Please Share Your HS Plan of Action

[shaunaday]

I’m curious about how everyone else plans their HS days. Since no one knows if, or when, a boarding pass will be assigned until the day of your visit, it seems a bit harder to plan out how to spend the day. Please share! I’d love to see your outlines/plans for your HS days!

Do you plan to hang out at HS all day? Would you consider trying to go to HS on a day on which you had an ADR at another park? Do you try to hit Toy Story Land Or Galaxy’s Edge as soon as the park opens?

 

[MarkS2112]

We did HS on 4 days of our trip in January. Its hard to plan now with GE as RotR can mess with a schedule somewhat. We did the following:

1. Arrived at the park about 40-50 minutes before opening. We used a Lyft because park was at 7AM when we were there and Skyliner was not open before then.
2. Usually they opened the tap posts about 30-40 minutes before park opening due to crowds.
3. Once in headed down towards ToT and RnRc to wait. Got coffee and used bathrooms in the wait.
4. Waited and got Boarding Pass all 4 days. Groups 46, 23, 23 and 8. We got better as the week went on.
5. Did ToT and RnRc at least twice each as most of the crowd went to GE and then TS land. So yu could get on these quick. If you had a FP can do even more. As they changed the tiers now you can have a FP to both so can get several rides. After that we never got back to this area as the lines got 100+ minutes.
6. Once done there we headed to TS land or Star Tours.
7. Went to GE when we were near our Boarding Group.
8. After ROR we did GE and tried to go on attractions with lesser waits. Stayed in there and ate, looked around etc.
9. Did MFSM and then Oga's and then when crowds lessened after 5 or 6 did more MFSM and TS Land.

HS is no longer a 1/2 day park so we did not find ourselves running back and forth across the park. With the current crowds we went with the flow and did what was around us. For dining we had an 820 reservation one day at Sci Fi so that was casual. We also hit the Star Wars fireworks one day and did the light saber build along with the cantina. So there were plenty of things to do that ate time up quickly.

RotR can take a minimum of an hour or more to get through the line and attraction so that also eats time.

I would not do GE as soon as the park opens as it is a mass sea of humanity that heads that way in the morning. Typically all that is open is MFSR so everyone heads for that. After 5 or 6 PM GE starts to thin out and you have more room and can get on MFSM with less wait. We rode 3 times in the last hour one day.

TS Land you can rope drop and get a SDD or TSM quickly if you are up front of the line. SDD is the tougher one to get early.

If you have an ADR at another park, say Epcot its easy to do with the Skyliner. If it is somewhere else it is going to eat time away with transportation and getting out of and back into HS.

With MMRR opening soon that will add to the mix and provide another level into the equation.

We never even got time for Indiana Jones as it was too tough to plan around.

 

[ISUamanda]

We've planned a full day at HS, and another morning (2 chances at BGs).

Full-day has FPs for MFSR, RnRC, and TSM. Reservations for Droid Depot (early afternoon), Oga's (mid-afternoon), and Sci-Fi (dinner). Plan is to get BG, and rope drop SDD.

Second morning has FPs for MMRR, ST, AS2. Plan is to get BG, and rope drop SDD or MFSR (depending on what happened previous day and what we want to re-ride). The hope is to get an early BG, as we're planning an afternoon at the pool and VAH at MK that evening.

We'll prioritize RotR if we get a BG and it's called...from the sounds of it CMs are pretty forgiving if you miss a FP/reservation for RotR. Given the complete unpredictability of the BG system, they kind of have to be, right?

 

[shaunaday]

We did HS on 4 days of our trip in January. Its hard to plan now with GE as RotR can mess with a schedule somewhat. We did the following:

1. Arrived at the park about 40-50 minutes before opening. We used a Lyft because park was at 7AM when we were there and Skyliner was not open before then.
2. Usually they opened the tap posts about 30-40 minutes before park opening due to crowds.
3. Once in headed down towards ToT and RnRc to wait. Got coffee and used bathrooms in the wait.
4. Waited and got Boarding Pass all 4 days. Groups 46, 23, 23 and 8. We got better as the week went on.
5. Did ToT and RnRc at least twice each as most of the crowd went to GE and then TS land. So yu could get on these quick. If you had a FP can do even more. As they changed the tiers now you can have a FP to both so can get several rides. After that we never got back to this area as the lines got 100+ minutes.
6. Once done there we headed to TS land or Star Tours.
7. Went to GE when we were near our Boarding Group.
8. After ROR we did GE and tried to go on attractions with lesser waits. Stayed in there and ate, looked around etc.
9. Did MFSM and then Oga's and then when crowds lessened after 5 or 6 did more MFSM and TS Land.

HS is no longer a 1/2 day park so we did not find ourselves running back and forth across the park. With the current crowds we went with the flow and did what was around us. For dining we had an 820 reservation one day at Sci Fi so that was casual. We also hit the Star Wars fireworks one day and did the light saber build along with the cantina. So there were plenty of things to do that ate time up quickly.

RotR can take a minimum of an hour or more to get through the line and attraction so that also eats time.

I would not do GE as soon as the park opens as it is a mass sea of humanity that heads that way in the morning. Typically all that is open is MFSR so everyone heads for that. After 5 or 6 PM GE starts to thin out and you have more room and can get on MFSM with less wait. We rode 3 times in the last hour one day.

TS Land you can rope drop and get a SDD or TSM quickly if you are up front of the line. SDD is the tougher one to get early.

If you have an ADR at another park, say Epcot its easy to do with the Skyliner. If it is somewhere else it is going to eat time away with transportation and getting out of and back into HS.

With MMRR opening soon that will add to the mix and provide another level into the equation.

We never even got time for Indiana Jones as it was too tough to plan around.

Thank you! This is really helpful!

 

[shaunaday]

We've planned a full day at HS, and another morning (2 chances at BGs).

Full-day has FPs for MFSR, RnRC, and TSM. Reservations for Droid Depot (early afternoon), Oga's (mid-afternoon), and Sci-Fi (dinner). Plan is to get BG, and rope drop SDD.

Second morning has FPs for MMRR, ST, AS2. Plan is to get BG, and rope drop SDD or MFSR (depending on what happened previous day and what we want to re-ride). The hope is to get an early BG, as we're planning an afternoon at the pool and VAH at MK that evening.

We'll prioritize RotR if we get a BG and it's called...from the sounds of it CMs are pretty forgiving if you miss a FP/reservation for RotR. Given the complete unpredictability of the BG system, they kind of have to be, right?

I like your plan to do a half day to maximize your chances of getting a BG. I’m going 2 times as well, but one of those days, our oldest daughter (25) won’t be with us and the other day our son in law (24) won’t be with us....so I’m really praying we get a BG both days! Thank you for sharing!

 

[calitook]

I'm planning a full day mid March. I have FP for Star Tours, RnR and Mickey/Minnie railroadv and ADRs at SciFi at 11. I'm planning Ubering an hour before opening. Hope to grab a boarding pass when they're available and then hit up SDD first off. Will save Smuggler's Run for later because the trend seems to be crowd dies down later. If my boarding group ends up conflicting with a FP I'll ask guest services to help. I'm hopeful, but also reminding myself that they're just rides! So whatever happens, happens!!

 

[Lovetherodent]

early March, 2 long half days, one afternoon/evening and one am. Am not planning to try for a BG. The ride will be there on my next visit and will likely be just as awesome. I'd like to see SWGE, so will plan to wander through on my afternoon day when the crush has subsided a little. On my am day, since I don't need a BG, I will arrive just a little later in time for my first FP to avoid the initial crush of humanity. Plan is to use FPs, ADR for Sci Fi at 11, wander the shops.

I do have a dinner ADR scheduled at Epcot for afternoon DHS day; it's not til late, so even if I wanted a BG, I'd keep it.

 

[ohiokate]

Following

 

[csjordan]

Has anyone attempted to get a boarding group for a large party? Not sure whether it is more difficult to get one for a party of 8 versus a party of 4.

 

[MiketheGrate]

I have one full day and one half day planned in my itinerary for mid-March. If I can't get ROTR on my first HS day, on my Epcot days, I'm also going to try to hit HS to tap in pre-opening and be able to get a boarding pass while I'm on my way to EPCOT. I've read that as long as you tap-in to HS, you can still participate in the boarding group process even if you aren't physically in HS at opening.

 

[sweetmama17]

We have 1.5 days planned at HS for our short March spring break trip. On arrival afternoon I have FP for AS2, TSM and MFSR and will end the day with Fantasmic probably. On Saturday (I wish this wan't out HS full day but long weekend only), we will attempt for a BG. Hopefully HS will open at at least 8. I plan on getting a BG then immediately signing kids up for Jedi training once I know if and what number BG we get. Then I plan to RD star tours. We have FP for TOT and RnR around 9-130ish which 1 adult will take 1 kiddo on both while the other one probably does a Disney Jr or Frozen show. Left a break for ROTR or JT. FP for TSM at 11 and MMRR at 12. Will either stay a little bit longer to do jedi training or hopefully ROTR then. Finally, hoping to get a mid day break in. We will see how it all goes

 

[CJGamer]

I'll be there for 10 park days in June. Current plan is 3 full nights in HS from dinner time on. One afternoon there and one Morning.
The morning is for ROTR, with the rest of the day split between epcot and HS based on the boarding group. The following day I had planned to be at Typhoon Lagoon during the morning and HS at night- so if we don't get on ROTR that's my backup morning to try that ( i have another in case also). Figure on the full ROTR day planned if we don't get a boarding group- or get one that's high, we will just leave and go to a water park anyway and come back at night.
Based on everything I've read, I think afternoons and evenings will be much more enjoyable at HS then the mornings. Because of the crazy lines, my plan on the day we rope drop HS is to get signed up for Jedi Training for my daughter, perhaps ride one thing like Alien Saucers, and then hit Oga's for our 9:15 reservation. I'd rather sit and have breakfast then wait 90 minutes for something in the morning. With as many days as we have- we should be able to FP most everything- and plan to wait in line for MFSR in the evening so we can enjoy the whole queue.

 

[Lhgood]

Sharing our trip report from Sunday, Feb 16. Level 10 crowds with EMHs. First time to visit Galaxy’s Edge for us. We spent over 16 hours at DHS with one-day park tickets. It was a VERY long day, but even with tremendous crowds all went well.

6:10am arrival at DHS. (We had a 8:55am ADR at Ogas and hoped to rope drop MFSR before breakfast.) We lined up at the furthest right tapstile. Around 15 people were in line ahead of us.

After Park entry, we waited near the front of the huge crowd at Galaxy’s Edge tunnel entrance. DH,DS17,DS13 and myself. 3 iPhone 11s & 1 iPhone 6. Three of us had 5.7v of app. I had 5.8.1v. All on cellular AT&T data. We also had one person remotely accessing my husband’s MDE account as back up. All opened app around 7:58am (logged into four separate MDE accounts) and waited on “find out more” screen until 8am. DS13 on his 6 had to force close app at 8. The other four of us were able to get active buttons. I received the Error message that members of my party were not in the park. DS17 got BG11. (More proof that the teenager will usually get it.)

We finished riding MFSR by 8:30am and then scanned in at Rise. (Used RFID tickets in lanyards instead of Magic Bands) Rise went down during our first attempt and we were given FP to return later. (We went back early afternoon and rode Rise using our FP with no further problems.)

We made it to our Ogas ADR at 8:57am (2 min late) and were allowed in anyway. After breakfast, We used our three original FPP before 12:00. We were able to pick up two additional FPP throughout the day. We rode MFSR twice (once at park open and again during EMH), Star Tours twice (ST has four versions) & ToT. We saw the Muppets, Frozen & Indiana Jones shows using FPP. We had a second “lunch” ADR for Ogas at 1:05. We Mobile ordered Ronto Wraps and watched Kylo Wren make his park entrance from a distance while waiting in Ogas ADR queue. We shared Dinner entree’s at Docking Bay 7 around 5pm and made several trips to Dok Odars & the Black Spire outpost. We had reservations for DD (3:55pm), SW Dessert party (6:30pm) and Savis (8:45pm). It was raining during the Evening Animation show so we skipped that and did Chewbacca and Vader character greetings at Launch Bay instead. We watched the 8pm Galactic Spectacular Show in the dessert party viewing area.

Ours was an aggressive itinerary. I wouldn’t recommend it for everyone. Our best advice is to have a Solid Plan in place, know your priorities & limitations and cut your losses. We didn’t do any rides in Toy Story Land. We weren’t willing to wait more than an hour in any line and didn’t have to. There is definitely some luck involved with the BG process, but knowing what to do should give you an advantage. We couldn’t have done it without all the help and advice from Disboards! Good Luck to All!

 

[Remy is Up]

We have done Studios 3 times since RotR opened. Everytime we did it the same way: ( new tiers will change this a bit and we have another one coming up so here is our plan)
We have a MMRR, ToT, and RnRC set at 805, 915,1035. Our goal is to use all 3 FPs before 930.
So we will get to the park about 645 since park opens at 8. They will let people in about 715. We will go hop in line for TSM first and while in line, wait for the opening announcements, jump onto MDE and grab a BG. Ive grabbed 7,7 and 23 so far on 3 tries. If its an early one thats perfect, if not ill drop it later if need be and go to Epcot.
We will do TSM, Go do MMRR on FP and immediately modify ToT and RnRC, do the same with both of those and expect to be done with all 4 by 930. Easily doable. At 930 should be able to grab a SDD and usually they are for the 11-12 time window. Go do Star Tours or something like that. If our BG was an early one, should be able to do that before doing SDD. Do SDD then head to Epcot. That leaves me with 2 drops at Epcot, Tiers are broken, and generally you can pull a Soarin, Spaceship Earth, or FEA when TT is up and running. Grab one of those, modify, do it and whatever else and it should be pushing lunch time. Sit down for lunch and grab a TT, then after doing that pull the one of FEA and Soarin I didnt grab earlier.
Just takes some patience.

 

[DisAg]

Trip was Feb 1-9 (this was before the fp+ changes). Our original plans on my spreadsheet itinerary for HS were...(kind of long)

sun feb 2 7am park open
4:30am wake up
Lyft to HS at 5:15am
Oga's 9:40am reservation
Droid depot 11am
Savi's 12:30pm

FP+ star tours 11:30am
Frozen sing-a-long 1:30pm
Toy story mania 2:30pm

skyliner to EP at 4pm

return to HS for late emh 8pm-10pm

*pretty much how it went except our ROTR BG45 was called at 10:10 with 2 hour return window so we were rushing with that between droid depot and savis. made kids hurry with the droid building and we barely made it to savi's less than 5 minutes to spare. we also rope dropped SDD which was gameday decision*

ROTR BG was for a group size of 18 if that is considered a large group. no issues except we only had two phones in that group that had everyone in the group linked.


Wed Feb 5
Skyliner to HS from EP around 10am
beauty and the beast fp+12:30p
rockin rollercoaster fp+1:30p
indy jones fp+3pm
sci-fi dine in 6:20p

reality:
6 or 7 of our group ended up going to hs early again to get rotr bg because our ride sunday had broken features. left hotel via lyft at 6:15am. bg93. i rope dropped tower of terror with wife. rest of group rope dropped mfsr. took skyliner with wife to ep and made rope drop there (frozen) and met up with rest of group before returning to hs later that day. rode tot 3 times in evening with 4th+ fastpasses. bg93 was not called that day due to rotr being down for hours.

thu feb 6
no plans for hs

reality:
group of 4 of us went for try number 3 for bg since no ride the day before. bg13. we rd sdd again. ride as2. head straight to rotr. get in line. ride goes down. in line for 1 hour and 45 minutes. eventually evac about halfway through attraction. given fp for that day only. meet up with group at mk for fp+ rides. mk to ep. ep to hs. ride a fully working rotr using fastpass line.

fri feb 7
bus from mk to hs 10am after mk emh
fp+ sdd 12:30p
fp+ star tours 2pm
fp+ voyage little mermaid 3pm

lunch and dinner at hs quick service

reality: pretty much as planned except everyone bailed on me for mk early emh and slept in. we ate/drank at baseline tap, backlot, i dont remember eating dinner that day.

sun feb 9 (departure day)
hs
lyft to hs early
rotr bg
fp+ star tours, tot, muppet 3d (opening back up that day)

reality: yeah we were tired of being at hs so we completely bailed on our plans and went to mk instead. were able to get fp+ for mansion/small world, pirates, and btmr. mansion broke down so those with mansion fp used fp on space mtn. lunch walk up at skipper canteen. went home.

edit* after typing all of this on my phone I realized these plans will probably not be useful to anyone with the changes that are coming to fp+. i'm leaving it here anyways. i guess just swap all of our fastpasses we had for the shows with tower of terror/rock'n'rollercoaster/toy story mania. for tier 1's i would personally try one sdd and one mmrr. mfsr was pretty easy to ride with about a 20 minute or less wait during late emh and near park closing. if mmrr ends up having a short line late in the day like mfsr I would just tier 1 sdd every day. we waited once at park close for sdd and it was still 30+ minute wait.

 

[Boopuff]

We have two different days planned for HS. Day one we have Lightsaber/droid reservations and Ogas. We'll try for a BG. Then hopefully get FP for MFSR, SDD then enjoy the rest of the park. Day 2 - if we didn't get a BG try again. Get FP for MRR and TS. and just finish any other attractions.

 

[Rpiercecab]

Trying to figure this out right now. Our HS day is March 4th. I had planned on that before I was aware MMRT was opening on that day and now I feel like I can not change it and I have no idea what to expect on opening day of a new ride having only been to Disney one other time in my life. Park hours are 8AM until 8:30PM so far.

We will plan on arriving at 7 and trying for a BG and then signing up for Jedi Training at RD. So I feel like heading to one of the "big" rides after doing that may be worse than just doing something else and waiting until later in the day for MMRT/MFSR but I'm not sure. I'm leaning towards trying to sign up for the first Jedi Training time of the day because it seems like all lines are going to be long and I don't want to run in to a situation where I miss it altogether or have to leave a line after being there 45 minutes. Our main focus is GE and TSL. It would be nice to ride MMRT, but it would be 3rd priority for us. I have FP for SD and TSMM around 2/3, so hoping to knock out TSL rather timely in the afternoon and focus on GE in the morning and maybe MMRT on our way out for the day.

I do use touring plans.com to give me a rough idea on wait and ride times and right now they are saying if I RD MMRT it would only be a 30 minute wait and would be about an hour later in the day. That seems generous. They have MFSR at over an hour no matter where I move it.

 

[rchampagne]

We'll be there in mid April. Right now, my plan is to pretend RotR doesn't exist. We'll be visiting HS on two days, and I have a Smuggler's Run FP+ for day 1, and Mickey&Minnie Runaway Train FP+ for day 2. Our plan this trip is to sleep in, and spend more nights in the parks. All that being said, if we're asleep early the night before, and everyone is up at 6 am (without an alarm), maybe we'll give it a shot. I stress too much... and not planning on riding RotR alleviates some stress.

 

[DisLiss]

We won't be there until very late August so we can't make any FPs yet, but we're less than 2 weeks from making any ADRs we may want, and it's tricky to guess what might be happening that far in advance. I'm guessing by then there will be RotR FPs, but I have no way of being sure. With how fast things change in WDW they could have a whole new FP system by August, LOL! I've been stalking the WDW website waiting for hours to be posted for our days, but even then I know they could change at the last second and everything I've been considering will no longer be viable. So for right now, my tentative, in my mind, not yet on paper plans are the same as rchampagne mentioned---completely ignoring RotR. I even warned the kids not to expect to ride that on this trip. I figure if we manage to get on, it's a bonus, but I'm going to try to spend my time & effort planning around things less likely to drastically change.

 

[DrummerBoy523]

I received the Error message that members of my party were not in the park.

Can you expand on this? I have just started looking into how to get a BG and haven't seen this particular situation come up yet.