Prioritizing evening activities for 13-year olds ... Will I regret skipping Fantasmic??

[Quellman]

For a one and done Disney trip, you have to think about what it is you'll remember and make a memory of. You should be able to do the tree of life awakening the same night as rivers of light. @ColonelHathi had the same idea as me about this. I find a show moer engaging than staring at lighted architecture.

 

[GillianP1301]

What about skipping the hopper and adding a day to your passes and doing Fantasmic on your arrival night? I'm almost certain that would be the cheaper option since the cost of going from a 7 day pass to an 8 day pass is negligible. The Electric Water Pageant is cute, but it's never something that I've put into my plans and always just something we catch a glimpse of here and there leaving MK at night.

 

[jina]

we did the star wars dessert party in April 2018 and while we're also not into gorging on desserts in a crowd of people, we did get to meet Kylo Ren which was cool and really liked the fireworks viewing location - we were able to sit on the pavement and watch - I did not see anyone in our group standing but maybe we were lucky. I think we had a better time hanging out in the party area versus staking out a spot outside.

 

[ember1205]

We have been to Disneyland three times for very short, not well planned or well executed trips

My primary suggestion to you is to step up your planning game significantly. WDW requires a LOT more planning out than DLR does, no matter the situation. If you had a difficult time planning things out at DLR, it's going to be that much 'worse' if you don't plan a lot better for WDW. The good news is that you're here and looking ahead to things, so you'll get some good pointers.

I saw another member mentioned doing a rope drop at one park, taking a break mid-day, then going to another park for the evening. This is a great way to maximize your efforts and energy, especially with kids, while being able to be very flexible in how you navigate the parks. For example, Flights of Passage in Pandora at Animal Kingdom is an absolutely fantastic experience. Getting a FP for it is very, very difficult. I hit that attraction three times on a five day trip with ZERO FP's simply by doing rope drop on the EMH morning hours day of the park a couple of times.

You've targeted a number of specific attractions, but have you taken into account what days those things will get done? And what happens if it turns out that park is absolutely mobbed on that day?

Lots of reasons to add the Park Hopper option. Don't sweat it, though - you can upgrade the tickets at any Guest Services window at a park once you get there. If you realize that hopping is going to be a big benefit for you, spend the money.

If you decide to take advantage of the hopping, be mindful of how long it takes to get from one park to another on the free transportation. And consider pay-for ways to travel as well (Minnie Van, Uber, etc.)

No one with kids can do 7 days all out. It you plan every evening in a park you are going to need restful days.

This is not 100% accurate. Every group has its own dynamic and way that it functions. Two adults, split the kids between them or three adults with kids going with one and the other two by themselves, switch things out, and a variety of other tactics are absolutely ways to tackle everything over 5, 6, 7, 10, or however many days. Planning for a day of downtime isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I find that I get bored doing that VERY quickly and we've always ended up right back at the parks as a result.

 

[greg9x]

I'm so on the fence about doing it. Do you have any feeling for whether we'd have a better time going to MNSSHP or the Wednesday evening EMH (currently 9-11 pm the week we're there), if we're more focused on the rides? I've also read that the evening EMH can be really crowded (it's the only evening EMH all week, and there are two parties that close MK early that week). I suppose if I'm now thinking of changing my tickets to hoppers, I could arrange it so we see the HEA fireworks on a different evening, so we could go to the Wednesday evening EMH and plan to focus on rides and not worry about having to see the fireworks. That might suit us better than going to the Halloween party, because we were not planning on taking advantage of any of the Halloween specific stuff like character meet & greets. I will say that way back when we first started planning this trip, we had no intention of doing a Halloween party (and I'm still in the "Halloween in August seems strange!" camp). We'd only be doing it because it's our only chance to stay until midnight at MK. I suppose if we settle for the evening EMH, then the cost of the MNSSHP tickets could be used to cover the price to upgrade to hoppers instead...

Kind of a toss up for rides.. .MNSSHP has more going on to draw crowds so some ride waits are lower..as said, the lower tier rides are walk ons (flying carpets, under the sea, etc).. SM, BTM, PoC are variable depending on crowd flow.. but we waited ~10-15 minutes for them. Things like 7DMT are still going to be 45+ minutes unless you are fortunate for a lower crowd night. SM was about 25 minutes, but had the totally dark theme for the party which I was not a fan of...it's rough enough as is without losing all vision and being slammed around in the dark. We were at the first party last August.. it was sold out and crowded, plus miserably hot that night..as you said, not very Halloween like. But did enjoy the show/parade/fireworks.

Evening EMH are crowded and everyone more focused on rides so waits can be long..but there are no FP's so lines move much quicker. We rarely use the EMH's anymore.. if your on a longer trip and can plan FP's for a couple days per park for the popular rides, then getting the rest of the rides isn't too hard, especially if you take advantage of the bonus FP's after the initial 3. We'd rather sleep in for the morning ones and are worn out for the evening ones.

If you truly want little ride wait times, look in to Disney After Hours... it will probably be more $$'s than MNSSHP, but much lower crowds and is ride focused.

 

[We'reGoingToDisney]

What about skipping the hopper and adding a day to your passes and doing Fantasmic on your arrival night? I'm almost certain that would be the cheaper option since the cost of going from a 7 day pass to an 8 day pass is negligible. The Electric Water Pageant is cute, but it's never something that I've put into my plans and always just something we catch a glimpse of here and there leaving MK at night.

Yeah, I'd done that math, too. I definitely thought about adding a day and going somewhere that first night. BUT ... we are doing the Toy Story Land EMM the next morning, which is a super early start for us. It's our one planned really early start, on our first Disney morning (which will be our 4th day in Florida so hopefully adjusted to time zone change and recovered from traveling). So, I think we'd do best to just watch the fireworks from the Poly beach and get a reasonably early night!

 

[Kevin Allen]

After looking forward to it for years, we finally did the Halloween party last October and... meh. It was definitely crowded, and even though we're Halloween nuts, it was only so so. Decorations were neat, especially at the Haunted Mansion, but there just wasn't enough "extra" magic to justify the price and the crowds. That being said, it was truly awesome to see all the other guests in costume. I might take a morning off and save money by just getting party tickets for the evening, but we won't be shelling out extra for that again.

We love Pandora and love the Tree of Life at night. Love them, but not sure I'd make a special trip just for those two. But, factor in a chance for an extra ride on FOP, enjoy your Tusker House dinner, and maybe a nighttime safari and I think an evening at AK would definitely make you happy. ROL was only so so for us, but it's easy to slip out and do something else if it doesn't float your boat.

Fantasmic has never been one of our favorites. It's neat to see so many characters, but it IS a huge time sink and the benches ARE uncomfortable, as previously mentioned. These days, we do the Star Wars fireworks every time.

Also agree with PP... if I was going to spend money on one upcharge thing, it would DEFINITELY be Disney After Hours. Number 2 choice would be the dessert party at MK... the food isn't all that great, but even my thrifty wife agreed it was totally worth the money to escape the crowds and get a perfect view of the new MK nighttime spectacular. Best value we got on our trip last March.

One final note: I totally agree with others who suggest a break in the middle of the day. I'd been wanting to try that for years, but the family always said "nah... we feel fine, let's just keep going." On our most recent trip, we finally went back to play at the pool for a while and WOW! Even the kids (11&13) said they were so glad we took the afternoon off. Heat and crowds are both at their worst in the afternoon, so getting some fun family time away from the hordes made the evenings even better. Plus, you're staying at the resort with arguably the best pool on campus. Take 3 hours off to enjoy the resort pool and re- energize for nighttime fun... you won't regret it!

No matter what, you'll have fun! Try to not get overwhelmed by all the decision making, just make choices that reflect what is really important to you and you won't have any regrets. Our mantra: you can do anything you want at Disney, you just can't do everything.

 

[We'reGoingToDisney]

Thank you for all of the well thought out feedback!

We are definitely building in downtime back at the resort during the day, pretty much every day - a huge part of why we chose where we're staying was proximity to parks and nice pools, so we can take advantage of those mid-day breaks. And that's really what got me thinking seriously about hoppers. I *can* fit our plans into one-park-per-day. But, it has us doing e.g. Toy Story Land EMM from 7 am - 11 am or noon, then back to Poly to sleep/pool/rest. Then, we'd have to go all the way back to HS for the evening for Star Wars fireworks (we can't do the Toy Story EMM during the days we are at Beach Club, it's not offered). But if we have park hoppers, then that night we can go to the MK for the fireworks, and save the evening at HS for later in the week once we're staying at Beach Club.

Sounds like there's a lot of love for Fantasmic!, and also a fair bit of love (maybe less so...) for Rivers of Light. I will revisit my plans and try to "pencil" both of those in, but plan not to be too upset if we bail out on them. I did feel some pressure to arrange a Fantasmic! dining package ADR if we were going to see it, but I think I will plan to see it standby (or same day FP+) to give us more flexibility.

I will say that the weekend that we are staying at Beach Club, when it would be most logical to see Fantasmic, is the weekend before SWGE opens, and Touring Plans has upped their predicted crowd level to 9 for both Saturday and Sunday. So, maybe it will be a zoo and we won't want to do standby for Fantasmic. But, I guess we can see what it's like on the day ...

 

[McNs]

Hoppers will give you flexibility and some spontaneity. I always plan our morning park and will book FP+, but will only have a loose plan for the evening park - sometimes we will decide when heading to the bus, checking wait times and FP availability. We ALWAYS take afternoon breaks (same at DLR).

Oh, and don’t bet on it being once and done

 

[djc9699]

We love Fantasmic and try to go every few trips. But we do not like Illuminations - it is boring to us. Still haven't managed to catch ROL because it isn't important to us. HEA and Star Wars are great shows to us. Point is - everyone is different. What some love others hate. I would pick the ones that are most important to you and plan to see those and then if you happen to be around for the others great, if not, don't sweat it.

 

[Deb & Bill]

Peter Pan and Captain Hook beat Pocahontas easily. If you have seen DL version skip the WDW version. It's boring.

 

[Yubbie]

Disneyland Fantasmic! is a micro-stage with Mickey popping out of a cabin in the middle of Rivers of America. The main villain that Mickey battles at the end is a large inflatable dragon with tiny wings, looking more like something you'd see in front of a car dealership. You don't sit down and watch Fantasmic! at Disney Land, you jockey for standing room only for a small number of viewing spots an hour or two before the show. The advantage DL Fantasmic has over WDW Fantasmic are the two boats, but even that is debatable, as Steamboat Willy's steamboat at WDW is pretty cool.

WDW Fantasmic! has a better dragon (no inflatables here), a large mountain with lots of surprises, and is a large amphitheater SEATING almost 10,000 people. There will always be those on the boards arguing over which is better. However, Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios in WDW is almost always packed to capacity and over the summer that's two shows per night. I'd say almost 10k people per night makes for a successful show.

 

[alex9179]

I wasn't able to predict what my kids would like. The older two, who were so excited about rollercoasters, didn't enjoy most of them. The youngest, who freaked out on PP and IASW (dark rides after TGMR), loved EE. They all really enjoyed the night time shows, eventually. On the first visit, they had a very hard time leaving the parks for a rest. That resulted in them being passed out by 7-8, while DH and I hung out on the balcony! Rest hasn't been met with such resistance in subsequent visits!
I think the temptation to tour all day is mostly at the beginning of the trip. On day 3, kids are more likely to welcome a break.
They've loved all of the evening shows we've seen. Wishes, Fantasmic, HEA, and even Pandora at night...they're those kind of kids.

I don't want to go without hoppers. I want the flexibility and I've encountered enough unexpected busy-ness or bad weather to punt trying previously scheduled nighttime shows, but realize we can hit some rides or walk around in a nearby park once the weather clears. It's so individual.

MNSSHP. My kids weren't over-the-moon about this event at the time. NOW, they wax nostalgic. The parade was the stand-out for me, and I'm not a parade person. I would never recommend it for rides. It's more of an atmosphere thing, these days. The EMM and DAH tickets seem better suited for knocking out rides, which is why I splurged for the dang tickets in August. Your time frame isn't a good one for low crowds, so I probably wouldn't bother with that if rides are the goal. This is when I used AM EMH. We got a head start and were able to do all the "fun" rides before leaving the park at lunch time.

You won't be able to fit everything in during one visit. That's a given! All you can do is coordinate a vacation that you think your family will enjoy. It may end up having some difficulties, but your kids will talk about it for years. Our first visit was ruled by a tyrannical 5 y/o, and I vowed it would be the LAST Disney vacation we'd take. Not so much, as it turns out. I was 5 when I lived in Orlando, visiting MK and watching the Mickey Mouse Club on tv. My 5 y/o side is very optimistic!

 

[elaine amj]

10 years ago, I remember everyone raving about how Fantasmic was the must-do night show! Nowadays, people are a bit bored with it I guess. Yes DLr's version if amazing. But I like that it is easier to get a good view at WDW's version due to stadium seating.

It's still a show I love to take newbies to watch. I LOVED the Star Wars fireworks...but chose to take my brother's family to Fantasmic because it is asier to get spots to watch. Star Wars fireworks REQUIRES a good viewing spot for the projections. So have to stake out a spot early. For F!, we just scooted in not too long before the start and grabbed a bench near the back. BTW, even hard metal benches are nicer than the ground!

 

[We'reGoingToDisney]

I just wanted to say thank you for all of the feedback here, gave me lots to think about! In the end, we've decided not to go to MNSSHP, since we are not particularly interested in the Halloween characters, parades, etc. That frees up an evening, and we will use that money to upgrade to park hoppers instead. I'm feeling pretty excited about our plans now that I've factored in park hopping for the evening shows. I did end up booking dinner at Mama Melrose for the Fantasmic! seating, because the predicted crowd level is a 9 on touring plans for that day -- it's pure speculation, I know, with it being the Saturday before SWGE opens. It may or may not end up being that crowded, but I'm hedging my bets!

I think I am actually finished with my planning now, just need to wait until I can book my Fastpasses! It's all coming together Now to spend time focusing on non-Disney planning, like my twins up-coming birthday - in a few short days I will have teenagers!?!