AK vs HS FP strategy [for march 2019]

[hello starshine]

Hey guys, I'm hoping you can help or give some feedback on my plan for March 2019. I normally wouldn't post a novel like this but I'm struggling to figure this trip out because a lot of things have changed since we were last there in March 2017. And even though Frozen & Rivers of Light were running, we passed on both for time, and so we have a long(er list than normal) of must sees.

Current plan is:
3/8 [arrival day]: Go to HS w/ FP for SDD, it's not going to be a full day so I'm wary about pre-planning more than 1 ride
3/9: Magic Kingdom, must see Happily Ever After
3/10: Epcot w/ FP for Frozen. Hopeful to get a same-day Soarin' FP afterward. Would I be able to get a Test Track FP after this, or should I wait?
3/11: Animal Kingdom has morning 8am EMH, so I'm thinking we rope drop. I am really hoping to get a FP for FOP and do Na'vi River Journey at RD but will inverse if that's just not gonna happen. We'll likely finish AK within a few hours and be at HS in the afternoon. Will all of the Toy Story Mania FPs be gone by then (I am thinking I'll be able to rebook at 11am-12pm)? We'll need to see Fantasmic at 8:30pm tonight.
3/12: Breakfast res than HS, getting into the park around 11am, FPing Alien Swirling Saucers. Maybe this day is better to try FP for TSM? We will be going back to AK later this night to see Rivers of Light at 7:15pm.
3/13: Intentionally left free day #1, we have a breakfast res & we always do Evening EMH at MK.
3/14: Intentionally left free day #2, we have a dinner res in Epcot. If I have to wait, the Test Track FP would likely be here (made same-day).

How realistic is this? What would you do differently? We always leave the last 2 days with no ties to a park until later in the night so we can go to whatever parks we feel like during the day but should we give that up because we have so many must sees? I mainly am unsure about securing the FP for SDD & FOP...would it be better for me to initially plan them later when it would be 60+4 & or 60+5/6? Is HS the park we should go to on arrival day or should we go to AK? And how early are we going to have to get up to successfully rope drop EMH at AK? The last time we rode dropped was in 2008 for TSM, so I feel very unfamiliar LOL.

I know that we have enough days there to get everything we want done but we just aren't people who wait in lines longer than 45 min (we'd rather skip the ride) and we really try to keep our schedule as relaxed as possible. My goal is for my mom & my sister to have absolutely no idea how many hours it took for me to fit all these puzzle pieces together.

Thank you so much to all who made it to the end of this and if I posted this in the wrong forum I'm sorry (where should it actually go?)!

 

[Delirium]

It's very unlikely you will get a FP for SDD on your arrival day. Better chance to secure that for your 2nd HS day on 3/12.

As far as the TSM question on 3/11, how big is your party? That plays a huge part in the ability to get a same day FP/

 

[sharonabe]

Let me see if I can get the discussion ball rolling:

Day 1. HIGHLY unlikely you'll get a FP for SDD on this day.
Day 3. Same day Soarin' is possible, but then to also get TT after that is unlikely. You could use the single rider line for TT.
Day 4. No FP during EMH, so you'll either have to rope drop both or try to get FP for one of them at 9:00. If you're rope dropping FoP, you'll need to be AT the gates of AK by 7:15 to be towards the front of the line for FoP. If you do this, you should be able to ride FoP and Na'vi without a FP and use your FP for the afternoon in HS. You probably won't get same day FP for TSL rides.
Last two days. Decide if you need to plan your morning once you're into FP+. If you haven't gotten FoP or the TSL rides, you may want to plan something for those two days.

 

[g-dad66]

We are going the same week, and I have been scouting out FP availability 60 days out at the touringplans site.

So far it's looking like FP for both SDD and FoP are unlikely to be available until 60+4.

I would definitely recommend getting FP for them on your last 2 days. You can always decide to ditch them if you decide on another park.

Nothing else, other than Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, should be hard to get FP for, even on your arrival day.

 

[hello starshine]

Thank you so much, this has already helped me a lot. We are a party of 3 if that helps.

I hadn't even thought about rope dropping both Avatar rides, thinking that the line would already be at 1hr+ when we got out of whichever ride we first went in. That's really interesting, esp. knowing I could then save those FP for later...is doing both of them at RD really doable?

Thanks for the info from touringplans about the FP, I (embarrassingly lol) cannot seem to find my way around that site so I had no idea. I'll plan SDD for our second day in HS for sure now.

 

[sharonabe]

I hadn't even thought about rope dropping both Avatar rides, thinking that the line would already be at 1hr+ when we got out of whichever ride we first went in. That's really interesting, esp. knowing I could then save those FP for later...is doing both of them at RD really doable?

You have to do FoP FIRST in order to have a chance to do both and you have to be AT THE GATES at least 45 min before scheduled opening.

 

[gharter]

We just got back from our trip.
We were unable to get an AM SDD FP and could not get a FP for FoP.
What worked for us:
HS opened at 9 am. We arrived at 7:50 and were 4th in one of the lines. At 8:30 they let us in and then held us at the end of the street. They had a crew of CM walk everyone to TSL. We got on SDD at 8:50 after about a 3 minute wait.
Walked over to AS2 and walked right on at 8:55.
Walked over to TSM and waited 5 minutes.
We walked out of TSL at 9:15 having looked at the land briefly and done all 3 rides. The line for SDD was out to Pixar Place.

AK opened at 9.
We arrived at 7:50. Already 20 people in each line ahead of us. Let us in at 8:30 and everyone rushed to where we were held at the entrance to Pandora for 10 minutes, then walked to FoP. We had a 5 minute wait.
Walked over to Navi and waited under 5 minutes. when we walked out of Pandora about 9, the line for FoP was 120 minutes.
Then headed to EE and rode twice with waits under 5 minutes.

When people talk about doing RD, you have to get there early. If you don't have a FP, this does work.

 

[hello starshine]

These details are exactly what I needed, I really appreciate you guys sharing. So I will plan to get to AK by 7am for 8am EMH, with 7:15am being the absolute latest. We are not normally rope droppers so if we are going to do it, I want to make sure we make it worth it.

You're even making me want to try RD for HS. I guess I will see what happens with my fastpasses and if I flop big time, I'll try to fit a RD in. Because I would much rather get up early than wait in hours long lines.

 

[coolgrandson]

These details are exactly what I needed, I really appreciate you guys sharing. So I will plan to get to AK by 7am for 8am EMH, with 7:15am being the absolute latest. We are not normally rope droppers so if we are going to do it, I want to make sure we make it worth it.

You're even making me want to try RD for HS. I guess I will see what happens with my fastpasses and if I flop big time, I'll try to fit a RD in. Because I would much rather get up early than wait in hours long lines.

Hello- I am new and know this is an older post but I will be at disney those days as well- wondering how FP selections turned out for you?

 

[hello starshine]

Hello- I am new and know this is an older post but I will be at disney those days as well- wondering how FP selections turned out for you?

Hi!! I'm happy to share.

3/8: We're actually taking a later flight now which means we're not doing any parks on this day, so I didn't try to make a FP for SDD.
3/9: I got a FP for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at 12:15pm. (plus Buzz Lightyear at 11:05am & Space Mountain at 10am)
3/10: Got a Frozen FP initially for 9:30am, but I've changed that to 10:25-11:25am because I think this will be our one day to sleep in lol. I'm still planning on trying to get a same-day Soarin' FP here.
3/11: I got FOP at 11:20am. This was the first one I made at 7am. (also got Expedition Everest 9:10am & Dinosaur 10:10am). We're planning to rope drop Na'vi River Journey this day like I hoped.
3/12: I got SDD for 10:50am. I made this immediately after I got the FOP FP and if I remember correctly there were actually earlier times still available but I didn't take them because we have a breakfast ADR. (also got Tower of Terror for 11:50am & Rock n Rollercoaster at 12:55pm)
3/13: I made Test Track FP at 11:30am, there were earlier ones available (and honestly I think there still are right now) but we have another breakfast ADR.
3/14: I got Toy Story Mania FP at 10:45am. I could have made this earlier and I think there are still earlier ones available here too. I'm still really unsure about this one though and have switched it with one for Aliens everyday since I made it. Don't know if I'm making the right decision keeping it with TSM, but we really love that ride.
3/15: We're now taking a way later (10:30pm) flight so we'll get to be in the parks a bit during the day. I made a FP for Na'vi River Journey at 11:20am as a contingency in case we decide not to rope drop on our actual AK morning but I really don't think that's gonna happen & will most likely end up canceling this one on that Tuesday.

All in all I pretty much got everything I had planned for which was a complete shock to me, especially because it's a spring break week. I decided to make the fast passes for the days I usually leave open (3/13-3/15) because there was just too much we wanted to do in comparison to past trips. If we change our minds, I can always cancel them beforehand so somebody else can use them. I hope this is what you were looking for, if it wasn't I'm sorry it was so long! But if you want more info I can ramble some more.

Thanks again to everybody to answered my original question, you helped a lot!

 

[zeferjen]

Thanks for coming back with this. I am planning a July trip and it helps to see how during busy season FP availability is looking.

 

[coolgrandson]

Thank you for sharing! That was perfect! It helps me a lot to see other people’s strategies for this time of year. I’m so glad you got everything you wanted! I also have been swapping a FP from TSM to Aliens, so I definitely get that.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

Hi!! I'm happy to share.

3/8: We're actually taking a later flight now which means we're not doing any parks on this day, so I didn't try to make a FP for SDD.
3/9: I got a FP for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at 12:15pm. (plus Buzz Lightyear at 11:05am & Space Mountain at 10am)
3/10: Got a Frozen FP initially for 9:30am, but I've changed that to 10:25-11:25am because I think this will be our one day to sleep in lol. I'm still planning on trying to get a same-day Soarin' FP here.
3/11: I got FOP at 11:20am. This was the first one I made at 7am. (also got Expedition Everest 9:10am & Dinosaur 10:10am). We're planning to rope drop Na'vi River Journey this day like I hoped.
3/12: I got SDD for 10:50am. I made this immediately after I got the FOP FP and if I remember correctly there were actually earlier times still available but I didn't take them because we have a breakfast ADR. (also got Tower of Terror for 11:50am & Rock n Rollercoaster at 12:55pm)
3/13: I made Test Track FP at 11:30am, there were earlier ones available (and honestly I think there still are right now) but we have another breakfast ADR.
3/14: I got Toy Story Mania FP at 10:45am. I could have made this earlier and I think there are still earlier ones available here too. I'm still really unsure about this one though and have switched it with one for Aliens everyday since I made it. Don't know if I'm making the right decision keeping it with TSM, but we really love that ride.
3/15: We're now taking a way later (10:30pm) flight so we'll get to be in the parks a bit during the day. I made a FP for Na'vi River Journey at 11:20am as a contingency in case we decide not to rope drop on our actual AK morning but I really don't think that's gonna happen & will most likely end up canceling this one on that Tuesday.

All in all I pretty much got everything I had planned for which was a complete shock to me, especially because it's a spring break week. I decided to make the fast passes for the days I usually leave open (3/13-3/15) because there was just too much we wanted to do in comparison to past trips. If we change our minds, I can always cancel them beforehand so somebody else can use them. I hope this is what you were looking for, if it wasn't I'm sorry it was so long! But if you want more info I can ramble some more.

Thanks again to everybody to answered my original question, you helped a lot!

Thanks for sharing this. Basically you got FOP on 60+3 and SDD on 60+4...which is my same plan for early April. Glad to see it worked out for you.