It is hit or miss getting on rides with these crowds. We were there last weekend, and while it is definitely crowded, for us the situation was fluid and we were always able to find a ride we wanted to enjoy with a line that was under half an hour just by watching the wait times and being willing to cross the park if we saw one that was at 20 minutes, which meant a lot more zig zagging than when FPs/MaxPass existed. For instance, we walked into the park after waking up late Saturday morning, saw that Pirates was under 10 so we went for that, wanted to go on Splash which was at 60, but Smugglers was at 25 so we went there, had a snack, when we got off Smugglers, Splash was at 20 (in theory, but ended up being under 10), and by then Pirates was at 60 and Smugglers was at 55. When we walked off Splash it was 75 but the Canoes were 10 in theory, walk on in practice. The only ride we really wanted to go on during our 3 day visit that we didn't get to was Space Mtn. We rope dropped for it on Sunday but it broke down right after opening, we'd only been in line about 5 minutes, and when it came back up around 11 it jumped from 20 to 55 before we could get over, and since we never saw it under an hour again we gave up. We'll RD for it next month. RSR also never dropped below an hour, but my party had decided on an earlier trip that we want DL as our starting park every time since there are no snacks we want at DCA before 11, so we'll never get to RD RSR, but are okay with that. When we popped into DCA at night we've gotten on Soarin/Incredicoaster/Grizzly all with reasonable wait times. Guardians we chose to suck it up and wait for close to an hour.
Place your mobile orders for food early, that helped a lot. Decide what you want to eat at 8a, with guestimates of when you'll be hungry and take your spots then, if there are still timeslots available later you can change it but if not you won't be hungry or waiting in one of the incredibly long food lines.
We're there the same days, which sold out a few weeks ago for Theme Park reservations. The E tickets are tough, so pick the ones you want and rope drop for those. It is still Disney, it is going to be delightful in the parks with the atmosphere and all the little attractions (canoes, carriage rides, steamboat, etc, etc), but do have a strategy for where you want to be midday when the crowds are at their worst. We booked a cabana bc we didn't want to be in the park in the afternoon and our room won't be ready until after 4, but a leisurely lunch at a sit-down or in DTD could be an awesome way to relax, or even just enjoying TS island or one of the non-ride fun things to do.
I am hoping the same. Readings comments about how people didn’t have a good time worries me.
