with no availability for ToT or RnR that makes it pretty clear you should just get the best out of MK FP.

Was Peter Pan already gone for evening FP? Splash, Space and PP is a solid use of FP.

 

[TwinkleKS]

My issue in this case with having your FP all for later in the day, what if it is 4:00 and you are in line at your last ride at DHS and you aren't going to make it to MK for the 5:00 FP. In other words, at what point do you give it up and head to the next park?

 

[gatorlisa]

I would change up the order and do HS, Epcot, then MK. When you take the Monorail from Epcot to MK, you do not have to go back through security upon arrival at MK because the Monorail is entirely within the secure zone when traveling in that direction.

I would rope drop HS and ride what you want there, then hop to Epcot. If you are willing to do Test Track via the single rider line (you will be split up) then you should be able to do that with minimal wait.

I would finish at MK.

Personally, I would schedule my FPs for MK. But, if you want to ride Soarin' or Frozen with the shortest possible wait, then I would do a FP for one of those, still ride Test Track via single rider, then schedule a FP for MK as soon as you've tapped in at whichever Epcot ride you fastpassed.

 

[JETSDAD]

2 options that I would consider if it were me (relying heavily on same day FP's).

1) FP Test Track. Rope drop FEA, then go to TT. After tapping TT go on and add SSE FP for as soon as possible (should be able to get a time to ride right after getting off of TT). Once that FP has been tapped 2 options that I would consider depending on wait times would be to either add another tier 2 (probably Living with the Land) to burn on your way to Soarin', then look to add a Soarin' FP OR if the Soarin' wait isn't too bad ride it standby and as soon as you tapped the SSE FP, add a FP for one of the TSL rides immediately.

2) FP FEA, RD either TT or Soarin' and then also do SB for whichever one you didn't do right at RD. Once you tap FEA add two FP's for HS (grab a TSL FP and either RnR or ToT).

 

[Dis Dragon]

2) FP FEA, RD either TT or Soarin' and then also do SB for whichever one you didn't do right at RD. Once you tap FEA add two FP's for HS (grab a TSL FP and either RnR or ToT).

Just pointing out that the OP has already stated there are no RnR or ToT FP left. There are for sure going to be no SDD, they could possibly get TSMM.

 

[JETSDAD]

Just pointing out that the OP has already stated there are no RnR or ToT FP left. There are for sure going to be no SDD, they could possibly get TSMM.

That's now, not day of.

 

[Dis Dragon]

What time does RnR and ToT drop day of? This schedule is already taxing, a PP stated that they'll have to set a time to be done in each park. I would spitball that they have about 3 hours in Epcot, 4 hours in HS and then be in MK by like 5pm. I would be concerned that most of the bigger FP they're after at MK would be gobbled up by the time they finished fiddling with them at HS.

 

[JETSDAD]

What time does RnR and ToT drop day of? This schedule is already taxing, a PP stated that they'll have to set a time to be done in each park. I would spitball that they have about 3 hours in Epcot, 4 hours in HS and then be in MK by like 5pm. I would be concerned that most of the bigger FP they're after at MK would be gobbled up by the time they finished fiddling with them at HS.

We've done 4 parks in a day and only used FP's (unless something doesn't have a FP). FP availability is constantly changing so with some refreshing anything can be found. Really I would prefer starting at HS, then Epcot, then MK as Epcot FP's are typically easier to get than HS. By mid afternoon at the latest they should be able to add their first MK FP. My main concern for MK starting at that point would be 7DMT but that's not on their list.

 

[Princess Minnie of Disney]

Hi! For the last day of our trip (just two weeks ago) we did three parks one day. We did HS, Epcot and MK in that order. We ordered fastpasses for MK and rope droped TOT at HS and did single rider for TT. You probably won't be able to do any Toy Story Land rides as even an hour after rope drop the lines are very very long but if it is not an all time favortie than I would skip it in favor of TOT and RnRC which are quiet doable in the morning. Nightime at MK is awesome and if you aren't dead set on fireworks you can get a lot of rides done during and even more so after them! Good luck!

 

[Dis Dragon]

We've done 4 parks in a day and only used FP's (unless something doesn't have a FP). FP availability is constantly changing so with some refreshing anything can be found. Really I would prefer starting at HS, then Epcot, then MK as Epcot FP's are typically easier to get than HS. By mid afternoon at the latest they should be able to add their first MK FP. My main concern for MK starting at that point would be 7DMT but that's not on their list.

Now I'm really curious, what kind of schedule do you manage with 4 parks in one day?

 

[StarSpeckledSky]

I would schedule for earliest park and get same day reservations.

 

[StarSpeckledSky]

I would change up the order and do HS, Epcot, then MK. When you take the Monorail from Epcot to MK, you do not have to go back through security upon arrival at MK because the Monorail is entirely within the secure zone when traveling in that direction.

I would rope drop HS and ride what you want there, then hop to Epcot. If you are willing to do Test Track via the single rider line (you will be split up) then you should be able to do that with minimal wait.

I would finish at MK.

Agree with this order

 

[Yorel]

My issue in this case with having your FP all for later in the day, what if it is 4:00 and you are in line at your last ride at DHS and you aren't going to make it to MK for the 5:00 FP. In other words, at what point do you give it up and head to the next park?

This is my fear.

 

[Yorel]

Now I'm really curious, what kind of schedule do you manage with 4 parks in one day?

You get more bang for your FP at MK, we hardly ever reserve FP for Epcot anymore unless our day is only going to be there - i wouldn't be concerned with RD TT, Soarin then Mission Space.

Toy Story land is going to be brutal. But if your FP options for HS is very limited with no availability for ToT or RnR that makes it pretty clear you should just get the best out of MK FP.

Was Peter Pan already gone for evening FP? Splash, Space and PP is a solid use of FP.

Splash, Space, PP and Big Thunder all have FP for the evening.

 

[Yorel]

That's now, not day of.

There is none for the day of. So if we want to go on those rides, we just have to be prepared to wait. Which is why I am not sure that HS makes sense for the first park. Just about everything good is already gone.

 

[Yorel]

Hi! For the last day of our trip (just two weeks ago) we did three parks one day. We did HS, Epcot and MK in that order. We ordered fastpasses for MK and rope droped TOT at HS and did single rider for TT. You probably won't be able to do any Toy Story Land rides as even an hour after rope drop the lines are very very long but if it is not an all time favortie than I would skip it in favor of TOT and RnRC which are quiet doable in the morning. Nightime at MK is awesome and if you aren't dead set on fireworks you can get a lot of rides done during and even more so after them! Good luck!

Wow. Impressive. We have to make some tough decisions. We kind of want to see fireworks but also want to do rides. I know we have to be flexible. We love toy story. Only my 16 y/o wants to do RnRc and ToT. But my 14 yo can be convinced. If I could do only one ride at HS, it would be TS but I don't know if I would wait an hour.

 

[georgina]

This is my fear.

Remember you have until 6:10 to get to that 5 PM FP.

It's a tough call. You can make one or two FP in the morning and then after using the first, make another at a different park.