3 days, no PH - Help!!

[jenng1983]

I'm having a hell of a time here... Going to WDW in October 2018 for a land & sea vacation. I last went 25 years ago, DH and the kids have never been. We are booked at AoA from the 9th to the 15th. We're getting 3 x 5 day base tickets for my family from Air Miles, and are going to be purchasing one 3 day ticket. We have 5 days in Orlando before our cruise, but are planning on 3 days at the parks. I thought I had it all figured out. My original plan was to buy a 3 day PH for the 4th family member, and use the extra "days" admissions on the 5 day passes to park hop (does that make sense?), and go to AK/HS one day. Anyways, I just discovered that Disney doesn't let you do that, and you can only use one admission per day. So, plan B was to pick 3 parks. But I can't exclude one. MK is a must, no brainer. ToT is a MUST for us, and we would like to see Fantasmic, plus the new Toy Story Land will be open when we go, so that makes HS a necessity. AK seems awesome, and Pandora is a must for DH. I was going to rule out Epcot, but then I realized there's Frozen, A&E meet and greet, Test Track, Soarin... I'm not sure I can rule it out so easily anymore.

So. Our plan as of now is:

Tuesday - Arrive LATE in the day (after midnight) - there's no other flights from Calgary that arrives earlier
Wednesday - WDW
Thursday - WDW
Friday - Water Park, Disney Springs
Saturday - WDW
Sunday - hang out at hotel, Disney Springs, pack for cruise
Monday - Board cruise

I am considering flying in Monday instead of Tuesday, staying at the airport hotel, purchasing a 4 day ticket and then having Tuesday to do a park as well. Even if we only do a half day. The cost difference will be minimal.

1) If we do this, what do we do with our luggage? Check in is at 3pm, we don't want to be lugging it in the parks. Can we bring it to AoA in the morning for them to hold it? Can we leave it at the hotel at MCO and have them transport it to the hotel for us?
2) Will we be able to pick up our magic bands from AoA in the morning, so that we can use them in the parks? If not, how do we use our tickets?
3) Would it be easy to just do one of the parks on either Friday or Sunday, and only stay for half the day?
4) Should I just suck it up and pick a park to exclude?

HELP!


Edit: I should add, we do want some downtime in there somewhere. We COULD to a park for a half day on the Sunday, but I don't want to be rushing around getting packed and ready for the cruise.

 

[Lesley Wake]

Why don't you do a park on Sunday daytime? Figure out which park you don't care about seeing in the evening (from your must list it would probably be AK or Epcot). You will have plenty of time for Disney Springs after the water park.

Or can you upgrade the base tickets to park hoppers (I don't know how it works with military tickets)?

 

[siskaren]

My original plan was to buy a 3 day PH for the 4th family member, and use the extra "days" admissions on the 5 day passes to park hop (does that make sense?), and go to AK/HS one day.

You can't use 2 days of a base ticket to go to two parks in one day - you need a park hopper.

 

[srwarden1928]

I would do a park day on the Friday. I agree that four parks pretty much requires four days, especially for those who are new.

 

[HeidiGW]

Let me spend your money....
I'd fly in on Monday. Take ME to your resort. If getting in after midnight, you'll have to grab your own luggage.
Since you are getting three "free" five-day passes, buy the one ticket as a five-day. Go to the parks on Tuesday. That way you can spend one day in each park. One visit to DS is probably enough. On Sunday, do a light/half day/evening in whatever park the kids want to return to most. (I'd do MK.)

 

[bffdisney]

Packing for the cruise when you are already on vacation will be very quick. Put everything in the hotel room that is yours in bag. Done. It's not like packing from home where you are debating what to bring. Just something to think about! What if you did Water park/DS on Sunday and a 4th park Friday?

 

[teetee830]

I'm going to agree with the others. I'd take Sunday as a park day, packing time will be minimal. On Friday spend a few hours in a water park and then go to Disney Springs and have dinner that should give you plenty of time for both.

 

[loves to dive]

1) If we do this, what do we do with our luggage? Check in is at 3pm, we don't want to be lugging it in the parks. Can we bring it to AoA in the morning for them to hold it? Can we leave it at the hotel at MCO and have them transport it to the hotel for us? Yes, you can drop your luggage at AoA the morning of check in day and they will hold it.
2) Will we be able to pick up our magic bands from AoA in the morning, so that we can use them in the parks? If not, how do we use our tickets? You can go ahead and check into AoA when you arrive in the morning, doesn't matter what time it is and even if your room isn't ready they will have your magic bands waiting for you.
3) Would it be easy to just do one of the parks on either Friday or Sunday, and only stay for half the day? Any of the parks can be made into half day parks, it just depends on what your goals are and how well you manage fast passes. Personally, MK is a half day park for us but we are two adults and go at least twice a year. If you aren't into shows or Star Wars, it's possible to make HS a half day park if you just want to ride the rides. Same with AK although FoP is a hard FP to get.
4) Should I just suck it up and pick a park to exclude?

 

[tbholc81]

You have a lot of options. Are you renting a car or using Disney Transportation? If you Fly in late Monday and stay at the airport I'm thinking you can take ME in the AM with your luggage. They will hold onto it in the lobby of AoA, and you can take the bus to the park.

Are you really wanting to do a water park day. Regular tickets won't get you into a water park, and those tickets are more expensive. Depending on the age of your kids you might just want to turn that day into a park day, and do Disney Springs on Sunday before the cruise.

 

[ppjluvsdvc]

1) If we do this, what do we do with our luggage? Check in is at 3pm, we don't want to be lugging it in the parks. Can we bring it to AoA in the morning for them to hold it? Can we leave it at the hotel at MCO and have them transport it to the hotel for us? You can take the Magical Express from MCO to the hotel tuesday morning and leave your luggage with Bell Services.
2) Will we be able to pick up our magic bands from AoA in the morning, so that we can use them in the parks? If not, how do we use our tickets? When you go to the hotel you can check in (your room will probably not be ready but you can still check in) and pick up your magic bands then
3) Would it be easy to just do one of the parks on either Friday or Sunday, and only stay for half the day? Sure it is easy.
4) Should I just suck it up and pick a park to exclude?

I would not skip if you can swing it. Once you make the initial ticket purchase adding an additional day to the single ticket is minimal. That way you do not have to have hoppers if you don't want them.

Have fun and don't stress too much!

 

[tbholc81]

1) If we do this, what do we do with our luggage? Check in is at 3pm, we don't want to be lugging it in the parks. Can we bring it to AoA in the morning for them to hold it? Can we leave it at the hotel at MCO and have them transport it to the hotel for us? Yes, you can drop your luggage at AoA the morning of check in day and they will hold it.
2) Will we be able to pick up our magic bands from AoA in the morning, so that we can use them in the parks? If not, how do we use our tickets? You can go ahead and check into AoA when you arrive in the morning, doesn't matter what time it is and even if your room isn't ready they will have your magic bands waiting for you.
3) Would it be easy to just do one of the parks on either Friday or Sunday, and only stay for half the day? Any of the parks can be made into half day parks, it just depends on what your goals are and how well you manage fast passes. Personally, MK is a half day park for us but we are two adults and go at least twice a year. If you aren't into shows or Star Wars, it's possible to make HS a half day park if you just want to ride the rides. Same with AK although FoP is a hard FP to get.
4) Should I just suck it up and pick a park to exclude?

Our magic bands usually mailed to us, you should have them well before you leave for your vacation.

 

[ppjluvsdvc]

I don't think they mail magic bands to Canada.

 

[loves to dive]

I don't think they mail magic bands to Canada.

That is my impression as well but they will be waiting for you at the front desk.

 

[MickeyWaffles]

Do not worry!

-Bell services at AoA will hold your luggage until your room is ready. I would not recommend lugging your luggage around the parks

-You can get your magic bands when you arrive. Just stop at the desk.

-Are you renting a car? If not, look into setting up Disney’s Magical Express ahead of time for your transportation to the resort. If you sign up for this service and you arrive during certain hours, you can skip baggage claim and they will get your bags for you and deliver to your resort later that day. If you are outside of those hours, they will still take you to your hotel you just need to get your luggage at baggage claim.

 

[otten]

I would not skip if you can swing it. Once you make the initial ticket purchase adding an additional day to the single ticket is minimal. That way you do not have to have hoppers if you don't want them.

Have fun and don't stress too much!

Not true if these are Canadian Resident tickets. With those tickets reports are that Disney charges the difference between the price paid (25%off) and the current price of that ticket which is frequently as much as or more than the cost of a single day ticket.

 

[supersnoop]

Not true if these are Canadian Resident tickets. With those tickets reports are that Disney charges the difference between the price paid (25%off) and the current price of that ticket which is frequently as much as or more than the cost of a single day ticket.

According to the OP, these are air miles tickets. They should be bridged when upgrading. Depending on the type of ticket (if they are older without expiration dates), she might be able to “upgrade” the 5-day tickets to a 4-day hopper for minimal cost.

 

[HeidiGW]

exactly what time will you be arriving at MCO?
What is the cost of the hotel at the airport? $150?
AoA? $175?
If you are going to pay to stay somewhere on Monday night, just go the resort.

 

[otten]

According to the OP, these are air miles tickets. They should be bridged when upgrading. Depending on the type of ticket (if they are older without expiration dates), she might be able to “upgrade” the 5-day tickets to a 4-day hopper for minimal cost.

Airmiles participated in the Canadian resident deal. As the OP's avatar mentions being in Canada I think there is a good chance that these are Canadian resident tickets. If that's true upgrading may be prohibitive.

We are dealing with this very thing. We have 4 day tickets but since our flight isn't departing until quite late we thought about doing a park in the morning but because of the deal we got on the tickets it's cost prohibitive to do so.

 

[supersnoop]

Airmiles participated in the Canadian resident deal. As the OP's avatar mentions being in Canada I think there is a good chance that these are Canadian resident tickets. If that's true upgrading may be prohibitive.

We are dealing with this very thing. We have 4 day tickets but since our flight isn't departing until quite late we thought about doing a park in the morning but because of the deal we got on the tickets it's cost prohibitive to do so.

That sounds like a strange situation. Any ticket sold by a third party is typically bridged because Disney doesn’t know how much you paid for it.

 

[JETSDAD]

That sounds like a strange situation. Any ticket sold by a third party is typically bridged because Disney doesn’t know how much you paid for it.

We got tickets through AM and they were the Canadian Resident tickets and received the Canadian vouchers instead of the hard tickets. The points required to get them through AM was reduced as well. We then upgraded to AP's and had to make up the difference from the resident pricing.