Rope drop DHS or AK?

[fradz]

Hi all,
Due to commitments, reservations for the other 2 parks and whatnot, long story short, we will have to make a choice between rope dropping DHS or AK. What is, in your opinion, the most important of the two to rope drop? And why? (We are 2 and both in our early 30's; if that's relevant.)

 

[Penny’s Dad]

It depends or which rides are more important to you, those at HS or the ones at AK.

 

[JIMINYCR]

AK if you are wanting an early safari ride with the animals wandering more about first thing. FoP lines build very early so if that attraction is on your list do it early. EE lines build fairly quickly but you can jump on the single rider line if that helps.
HS if SWL is your desire as a fan and if you have the ability to ride the parks still prime desired attraction Rise of the Resistance. TOT and RnRC fills up early as well.

 

[fradz]

Fair enough, I should add more details:

We'll grab Genie+ and will anyway buy individual LL for Rise and for FoP. Single riders lines are fine (RnRC, Everest, Smuggler's Run).
The lady is not a SW fan, while I enjoy it but not a huge fan.
We'd like to do most/all major attractions, with, in order of importance:

In AK: FoP, Everest, the Safari, Kali, Dinosaur & Na'Vi river. If we have time, It's tough to be a bug & FotLK.
In DHS: Rise, MMRR, ToT, RnRC, TSM, Smuggler's run. Possibly Muppet's. We don't really care that much about Slinky Dog.

 

[brifraz]

Fair enough, I should add more details:

We'll grab Genie+ and will anyway buy individual LL for Rise and for FoP. Single riders lines are fine (RnRC, Everest, Smuggler's Run).
The lady is not a SW fan, while I enjoy it but not a huge fan.
We'd like to do most/all major attractions, with, in order of importance:

In AK: FoP, Everest, the Safari, Kali, Dinosaur & Na'Vi river. If we have time, It's tough to be a bug & FotLK.
In DHS: Rise, MMRR, ToT, RnRC, TSM, Smuggler's run. Possibly Muppet's. We don't really care that much about Slinky Dog.

Sounds like you are talking about a single day and picking which to do first and which to Park Hop to? And you are willing to buy ILL and Genie+? Then, I'd definitely go with AK first. It opens earlier.

If you are onsite and get the extra half hour, I'd get to the gates about 45 minutes before that early opening and head straight to FoP (save the money on ILL), then (if it is open yet) Safari, then to Everest and Dinosaur. Hit Kali on the way back to Pandora because you booked Naa'vi River with normal Genie+. If you aren't onsite, then get the ILL for FoP, but do the rest similar to what I outlined. I think you'd be done at AK by noon or 1pm even with FotLK and Bug's Life. Then you can grab some lunch wherever you want and even relax a bit while doing it. Over to Studios at 2pm where you hopefully have already been stacking Genie+ reservations all morning and you also have an ILL for Rise. You can single rider RnRC and Smuggler's if you need to, but you should have more than enough time to hit all the Studios rides from 2pm until closing with at least 2-3 booked via Genie+. Maybe by the time you go, there will be a nighttime show at Studios to catch at the end of the day!

 

[fradz]

Sounds like you are talking about a single day and picking which to do first and which to Park Hop to? And you are willing to buy ILL and Genie+? Then, I'd definitely go with AK first. It opens earlier.

If you are onsite and get the extra half hour, I'd get to the gates about 45 minutes before that early opening and head straight to FoP (save the money on ILL), then (if it is open yet) Safari, then to Everest and Dinosaur. Hit Kali on the way back to Pandora because you booked Naa'vi River with normal Genie+. If you aren't onsite, then get the ILL for FoP, but do the rest similar to what I outlined. I think you'd be done at AK by noon or 1pm even with FotLK and Bug's Life. Then you can grab some lunch wherever you want and even relax a bit while doing it. Over to Studios at 2pm where you hopefully have already been stacking Genie+ reservations all morning and you also have an ILL for Rise. You can single rider RnRC and Smuggler's if you need to, but you should have more than enough time to hit all the Studios rides from 2pm until closing with at least 2-3 booked via Genie+. Maybe by the time you go, there will be a nighttime show at Studios to catch at the end of the day!

Thank you for the detailed answer!

I think you're right, I've been leaning towards starting with AK and hopping to DHS that day. In case I missed a few rides in DHS, I'll hop by there during my EPCOT day.
We are staying onsite and we will start the day at 7am in AK. Also we're going next week (I have all necessary reservations and I knew that AK would be ok to move around if needed as it never hits the park pass capacity)

 

[brifraz]

Thank you for the detailed answer!

I think you're right, I've been leaning towards starting with AK and hopping to DHS that day. In case I missed a few rides in DHS, I'll hop by there during my EPCOT day.
We are staying onsite and we will start the day at 7am in AK. Also we're going next week (I have all necessary reservations and I knew that AK would be ok to move around if needed as it never hits the park pass capacity)

Next week is just a half hour difference, so it's a bit less obvious to start at Animal Kingdom. You could also start at Studios (extra half hour of sleep) and then hop to AK at 2pm (with lots of Genie+ in hand), do everything at AK by about 7pm and then hop back to Studios for the last hour or so there. But that's a bunch of time on transportation. With Genie+ and ILL for FoP, I think you can easily hit all your priorities in 5 hours. Studios seems like it might need about 6-7 hours. I'm not totally familiar with Genie+ availability at either one (we've done MK with it, but that's it) - I'd recommend checking out the charts on Touring Plans - https://touringplans.com/blog/how-has-genie-availability-changed/ as those could definitely help your planning.

 

[fradz]

Well well we did everything in AK including FotLK and we’re looking good for the rest

 

[Vacationeer]

Well well we did everything in AK including FotLK and we’re looking good for the rest

Thanks for reporting back. Looks like a fine day!