1 day at MK - Jan 6, 7, 8 or 9?

[tmh43]

I booked a last minute trip to visit family in Tampa and want to take my son to MK for one day. Of course, after we booked it we realized it's marathon weekend. Gah! I have two trains of thought: go sunday on a busy day but when MK is the suggested park or go Monday when it's a moderate crowd but MK is the worst park. What do you guys suggest?

Our strategy is get there for 8am and do minetrain (my son's must-do) and then probably head to thunder mountain and splash mountain (he wasn't tall enough last time). We'll stay in the park until fireworks. He's 4, but is super patient and can be there for the day no problem. For his 3rd bday we got pretty much the entire park (minus the mountains as he was too small) done on the Saturday before Thanksgiving, how does marathon weekend compare to that?

Is it worth it to get the tickets online now to hopefully wrangle a fastpass? Or at this point should we just wait? Will the ticket booth be open at 8am? We're not worried about dining reservations- we'll eat on the run lol I haven't done a last minute, 1 day trip in years! Thank you!

 

[amwildwood]

I'll be there that weekend too. I'm planning MK Friday afternoon until we're tired. And back to MK Monday before we leave. We have park hoppers so we may go on Sat too.

I'm a nervous person, so I would buy tix in advance and angst about FPs. I would try day before and morning of to get FP just in case others were dropping. I think and hope you'll be fine with at least a rough touring plan or laid back about it. Good luck!

 

[Deb & Bill]

The races on the 7th and 8th start at 5:30AM. The Half allows 3.5 hours to complete. The Full 7 hours to complete. MK is the first park, so all runners should be out of the MK by 7:30 or so. Roads should reopen by 9 at the latest around MK and Epcot.

 

[tmh43]

Thank you! We have a pretty good plan for MK that never seems to let us down, but we're pretty flexible. We know our favorites and will be back again so if we do miss stuff it's not the end of the world, I'd just like to maximize what we can do while we're there!

Will it be impossible to get to MK then on Sunday for 8am from offsite? Or will it just take patience?

 

[Deb & Bill]

Thank you! We have a pretty good plan for MK that never seems to let us down, but we're pretty flexible. We know our favorites and will be back again so if we do miss stuff it's not the end of the world, I'd just like to maximize what we can do while we're there!

Will it be impossible to get to MK then on Sunday for 8am from offsite? Or will it just take patience?

It could be difficult. You'll still have runners leaving the MK heading to AK. And runners leaving AK heading to WWOS/DHS/Epcot.

 

[mountdew1]

Thank you! We have a pretty good plan for MK that never seems to let us down, but we're pretty flexible. We know our favorites and will be back again so if we do miss stuff it's not the end of the world, I'd just like to maximize what we can do while we're there!

Will it be impossible to get to MK then on Sunday for 8am from offsite? Or will it just take patience?

Not impossible, but you will want to allow for extra time, and follow all posted road closures. Pretty sure that there was a recent article posted here that showed the road closure map. May want to study that in advance.

 

[tmh43]

Not impossible, but you will want to allow for extra time, and follow all posted road closures. Pretty sure that there was a recent article posted here that showed the road closure map. May want to study that in advance.

Thank you!! I will do that.