So I’m not
Disneyland Vet as I have only been 5 or so times (just on this Board for info for my next visit in Sept) but I’m very much a WDW Vet with 35+ weekly visits. I feel like I can provide some clarity on your above questions.
1) I 100% do this on purpose even when a desired Fastpass has availability in the morning. While you should budget 30-45 mins to get between parks it is worth it to rope drop a park to ride those rides first. Depending on the rides and parks you should expect to get there 30-60 mins before open. Getting there means waiting at the gates. WDW is known to open the popular rides before park open especially during busy seasons. I’ve ridden FOP 20 mins before official park open and was in line 50 mins before open. By 30 mins before open the line was already being marketed as 1.5 hours.
As for transportation between parks sometimes it’s easier to hop busses to resorts. When trying to get to Epcot from any park it is just as easily to take a bus to Beach Club, Swan/Dolphin, or Boardwalk and enter the International Gate (you can walk to HS from these hotels but it’s about 15-20 min walk). As for getting to Magic Kingdom busses to Contemporary (walk 10 mins) or Polynesian (walk 10-15 mins to TTC) are super convenient also. Just really gauge it on the lines on which routes to go.
2) This is a trick you should practice. However, I wouldn’t consider it manipulating Fastpass times as Fastpass+ is an actively monitored system (met the main programmer once for it at the park randomly) and searching repeatedly is checking for cancellations prior to the park arrival day. Now I 100% recommend searching throughout the day when at the park because it is actively monitored. So if they need to draw crowds aware from other rides they will/do open Fastpass times during the day when you otherwise thought it was sold out. Fastpass at WDW is very different than DL there is t a set amount given out (except nighttime spectaculars) it’s all based on active capacity at the park (when looking that day, preplanning is based on projected capacities). Remember finding Fastpasses to sold out rides is really more successful day of for the active crowds whereas prior to that day you are mostly trying to catch cancellations. Often times the big rides FOP, slinky, 7 Dwarf are sold out Fastpasses 60+ days. In fact you usually can make them only 64+ days out if preplanning. If you stay on site you make Fastpass reservations 60 days out plus length of stay so that’s why they disappear earlier than 60 days. Also club level guests can buy 3 extra Fastpasses they can make 90 days out.
3) Some rides I’ve gotten day of Thanksgiving week for a party of 4: all of them (yep just takes some patience in looking which I do while waiting in lines). I can’t think of one ride I couldn’t get it. I just actively search during the day since it is an actively monitored system not based on a strict capacity amount. The easier (big ticket rides) to get are HS: Toy Story, Rock’n, Tower of Terror, Beauty and the Beast; AK: Expedition, Kali, Safari, Lion King (amazing show worth doing); MK: everything but 7 Dwarf (not worth anymore that 5-10 min wait IMO); Epcot: everything but Frozen (however this past year I got Frozen twice same day looking day of). I always clump my original 3 Fastpasses together early afternoon (10-11 start times) so I can pick more at a reasonable hour and get good stuff. In general I don’t wait standby lines at WDW unless they are 30 mins or less.
Some general hints do Park Hop never stay in the same park (security is minimal concern as they have large number of lines and without a bag it’s super easy). While some DL vets seem to suggest against this I say do it for food and a set of rides. It’s worth it if you will spend 2-3 hours the next park. I Park Hop especially when I can get good Fastpasses day of. It’s jusy different than DL in that you can’t really Park Hop for 1 rise back and forth. That is my opinion. Avoid parks in the morning that have Extra Morning Magic Hours they will be packed. Epcot has the best food in the parks hands down (all in WS). MK has the worst food (but some great stuff is to be found like Sleepy Hollow, Casey’s Corner, and Friars Nook).
Also while the monorail seems iconic it is often slower transportation. So MK to Epcot they suggest the Monorail sometimes they will run buses direct between the two when busy. Or going to TTC from MK take the Ferry Boat (if a huge line for the monorail) fits a lot of people.
Transportation Map:
http://www.wdwfocus.com/img/map/wdw-transport-map-full.png
Transportation Guide:
https://wdwprepschool.com/how-to-na...rld-transportation/#Traveling_between_resorts
The guide is super convenient you pick any starting location and ending location it tells you how to get there.
Hopefully that covers a lot. They are two different animals of Resorts and should be treated as such and appreciated as such. Resort hop too. Grand Californian is themed amazingly but know imagine 10-15 (depending who you ask) hotels that are themed just as well. While each hotel at WDW technically have a theme some are not that great. POP, Poly, Grand Floridian, Wilderness Lodge, Animal Kingdom, Port Orleans French Quarter are some of my favorite. Plus some hotels have amazing food.
