Help with trip planning for June 2020

[robl45]

Hello,

I haven't been to Disney for the past couple of years, we went to universal instead. I have a trip for the week of June 13 to the 21st 2020 at BLT. I believe I have to do dining reservations on Dec 13th. If that is wrong, someone please let me know the correct date. At any rate, I can't make dining reservations without knowing where I'm going to be each day so I'm really looking for suggestions on how to lay out the week. We would probably get there fairly early on Saturday the 13th. Maybe by noon at the latest. We would leave the Sunday the 21st probably by 5pm at the latest and maybe more like 3pm. We will have annual passes so we can go whenever and they will be park hoppers. Typically we would try to hit each park twice when we went for a week, but i'm open to other suggestions as well. Definitely want to see star wars, probably main reason we are going back this year. we also prefer to do the magic kingdom mostly at night as its easier to get on rides, but last time we went in 2017, they changed the hours and made that quite difficult.

So to sum up, if anyone could please let me know an ideal schedule of when to go where, I could then try to map out the dining plans. If anyone knows the odds of the magic kingdom being open late on these days I'd appreciate it as well as that will factor into where and when we eat.

 

[Bullseye]

We always go June. First, just before the 180 day mark I usually look at the park hours for the days I'm going to be there including EMH. That gives me an idea what park I want to be at on each day. Then I can plan ADR's accordingly. Start booking those ADR's as soon as you can.

https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/calendars/month/2020-06-01/https://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/dining/pscalc/dispscalc.html

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

I think your ADR day will be on the 16th. Mine was the 2nd and we are checking in 2 weeks before you. I agree with the others, start looking at hours, crowd calendars, and figure out what fits into your touring style. We prefer evenings in MK too. For this trip I prioritized that we started in each park at least once and ended in each park at least once. And we doing the rest of our evening in MK most likely. Especially since it’s usually the latest park. I’m basing some of our hopping based on where we want to eat.

 

[mickey765]

Depends if you would want to push AK and DHS to the end of your trip to ensure you can get more covetted fastpasses (FoP, SDD, etc.). I personally would to at least a day and a half at DHS, if not two, just to make it more relaxing, as the crowds won't be pleasent in Galaxy's Edge. You could also push AK towards the end of the trip so you have a greater chance of getting FoP. To prevent MK earlier park closures, you could get there around 4pm and still have tons of time in the park even if they close earlier.

Another suggestion is to take a day off and spend time at the resorts. Beaches and Cream would be fun as well as spending some time in the pool (it's hot!) and pin trading around the resorts.

 

[tannerandcatesmom]

I agree with tinkerbelletreasure in thinking that your ADR date is December 16th. We check in on June 18th and our ADR date is December 21st. I try to book the hardest to get reservations first, like Ohana, CRT, Be our guest, etc. Then I look at park hours and plan our days around our must do restaurants. We usually have a non park day or at least an afternoon to just chill and enjoy our resort. Hope you get all the ADR’s you want! Enjoy your trip!

 

[robl45]

Thank you for the suggestions. I believe you guys are right, it looks like ADR date will be Monday. I'm still trying to figure out what to do. Usually we would hit each park twice, but I'm debating if that is the best strategy since it appears DHS now is going to take much more time than normal. It was my favorite park before and that was before they added toy story land and star wars. I can only imagine the lines for everything now that you can get one fast pass for the major attractions. I'm thinking maybe we budget 3 days for DHS and potentially as mentioned push them later in the trip along with animal kingdom. Do we have any insite on whether the star wars rides will get fast passes by June?
It looks currently like there are only extra magic hours at MK once during my trip at night from 10-12. I find usually its jammed but we will probably try anyway. Any chance of the hours being extended?
One of my main problems is the kids always want to swim.
i guess maybe could someone share how you handle the days? Do you hammer it out from morning till noon and then hit the pool? Doesn't really work in August when we normally go, but for June I guess it doesn't rain every afternoon. I guess it theory I could a park until Dinner, eat dinner and then take them back to swim at BLT and then go over to the MK possibly or just swim and bed depending on the pool hours. Does anyone know typically pool hours? Ugh, Universal was so much nicer the past two years. Just show up and do what you want without planning.

 

[tannerandcatesmom]

When our kids were younger, they are 18 & 16 now, we would hit the parks early & stay until the heat got us. Then have a late lunch and go swim. We head back to the parks in the evening. In my experience Disney can & will change park hours and EMH at any time, so I keep checking. I am not sure on BLT pool hours, maybe check the hotel web page?? We have not done DHS since Toy Story Land or Star Wars opened either, so we will be learning along with you. My best advice is to write it all down and then try to be flexible, book the ADR’s that you consider must do first If you can’t get one, keep checking! I booked California Grill dinner during fireworks the day before! Planning is a pain but hey you are going to Disney! Once you see that sign, you will forget all about the hassle!

 

[robl45]

Could you give me some idea of the schedule you followed when doing that? I assume you got there at park opening, when would you leave to go back? When did you have dinner? I'm just trying to figure out how to fit everything in without unnecessarily wasting time.

When our kids were younger, they are 18 & 16 now, we would hit the parks early & stay until the heat got us. Then have a late lunch and go swim. We head back to the parks in the evening. In my experience Disney can & will change park hours and EMH at any time, so I keep checking. I am not sure on BLT pool hours, maybe check the hotel web page?? We have not done DHS since Toy Story Land or Star Wars opened either, so we will be learning along with you. My best advice is to write it all down and then try to be flexible, book the ADR’s that you consider must do first If you can’t get one, keep checking! I booked California Grill dinner during fireworks the day before! Planning is a pain but hey you are going to Disney! Once you see that sign, you will forget all about the hassle!

 

[tinkerbelletreasure]

I’m really hoping that with 3 new rides, they will retier the FP system before June. At a certain point, even Disney is going to get tired of having to open at 6 am so people can get boarding passes. And they have way too many tier 1 rides and not enough in tier 2. I’d like to see TOT, RNRC, and TSM all moved down to tier 2. There is surly enough headliner attractions in that park nw to spread it out some. A lot can happen in the 4 months before we can book our fastpasses

 

[robl45]

Yes, that is a ridiculous pain at DHS. So the boarding passes, I kind of forgot about that. Are you saying I can't get to the park at park opening and get a boarding pass?

 

[tannerandcatesmom]

Could you give me some idea of the schedule you followed when doing that? I assume you got there at park opening, when would you leave to go back? When did you have dinner? I'm just trying to figure out how to fit everything in without unnecessarily wasting time.

Sure! Most days we would get there either before park opening or just after, depending on how fast I could get the kids moving . We usually stayed until at least noon, but, if they were still going strong we would push it to 1 then head back to either swim or nap. I always had snacks and water in my backpack to keep them going until lunch. Most of the time we grabbed something quick at our resort for lunch. Dinner time around our house is around 7:30, try to keep that time the same on vacation.

IMHO, you have to be realistic at Disney, the odds of fitting “everything“ in are slim. I try to choose a couple rides, shows, etc that each of us consider “must do” and each of us picks one restaurant, as long as we hit those I consider the trip a success. There is just soooooo much to see and do, especially now with GE & TSL. I find using the map and trying to avoid running back and forth from ride to ride a good way to manage time. For example, do all the rides you want in Fantasy Land before going to Frontier Land. Now obviously if you get a fastpass you can’t pass up then you just have to go with it. My plans are always a bit fluid to avoid disappointment if a ride is down or it’s pouring rain, etc.

Hope that helps a little!

 

[robl45]

Sure! Most days we would get there either before park opening or just after, depending on how fast I could get the kids moving . We usually stayed until at least noon, but, if they were still going strong we would push it to 1 then head back to either swim or nap. I always had snacks and water in my backpack to keep them going until lunch. Most of the time we grabbed something quick at our resort for lunch. Dinner time around our house is around 7:30, try to keep that time the same on vacation.

IMHO, you have to be realistic at Disney, the odds of fitting “everything“ in are slim. I try to choose a couple rides, shows, etc that each of us consider “must do” and each of us picks one restaurant, as long as we hit those I consider the trip a success. There is just soooooo much to see and do, especially now with GE & TSL. I find using the map and trying to avoid running back and forth from ride to ride a good way to manage time. For example, do all the rides you want in Fantasy Land before going to Frontier Land. Now obviously if you get a fastpass you can’t pass up then you just have to go with it. My plans are always a bit fluid to avoid disappointment if a ride is down or it’s pouring rain, etc.

Hope that helps a little!

Okay thank you, with dinner that late though, how did you go back to the parks at night? I think most close at 9pm ot 10pm

 

[robl45]

Yes, that is a ridiculous pain at DHS. So the boarding passes, I kind of forgot about that. Are you saying I can't get to the park at park opening and get a boarding pass?

Replying to my own thing here, aside form getting the boarding pass and can someone let me know if I can get that at park open or do I have to get the kids there at 7am or something? Is there a pass for the other star wars ride or is that wait in line only?

 

[mdsouth]

Replying to my own thing here, aside form getting the boarding pass and can someone let me know if I can get that at park open or do I have to get the kids there at 7am or something? Is there a pass for the other star wars ride or is that wait in line only?

I think everyone in the party that will be riding the new Star Wars ride, Ride of the Resistance, must be present at the time you sign up for a boarding group, which means that the families going now, all have to have their kids up and waiting at the gate with them around 5-6 am to get a pass for that day. Some of the ride times are not to the afternoon or evening.
Check out the thread in Theme Park Strategies. They give lots of details of when people are going and have it all works. You can find out information about the other Star Wars ride, Smugglers Run in that forum as well.

 

[tannerandcatesmom]

Okay thank you, with dinner that late though, how did you go back to the parks at night? I think most close at 9pm ot 10pm

We usually have dinner in the parks so that we can go straight to rides after dinner. Try to choose the one open the latest. Sometimes we just stay at the resort. Now that my kids are teenagers we pretty much just go all the time!