What time do the parks REALLY open? And can DHS still be done in a single day after SWGE opens?

[Dr. M]

Family and I are excited to tackle WDW during peak season. We are hoping to do rope drop, and I've heard on these boards that they allow guests in before the actual official opening time. What time should I be expecting to walk in at each of the parks?
We are planning for spring break 2020, after Rise of the Resistance opens. I'm sure it will be crazy crowded, but we don't really have much choice with the time...Last time we were there was 2017, before Pandora! We are all anxiously looking forward to all the exciting new rides. Thought it would be wise to start our research and plans early
Typically, in the past, we would spend one day at DHS, and one day at AK....wondering now, with the FP tiering system and difficulty getting fast passes during busy season, should we plan on spending more than one day at AK and DHS, or are these parks still doable in a day? Any and all advise is much appreciated
We are thinking about 6 full days total, not including travel days (so possibility of additional half day at the parks on arrival day?) 2 days EP (but can cut back to 1 if we just focus on rides, not countries and don't do Agent P adventure), 1.5 days MK, 1day DHS, 1 day AK

 

[gharter]

In general:
MK - allowed onto Mainstreet 1 hour before park opens. Other than EMH, everyone waits for opening show on the castle stage and then the park opens at set time.
AK - usually let into Pandora 30 minutes before park opening and held at Pandora sign. Usually let into Pandora about 20 minutes before park opens.
HK - pre SWGE, let in up to Sunset BLVD about 30 minutes before park opening and into TSL 20 minutes early. After SWGE, anyones guess. They have also redone the FP tiers here as well.
EPCOT - let in early and held before Sapceship Earth or the bridge at IG.

 

[sethschroeder]

I say yes HS can be a single day park even after Star Wars opens although much easier with two rope drops instead.

 

[Dr. M]

In general:
MK - allowed onto Mainstreet 1 hour before park opens. Other than EMH, everyone waits for opening show on the castle stage and then the park opens at set time.
AK - usually let into Pandora 30 minutes before park opening and held at Pandora sign. Usually let into Pandora about 20 minutes before park opens.
HK - pre SWGE, let in up to Sunset BLVD about 30 minutes before park opening and into TSL 20 minutes early. After SWGE, anyones guess. They have also redone the FP tiers here as well.
EPCOT - let in early and held before Sapceship Earth or the bridge at IG.

Thank you !!! copy and paste to our touring plans. much appreciated

 

[JKMillerfam]

I say yes HS can be a single day park even after Star Wars opens although much easier with two rope drops instead.

I think this is going to be our strategy for next May. A lot can change between now and then, but starting at RD twice and hopping to another park in the evening will likely what we aim for. RD GE one day, TSL the other and get 2 T1 FPP.

 

[Toolulu22]

I think this is going to be our strategy for next May. A lot can change between now and then, but starting at RD twice and hopping to another park in the evening will likely what we aim for. RD GE one day, TSL the other and get 2 T1 FPP.

This is a good strategy in my opinion. Toy story land is a lot of fun and there is a lot to do with rides, characters and just taking it all in. I’m sure Star Wars area will be the same. After that and some other rides, we played mini-golf at Fantasia Gardens and then hopped over to Epcot and walked around the world. Even scored a Soarin FP.

 

[Dr. M]

This is a good strategy in my opinion. Toy story land is a lot of fun and there is a lot to do with rides, characters and just taking it all in. I’m sure Star Wars area will be the same. After that and some other rides, we played mini-golf at Fantasia Gardens and then hopped over to Epcot and walked around the world. Even scored a Soarin FP.

Great idea! I'm thinking RD for the Millenium Falcon ride, and FP+ Rise of the Resistance one day, then the second day RD TSM and FP+Slinky Dog....I figured should FP the newer ride, and rope drop the older ride to minimize wait times? Still open to better suggestions.

 

[JKMillerfam]

To my knowledge, there is no FPP announced at this time for GE rides.

 

[CastAStone]

should we plan on spending more than one day at AK and DHS, or are these parks still doable in a day?

I think after Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway opens, Hollywood Studios will require the most time of any park other than the Magic Kingdom, especially if you enjoy shows. 5 of its rides will be less than 2 years old meaning a huge percentage of the attendees on a given day have rode none of them, meanwhile, it has three fantastic older rides that typically have 1 hour+ waits. We’ll see how they do Fastpass once MMRR opens but I can imagine 1 hour waits for 7 different rides.

 

[CastAStone]

Great idea! I'm thinking RD for the Millenium Falcon ride, and FP+ Rise of the Resistance one day, then the second day RD TSM and FP+Slinky Dog....I figured should FP the newer ride, and rope drop the older ride to minimize wait times? Still open to better suggestions.

If they’re still not doing FP for Galaxy’s Edge you may want to RD each of those and FP TSM and SDD. It looks like the walk from TSM to Smugglers will be only a couple minutes.

 

[mmackeymouse]

I think the factor here is will SWGE take away crowds from TSL, thus making TSL more doable. Or will there be both a ton of people at Swge AND a ton of people at TSL? I think (hope) that once ToT is back to full capacity, the Sunset Blvd area should be much more manageable. Assuming Runaway Railway loads about the same as Great Movie Ride, the line should move pretty quickly, and should absorb the crowds pretty well.

Just got home yesterday, and we are already thinking ahead to next year. We are thinking we won't have to do too many character meets, since we did some this year, and Frozen will probably the only show we'll need to do. I think (hope) that we should be able to accomplish everything we want to do in a day. But, I can see how EMM or After Events would be a good investment.

 

[Toolulu22]

I think after Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway opens, Hollywood Studios will require the most time of any park other than the Magic Kingdom, especially if you enjoy shows. 5 of its rides will be less than 2 years old meaning a huge percentage of the attendees on a given day have rode none of them, meanwhile, it has three fantastic older rides that typically have 1 hour+ waits. We’ll see how they do Fastpass once MMRR opens but I can imagine 1 hour waits for 7 different rides.

You know what I found interesting at DHS when we were there this past Wednesday? We had a FP for RRC but wanted to ride twice, so we RD that ride and it was walk on- they didn’t even make us watch the pre-show. As we walked in the direction of that ride, tons of people were with us lining up for ToT and the CM told them the line at some point was already 85 minutes AT RD!!
After we had ridden RRC once and came out to ride with our FP, the Standby for ride now read 40 minutes. We rode a second time, now having to go through the pre-show. When we exited the area, after having ridden RRC two times and checking out the gift shop and our photos kind of leisurely, we headed over to Star Tours. We noticed the line for ToT was non-existent whereas earlier it ran down the street out towards the vendor area. I made me wonder about the whole RD strategy. I think that you have to either be way at the beginning, or wait elsewhere until the initial wave of RD people dies down. At least for some rides.

 

[Delirium]

Actually, Hollywood Studios couldn't even be done in a day before SWGE without skipping a lot of what it had to offer.

 

[yorkieteacher]

I think this is going to be our strategy for next May. A lot can change between now and then, but starting at RD twice and hopping to another park in the evening will likely what we aim for. RD GE one day, TSL the other and get 2 T1 FPP.

We are looking at the same scenario first week of March-rope drop GE one day, TSL another, then go to AK for a half day and MK for a half day after that-we could just walk around AK and see the shows and animal exhibits and not ride a thing and our DGS's would be happy. Plus at MK some afternoon fast passes are easier to get-

 

[Always Dream]

5 of its rides will be less than 2 years old meaning a huge percentage of the attendees on a given day have rode none of them, meanwhile, it has three fantastic older rides that typically have 1 hour+ waits. We’ll see how they do Fastpass once MMRR opens but I can imagine 1 hour waits for 7 different rides.

What are the 5 different rides that will have been open less than 5 years?

 

[CastAStone]

What are the 5 different rides that will have been open less than 5 years?

Less than 2 years

Slinky Dog Dash (Summer 2018)
Alien Swirling Saucers (Summer 2018)
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (Summer 2019)
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (Fall 2019)
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway (early 2020)

 

[CastAStone]

Less than 2 years

Slinky Dog Dash (Summer 2018)
Alien Swirling Saucers (Summer 2018)
Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run (Summer 2019)
Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance (Fall 2019)
Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway (early 2020)

I will add that the three new rides coming on in the next 12 months should bring the combined hourly Fastpasses for these 5 rides plus TOT, RNR, and TSM to something like 10,000, so in a 12 hour operating day, there would be roughly 3X the number of FastPasses available for these rides combined as there are guests in the park on a typical day.

In other words, expect new tiering when MMRR opens.