WDW vacay April 5-11

[Tonya]

So I’ve just received a medical diagnosis requiring me to change my December trip to April.
We have a:
Party of 9 (4 over 50; 2 -18 and under; 3 - 21 and up)
arriving as early as possible by car Monday morning April 5th from MS
staying at Pop Century
April 5- HS
April 6- Universal Studios (side trip)
April 7-MK
April 8- Epcot
April 9- rest day/ Disney Springs
April 10- AK

question1- should I do HS on a day I know I can get to the park before opening to aid in getting in the Rise of Resistsnce queue or At least be on Disney property? I’ll be traveling in that morning so if location makes a difference I can switch up a day
question 2- we bought park hoppers but are only allowed to make one park reservation Per day, anyone else going when they’re offered but not having luck?
I have not been since 2018 and with all the new rides and covid changes I feel have lost my planning touch. Please provide any insight you have - I am not married to any of these selections. Also the only dining reservation I am certain of is Teppan Edo on the Epcot Day.
TIA
Impatiently waiting for Easter week, Tonya

 

[Mrs Darling]

I think I would plan to do HS on a different day. It’s been the only park where timing is really key. Even if you can book rise of the resistance from wherever you are, what if you get held up or a really early boarding group you can’t make or...
just too many variables for my liking to have HS on a travel day.

 

[hizouse]

If there looks to be availability at other parks for park reservations, I'd stick with HS for April 5 and change the park reservation to a different park in the morning if you don't get a RotR boarding group. Depending on how important that RotR is for you, I might go ahead and change that Epcot or AK to HS as well for your park reservations, hoping to change back if you get RotR boarding group on day one. That's the week after Easter--who knows how crowded it will be? If you see the reservations start to fill up, then it may be worth some peace of mind to go ahead and lock in your park days.

Location per se shouldn't matter when reserving boarding groups--but internet speed and access does, as well as how many people in your group are on the app trying to make reservations. If I was going to be in the car and in a hurry at 7 am on April 5, I wouldn't want that day to be the only day I had a HS park reservation. You could pull over some time before 7 when you find a spot with good coverage, but that's a hassle I wouldn't want I certainly agree with Mrs Darling that I wouldn't want April 5 to be my only chance at a boarding group.