Hello again! So sorry to keep asking questions!
After watching a lot of Robs videos, which would you do for park hopping and why?
Should we start at AK then go to HS, having used genie plus to stack rides for HS and rope dropping Flight of Passage and Navi? Or just genie plus starting at AK and keep playing those slots when we get to HS?
Or should we start at HS then go to AK then hop back over to HS for Fantasmic using genie plus for everything including rope dropping Rise?
Thank you for your wisdom!
I agree with what everyone said here. Start with AK and book attractions there until whatever time HS opens, then switch to booking for HS because those will be much more competitive. There is no point in booking for HS before it opens because the two hour clock wouldn't start counting down until it opened anyway, so you might as well enjoy a short wait for an AK attraction instead.
If I were doing this day I would definitely start at AK and drop FOP and Navi (although Navi I could do without) and then stack stuff for HS. The biggest thing that could change my mind is the crowd levels. If the crowd levels aren't projected to be high you can probably get away with using Genie+ to rip through AK super fast and then switch to HS as soon as you tap in at your last attraction at AK. If it's crowded though, you need to think of the very real possiblity of the Lightning Lanes running out at the more popular HS attractions. So in my case it depends on crowd level.
I'd vote for AK in the morning and then hop to HS. 1) AK usually opens earlier, so you get in more park time. 2) Then you are at HS for Fantasmic in the evening, which I LOVE! 3) Yes rope drop FOP if you are on property and get early entry, otherwise rope drop Navi and buy the FOP ILL if that is in your budget, or get the 7am LL for Navi (as I'm about to explain). 4) Yes start stacking LLs for HS in the morning, with the exception of maybe using one LL at AK. Ideally if you do this, you'd book Navi at 7am on the dot and get an early return time so that you could immediately use it (like before 9am) and then book a HS LL (Slinky) as soon as you tap into Navi. The idea of using your LLs at AK all morning and then playing the slots once you get to HS just won't work unfortunately. There are too many rides at HS that will sell out before you even get a chance to book them if you don't start booking them until you hop at 2pm. Make sure that you come into HS with a few LLs (Slinky, Tower are highest demand so you should already have those) and then still try to play the slots as needed. The one caveat is that you will either have to pay for the Rise ILL or just wait in a long line. I still think this is better than starting at HS, hopping to AK, and then having to hop back to HS once AK closes. That's just based on my preferences listed above though!
Yeah depending on where your staying might influence, I'm team AK in the morning, and stacking lightning lanes for HS, if this is your only day at the parks, I would buy ILL for both Flight of Passage and Rise (risky waiting till the end of the day but oh well) and rope drop Navi, should have almost no wait (outside of shows) doing this!
We were staying at Beach Club - so a lot of our park hopping related to dining. We went to HS, then had an evening booking for dinner at EPCOT for example. We often went part day to one park, had a break and went to another for the evening. For this trip we were an adult couple and had one week with our favourite park being EPCOT and it was food and wine, so location of accomodation on this trip was the key to our success/park hopping decisions :)