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

[Winniebell10]

AK info is missing past june or july i think? something like that. I think it is because they don't know what is going on with RoL... right now it is the jungle book show but they really don't know yet i guess.

the days are about what i expected. I want to get the Jedi Training Academy thing out of the way and now I'm thinking about what else I want to do there and it's nto a whole lot. opening time lunch at Sci Fi. toy story. star tours. great movie ride. the stunt spectacular. what else?? my kid won't do ToT again, we won't do RnR. what else is there to even do??? glad we have parkhoppers lol

we have a different evening planned hoping for F! and fireworks.

I am the same with you about HS. I kind of think I would skip it all together this time, but the 11 year old wants to try to get in to Jedi Training Academy. We've never done it. So his wanting to do JT has me planning some things at that park. Is there a possibility that it won't be happening in December? That actually could help make some decisions. I think for us, HS will be a half morning only. To do Jedi Training, a few rides, and eat at Prime Time for lunch. (We did Sci Fi last time). The oldest finally wants to ride ToT. He's been afraid of it until now.... @Lisa F what does your guy not like about ToT? That may help us out a bit for that ride. Anyway, hoping to just do a half morning in HS. But, I am interested in Minnie's holiday dine at H&V possibly for dinner. I hear many don't like the food, but I'd dig the characters. Oh, and I've actually never had the Cobb salad at the Derby. I hear it is awesome.
So, really, I'm all over the place. I'd like to nix HS. But am also planning stuff there too. Ha!

 

[21stamps]

yeah this has never been my favorite park. AK either. But there are a few things I like to do in both. So doing AK first and HS second to kind of get them out of the way. After that it's all epcot and mk, my two favorites (plus some resort time). I'm hoping one full day at AK will be sufficient and we can take off the day of the christmas party and just hang at the resort (also hoping for nice pool weather at least in the afternoon!). We are from the northeast so if it's at least in the 70's we're good lol

Do you think Epcot and HS are a good use of 7 hours with a guide, as opposed to HS/MK? I have a SW obsessed child, so HS is extremely important.
Our 2 MK days are after the cruise- which will be a complete surprise for him.
I just feel like since we have 2 MK days- both party days, that we may have lower crowds during that time. Plus- HS/Epcot tour won't damper the post cruise surprise!

Input please!!!

 

[21stamps]

I am the same with you about HS. I kind of think I would skip it all together this time, but the 11 year old wants to try to get in to Jedi Training Academy. We've never done it. So his wanting to do JT has me planning some things at that park. Is there a possibility that it won't be happening in December? That actually could help make some decisions. I think for us, HS will be a half morning only. To do Jedi Training, a few rides, and eat at Prime Time for lunch. (We did Sci Fi last time). The oldest finally wants to ride ToT. He's been afraid of it until now.... @Lisa F what does your guy not like about ToT? That may help us out a bit for that ride. Anyway, hoping to just do a half morning in HS. But, I am interested in Minnie's holiday dine at H&V possibly for dinner. I hear many don't like the food, but I'd dig the characters. Oh, and I've actually never had the Cobb salad at the Derby. I hear it is awesome.
So, really, I'm all over the place. I'd like to nix HS. But am also planning stuff there too. Ha!

My son LOVES ToT.

If your child is in to SW at all the new stuff should be awesome!

Fantasmic is my favorite show in Disney World!!

 

[Winniebell10]

My son LOVES ToT.

If your child is in to SW at all the new stuff should be awesome!

Fantasmic is my favorite show in Disney World!!

Are the drops on ToT far? He likes roller coasters, but has been afraid of the drops.

They (and their dad), are Star Wars freaks. They really love HS.

I am dying to see Fantasmic. Here's a question, are fireworks part of the show or just after? The youngest is terrified of fireworks. We just don't even bother. I swear, it is from his first experience of them as an 18 month old in WDW. It was late at night and we were at MK. We were walking through Fantasyland and my husband and I were commenting on how nobody was around. I was carrying the 18 month old, husband had 3 year old in stroller. Right then, fireworks went off and it felt like they we were right under them. I jumped, the baby screamed like crazy. Then we realized no one was around because they were all at the castle watching the fireworks. I can tell ya from experience, it feels like they launch them from underneath Fantasyland. Anyway, to this day, we just go into a gift shop at fireworks times. The cast member are always really sweet to him. I'm pretty sure he'd be fine now. Just wondering how hard core they are at Fantasmic. The show looks awesome. We're pretty prepared though for pyrotechnics at Disney.

 

[Tattylou]

AK info is missing past june or july i think? something like that. I think it is because they don't know what is going on with RoL... right now it is the jungle book show but they really don't know yet i guess.

the days are about what i expected. I want to get the Jedi Training Academy thing out of the way and now I'm thinking about what else I want to do there and it's nto a whole lot. opening time lunch at Sci Fi. toy story. star tours. great movie ride. the stunt spectacular. what else?? my kid won't do ToT again, we won't do RnR. what else is there to even do??? glad we have parkhoppers lol

we have a different evening planned hoping for F! and fireworks.

That is really it for rides. We were there in April and we met Kylo Ren and Chewbacca, which my kids thought was the coolest thing ever. There is also lots of star wars artifacts and displays and an outside star wars show. The storm troopers march outside and interact with ppl. We basically did it as a half day park last month. Probably do the same in Dec. My boys want to Jedi Training this time.

 

[Lisa F]

Do you think Epcot and HS are a good use of 7 hours with a guide, as opposed to HS/MK? I have a SW obsessed child, so HS is extremely important.
Our 2 MK days are after the cruise- which will be a complete surprise for him.
I just feel like since we have 2 MK days- both party days, that we may have lower crowds during that time. Plus- HS/Epcot tour won't damper the post cruise surprise!

Input please!!!

I think that given that you are doing MK after and staying on site, will have 60 day Fastpasses, honestly there are probably not more than 8 fast pass rides that you NEED to have them for in the low season in MK and the rest is easy to do with little wait. So you are probably good at MK. Don't freak out about the Jedi thing, I'm sure they can't promise until it is schedule and it is not scheduled yet, but if they typically do that then it will be fine. Jedi Training Academy is still a HUGE draw. Epcot is the hardest to navigate with fastpasses because of the Tiered system... you can only pick one of Soarin', Test Track, the new Frozen and is mission space back to Tier 1? either way I think Epcot is the MUCH better use of your VIP tour. I would say "no brainer" but I actually had to give it some thought, lol. But now that I have I am very sure of my advice!

 

[Lisa F]

That is really it for rides. We were there in April and we met Kylo Ren and Chewbacca, which my kids thought was the coolest thing ever. There is also lots of star wars artifacts and displays and an outside star wars show. The storm troopers march outside and interact with ppl. We basically did it as a half day park last month. Probably do the same in Dec. My boys want to Jedi Training this time.

We will go for EMH just to sign up for Jedi Training, grab a quickie breakfast at starring rolls and then do great movie ride first I think (or during EMH if we have the chance to - we may be able to do it right after we sign up for jedi training) then fastpass for Toy Story, the star wars ride and not even sure what else. We want to see Indiana Jones Stunt spectacular. planning an 11am ADR for Sci Fi Dine in. 5pm ADR for California grill later. Probably aim to leave the park no later than 3pm to freshen up at BWV and then will drive to dinner at CA Grill. I think it should work out alright. After dinner we will go to Epcot and maybe see some of the world showcase santas and watch Illuminations.

I have another day planned for relaxing and disney springs, maybe pool at BWV... but then an early dinner at H&V (4:30ish I think) with F! package and hoping they have fireworks that night too. If they do not I can easily swap around one of our two planned illuminations nights for fireworks at HS, since we are at BWV it is easy to get to either just for fireworks in the evening. Since F! is at 7pm during non-holiday november, that leaves us plenty of time to get over to Epcot for Illuminations afterward if no fireworks at HS. But kind of hoping I can do that all in one night.

I wish DVC would release the merry member mixer info

 

[Lisa F]

Are the drops on ToT far? He likes roller coasters, but has been afraid of the drops.

They (and their dad), are Star Wars freaks. They really love HS.

I am dying to see Fantasmic. Here's a question, are fireworks part of the show or just after? The youngest is terrified of fireworks. We just don't even bother. I swear, it is from his first experience of them as an 18 month old in WDW. It was late at night and we were at MK. We were walking through Fantasyland and my husband and I were commenting on how nobody was around. I was carrying the 18 month old, husband had 3 year old in stroller. Right then, fireworks went off and it felt like they we were right under them. I jumped, the baby screamed like crazy. Then we realized no one was around because they were all at the castle watching the fireworks. I can tell ya from experience, it feels like they launch them from underneath Fantasyland. Anyway, to this day, we just go into a gift shop at fireworks times. The cast member are always really sweet to him. I'm pretty sure he'd be fine now. Just wondering how hard core they are at Fantasmic. The show looks awesome. We're pretty prepared though for pyrotechnics at Disney.

The drops are not like roller coaster drops. You are basically going up and down and the scary part of the ride is ALL drops. it's randomized and you are dropping straight down but you're not on a track with the drop in front of you or anything so I don't know how he would feel about that. My kiddo doesn't want to go on it again but maybe I can convince him, lol.

The fireworks are not part of the show, they happen after (kind of like MSEP and wishes at the MK). BUT there are SOME fireworks as part of F!. Not a ton, I would say it is more like ground fired pyrotechnics than huge booming fireworks in the sky. I have not been in many years but that is my recollection.

 

[Tattylou]

I'm struggling bc we are only there 3 park days with no hoppers. We are wdw vets so it is doable and I'm mainly going to see it all at xmas. So far I think we will do:
Dec 1 @ HS in morning and then we have MVMCP in the afternoon, might do early dinner at crystal palace.
Dec 2: MK until 630 and then either chef mickey's or someplace in disney springs.
Dec 3: breakfast at Ohana then Epcot and dinner at Via Napoli.
It's so different with no hoppers. I've never gone this short or without hoppers.

 

[21stamps]

I think that given that you are doing MK after and staying on site, will have 60 day Fastpasses, honestly there are probably not more than 8 fast pass rides that you NEED to have them for in the low season in MK and the rest is easy to do with little wait. So you are probably good at MK. Don't freak out about the Jedi thing, I'm sure they can't promise until it is schedule and it is not scheduled yet, but if they typically do that then it will be fine. Jedi Training Academy is still a HUGE draw. Epcot is the hardest to navigate with fastpasses because of the Tiered system... you can only pick one of Soarin', Test Track, the new Frozen and is mission space back to Tier 1? either way I think Epcot is the MUCH better use of your VIP tour. I would say "no brainer" but I actually had to give it some thought, lol. But now that I have I am very sure of my advice!

Thanks! I actually debated rearranging my entire vacation last night- switching the Fantasy to Thanksgiving week- and doing WDW after- that way would eliminate the fear of crowds on Black Friday and not need the tour. This was my original plan before I booked the current trip- but my grandfather is 96, and I really don't want us to miss a holiday with him, which I was I chose the 26th as a sail date.
Plus, even though I prefer eastern itineraries, I think there is a lot more for my son to enjoy on the western.

So, keeping it the way it is.

 

[21stamps]

Are the drops on ToT far? He likes roller coasters, but has been afraid of the drops.

They (and their dad), are Star Wars freaks. They really love HS.

I am dying to see Fantasmic. Here's a question, are fireworks part of the show or just after? The youngest is terrified of fireworks. We just don't even bother. I swear, it is from his first experience of them as an 18 month old in WDW. It was late at night and we were at MK. We were walking through Fantasyland and my husband and I were commenting on how nobody was around. I was carrying the 18 month old, husband had 3 year old in stroller. Right then, fireworks went off and it felt like they we were right under them. I jumped, the baby screamed like crazy. Then we realized no one was around because they were all at the castle watching the fireworks. I can tell ya from experience, it feels like they launch them from underneath Fantasyland. Anyway, to this day, we just go into a gift shop at fireworks times. The cast member are always really sweet to him. I'm pretty sure he'd be fine now. Just wondering how hard core they are at Fantasmic. The show looks awesome. We're pretty prepared though for pyrotechnics at Disney.

I think there are a few smaller fireworks during the show. I can't totally remember. Have you checked YouTube? You should be able to watch the entire thing. Or, start a thread- someone on these boards will know every detail. We did the H&V F! Package and were in the center, second row. The boat at the end is really neat! Especially (for my kid) that stitch was on it as well.

The drop on ToT isn't bad at all. It's not like a Drop Tower ride (if you've been on one).

 

[21stamps]

Are the drops on ToT far? He likes roller coasters, but has been afraid of the drops.

They (and their dad), are Star Wars freaks. They really love HS.

I am dying to see Fantasmic. Here's a question, are fireworks part of the show or just after? The youngest is terrified of fireworks. We just don't even bother. I swear, it is from his first experience of them as an 18 month old in WDW. It was late at night and we were at MK. We were walking through Fantasyland and my husband and I were commenting on how nobody was around. I was carrying the 18 month old, husband had 3 year old in stroller. Right then, fireworks went off and it felt like they we were right under them. I jumped, the baby screamed like crazy. Then we realized no one was around because they were all at the castle watching the fireworks. I can tell ya from experience, it feels like they launch them from underneath Fantasyland. Anyway, to this day, we just go into a gift shop at fireworks times. The cast member are always really sweet to him. I'm pretty sure he'd be fine now. Just wondering how hard core they are at Fantasmic. The show looks awesome. We're pretty prepared though for pyrotechnics at Disney.

I just looked at my pics..these are during the show, the last bigger ones are at the end. The fire was HOT where we were sitting.

 

[21stamps]

I'm struggling bc we are only there 3 park days with no hoppers. We are wdw vets so it is doable and I'm mainly going to see it all at xmas. So far I think we will do:
Dec 1 @ HS in morning and then we have MVMCP in the afternoon, might do early dinner at crystal palace.
Dec 2: MK until 630 and then either chef mickey's or someplace in disney springs.
Dec 3: breakfast at Ohana then Epcot and dinner at Via Napoli.
It's so different with no hoppers. I've never gone this short or without hoppers.

I think the Christmas party makes it easier to not go with hoppers.
You can still do 2 parks on that day.
I think your plan looks good!

We are not doing AK this trip either. Kiddo will be disappointed not riding Everest, but I'm hoping he hits 48" sometime during this summer (he's not even 3/4 inch below right now) so he can ride RnR, it's driving him crazy bc he still can't go on many rollercoasters at our local theme park. Disney had much shorter height requirements than Cedar Fair parks.

Orlando in general does. We rode the slingshot at old town last year- at 45 inches. The one at our park requires 48. Same attraction.lol

 

[Candycane83]

yeah this has never been my favorite park. AK either. But there are a few things I like to do in both. So doing AK first and HS second to kind of get them out of the way. After that it's all epcot and mk, my two favorites (plus some resort time). I'm hoping one full day at AK will be sufficient and we can take off the day of the christmas party and just hang at the resort (also hoping for nice pool weather at least in the afternoon!). We are from the northeast so if it's at least in the 70's we're good lol

Yes I wonder if any of those evening shows- ROL or Star Wars fireworks warrants spending a 2nd night. From what I'm reading the Jungle Book show is a total bust. DS2 would probably like MK the most and I feel like I would like EPCOT WS the most. I think a pool day would be nice for you and your DS to relax. I'm using my Xmas party morning to resort hop and see the different decorations.

 

[Candycane83]

I think the Christmas party makes it easier to not go with hoppers.
You can still do 2 parks on that day.
I think your plan looks good!

We are not doing AK this trip either. Kiddo will be disappointed not riding Everest, but I'm hoping he hits 48" sometime during this summer (he's not even 3/4 inch below right now) so he can ride RnR, it's driving him crazy bc he still can't go on many rollercoasters at our local theme park. Disney had much shorter height requirements than Cedar Fair parks.

Orlando in general does. We rode the slingshot at old town last year- at 45 inches. The one at our park requires 48. Same attraction.lol

My Ds2 is 35" and we're going to spend a few days at Universal... They're height requirements are also up there. I wish my DS would grow to 38 by December! I doubt though. Haha

 

[21stamps]

My Ds2 is 35" and we're going to spend a few days at Universal... They're height requirements are also up there. I wish my DS would grow to 38 by December! I doubt though. Haha

He might!!!

My son was 42 inches exactly on his 5th birthday in april '15.. By mid August he was 45.25.
It was frustrating bc he seriously outgrew every single clothing item...and I wasn't thrilled buying a new wardrobe that late in the summer.lol. That was the biggest growth spurt since infancy to date.
I scaled down on my shopping this year in case it happens again.

 

[Candycane83]

He might!!!

My son was 42 inches exactly on his 5th birthday in april '15.. By mid August he was 45.25.
It was frustrating bc he seriously outgrew every single clothing item...and I wasn't thrilled buying a new wardrobe that late in the summer.lol. That was the biggest growth spurt since infancy to date.
I scaled down on my shopping this year in case it happens again.

Oh that would be nice! I'm hoping but I'm ready to ride one two fish over and over again at universal at least he can try to ride the barnstormer... Was hoping for 7dmt since DH and I have never been but we may do rider swap instead.

 

[Lisa F]

Yes I wonder if any of those evening shows- ROL or Star Wars fireworks warrants spending a 2nd night. From what I'm reading the Jungle Book show is a total bust. DS2 would probably like MK the most and I feel like I would like EPCOT WS the most. I think a pool day would be nice for you and your DS to relax. I'm using my Xmas party morning to resort hop and see the different decorations.

The old star wars fireworks was supposed to be pretty good and the new one should be even better? I don't know.

If RoL is a bust I will happily do Illuminations again!

 

[21stamps]

Does anyone know what time fireworks, Fantasmic, illuminations etc take place that time of year?

 

[PeterPanFan123]

can you post what you found out here for first week or two of december? I think most of us are gone by the 10th or 11th or so

EDIT: I called back to see what another CM would tell me...she gave me same info except what's in bold below is new...she also said she had no parade, fireworks or F! info.

Sure, I only got 12/3, 12/4 and 12/5 (I already had prior dates). I hope what the CM told me was correct, because I'm not seeing hours posted on Disney's website, and I don't believe TAs have received the hours either. I usually take what CMs tell me with a grain of salt, but I would hope hours would be easy enough to convey to a caller, but I guess you never know! So, for what it's worth, here's what she told me:

12/3
MK 9-10 (EMH 8am)
EP 9-9:30
HS 9-7 (EMH 7-9pm)
AK 9-5 (Latest CM told me to expect these times to change b/c of ROL)

12/4
MK 9-7
EP 9-9:30
HS 9-7 (EMH 8am)
AK 9-5

12/5
MK 9-10
EP 9-9:30
HS 9-7
AK 9-5