We are WDW vets, that have also been going to DL every summer for the 9 years.
1. 1) If the morning times are already pretty much booked up for 2 of the 3 rides we want to book, is it better to instead book them early afternoon, lets say 12, 1 and 2 and then rope drop at a different park early and then park hop to that one?
I would recommend booking them in the early afternoon, but going to that park and doing other things in the morning until your FP+ times. You can try move them earlier by the "refresh" method once you are in the park that day. With just 2 people, you might have some success at that. For someone who has only been to DL, I would recommend keeping the hopping at a minimum on your first trip. It can take an hour, and sometimes more, to get between parks unlike DLR where it takes about 5 minutes to park hop. It will really eat up your day if you hop too much. Epcot/HS are the easiest to hop between because they are walking distance (probably about twice the distance as getting from the
Disneyland Hotel to the parks- about a 20 minute walk), or if you don't want to walk, you can take the boat. We usually take the boat if we see it at the dock or close to being there and the line is short enough that we will get on that boat, but if we don't we just walk it. One time, the boat was pulling away from the dock and we just missed it, so we walked to DHS, and we got there just ahead of the boat. Hopping is fine for those occasions when you need to hop to get to certain night time entertainment, or you could only get a certain ADR on a certain day, or if you are people who take a mid day break and are leaving the first park anyway. Just don't plan on going back and forth quite a bit because it will eat up time quickly. We hop around some, but we are very familiar with the parks, transportation .
2. I know there is a trick to manipulate fastpass times but going into modify and then going out and doing this many times until u find something closer to the time you'd like, i was able to get this done a few times, but it doesnt seem as easy as some youtube tip videos make it out to be, it took me about 20 mins and about 25 attempts to get Space mountain from 12:45 to 11:35, but what about doing this trick to snatch up a fastpass for a ride such as 7DMT or Slinky dog thats already sold out, I thought I heard this was possible
We have done it with a lot of success, but we are a group of 3. The day you have the larger group it is going to be pretty difficult. Also, it is a lot easier to do the same day when you are already in the park than ahead of time. Things fluctuate quite a bit the day you are there-- things can open up. When we were there last October, we were easily able to pull Flight of Passage with refresh and could have ridden it many times- it is all luck, party size, and whether a lot of other people are changing things around. I had absolutely no luck with Slinky Dog and I tried for at least a solid hour.
3. To continue with the last bulletin, i know that once you use all 3 FP+ you can start picking freely almost like with Maxpass, but on day of, what realistically is open to choose from? If rides like Toy Story, and Aerosmith Big thunder ETC are already booked up until afternoon 30 days out, wont they be sold out by day of? I read sometimes if your 3rd FP is much further out than you would like that canceling it entirely is the best option so you can start booking freely quicker
MaxPass is far superior to FP+. We really dislike the FP+ system. Because 3 are booked in advance instead of one at a time, it can make it difficult to get things that day, especially if you are a big group. It is all a matter of luck. The best thing to do is just to book anything you can get, and then use refresh to try to change it to something you prefer. Don't cancel your 3rd in a tier one park because you have to burn the 3 before you can get another tier one. Just move it for anything that is close in time and then go scan in to that one even if you decide not to ride/do it. You can book two in one park with a Tier one, and if you hop to another tiered park, you will be able to get a Tier 1 there (if any are available)-- if you stay in the same park, you have to burn 3 to get another tier 1.
Is hoping from H.S to A.K gonna be an issue, the group is rather large as well for that day, every other day it will just be me and someone else, and saturday I will actually be alone for the very first time at any Disney park, I am nervous but excited
There is a bus directly from HS to AK. It won't be an issue except for the fact that it takes time. AK is not near anything. I think it is about 4.5 miles from DHS. Also, I'm not sure the status of the HS bus stop right now-- they have been doing construction for the skyliner and at least last fall, the bus stop had moved and it was a hike from where it normally it. Not sure if it is moved back yet. When you hop, you have to take into account walking to the bus stop from the parks, waiting 20 minutes for the bus (if you are lucky it will be shorter-- if you are very unlikely it will be longer), the drive, and then walking from the bus stop to the park gate.
If you need more WDW information-- the Theme Parks Attractions and Strategies forum is a great place to ask questions.
