***1st Week of December Thread ADR Plans, Park Hours, and dealing with Pop Warner***

[etzmn123]

Yessss! The Touring Plans dining thingy worked and I got the BOG lunch I was wanting!

 

[Mintycake]

All hail touring plans! Got dinner at Sci fi diner!

 

[Mintycake]

So there was an interesting thread on the Theme Parks Attractions and Strategy board about EMH. A lot of people were saying if you stay onsite and can make it, early EMH can be a good thing. Late not so much unless it's ridiculous like 1am in the MK. What are everyone's thoughts about this? I did my park plan based on avoiding EMH but now I'm getting paranoid and rethinking.

 

[Candycane83]

So there was an interesting thread on the Theme Parks Attractions and Strategy board about EMH. A lot of people were saying if you stay onsite and can make it, early EMH can be a good thing. Late not so much unless it's ridiculous like 1am in the MK. What are everyone's thoughts about this? I did my park plan based on avoiding EMH but now I'm getting paranoid and rethinking.

From what I have read in these boards is that if you have park hoppers, you should utilize AM EMH and park hop once it gets busy. The general consensus is that the park will get busy during the day though.

 

[Iowamomof4]

So there was an interesting thread on the Theme Parks Attractions and Strategy board about EMH. A lot of people were saying if you stay onsite and can make it, early EMH can be a good thing. Late not so much unless it's ridiculous like 1am in the MK. What are everyone's thoughts about this? I did my park plan based on avoiding EMH but now I'm getting paranoid and rethinking.

I'm having similar second thoughts. I wonder if we would have better luck hitting rope drop at a recommended park or rope drop for emh followed by hopping to the recommended park. I'm leaning toward rope drop at the recommended park, partly because I'm not convinced my family is capable of getting up early enough for AM emh.

 

[Candycane83]

I'm having similar second thoughts. I wonder if we would have better luck hitting rope drop at a recommended park or rope drop for emh followed by hopping to the recommended park. I'm leaning toward rope drop at the recommended park, partly because I'm not convinced my family is capable of getting up early enough for AM emh.

Lol this is my basic problem. My family cannot get up that early and kind of takes it easy in the morning. I'm hoping we could make a few and just take a break in the afternoon.

 

[dreaminginplaid]

My problem is that we are only going 3 days. 2 of the 3 days are party nights so we are going to MK the one non-party day which isn't recommended- but my son loves the night parade and fireworks. Then we are going to Epcot on a EMH morning because my kids are early risers and others in my group are planning on going back to the resort for afternoon naps. My kids are up between 5:30 and 6 every morning so even adding in time for them to sleep in from all the Disney excitement and I'm sure we can still make 8am park openings!

I'm just taking the recommended parks with a grain of salt. I'm a former cast member and we had season passes after I left Disney. So we don't have to do EVERY ride. We are also planning a big trip next year and my brother and sister in law were just there last year.

 

[Iowamomof4]

TA calendars have been updated and now include emh at AK!

November:
http://media.disneywebcontent.com/StaticFiles/ParkHours/WDWTravelAgent_NOVEMBER.pdf

December:
https://media.disneywebcontent.com/StaticFiles/ParkHours/WDWTravelAgent_December.pdf

 

[Lisa F]

My problem is that we are only going 3 days. 2 of the 3 days are party nights so we are going to MK the one non-party day which isn't recommended- but my son loves the night parade and fireworks. Then we are going to Epcot on a EMH morning because my kids are early risers and others in my group are planning on going back to the resort for afternoon naps. My kids are up between 5:30 and 6 every morning so even adding in time for them to sleep in from all the Disney excitement and I'm sure we can still make 8am park openings!

I'm just taking the recommended parks with a grain of salt. I'm a former cast member and we had season passes after I left Disney. So we don't have to do EVERY ride. We are also planning a big trip next year and my brother and sister in law were just there last year.

I agree that the less time you have, the more you have to prioritize. The more time you have the less you have to because you have so much time to fit everything in.

that said a few things to keep in mind (of course IMO):

1) this is a relatively quiet time of year. Now when I went in September 2014 it was also supposed to be a quiet time of year and there were a lot more people around than I expected. that said even though it felt more crowded than in years past, it was entirely manageable with fastpasses for the attractions that have long lines and all of the attractions that only really have lines when the park is packed. I expect it will be similar in december.

2) I never did an EMH either early or late on my last trip and we did most of what we wanted to do in Saturday to Saturday that included Saturday as a travel day, 1 full day not at the park (KSC) and 1 day for disney springs/rest/pool. I think I had 5 day non parkhoppers and we did one half day at AK with MNSSHP one night, one day each at Epcot and HS and 2 days at MK. This time I have multiple days planned at both Epcot and MK and have parkhoppers so are splitting things up a little different (doing different nighttime shows than daytime activities and doing more TS meals).

3) we were flexible about what we wanted to do. Rode 7DMT once and one and done was fine. Did toy story mania once. did things like tomorrowland transit authority multiple times. Basically being willing to do less popular attractions and shows to fill in times when the other stuff is more crowded led to really nice days. Not being so focused on "e-ticket" attractions with huge waits just made it so much more enjoyable. In a less busy time of year the less popular attractions will have little to no wait even on crowded park days.

I am kind of a zilla (like bridezilla lol) when it comes to planning but my method is to have everything VERY planned out and then be flexible and make changes on the fly day of. I had my phone out a bunch of times to switch fastpasses around a bit too and that is really really helpful to be able to do on the fly.

 

[Lisa F]

TA calendars have been updated and now include emh at AK!

November:
http://media.disneywebcontent.com/StaticFiles/ParkHours/WDWTravelAgent_NOVEMBER.pdf

December:
https://media.disneywebcontent.com/StaticFiles/ParkHours/WDWTravelAgent_December.pdf

oh my AK day is an EMH day. That might actually work out pretty well since we'll be near there and raring to go.

my last day at MK is an AM EMH day too but by then we will just be finishing up stuff we haven't done at the party (and the couple of hours before it) and the night of the MSEP with evening EMH. kind of sucks but I'm also kind of "whatever" about that stuff at this point. It will hopefully be a low key day of mostly repeats with us being in the park during special events the two previous nights.

 

[Candycane83]

I agree that the less time you have, the more you have to prioritize. The more time you have the less you have to because you have so much time to fit everything in.

that said a few things to keep in mind (of course IMO):

1) this is a relatively quiet time of year. Now when I went in September 2014 it was also supposed to be a quiet time of year and there were a lot more people around than I expected. that said even though it felt more crowded than in years past, it was entirely manageable with fastpasses for the attractions that have long lines and all of the attractions that only really have lines when the park is packed. I expect it will be similar in december.

2) I never did an EMH either early or late on my last trip and we did most of what we wanted to do in Saturday to Saturday that included Saturday as a travel day, 1 full day not at the park (KSC) and 1 day for disney springs/rest/pool. I think I had 5 day non parkhoppers and we did one half day at AK with MNSSHP one night, one day each at Epcot and HS and 2 days at MK. This time I have multiple days planned at both Epcot and MK and have parkhoppers so are splitting things up a little different (doing different nighttime shows than daytime activities and doing more TS meals).

3) we were flexible about what we wanted to do. Rode 7DMT once and one and done was fine. Did toy story mania once. did things like tomorrowland transit authority multiple times. Basically being willing to do less popular attractions and shows to fill in times when the other stuff is more crowded led to really nice days. Not being so focused on "e-ticket" attractions with huge waits just made it so much more enjoyable. In a less busy time of year the less popular attractions will have little to no wait even on crowded park days.

I am kind of a zilla (like bridezilla lol) when it comes to planning but my method is to have everything VERY planned out and then be flexible and make changes on the fly day of. I had my phone out a bunch of times to switch fastpasses around a bit too and that is really really helpful to be able to do on the fly.

I feel the same way. I think it depends on what's important to you. Have a list of must dos then plan from there. I'm guessing that between fastpasses and RD @dreaminginplaid would be able to accomplish most of what you would want to do. EMH or not, I feel that it really depends on how you manage your time and having reasonable expectations. Hope for the best and expect the worst.

 

[Lisa F]

I feel the same way. I think it depends on what's important to you. Have a list of must dos then plan from there. I'm guessing that between fastpasses and RD @dreaminginplaid would be able to accomplish most of what you would want to do. EMH or not, I feel that it really depends on how you manage your time and having reasonable expectations. Hope for the best and expect the worst.

Honestly I do think unless you go during one of the super busy days (and first two weeks of december is not) that there are enough secondary attractions to have a really fun day without spending all day waiting in lines.

 

[Candycane83]

Honestly I do think unless you go during one of the super busy days (and first two weeks of december is not) that there are enough secondary attractions to have a really fun day without spending all day waiting in lines.

True which is why I guess planning is essential. I think in MK there's plenty of choices compared to other parks. (At least for those of us with little kids) we'd probably spend the whole day at dumbo

 

[Lisa F]

True which is why I guess planning is essential. I think in MK there's plenty of choices compared to other parks. (At least for those of us with little kids) we'd probably spend the whole day at dumbo

dumbo is a great choice now because they added a whole second ride and there is also a playground area in the middle of the queue which is a great place to sit down and rest and let your kid burn off some energy on. We did dumbo a couple of times.

 

[dreaminginplaid]

I feel the same way. I think it depends on what's important to you. Have a list of must dos then plan from there. I'm guessing that between fastpasses and RD @dreaminginplaid would be able to accomplish most of what you would want to do. EMH or not, I feel that it really depends on how you manage your time and having reasonable expectations. Hope for the best and expect the worst.

Exactly! Our main goal is to enjoy time as a family and visit with my brother in law who just started an internship at Disney. He is so excited to go to Disney with his 2 nieces and 2 nephews. With 4 kids, 4 and under, we aren't planning a commando trip and honestly - what we don't get to, the kids will never know!

 

[Candycane83]

Fantasmic just opened!!!

 

[Lisa F]

Soarin' is my son's favorite attraction (and probably mine!) and this review of the new soarin' just came through my feed. It sounds AWESOME. I admit the last time I paid attention was opening day with like 120 minute waits for it but I'm glad to see it is an improvement all around, keeping the best parts of the old attraction with improvements where they could be made.

http://www.****************.com/new...utm_medium=Social+Adv&utm_campaign=Soarin+WDW

sounds like going there at RD before a 10am breakfast at garden grill might work out, the queue shouldn't be TOO bad for it!

 

[Lisa F]

Fantasmic just opened!!!

there is no dinner available at h&v for me only lunch!

 

[Candycane83]

there is no dinner available at h&v for me only lunch!

There's one for 4 on 12/6 for 4:30

 

[Candycane83]

There's one for 4 on 12/6 for 4:30

For 3 it's available for 3:40. I think just take it!