How crazy is Epcot/HS/Epcot/MK park hopping?

[Greencats]

How crazy or doable is this plan? We typically are in the parks all day and used to walking a ton. We have non expiring park tickets with hoppers. We may just decide to use two days. Two adults, two kids, 11 and 16.

Stay at Boardwalk, May 27-29
Rope drop Remy at Epcot from international gateway.

Immediately leave and go to Hollywood studios. Either walk or take skyliner, not sure which would be faster. Can I buy and book lightening lane multi for HS if I have to have a park reservation for Epcot? I think so… We will only be checking in the night before this park day so won’t get to make our selections farther out in the length of our trip. Not sure how good or nonexistent selection of tier 1 rides will be. If I end up doing a split stay, can I make LL selections based off of checkin for my first hotel? Looks like maybe yes? We are currently planning on staying off property prior to this but it’s flexible.

Try to hit up rides like Slinky dog, Toy Story mania, rock n roller coaster, ToT, runaway railroad using the LL multipass. Not a deal breaker if we don’t get to all these and ok with waiting in line if it’s not awful. I have no idea how long this might take???

Take skyliner back to Epcot.
Do a ride or two at front of park if time allows. Soarin, ideally. Maybe walk through Journey of Water. If we could get a 1 pm VQ for GoG with a time that made sense, we’d do it.

Take monorail to MK. Do whatever rides we can with the extended pm hours for deluxe resort guests.

Yes, we expect to be thoroughly exhausted by the end of the day but that’s ok.

Is there enough time in the day? I am always way over optimistic on how long things will take at Disney!

Wish me luck! (Or tell me I’m insane )
Thank you!

 

[kylenne]

Stay at Boardwalk, May 27-29
Rope drop Remy at Epcot from international gateway.
Immediately leave and go to Hollywood studios. Either walk or take skyliner, not sure which would be faster.

You get in while we will be at Boardwalk too. At the time of morning you're probably going to be heading to HS walking will assuredly be faster. If you attempt the Skyliner you'll likely get caught at CBR in the morning crush of Pop/AoA/CBR people trying to get to HS. Friendship boat is also an option if one is there or pulling up to Epcot as you're leaving, to save some steps.

Can I buy and book lightening lane multi for HS if I have to have a park reservation for Epcot?

iirc you can purchase LLMP for any park regardless of your reservations.

I think so… We will only be checking in the night before this park day so won’t get to make our selections farther out in the length of our trip.

If you're staying on property or at Swan/Dolphin/Shades of Green you will be able to book 7 days out from check in regardless. Early booking is based on the date you check into your resort, not your first park day.

Not sure how good or nonexistent selection of tier 1 rides will be. If I end up doing a split stay, can I make LL selections based off of checkin for my first hotel? Looks like maybe yes? We are currently planning on staying off property prior to this but it’s flexible.

The first part of your split stay is offsite? In that case you will be able to book 3 days out from when you check in to your offsite hotel. The continuity thing only applies to split stays where both stays are at Disney resorts iirc. Check out YouTube, Molly on Mammoth Club has videos showing how it is for non resort guests booking LLs. You may struggle with securing single passes if you intend on buying any, but it's honestly not terrible using MP. Just keep checking once a day or so leading up to your visit, and especially at 7am the day of. Disney tends to release a lot of inventory 7am the day of.

Try to hit up rides like Slinky dog, Toy Story mania, rock n roller coaster, ToT, runaway railroad using the LL multipass. Not a deal breaker if we don’t get to all these and ok with waiting in line if it’s not awful. I have no idea how long this might take???

From experience the days immediately following Memorial Day are typically dead at the parks. We've walked onto Rise at 6pm the day after Memorial Day before. This year is going to be a little different because no one knows the impact Epic opening down the street will have on crowds, but I've never had issues getting LLs that week before, and standby waits are generally not awful. During the midday peak is when I would focus on shows and eating.

Take skyliner back to Epcot.
Do a ride or two at front of park if time allows. Soarin, ideally. Maybe walk through Journey of Water. If we could get a 1 pm VQ for GoG with a time that made sense, we’d do it.

Don't bother with the 1pm VQ, do it at 7am. Guardians does not enforce the return time and you can show up at any time after your BG is called. Leave 1pm as a backup in case you can't get one at 7.

Take monorail to MK. Do whatever rides we can with the extended pm hours for deluxe resort guests.

To give you an idea, at EEH in September (another similarly slow time), we got tons of stuff done--9 rides in total, including all of the coasters, with next to no wait. And Big Thunder will be down when you go. Just be aware Tiana's is not part of EEH if that is something you want to ride. I would suggest starting off in Adventureland and letting the day crowds filter out of the right side of the park--lines for things like Mine Train and Tron are still bad at the start of EEH because of all the regular guests who jump in line right before close. IF you can manage to hang in there, try to save those two for later in the evening.

Yes, we expect to be thoroughly exhausted by the end of the day but that’s ok.

Is there enough time in the day? I am always way over optimistic on how long things will take at Disney!

Wish me luck! (Or tell me I’m insane )

It's technically doable, but I would be concerned about leaving enough time for breaks. It's hot that time of year, not as humid as later in the summer but it's still hot. Conserve your steps and try to minimize zig zagging to LLs is the best advice I can give you besides that. But personally I would not do this.

 

[fatmanatee]

I'm not going to speak to the whole plan but starting at Epcot for just one ride, bailing, then going back to Epcot (again, for potentially one ride) seems insane. I feel like you might as well just stay at that point, you're going to waste a decent amount of time hopping. So either start at HS or start at Epcot and get everything you want done in one shot. HS would be my starting point, you can get a decent amount done just through ropedrop and lines start to build pretty quickly across the board. LLMP can also help. As @kylenne mentions you can get the Guardians VQ and just jump in anytime after you're called so spending a decent amount of time at HS should make for good timing for that.

 

[Greencats]

You get in while we will be at Boardwalk too. At the time of morning you're probably going to be heading to HS walking will assuredly be faster. If you attempt the Skyliner you'll likely get caught at CBR in the morning crush of Pop/AoA/CBR people trying to get to HS. Friendship boat is also an option if one is there or pulling up to Epcot as you're leaving, to save some steps.

Thank you! That was my concern. I will keep an eye out for the boats!

The first part of your split stay is offsite? In that case you will be able to book 3 days out from when you check in to your offsite hotel. The continuity thing only applies to split stays where both stays are at Disney resorts iirc. Check out YouTube, Molly on Mammoth Club has videos showing how it is for non resort guests booking LLs. You may struggle with securing single passes if you intend on buying any, but it's honestly not terrible using MP. Just keep checking once a day or so leading up to your visit, and especially at 7am the day of. Disney tends to release a lot of inventory 7am the day of.

Sorry, that was confusing. Currently, I believe I can make them 7 days prior to check in at Boardwalk. I just won’t get much of an advantage of the +14 length of stay. I’m -considering- moving the first part of our trip to be on Disney property as well, but it would be a different Disney resort. I think I can bridge that gap then and make them 7 days prior to check in at the first resort even if my park day is after I’ve checked into the 2nd resort?

From experience the days immediately following Memorial Day are typically dead at the parks. We've walked onto Rise at 6pm the day after Memorial Day before. This year is going to be a little different because no one knows the impact Epic opening down the street will have on crowds, but I've never had issues getting LLs that week before, and standby waits are generally not awful. During the midday peak is when I would focus on shows and eating.

Good to know!

Don't bother with the 1pm VQ, do it at 7am. Guardians does not enforce the return time and you can show up at any time after your BG is called. Leave 1pm as a backup in case you can't get one at 7.

Thanks!

To give you an idea, at EEH in September (another similarly slow time), we got tons of stuff done--9 rides in total, including all of the coasters, with next to no wait.

Awesome! We did pretty good last time with EEH but got stuck in an unusually long line for Space Mountain somehow. We’ll skip Tiana.

It's technically doable, but I would be concerned about leaving enough time for breaks. It's hot that time of year, not as humid as later in the summer but it's still hot. Conserve your steps and try to minimize zig zagging to LLs is the best advice I can give you besides that. But personally I would not do this.

We’ve spent a fair amount of time in Florida (including a few Disney trips) in the summer, so we do have a decent idea of what we’re getting into weather wise. Standing in lines are our breaks . I hear you though!

 

[kylenne]

Sorry, that was confusing. Currently, I believe I can make them 7 days prior to check in at Boardwalk. I just won’t get much of an advantage of the +14 length of stay. I’m -considering- moving the first part of our trip to be on Disney property as well, but it would be a different Disney resort. I think I can bridge that gap then and make them 7 days prior to check in at the first resort even if my park day is after I’ve checked into the 2nd resort?

Yes, if you were to switch to a Disney resort for the first part then you could book for the full length of your stay starting at 7 days out from that first check in. For example we are at BWI for 3 nights and then switching to Poly for the rest of the trip (6 nights), so we will be able to book all 10 days of our trip starting at 7 days before we check into BWI.

 

[Greencats]

I'm not going to speak to the whole plan but starting at Epcot for just one ride, bailing, then going back to Epcot (again, for potentially one ride) seems insane. I feel like you might as well just stay at that point, you're going to waste a decent amount of time hopping. So either start at HS or start at Epcot and get everything you want done in one shot. HS would be my starting point, you can get a decent amount done just through ropedrop and lines start to build pretty quickly across the board. LLMP can also help. As @kylenne mentions you can get the Guardians VQ and just jump in anytime after you're called so spending a decent amount of time at HS should make for good timing for that.

Ok, let me think about that. My younger kid really likes the Remy ride. I’m only considering running in for just that ride because we’re staying at Boardwalk. Front of the park seems to get crowded pretty fast and test track is down so my thinking was that coming back to it later in the day might be less crowds plus let me take the monorail to MK. If we go to Hollywood studios first, we’ll probably end up skipping Remy.
Also, I figured my hopping time from HS back to Epcot (or even a hotel break if there’s time!) would be mid afternoon when everything is high wait times and hot anyways, so maybe not much of a loss of actually getting things done. .

Plus, by the time I walk to the front of the park, I could practically walk to Hollywood Studios.

 

[fatmanatee]

Ok, let me think about that. My younger kid really likes the Remy ride. I’m only considering running in for just that ride because we’re staying at Boardwalk. Front of the park seems to get crowded pretty fast and test track is down so my thinking was that coming back to it later in the day might be less crowds plus let me take the monorail to MK. If we go to Hollywood studios first, we’ll probably end up skipping Remy.
Also, I figured my hopping time from HS back to Epcot (or even a hotel break if there’s time!) would be mid afternoon when everything is high wait times and hot anyways, so maybe not much of a loss of actually getting things done. .

In that case I'd say start in Epcot, do Remy/Soarin/maybe Guardians, then to HS. You can set up your HS LLMP selections so you're arriving a little later.

 

[georgina]

In that case I'd say start in Epcot, do Remy/Soarin/maybe Guardians, then to HS. You can set up your HS LLMP selections so you're arriving a little later.

They could be waiting around a long time for Guardians group to be called. The Soarin line often gets smaller later in the day, and they can do Guardians any time after they are called, so it makes sense to do Remy and skip off the HS.

 

[fatmanatee]

They could be waiting around a long time for Guardians group to be called. The Soarin line often gets smaller later in the day, and they can do Guardians any time after they are called, so it makes sense to do Remy and skip off the HS.

I'd probably try to get a Guardians ILL instead then (or go back to my original plan, which would involve a decent wait at Remy after hopping). Sorry, this is just personal preference I guess but it's too much jumping around for me.