HS strategy now that everything is tier 1

[yorkieteacher]

Does anybody think that Star Tours will the hardest FP to get at any park now? That is the only non-show in tier 2.

It was for us today at our 60 day mark-We are going on our 60+1 day to Hollywood Studios and nothing was available until afternoon-although we got Star Tours for 5:55-6:55 and SDD for 7:05-8:05

 

[Pappy Tom]

After seeing that the EMH for HS are from 6-9 AM for our park visit day, we might try to hit it early and see what rides are open with not too long of wait times (hopefully ToT and RnRC). We're still be trying to FastPass SDD for no later than late afternoon. We want to take it in and have a relaxing last day at WDW and plan to leave HS early so we can do just that.

It's a shame that the tier changes have made FastPasses pretty much pointless for those who love to ride rides. Stating the obvious, I think WDW made these changes to push people to visit SWGE instead of waiting 2-3 hours or more to get on a previous Tier 2 ride. To quote the Borg, "Resistance is futile!" (Sorry, Star Trek fan).

Disney: "We spent all this money on SWGE, and by golly, THE PEOPLE WILL LOVE IT!!!"

 

[ScarletFire]

How many FP+ attractions are in SWGE? As I understand it, all TSL and SWGE attractions are tier 1 as is RnRC and ToT? And only one tier 1 selection per guest available? Yikes!! That's not nice. I'm trying not to purchase Park Hoppers and this means I'll have to use two days at DHS.

We are going with my adult children + partners the week of 12/30-1/3. I know about the crowds. I'm thinking days 4 & 5 will be our Studios days because more likely to get FP+. And, things could change. We are rope droppers and my children have not visited in at least 5 years! They asked for a WDW NYE trip for Xmas. I'm super excited!!

 

[TravelandLeisure]

How many FP+ attractions are in SWGE? As I understand it, all TSL and SWGE attractions are tier 1 as is RnRC and ToT? And only one tier 1 selection per guest available? Yikes!! That's not nice. I'm trying not to purchase Park Hoppers and this means I'll have to use two days at DHS.

We are going with my adult children + partners the week of 12/30-1/3. I know about the crowds. I'm thinking days 4 & 5 will be our Studios days because more likely to get FP+. And, things could change. We are rope droppers and my children have not visited in at least 5 years! They asked for a WDW NYE trip for Xmas. I'm super excited!!

There is no fast pass for Galaxy’s Edge. No idea if/when it will be an option in the future.

 

[ScarletFire]

There is no fast pass for Galaxy’s Edge. No idea if/when it will be an option in the future.

 

[CastAStone]

Ill be interested to see what it does to the refresh strategy. I actually think it works in the favor of those who use refresh. Get an early FP for one of the tier 1 rides whichever it may be, then burn 2 on other things, then start refreshing. I think it will still work. As much as I have said Ill stay far away from HS after SGE opens, we may test out refresh one morning in late September and see how it works. Over the past couple of years, even after TSL opened, we have had no problem getting 5-7 FPs in a morning at HS, and able to find pretty much anything we wanted. We shall see how this effects the prior strategy.

This is exactly right, I think. There will be a ton of same day availability because you can only get 1 ride ahead of time. It then becomes critical to burn your Tier 2 FPs as quickly as humanly possible to get a jump on the other rides.

Case in point: according to Touring Plans Fast Pass Availability tool for 2 Mondays fully within the 60 day window:

Ride	Earliest Fastpass - Monday 8/26	Earliest Fastpass - Monday 9/2
Tower of Terror	Done	9:15
Toy Story Mania	2PM	10:10
Slinky Dog Dash	Done	Done
Rockin Roller Coaster	3:20	9:20
Alien Swirling Saucers	Noon	10:20

I do think the non-GE attractions will be almost completely dead during EEMH, especially before ~7:45 AM. No one will want to wake their kids up extra early to bring them over to "the mad house over at Hollywood Studios" for anything other then GE, so it will be a great time to wake your kids up extra early and bring them over to Hollywood Studios to do anything but GE.

 

[Shelby Schroepfer]

Hi. We are going end of September into October.
We are Star Wars fans so will want to see GE and ride the falcon so we will be doing that at least one day RD. We have dd9 and dd2 with us. Not sure we can get both up and out by 5:15 to get to the park for RD but let’s say we do 1 of our days at HS. We would RD the falcon but what should we do next? Dd9’s fav ride is RnR so we were counting on that being tier 2. We haven’t seen toy story land so definitely want to at least get on to the slinky ride. We love TSM. We can leave ToT if we had to.
We wanted to get into RnR one time each of the 3 days we are there. We’d like to try to alien saucers too! I hate the tea cups though. Is it spinny like that?
What would you do if say you only got to HS one rope drop day and the other two days you are there for a couple hours and arrive around 8?

My FP day is in 7 days (Sep 15-24) and honestly I have no clue what to do. We do wanna see SWGE and enjoy HS but it is our least favorite of the 4 so we only have a mix of a few mornings and a few nights (never seen fantasmic) there. Since we go so soon after the opening of SWGE we are going in with a "we'll see what happens" mindset and gonna roll with the punches. We are going to try for Slinky Dog on one day and Toy Story MM on another day. I am the only one of my party who would ride RRC so I'll wait in standby for that! We have a 4 year old daughter so we COULD fill up time with some shows but honestly we don't want to. We might try to take advantage of EEMH for SWGE, dip in as early as we can, ride falcon, eat some goods, shop, and GTFO. MAYBE the rest of the park will be less busy and MAYBE we can standby some of the tier 1 rides, but maybe we will just hop to Epcot or MK and forget about it

 

[mesaboy2]

How many FP+ attractions are in SWGE? As I understand it, all TSL and SWGE attractions are tier 1 as is RnRC and ToT? And only one tier 1 selection per guest available? Yikes!! That's not nice. I'm trying not to purchase Park Hoppers and this means I'll have to use two days at DHS.

We are going with my adult children + partners the week of 12/30-1/3. I know about the crowds. I'm thinking days 4 & 5 will be our Studios days because more likely to get FP+. And, things could change. We are rope droppers and my children have not visited in at least 5 years! They asked for a WDW NYE trip for Xmas. I'm super excited!!

You may find the FP FAQ helpful, specifically Post #8. The first page is regularly updated.

 

[bitty246]

I'm in a bit of a pickle on FP strategy for DHS. FP booking day is in 11 days!

We have 3 anytime fastpasses from taking a DVC tour (current exclusions limited to Toy Story rides) and my original plan was to FP SDD, ST, and Fantasmic (or other attraction) and use the 3 anytime at DHS to hit TOT 2 times, and RnR. We will try to pick up a same day TSMM and/or AS2, or ride standby. But now I'm worried they will change the exclusions to include all tier 1 rides. If that is the case, I really don't want to waste my anytime FP in HS. Unfortunately the only park we have after this is AK, which also has tiering and I feel like the FP would be more beneficial to use in MK which we are doing the first half of the trip. We have multiple days in the other parks, but only 1 in HS (least favorite). I guess I'll spend this weekend trying to iron everything out.

 

[KenHutch]

This is why as much as I love Star Wars I have made a couple of tweaks to our normal schedule. The first one, when I have moved our next trip to late May/early June 2021. Hopefully they will have this mess cleaned up by then (and the 10 year old watched a YouTube video of the build a light saber and saw space somewhere for 2 more lightsabers. She wants to see what they will be) and usually we do our last day at Magic Kingdom. This time our 2nd Hollywood day will be on Day 10. Maria is seriously hoping that there will be fast pass's for Star Wars then and by day 10 there should be availability for the Star War rides.

 

[wisblue]

This is going to be a planning challenge for even the most seasoned WDW veterans.

We are going October 19-26 and have four full days plus our arrival day set for WDW parks. The other two days are for Universal and KSC. Because we will be making FPs before there is any experience with GE, my rough plan for now is:

1. Go to DHS on arrival day, getting there around 5 PM. Get a FP for Star Tours and the best Tier 1 ride available and one for a show that we probably won’t use. Use this time to get our first look at GE in the daylight, with no expectation of doing the Falcon ride.

2. On one of our first full days spent at WDW parks, go to the 6 AM EMH but not get FPs at DHS. By then there will be information on how the crowds at DHS are working, such as how early you have to get there to get on the Falcon ride with a reasonable wait, and how the lines at the other rides build up. My expectation, or at least my hope, is that between the early hour and no FPs, the lines for the other rides will not be that bad before 8:30. If we can get on an off the Falcon ride by 7, maybe we can do the other rides that we didn’t get a FP for on arrival day in reasonably short order. After all, there only are 4 others (SDD, TSMM, RNRC, and TOT) and we’ll only have 3 of them left. We have done the Alien Saucers a few times so they aren’t a priority, and I will be shocked if they have much of a line during EMH. We would leave DHS as soon as it gets too crowded for our tastes and go to the park where we have FPs.

3. If there are things we want to do that we don’t get to the first day, we could do the same thing later in the trip, again probably without FPs.

4. Once GE opens, I’ll be looking for reports and, using our APs, play around with same day FP availability. If it turns out that the tiering makes a lot of same day FPs available for refreshing, we could spend an afternoon at DHS after using FPs at another park.

5. Because we will also be at WDW for marathon weekend, we will be able to pick up whatever we missed then.

I think the 6 AM EMH is designed to encourage at least some resort guests with hoppers to take advantage of those and then clear out of the park early to make way for others. That’s probably what we’ll do.

BTW, for people who want to use FPs early at DHS, my experience has been that refreshing for extra FPs works really well at Epcot. So, one plan might be to make the FPs at DHS and then head to Epcot by late morning or early afternoon. Without spending too much time refreshing I have been able to get FPs for Soarin, Test Track, and FEA within a 3 or 4 hour window. Soarin seems to be pretty easy to get. I am usually looking for a party of 3.

 

[Jennasis]

Wow. Booking FP totally sucked today. Trying to figure out our DHS day was a total nightmare. With everything we have any interest in doing a tier 1, DHS blows.

I assume we will hit the park at 6am opening. I made our first FP for Star tours at 10am....a throwaway pass for Muppets at 11 (and I died a little inside when I booked it)...and an 11am on Tower of Terror. Then we will leave the park having likely ridden nothing else unless by some magic the refresh option proves to be a miracle cure-all, go back to the pool at AKL until we come back for Fantasmic.

 

[Ariel620]

I'm in a bit of a pickle on FP strategy for DHS. FP booking day is in 11 days!

We have 3 anytime fastpasses from taking a DVC tour (current exclusions limited to Toy Story rides) and my original plan was to FP SDD, ST, and Fantasmic (or other attraction) and use the 3 anytime at DHS to hit TOT 2 times, and RnR. We will try to pick up a same day TSMM and/or AS2, or ride standby. But now I'm worried they will change the exclusions to include all tier 1 rides. If that is the case, I really don't want to waste my anytime FP in HS. Unfortunately the only park we have after this is AK, which also has tiering and I feel like the FP would be more beneficial to use in MK which we are doing the first half of the trip. We have multiple days in the other parks, but only 1 in HS (least favorite). I guess I'll spend this weekend trying to iron everything out.

I would change this up a bit. If you want to use a FP on fantasmic, I would use one of your anytime ones. Because if you FP fantasmic with your prebooked FP then u can’t book a 4th FP. And there very well may be some tier one rides that are still available after your first 3 are used. I do not think they will change the exclusions on your anytime FP if they are loaded in your account and you can see they are good for TOT and RNRC then they will stay good for those rides. The only way I see this changing is if they add NEW anytime FP to your account, then TOT or RNRC might be excluded. But since u already got the anytime FP in your account, i really don’t think it will change.

So I guess I would prebook FP SDD, ST, and a show, then try to book TSMM as a 4th FP. Then use your anytime FP on RNRC, TOT, and fantasmic.

 

[Davey Jones II]

RnRC and ToT are also Tier 1 as of 8/29/19

Okay. Well, this sounds like a huge downgrade. You only get one tier one choice, and all useful FPs are in tier one?? Is this as bad as it sounds?

 

[monica9]

Okay. Well, this sounds like a huge downgrade. You only get one tier one choice, and all useful FPs are in tier one?? Is this as bad as it sounds?

Yes. I think it's to keep bodies in lines so it's not over crowded. I am hoping it helps actually and I'm also hoping that the EMH gives us all the opportunity to enjoy all the big rides without lines before the non resort guests get there!

 

[bitty246]

I would change this up a bit. If you want to use a FP on fantasmic, I would use one of your anytime ones. Because if you FP fantasmic with your prebooked FP then u can’t book a 4th FP. And there very well may be some tier one rides that are still available after your first 3 are used. I do not think they will change the exclusions on your anytime FP if they are loaded in your account and you can see they are good for TOT and RNRC then they will stay good for those rides. The only way I see this changing is if they add NEW anytime FP to your account, then TOT or RNRC might be excluded. But since u already got the anytime FP in your account, i really don’t think it will change.

So I guess I would prebook FP SDD, ST, and a show, then try to book TSMM as a 4th FP. Then use your anytime FP on RNRC, TOT, and fantasmic.

I actually thought of that right after I posted, but I was too distracted to come back and update the post. LOL! It's just psychologically hard for me to wrap my head around FP a show (which we are not likely to use), but I suppose we can FP any show and use the refresh method to get it right after our 2nd FP, then tap in and try for another tier one. It's amazing what a few hours sleep will do for clarity! Thanks for the guidance. I'm thinking along those lines as well.

I am really hoping those Anytime FP are game changers for our only day in HS.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

I actually thought of that right after I posted, but I was too distracted to come back and update the post. LOL! It's just psychologically hard for me to wrap my head around FP a show (which we are not likely to use), but I suppose we can FP any show and use the refresh method to get it right after our 2nd FP, then tap in and try for another tier one. It's amazing what a few hours sleep will do for clarity! Thanks for the guidance. I'm thinking along those lines as well.

I am really hoping those Anytime FP are game changers for our only day in HS.

I think that they initially put a 4 hour entry limit on SW-GE at DL, so I am working on the premise that 4 hours is required to explore the land and ride MF. So I have planned to RD EEMH, stay in the land until 10, first FP between 10 and 11, then brunch/early lunch. After lunch I have one FP for Star Tours but given the early start it may be snooze around the pool time. Should I book and burn another tier 2 FP in the morning, just in case I have enough stamina to keep going and try for another Tier 1? Hmmmm.

 

[bitty246]

I think that they initially put a 4 hour entry limit on SW-GE at DL, so I am working on the premise that 4 hours is required to explore the land and ride MF. So I have planned to RD EEMH, stay in the land until 10, first FP between 10 and 11, then brunch/early lunch. After lunch I have one FP for Star Tours but given the early start it may be snooze around the pool time. Should I book and burn another tier 2 FP in the morning, just in case I have enough stamina to keep going and try for another Tier 1? Hmmmm.

I would definitely try to burn those first 3 FP before leaving, then grab another for around the time you think you might return, just in case. I wish I could say we are going to rope drop, but realistically we will probably roll in the park around 8 - 8:30am. I am just not a morning person, and nothing short of a fire is going to get me out of bed at 5:00 am especially on vacation.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

nothing short of a fire is going to get me out of bed

Maybe I just won’t go to bed! Dinner at Jiko at 8 pm, then?....Trader Sams, are there any other places open until 3am ish?

 

[bitty246]

Maybe I just won’t go to bed! Dinner at Jiko at 8 pm, then?....Trader Sams, are there any other places open until 3am ish?

If I were a few years younger and didn't have 3 cranky kids in tow... I would legitimately do that!