One Day at the Parks - No Genie+, Tips Needed

[EMHDad]

Our close friends are in Fort Wilderness Wed-Fri. They have secured one day tickets for the 5 of them (3 boys: 14yo,11 yo, 10 yo). They have not been to Disney in like a decade. They are not Disney fanatics, but the wife likes it, the boys are excited to go, and the husband would rather be at Hogwarts. lol. They are looking for planning help, and are not buying Genie+.

My family last went in Jan, and not going back for a long while. So, I have not studied the changes and am in the dark as to guide them. Any suggestions and help is appreciated. I want to come up with a couple of touring plans to lead them.

 

[EMHDad]

Also, how long does it take to get from MK to EP and from EP to MK if they wanted to Park Hop

 

[NavyDad]

Our close friends are in Fort Wilderness Wed-Fri. They have secured one day tickets for the 5 of them (3 boys: 14yo,11 yo, 10 yo). They have not been to Disney in like a decade. They are not Disney fanatics, but the wife likes it, the boys are excited to go, and the husband would rather be at Hogwarts. lol. They are looking for planning help, and are not buying Genie+.

My family last went in Jan, and not going back for a long while. So, I have not studied the changes and am in the dark as to guide them. Any suggestions and help is appreciated. I want to come up with a couple of touring plans to lead them.

I'm assuming they are going to Magic Kingdom?

My absolute top tip is to get to MK at least 30 minutes prior to the time they are able to enter the park. Try to be one of the first groups in the park and pick a mountain: Space, Splash or Mine Train. If they can't get on Mine Train in that initial wave then save it for the very end of the day if they are going to commando the park for the whole day. This would be my suggestion for a commando 1 day at MK:

Space Mountain

go QUICKLY over to Frontier Land

Splash Mtn
Big Thunder Mtn RR

Should still be able to do either Haunted Mansion or Pirates before lunch. Do the other one directly after lunch.

Between 1-5 PM I would do the different shows:
Monsters Inc Laugh Floor
Philharmagic
Hall of Presidents and explore Frontier Land & Tomorrow Land as much as you want.

After dinner, Fantasy Land sometimes starts to clear out and you can do Small World and Peter Pan and whatever else the kids want to do back there and then just get in line for Mine Train sometime prior to park closing.

If they want to hop to Epcot plan for 45 minutes travel time just in case. Doing both of those parks you are going to have to sacrifice some headliners.

 

[EMHDad]

I'm assuming they are going to Magic Kingdom?

My absolute top tip is to get to MK at least 30 minutes prior to the time they are able to enter the park. Try to be one of the first groups in the park and pick a mountain: Space, Splash or Mine Train. If they can't get on Mine Train in that initial wave then save it for the very end of the day if they are going to commando the park for the whole day. This would be my suggestion for a commando 1 day at MK:

Space Mountain

go QUICKLY over to Frontier Land

Splash Mtn
Big Thunder Mtn RR

Should still be able to do either Haunted Mansion or Pirates before lunch. Do the other one directly after lunch.

Between 1-5 PM I would do the different shows:
Monsters Inc Laugh Floor
Philharmagic
Hall of Presidents and explore Frontier Land & Tomorrow Land as much as you want.

After dinner, Fantasy Land sometimes starts to clear out and you can do Small World and Peter Pan and whatever else the kids want to do back there and then just get in line for Mine Train sometime prior to park closing.

If they want to hop to Epcot plan for 45 minutes travel time just in case. Doing both of those parks you are going to have to sacrifice some headliners.

Thank you. This helps. Can I ask a few questions?

First, yes, MK. What time do boats start leaving FW? Am I to understand that they can enter MK at 8:30am? (30 minutes before the general public?) What time should they be at the dock? MK officially opens at 9am on Thursday.

If they can get the mountains, Pirates and HM done by early afternoon. I think they are ok with going to EP if there is enough time. Husband wants to have a drink. They want to watch Enchanted. It is a Big must. Is there enough time to hang out at EP for a few hours and get back for the Fireworks?

How early do they need to get to the Hub to watch from there? If they dont make it by that time, is Main street ok to watch it?

 

[Turksmom]

As guests on property, they will be able to enter the parks 30 minutes before official opening(EE). Only Fantasyland and Tommorowland are open during that half hour, so no Splash, Thunder, Pirates, HM, or Jungle Cruise available.

 

[NavyDad]

Thank you. This helps. Can I ask a few questions?

First, yes, MK. What time do boats start leaving FW? Am I to understand that they can enter MK at 8:30am? (30 minutes before the general public?) What time should they be at the dock? MK officially opens at 9am on Thursday.

If they can get the mountains, Pirates and HM done by early afternoon. I think they are ok with going to EP if there is enough time. Husband wants to have a drink. They want to watch Enchanted. It is a Big must. Is there enough time to hang out at EP for a few hours and get back for the Fireworks?

How early do they need to get to the Hub to watch from there? If they dont make it by that time, is Main street ok to watch it?

The official answer I believe is 1 hour prior to park opening but I have seen boats there as early as 6:30 AM because of breakfast reservations. I believe the resort water taxi runs earlier for this very reason so many times we took the water taxi to Contemporary and it was a short walk to MK front gate.

If they can enter at 0830, I would be down at the docks NLT 0730. I am an early riser and always very motivated to get a move on. If they only have 1 day I would say the earlier the better.

I haven't been to WDW since COVID so I don't know how easy it is to hop back and forth right now. In the past it would be no problem. They do have multiple locations in MK now that you can have a drink. That would be something to look up. Most require reservations I think but the Skipper Canteen may have a lounge where you can walk in and have a drink.

If they want to watch the end of night show they need to at least be at the HUB 1 hour prior to show time to guarantee a good spot. I would not watch the show from Main Street as it is very narrow and gets just as crowded and views can be obstructed.

Look at show time and park closing times. Many times we were able to watch a show at the HUB and then quickly move towards one of the mountains as soon as it was over. At that point it's usually a mass of humanity heading down main street to park entrance even if the park is open another hour or more.

If they are dead set on heading to Epcot, I would go in the middle of the day and head back around dinner time. If it was me and I only had one day I would skip hopping to Epcot because you are just loosing so much time going back and forth.

 

[aeasterling]

Remember that you can't hop until 2pm. So if they leave MK around 1 (monorail/ferry to T&T center and then monorail to EPCOT), they would be at EPCOT at 2. But they would want to be back at MK to get a spot for fireworks by 7:30-8pm. So they would need to leave EPCOT by 6:30. This leaves about 4 hours for EPCOT. Doable but might be a stressful day.