FP booking tomorrow- need opinions please!

[Whitb08]

Hello! My family and I are coming for our second ever visit to Disney and Universal Parks from October 5 through the 10th. On the fifth we are arriving and doing AK after hours. Tomorrow I can book our fast passes for Sunday, October 6. Because we are not staying on site, I really want to best choice for our park days for the remaining three days. Most of the crowd calculators say that Sunday is the optimal day for HS and Wednesday for Epcot. However, because of the recent opening at Smuggler’s Run, I feel like the weekend will definitely be super crowded at HS. To give more insight, we are a group of 7, 3 adults and 4 teenagers. We enjoy the rides! I’m thinking Epcot on day one (Sunday 10/6) after a long day of travel and a late night at AK. Monday and Tuesday are at Universal, then Wednesday at MK because it’s the only day we can take advantage of full hours, and then hopefully Thursday won’t be too crowded at HS. Friday we’ll be back at Universal where I’m sure we’ll have to spring for the express pass. Does anyone want to give input on Monday/Thursday for Epcot vs HS?

 

[davedmaine]

Honestly from a Fast Pass perspective it doesn't really matter. The FPs for that window are pretty much gone.

 

[Whitb08]

I suppose October is more popular since 2017. Even though we did not get the most optimal fast passes then, we were able to ride absolutely everything we wanted by utilizing the FP’s we were able to get plus rope drope mornings straight to the other high priority attractions. We were aiming for the same strategy- we’ll see how it goes!

 

[monkeymostpurple]

My two cents, from planning a trip a little later in October.

1. Sunday at Epcot sounds like a good choice. It's not a super early morning after the late night, and most of the extra volume will be for the Food and Wine Festival, not the rides. [Since you're all older, you may want to look at which Epcot rides have a single rider line, and if those move faster; also, look up when the day-of Fast Passes drop, and plan to be on your phones at those times]. We're doing a Sunday at Epcot as well.

2. Thursday at Hollywood Studios -- I think any day runs the risk of being busy, but from watching the chatter, here are some consistent things I've heard about HS since SWGE opened:
* GE is busiest in the morning because people are excited. In contrast, evenings really get very manageable, and the Millennium Falcon ride has a very fast single rider line, if you want to maximize ride time vs riding together. A good strategy seems to be to ride everything else first, then go to SWGE last.
* Tower of Terror is having really nice short lines, so if you can get a FP to another ride (RNR might still have options), that's a better bet. And then grab two early-in-the-day shows, so your 3 FPs are all used (even if you don't go to the shows, just burn them) when more FPs drop over the day. (Because you basically only get one FP for a ride at HS right now, anyway, unless Star Tours is available (in which case, grab that as a second). Every other ride is a Tier 1 FP.

 

[Whitb08]

My two cents, from planning a trip a little later in October.

1. Sunday at Epcot sounds like a good choice. It's not a super early morning after the late night, and most of the extra volume will be for the Food and Wine Festival, not the rides. [Since you're all older, you may want to look at which Epcot rides have a single rider line, and if those move faster; also, look up when the day-of Fast Passes drop, and plan to be on your phones at those times]. We're doing a Sunday at Epcot as well.

2. Thursday at Hollywood Studios -- I think any day runs the risk of being busy, but from watching the chatter, here are some consistent things I've heard about HS since SWGE opened:
* GE is busiest in the morning because people are excited. In contrast, evenings really get very manageable, and the Millennium Falcon ride has a very fast single rider line, if you want to maximize ride time vs riding together. A good strategy seems to be to ride everything else first, then go to SWGE last.
* Tower of Terror is having really nice short lines, so if you can get a FP to another ride (RNR might still have options), that's a better bet. And then grab two early-in-the-day shows, so your 3 FPs are all used (even if you don't go to the shows, just burn them) when more FPs drop over the day. (Because you basically only get one FP for a ride at HS right now, anyway, unless Star Tours is available (in which case, grab that as a second). Every other ride is a Tier 1 FP.

Thank you for the thoughtful reply! I think this will be the game plan. Enjoy your trip!

 

[baozi]

I do not know the situation of single rider line of the Millennium Falcon ride in WDW, but at DLR it is probably like 90% probability you get the engineer role, and 10% probability gunner, nearly not possible to be a pilot.

 

[monkeymostpurple]

Yeah, that's the same experience at WDW. When we go, we'll stand in line once (family of four) so we get the pilot spots, but then for re-rides, we'll do the Single Rider line if wait is really long.

 

[hiroMYhero]

The OP selected FPs this morning; closing.