Fast Passes for HS or Epcot - same day visit?

[ElleJay1119]

We are visiting the parks for four days the week after Labor Day. Since we have young children, two days will be at Magic Kingdom. Our second day, we are splitting between Hollywood Studios in the morning and Epcot in the afternoon. We already have dining reservations for Epcot in the evening. Our only must do rides for this day are Toy Story Midway Mania and Frozen Ever After. My question is, should we get fast passes for TSMM (and two other rides) at HS and wait in line for FEA in the late afternoon? I'm assuming there is no likelihood of same day fast passes for FEA. Or should we get fast passes for Epcot with FEA and just go to HS with no fast passes? I cannot ensure that we would get to HS at rope drop, since I'm not sure how our 4 and 2 year olds will do in the mornings, but planned to get there as early as we could. We're staying at Wilderness Lodge. My son loves Toy Story so I am leaning towards the second option, since he may enjoy the line for TSMM. Just wanted some thoughts and opinions from people who have been more recently. I haven't been in almost 15 years and our FP day is rapidly approaching. Thanks!

 

[Weather_Lady]

Frozen's line builds faster, and the wait stays higher all day, sometimes with downtime that can throw a wrench in plans to get there "last thing" when the line falls just before park closing. I'd get your FP+ for Frozen, and do TSMM in standby (especially if you can get there at rope drop - but even if you can't, since the addition of the new track, waits don't get as crazy there as they used to, so standby may not be as bad as you think). For example, touringplans' forecast for tomorrow has the wait at "Frozen" at 60 minutes by noon. In contrast, TSMM's projected wait for the same day and time is 21 minutes.

 

[Dads 2 Boys]

I would hit TSMM at rope drop and then so FP for FEA since u will be there for dinner.

 

[G8rchamps]

Agreed - FP Frozen and wait for TS. Since you would have to use 3 at Hollywood before trying to get an additional FP for Epcot you chance of a late day of Frozen is not good.

 

[Greg H]

I agree with others. Since they added the extra capacity at Toy Story it seems the wait times have been a lot better. I will say though that we have been able to grab same day FP's for both Toy Story and Frozen, later in the day. It is definitely rare, but if you are checking the app regularly, you never know what might show up!

 

[ElleJay1119]

Thanks everyone. I just nabbed a Garden Grill morning reservation for our last day, so will do FEA after that and head to MK. Nothing had been available before now. After typing it out and posting, the answer is really obvious.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

When park hopping, it's almost always more efficient to make your Fastpass reservations for right when you'd be arriving at the second park. That allows you to take advantage of light morning crowds in your first park when you don't need a Fastpass as much. The only exception would be if you're traveling during a slow time when you anticipate decent same-day Fastpass availability. In that case, use your first three Fastpasses in the first park and then make subsequent Fastpasses in the second park.

When I plan my park hopping strategy, I prioritize the attractions that I don't want to wait for, but then treat "rope drop" attractions as interchangeable with "Fastpass" attractions. Whether I do them FP+ or rope drop doesn't really matter, just as long as I'm not planning them standby midday.