Hi Hilary, and welcome to planDisney! It looks like you’re headed to the Most Magical Place on Earth in just a few more days. So let’s talk strategy so you can maximize your time at EPCOT and Hollywood Studios!
If you’re staying at a Disney resort hotel, you can enter the theme parks 30 minutes before regular park opening. Disney transportation, like the buses, generally run
45 minutes before the earliest opening time. In my experience, they sometimes start a little earlier, so I like to be at the bus stop about 60 minutes before Early Theme Park Entry.
When I'm making my rope drop strategy, I try to group nearby attractions as much as possible so you’re not wasting precious time walking back and forth between areas of the parks. So let’s see how this works at EPCOT and Hollywood Studios!
For your EPCOT day, if you love thrill rides, I’d recommend starting with
Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind. After you finish joining Star-Lord, Gamora, Rocket, and Groot on an epic space adventure, head to
Test Track for a fun ride that culminates in a high-speed race! If your crew is able to split up, you can also take advantage of the
Single Rider Option, which usually has a short wait time in the morning. After Test Track, I like to head to
Frozen Ever After to explore Arendelle. These three rides are fairly close, so it’s an efficient use of the early morning!
If you’re not a thrill seeker, you may want to rope drop
Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure or Frozen Ever After. Remy’s has a Single Rider Option, so I use that a lot for riding when wait times are higher later in the day.
Going over to Hollywood Studios, if you like coasters, I’d recommend rope dropping
Slinky Dog Dash or
Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster Starring the Muppets (depending on how intense of a ride you want!). Those two rides typically have the longest waits throughout the day. From Slinky Dog Dash, I’d head to
Toy Story Mania! next, and from Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster, I’d go to Tower of Terror and Mickey and Minnie’s Runaway Railway. If you’re using Single Rider Option, you might want to prioritize Slinky Dog Dash at rope drop since Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster, as well as Rise of the Resistance and Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run, have single rider lines. However, I generally recommend waiting in the regular queue for Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run since it’s fun to be on the same ship with your family and friends!
And don’t forget to download the
My Disney Experience app so you can check attraction wait times throughout the day and adjust your strategy.
I hope you have the best time at Disney World next week! And if you have any other questions, we’d love to have you back at planDisney.
JoAnna