Staying at AoA
I will have an ECV
2 parents, 1 teenaged daughter, and boys 8 and 10
1. From AK to HDDR: What time would you leave AK for a 6:15 show? The Our Laughing Place wizard thing says to go from FW to MK, then to AoA, at 38 minutes. That sound about right?
Frankly, that sounds cockamamie. I don't see where AoA comes in, if you're going from AK directly to HDDR.
You could go to MK and take the boat over, but there's no need to, and when an ECV is involved, well ... some boats take ECV's and others don't.
There's a direct bus, non-stop, from AK to FtW. It takes you to the Outpost, where you will transfer to an internal shuttle bus to the Settlement, where HDDR is presented at Pioneer Hall. Normally, I would say to allow an hour for the trip, but add 15 minutes for loading & unloading the ECV twice. Then add however much time you want to arrive before the show; I think 15 minutes is the minimum, 30 minutes would be better, but others may have a better handle on that.
2. Considering booking Kona Cafe and Ohana, both on days we are doing MK. I don't know that I can get my people ready and at the bus by 6:30 to get to a Kona res at 7:30 (or would I need to have them there even earlier?), but if so, would that be enough time to eat at Kona and take the monorail over to MK for rope drop at 9? Would it be better to hit MK at rope drop, then an hour later, head over to the Poly for a 10:30 breakfast? Or, since it is EMH that night, is rope drop not that critical, and I should just chill out and make res at 8:30 or 9, so I am not herding my family out the door like crazy, OR forget Kona altogether and have something at Main St bakery or somewhere.
If you're at the bus stop at AoA at 6:30, or a few minutes before, you'll probably catch the first bus of the morning to MK, and after transferring to the Resort Monorail, you will probably get to Poly right around 7:30. The trip back to MK should take no more than 20 minutes. I won't offer an opinion as to how long it takes to eat breakfast at Kona or whether it's worth it; I'm just giving you the transportation facts.
3. Is Ohana worth the hassle of taking the monorail over there and back? Is it a big deal to get back into MK from the Poly? How much time will be eaten up by that trip?
Again, no opinion on whether it's worth it. The trip from MK to Poly on the monorail should be no more than 30 minutes, and the trip back, as above, 20 minutes or less. You probably will want to allow some additional time on the trip over to arrive earlier than your ADR time.
If you're asking about re-entering the MK, there's no hassle at all. You'll just scan your Magic Bands and your fingers, as you do whenever entering a park.
Hope this helps,
