Go ahead and help me park pick!

[toonaspie]

I'll need help deciding what parks to do when. WE WILL HAVE PARKHOPPER. No Halloween party tickets.

Here's our dates and the expected crowd schedule by Touring Plans.

Our expected arrival on the 21st will be around 9am ish? In either case, we won't be at the parks till 11am or Noonish depending on how long DME takes.

Our departure day pickup is going to be 5pm so we'll probably start leaving wherever we are for the hotel around 4pm.

While I haven't conferred with my dad about it, I think the three night shows (that I think we should do anyway) are Happily Ever After, Rivers of Light, and Fantasmic. That could be subject to change.

Another important note: We don't have our FP selections yet. We're waiting on a set of tickets to be delivered to us. By the time that happens it will be past the 30 day booking window putting us at an even more disadvantage. With that in mind, no guarantee that we'll be able to get FPs for the bigger attractions. So rope drop will be critical. (Though no guarantees that we even make RDs). Again we'll only be able to make 3 rope drops and 3 night shows, so it's gonna be a tough choice.

And TBT I don't trust Touring Plans chart 100%. I expect it to be busier than what the charts indicate but hey, maybe they'll surprise me.

 

[Marshmelo]

What are your must do big attractions? Do you want to do Toy Story Land at HS? Pandora at AK? Those are 2 that you would definitely want to rope drop since you won’t get Fast passes for them. MK is definitely less crowded on party days, so I would go on a party day and then just hop over there one evening for HEA fireworks.

ETA: I would choose illuminations over ROL, after watching ROL on YouTube.

 

[toonaspie]

What are your must do big attractions? Do you want to do Toy Story Land at HS? Pandora at AK? Those are 2 that you would definitely want to rope drop since you won’t get Fast passes for them. MK is definitely less crowded on party days, so I would go on a party day and then just hop over there one evening for HEA fireworks.

ETA: I would choose illuminations over ROL, after watching ROL on YouTube.

This will be my parents first (and possibly last) trip to WDW in 20 years. My dad would like to focus on new experiences, except my mom and I are not thrill ride people. My Dad will soon turn 70. My parents are both in good health but I wouldn't risk taking them on rides like FOP or some extreme coasters. He jokes about how he wants to do ToT again. My mom hated when she went on it and is still "never again".

I do have a list in my head but that list would be too long to post here considering how much has changed at WDW in 20 years. Also, when last they went Animal Kingdom was not open yet so that park will be a big focus on this trip.

I do agree with Magic Kingdom being the park we do day 1 (if TP is accurate).

 

[sharonabe]

I do agree with Magic Kingdom being the park we do day 1 (if TP is accurate).

Actually, you probably don't want to do MK on Day 1. You won't get there until afternoon, you have to be out by 6:00, and the park will get VERY crowded around 4:00 when the party goers are allowed in. Plus this party day also has an early EMH which will draw a few more people to it on this day. So you would only have four hours max, and probably closer to three hour of a less crowded park. Save MK for Sunday when you can be there for the whole time and hop over to another park around 3:30/4:00 for a nighttime event.

Since you're not going to do FoP, I'd start at AK on day 1 and stay through ROL.

Day 2 and 4 I would choose depending on what you can get FP+ for once you get your tickets. Then you'll know whether you need to rope drop HS or EP on those days. Hop over to MK on Day 2 for HEA.

What time is your flight home? You said your pick up time is 5:00. Please know that you must be there when the bus gets there. They will NOT wait for you. If you miss it, you'll have to find your own way to the airport. Leaving a park at 4:00 for a 5:00 pick up would be a little too close for comfort for me.

 

[Wild4Walt]

What resort are you staying at - that may make a difference on your departure date.

 

[toonaspie]

What resort are you staying at - that may make a difference on your departure date.

All Star Movies. I know that would make DAK a logical choice on the final day but that depends on the rest of the schedule.

I'm uber slow-witted and only now realized that our only chance to see HEA would be Saturday night due to the Halloween parties. So we shall work around that.

As for Illuminations, even if we did decide to do it, I noticed that the Friday and Saturday shows are at 10pm. Far too late for us, especially on our arrival day. We wouldn't make it back to our room until midnight. So IF we do it, it would have to be on Sunday when it's at 9pm instead. I think we would prefer getting back to our hotel early enough to rest so we can be ready for the next day (and possibly make rope drops). That's if we do that over ROL. It's up in the air right now for me.

 

[toonaspie]

Bumping up. Would appreciate if everyone would help me select which 3 rope drops and which 3 night shows to do. Thanks. (We are EMH qualified.)

 

[Delirium]

I would do this.

As a previous poster recommended, I would do AK on Friday, and do Rivers of Light that night. Crowds at AK will be lower on Friday than they are on Saturday or Monday because of the EMH on those days.

On Saturday, I would rope drop HS in the morning and hop over to MK that night for HEA. I would try and get FPs for HS that day.

On Sunday, I would rope drop Mk and leave mid-day when the part crowd starts to arrive. I would normally recommend hopping over to Epcot for dinner and Illuminations simply because Epcot handles evening crowds better than HS. However, if you prefer to do Fantasmic over Illuminations, then you would want to hop to HS instead. Another factor in favor of HS is what I'm recommending for Monday, which is...

Rope drop Epcot. It's not the best park for your resort on departure day, but does offer a more relaxed touring approach, which I find to be good for departure day.

 

[toonaspie]

I would do this.

As a previous poster recommended, I would do AK on Friday, and do Rivers of Light that night. Crowds at AK will be lower on Friday than they are on Saturday or Monday because of the EMH on those days.

On Saturday, I would rope drop HS in the morning and hop over to MK that night for HEA. I would try and get FPs for HS that day.

On Sunday, I would rope drop Mk and leave mid-day when the part crowd starts to arrive. I would normally recommend hopping over to Epcot for dinner and Illuminations simply because Epcot handles evening crowds better than HS. However, if you prefer to do Fantasmic over Illuminations, then you would want to hop to HS instead. Another factor in favor of HS is what I'm recommending for Monday, which is...

Rope drop Epcot. It's not the best park for your resort on departure day, but does offer a more relaxed touring approach, which I find to be good for departure day.

So far I got a basic plan for the first two days but the other two days are uncertain.

Day 1 - MK around lunchtime. And as crazy as this sounds I think we will take our chances and do standby for SDMT. We are unable to get FPs for this and this might be the only time when the lines for this ride will be under 1 hr if TP is correct. The only other possible option is to get on right after HEA the following night. I'm not confident about FPs showing up via sameday. (We might apply this same strategy to Peter Pan.) Late afternoon/evening we go to DAK. Have FPs for the following: Navi River Journey, Kilimanjaro Safaris, and Rivers of Light. Again we wanna do an early night since this is also our arrival day and our flight to WDW is at 6:30am.

Day 2 - EP @ rope drop. RD to Test Track and then Soarin'. Have FP for Frozen Ever After @ 2pm. Late afternoon/evening - travel to MK (via monorail I'm hoping) to do smaller wait rides until HEA then leave depending on when it's best to. HEA is at 9pm but park don't close until 11pm.

I have no FPs for the next couple of days. Nothing for DHS outside of TSMM was available. So I'm winging it some more here.

Day 3 - I'm thinking if I can get my parents up early enough for this than we can do EMH @ DHS and be able to do Toy Story Land. No loss if we don't so SDD. The only rides I'm concerned about doing are TSMM, Saucers, and possibly Star Tours. Probably leave the park by mid-day for whatever. Return to DHS later that night for Fantasmic.

Day 4 - A BIG IF but debating whether or not it's worth doing EMH at DAK to do FOP (knowing there is still a long wait involved). As much as I would be interested in the ride (and maybe my dad will be too), I doubt my mom will feel the same. It's up in the air. Regardless of where we are that day our Disney experience will officially end around 3:30ishpm giving us about 90 minutes to meet our expected DME pickup @ 5pm (depending on where we are at that time).

I have no quarrels with missing certain big headliner rides as we are not thrill ride people. Might skip all the mountains at MK unless my dad insists on a particular one (hopefully not Space Mtn). And I will never ride Everest or RNRC EVER!

Another note: Our MK plans might be subject to change depending on if we can get a BOG ressie (if any pop up closer to trip time). If we score a lunch reservation on Day 1, the schedule won't change much. If however we get a breakfast one on day 3 and if it's early enough, we might be able to just rope drop SDMT and PP on this day so we might do MK instead of DHS that morning.

 

[toonaspie]

New updated plan.

Fri 9/21 - arrive at MCO around 9am
Depending on how early we get to WDW, we may or may not go by MK first. We might just go to DAK and spend the whole day there. FPs: NRJ, KS, and ROL for late afternoon/evening

Sat 9/22 - RD to Epcot. FPs: LotL, SE, FEA. Go to MK late afternoon/early evening for HEA. Do one major ride after HEA. Then return to hotel.

Sun 9/23 - RD to MK. Be Our Guest ADR @ 11:05am. DHS in the evening.
Note: I'm wondering whether I should drop my FPs for DHS and do a "see and grab" of MK FPs while we're there during the day and do another "see and grab" for FPs @ DHS at night. The FPs I have for DHS are TSMM, ST, and Fantasmic, if that helps.

Mon 9/24 - RD to DAK to ride FOP. Visit Disney Springs. DME leaves for airport @ 5pm

thoughts?