Please help me try to get most the new rides in one day

[eeyore70]

Staying off site but will be buying genie plus with my one day park hopper ticket. Here the rides were are trying to get on:
AK - FOP, Na'vi River Journey, EE
EP - GOTG, Remy's, TT
HS - ROTR, SDD, MMR
and then close the night with Fantasmic
Any ideas/strategies on how to make the most of this work??
TIA!!

 

[thanxfornoticin]

What date? I think you might be a bit overly ambitious, but you never know! First, you have 3 ILL attractions, but as of right now, GOTG has a Virtual Q/Boarding Group process you might be able to utilize (although there are rumors that could possibly change with Tron opens 4/4). You mention you'll buy G+, but not clear if you'll also buy ILLs (which I would recommend for FOP and ROTR). If you do, staying offsite means you can only purchase them at park opening, which puts you at a disadvantage over resort guests who buy them at 7AM. If you're ending the day at HS, then perhaps it's best to start AK, hop to EP, and then walk/boat to HS for the evening (you'd have to decide how best to handle parking if you're driving). Since you can only do G+/LL every couple hours, and you have some of the toughest attractions to get, you might need to cut a couple things. SDD has been tough. Remys, MMR, TT, Na'vi all popular. EE and TT you at least can do single rider line, if the standby is too long.

If it were us, probably give up one of the parks and make better use of 2 parks. With Fantasmic being important, I'd start with either AP or EP, then hop to HS in the afternoon, and plan from there. Quality over quantity! Else you'll be so stressed trying to be here and be there to do this and do that, you might not enjoy it! Good luck - hope most of it works out!!

 

[eeyore70]

3/9

What date? I think you might be a bit overly ambitious, but you never know! First, you have 3 ILL attractions, but as of right now, GOTG has a Virtual Q/Boarding Group process you might be able to utilize (although there are rumors that could possibly change with Tron opens 4/4). You mention you'll buy G+, but not clear if you'll also buy ILLs (which I would recommend for FOP and ROTR). If you do, staying offsite means you can only purchase them at park opening, which puts you at a disadvantage over resort guests who buy them at 7AM. If you're ending the day at HS, then perhaps it's best to start AK, hop to EP, and then walk/boat to HS for the evening (you'd have to decide how best to handle parking if you're driving). Since you can only do G+/LL every couple hours, and you have some of the toughest attractions to get, you might need to cut a couple things. SDD has been tough. Remys, MMR, TT, Na'vi all popular. EE and TT you at least can do single rider line, if the standby is too long.

If it were us, probably give up one of the parks and make better use of 2 parks. With Fantasmic being important, I'd start with either AP or EP, then hop to HS in the afternoon, and plan from there. Quality over quantity! Else you'll be so stressed trying to be here and be there to do this and do that, you might not enjoy it! Good luck - hope most of it works out!!

March 9th

 

[JodyK]

This is a hard one, especially with staying off-site are you also buying $ILL on top of Genie+? This is what I would try to do. I think your aggressive itinerary probably won't go 100% according to plan though so you'll have to zig and zag depending on what is actually happening.

7AM - SDD LL
8AM - Buy $ILL for FOP ideally for a morning time, head to Navi, then Single Rider EE. If you aren't doing ILL I'd probably work in reverse EE --> FOP --> Navi. You may encounter long lines but you have from 8AM till 1PM in AK so even with lines you should still be able to get done what you want.
8:30 AM - Wherever you are try to buy the ROTR LL
10AM - Depending how the day is going you could try for a Navi/EE LL if the return times are close. Since this park opens the earliest this is the first time or got for the Remy LL. I think because you've entered AK at 8 AM at 10AM you can book your next LL in Epcot even though that opened at 9AM. I am not 100% sure though so this may have to push back.
2 hours later - MMRR LL
2:00 PM - Be at Epcot ready to enter for PH hours. Join the VQ for GOTG if you didn't get rise you could also buy the $ILL for this at some point before this. I'd probably buy it as close to 2PM as possible so you could go straight there. TT Single Rider. Hopefully, you got the Remy LL
5PM/6PM Head to HS when done depending and do your SDD and MMRR LL. If you weren't able to get the ROTR $ILL I'd probably try to see the early show of Fantasmic and hop into the ROTR line before park close.

 

[eeyore70]

First timer wants to see the queue for FOP so we will just rope drop that. So at 7am should we try and get SDD? Or what other ride do you suggest for our first choice. We will start at Animal Kingdom and then park hope to Epcot and take the boat or skyliner to Studios and end the day there.

 

[eeyore70]

This is a hard one, especially with staying off-site are you also buying $ILL on top of Genie+? This is what I would try to do. I think your aggressive itinerary probably won't go 100% according to plan though so you'll have to zig and zag depending on what is actually happening.

7AM - SDD LL
8AM - Buy $ILL for FOP ideally for a morning time, head to Navi, then Single Rider EE. If you aren't doing ILL I'd probably work in reverse EE --> FOP --> Navi. You may encounter long lines but you have from 8AM till 1PM in AK so even with lines you should still be able to get done what you want.
8:30 AM - Wherever you are try to buy the ROTR LL
10AM - Depending how the day is going you could try for a Navi/EE LL if the return times are close. Since this park opens the earliest this is the first time or got for the Remy LL. I think because you've entered AK at 8 AM at 10AM you can book your next LL in Epcot even though that opened at 9AM. I am not 100% sure though so this may have to push back.
2 hours later - MMRR LL
2:00 PM - Be at Epcot ready to enter for PH hours. Join the VQ for GOTG if you didn't get rise you could also buy the $ILL for this at some point before this. I'd probably buy it as close to 2PM as possible so you could go straight there. TT Single Rider. Hopefully, you got the Remy LL
5PM/6PM Head to HS when done depending and do your SDD and MMRR LL. If you weren't able to get the ROTR $ILL I'd probably try to see the early show of Fantasmic and hop into the ROTR line before park close.

Thanks!!

 

[_19disnA]

Three parks in one day sounds like a LOT of racing around regardless of Genie paid options or not. Parks involve MILES of walking so hopefully the first timer in your group is able to do that.

 

[JodyK]

SDD is still one of the most popular LLs that sells out the quickest so it would still be my recommendation for the first one. Plus, it is like one of the worst queues IMO, so that is still what I would do. If I couldn't get that Remy would be next. If budget is a concern I would probably just try to buy ROTR and GOTG $ILL if you can get them and skip Genie+. If you did get both then I'd do earlier fantasmic and hop in line for Slinky at the end of the night. I'd still try the GOTG VQ for the possibility of riding twice.

Just remember you are rope-dropping 30 minutes behind resort guests who have already entered the park for FOP.

 

[RoseGold]

I would cut Navi. The line is always crazy, and it's not that exciting. Watch it on Youtube and make a decision. That would take a lot of pressure off of this schedule.

Uber from AK to Epcot main entrance. Do Remy last at Epcot and leave out the back International Gateway. Take the boat to HS. It might help to look at a map of how the boats run between Epcot and HS.

 

[blistex]

First timer wants to see the queue for FOP so we will just rope drop that. So at 7am should we try and get SDD? Or what other ride do you suggest for our first choice. We will start at Animal Kingdom and then park hope to Epcot and take the boat or skyliner to Studios and end the day there.

I don't think you're eligible to book at 7 AM if you're staying offsite, you can't try until park opening, at which point SDD will absolutely be gone. You may find it later though.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

I don't think you're eligible to book at 7 AM if you're staying offsite, you can't try until park opening, at which point SDD will absolutely be gone. You may find it later though.

ILL booking is 7AM for onsite guests. All guests can book G+/LL at 7AM.

 

[thanxfornoticin]

First timer wants to see the queue for FOP so we will just rope drop that. So at 7am should we try and get SDD? Or what other ride do you suggest for our first choice. We will start at Animal Kingdom and then park hope to Epcot and take the boat or skyliner to Studios and end the day there.

Just a reminder of another complication of staying off-site. Disney resort guests will get into AK 30 minutes before non-resort guests, so it won't exactly be 'rope drop' for you. It doesn't mean it still won't work, but you have to ask how much they really want to see the queue?! It might cost your group a different attraction later due to time.....

 

[blistex]

ILL booking is 7AM for onsite guests. All guests can book G+/LL at 7AM.

Ah, okay I missed that, yet another complicated rule differentiation. If they're going to make everyone pay for FP I think that's annoying but fine, but it needs to be much easier to understand once I'm paying for it.

 

[MousetersInc]

First timer wants to see the queue for FOP so we will just rope drop that. So at 7am should we try and get SDD? Or what other ride do you suggest for our first choice. We will start at Animal Kingdom and then park hope to Epcot and take the boat or skyliner to Studios and end the day there.

I'm not sure I've ever done FOP standby so I'm not sure what I've been missing, but you see plenty of theming in the LL queue!

Just making sure you're aware, currently you enter your second park of the day until 2 pm. Now, if you can shift your date by one day, on March 8th there's After Hours at HS; that could be a serious game changer, letting you take your time at Epcot and have the run of HS. Unfortunately, it's sold out. You could check often to see if availability opens up, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

So assuming 3/9, assuming that you want to save some money, I'd first try to snag a Guardians VQ. But the danger here is that you don't know when you'll get called. If it's at, like, 7pm, you'll have to choose between skipping it or doing less at HS. You can also buy an ILL$ (at park open) to be on the safe side in terms of timing, and then can ride it twice (if that doesn't kill the itinerary). Note, whether with VQ or ILL$, current (unpublished) policy is that you can ride anytime after the stated time, so you've got some flexibility.

As soon as I've secured a VQ (or at the same time as I'm trying, if multiple people can be involved), I'll try for my first Genie+ selection, SDD. (Yes, this whole business is VERY confusing, but despite some comments in this thread, and unless I'm confused, as an offsite guest you can book a plain-old LL at 7am, but have to wait for park-open for ILL$. Slinky is currently just LL.)

At AK park opening, 8am, I would try to buy my ILL$. Note I'm limited to 2 total. Priority would be RotR, FoP, and Guardians, in that order (bumping FoP up just because you want to make sure it's early). If I couldn't get FoP before 2pm, I would rope drop it, but otherwise I'd rope-drop Navi. EE has pretty good wait times consistently; Genie+ should get you on it pretty much any time that's convenient. At 10am, my next opportunity for a Genie+ LL, I guess my next priority would be Remy? But wait, is the rule "2 hour after park open... of the park the LL is for," or "of the park my park res is for" (in this case AK)? Le sigh, I'm not sure. But you get the idea.

There have been a lot of voices suggesting that you rethink this plan, and they've got good points. I'd add just one, that this whirlwind tour isn't an ideal way to get one's "first visit" to WDW. If this is someone who's not going to be all that into it anyway, and maybe who is just in it for the thrill rides, then maybe it's great fun. But there won't be any time in this plan for stopping and staring at Pandora, or for putzing around the World Showcase.

 

[JodyK]

You can't join the GOTG VQ in the morning unless you have an Epcot park reservation, so it would have to be your first park.

 

[blistex]

You can't join the GOTG VQ in the morning unless you have an Epcot park reservation, so it would have to be your first park.

You actually can't join the VQ at all on crowded days unless you either have an Epcot park reservation (first park) or you are staying on-site at a Deluxe resort and evening hours are available. The 1 PM afternoon VQ drop requires you to have tapped into Epcot already and you can't tap into Epcot until 2 as a 2nd/3rd park. The days I was there, the 1 PM VQ was gone by 1:10. March is not likely to be nearly as bad but I wouldn't necessarily count on it being available at 2 - if you want to do GOTG and Epcot isn't your first park, paying for the ILL is just about the only option to secure it.

 

[JodyK]

Agreed that's was one of the reasons I mentioned above if cost is a factor I'd probably try to do the two $ILL instead of Genie+.

Giving yourself the best chance to ride GOTG involves starting at Epcot but there are choices that need to be made to accomplish the OPs aggressive itinerary.

I'd be watching thrilldata over the next few weeks to see how quickly things are selling out which would tell you how early in the AM the ILL$ is selling out and adjust my planning around that.