AK in Christmas week

[CorianderS]

My family (parents and 2 siblings in their early 30s) is visiting Orlando next week and want to do at least 1 day at WDW. They've been to DL several times but it's their first time to WDW. I've tried to expectation set about planning and the craziness of Christmas week but it didn't get across. So, I'm trying to now put together some kind of plan for us.

My first thought was definitely going to AK since it's the most different from DL, but after reading that the best strategy for NRJ or FOP is arriving 1 hour prior to rope drop, I'm wondering if we'll still want to spend the full day there or is it feasible to try to do epcot in the afternoon/evening? My takeaway from reading the threads is AK could easily be all day with wait times for EE, etc.

 

[KEW]

What day will they be here?

I'm assuming they will not be staying onsite so I would try to avoid parks with EMH if that works with your plan (which MK has every day though).

Do they want/need to do FOP? If they do, yes, I would suggest getting there at last an hour before opening. If they don't care about FOP, AK would still be a good morning park because they should be able to do a lot of other things in the park. If they do want to do FOP and get there early to get the wait out of the way before park opens, I think it's reasonable to do a lot in AK and then hop to Epcot or another park to close that park out.

Are they skipping MK because they've been to DL many times? If they still want to go to MK, I would suggest that be the last park of the night since it's open until midnight

 

[CorianderS]

Thanks! I was thinking Tuesday - no EMH at AK that day - but it's flexible b/c the rest of the vacation isn't really planned out either. They were kind of on the fence about MK so I felt like was better to focus on the unique Florida experiences. If they wanted to do a second day, I would probably just do the whole day at MK.

 

[Robo]

Thanks! I was thinking Tuesday - no EMH at AK that day - but it's flexible b/c the rest of the vacation isn't really planned out either. They were kind of on the fence about MK so I felt like was better to focus on the unique Florida experiences. If they wanted to do a second day, I would probably just do the whole day at MK.

Remember that MK and Disneyland are far from being "twins."

Have fun and to the DISboards, CorianderS!