AK/MGM in 1 day need help with timeline

[suebo]

O.k, these are what we want to see at AK:

Festival of the Lion King
Safari
Kali River Rapids

I'm questioning Tarzan Rocks with 3 DD's (8,6,4)
I was thinking of skipping Tarzan Rocks and just letting them play in Dinoland at the Boneyard, triceratop spin, Primeval whirl
We will eat lunch in Dinoland also.

What time should we leave the park to get to MGM to see:

Beauty and the Beast
Little Mermaid
Muppets
TOT (for me)
RNR (for DH)
Fantasmic

Should we be out of AK by 1:00 p.m.? Is that too late?

Any thoughts? Suggestions on how to use fast passes at MGM?

Thanks, Sue

 

[Cruisin]

well suebo that sounds pretty much exactly the timeline we used Sun Nov 9 when we did AK and then MGM in the same day.
We opened the park at AK and then headed to MGM around 1- 1:30.
Of course it depends on how busy the parks are. We didn't have any trouble fitting in everything we wanted to see, although we have been many times and only picked out our favourites.
AK tends to close earlier than MGM also.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Originally posted by suebo
O.k, these are what we want to see at AK:

Festival of the Lion King
Safari
Kali River Rapids

I'm questioning Tarzan Rocks with 3 DD's (8,6,4)
I was thinking of skipping Tarzan Rocks and just letting them play in Dinoland at the Boneyard, triceratop spin, Primeval whirl
We will eat lunch in Dinoland also.

What time should we leave the park to get to MGM to see:

Beauty and the Beast
Little Mermaid
Muppets
TOT (for me)
RNR (for DH)
Fantasmic

Should we be out of AK by 1:00 p.m.? Is that too late?

Any thoughts? Suggestions on how to use fast passes at MGM?

Thanks, Sue

Okay, let me see how I can help you.

If you get to AK first thing either 8am or 9am, not sure when the park opening is as I'm not sure what time you're visiting, you should be just fine. Go to disneyworld.com and look at park hours for your visit and you'll find it. Have DH go over to Kali Rapids and grab a fast pass for everyone, I hear that one goes quickly and you and everyone else head over to the Safari. Catching that first thing in the am is great because most if not all of the animals are out and you'll get some great pix. Check your showtimes of FoLK to make sure you get your timing right. Maybe do that show last to give you time to rest before leaving the park. I think you should be out of the park by 1pm maybe a little later depending on the Lion King showtimes. Just don't worry about Tarzan Rocks, you've got enough going on trying to get to MGM when you are.

You've got A LOT of shows you're trying to see at MGM, I'm not sure if that's possible, but you never know. Of course Fantasmic! will have to be done last, so plan everything around that. Grab fastpasses for ToT and RnR and see how that fits into the timing of everything. You may have to drop a show or two depending how everything goes. Just remember, if you're not doing a Fantasmic! package, most people are there almost 1-2 hours early to be seated, so you'll only have about 3-4 hours to fit everything else in you want to do. DH and I did a package, so we showed up at 8:30, only a half hour before showtime for our seating. It was on the far right, but the view was just fine and I'm glad I didn't spend 2 hours of my park time sitting and doing nothing. In that time people were sitting and waiting, DH and I rode RnR, did some window shopping, and watched the MGM Players do a fabulous street show.
Just remember one thing, you don't have to see it all. That just gives you more to do the next time you visit. Trying to see it all will only frustrate you if you can't get it done and with 3 DDs, you might drive yourself nuts!!!!!
I hope I've helped. I'm sure someone else might even have another plan if this one doesn't work for you. Best to you!

Denise

 

[Disneyland_emily]

The main factor in there is park hours But let's assume the park closes at 9 with F! at 8:30

Open DAK and head immeditatly to Safari then off to Kali to get FPs or just ride it if the wait is under 30. The first show of Lion King should be pretty soon then so Id head over there then off to Dinoland where Id play in the Boneyard till Tarzan (IMO an awesome show)then lunch and head off to Studios about 130 ish

As for the studios: Are you all going to ride Tower and Coaster? If NOT Send someone to get FP for both (1/2 tickets for one etc) See what time Beauty starts if its awhile head to Mermaid, then head to do Beauty and use the FPs for Coaster and Tower if good. Then head over to Muppets and do that then it depends on what time it is- either do somemore rides or head directly to F! One advice- To help kill the time before the show bring dinner- keeps ya all occupied a bit better and you dont have to plan dinner into the day-

Its very manageable to get it all in- Be advised both parks have pretty good parades and so take into account that getting cross park will be harder then

-em

 

[swilphil]

I would leave AK by noon--right after the Lion King show--I'm assuming you can get Safari and Rapids done before the show. If you happen to be in the Boneyard neighborhood, stop by there. Get on the Tricertops Spin if there's no line. You don't need to see the Tarzan show since I think it will be a disappointment after FOTLK.

Plus you're seeing some great shows in MGM. You also might want to go to the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playarea here instead of the one in AK. My son liked it much better, and I think the older girls might find it more interesting with all the oversized stuff.

When you get to MGM, I would get RNR Fastpass first. Try to hit at least one show while you wait. Depending on Fastpass waits, you might want to use one for Muppetvision. I'd get in line for Fantasmic, and then you and the older girl(s) can go on ToT while Dad and others hold your spot in line. You can buy dinner once you get seated at Fantasmic. Your little one might enjoy the Disney Playhouse show as well; it's very interactive. Maybe one parent can take her to it while the other parent is taking the older girls on RnR or ToT.

 

[suebo]

Thanks for taking the time to offer suggestions everyone. I love how everyone helps everyone on this board.

We will be going Wed. Dec. 3 & we've been with the kids 3 times before.

AK is open 9-5
MGM 9-7

Oh, the parades! I forgot about those. LOL I would like to see the MGM one. Yet 1 more thing to add to the list.

So, if we ride the safari first thing - do we have enough time to see the 9:45 Lion King show or is that too close? I was going to get a fastpass for the safari 1st thing and then go to FoLK and get pictures with the characters in Camp Minnie-Mickey before the show. Then ride safari, get Kali River fastpass, go to Dinoland for rides and lunch, ride raft ride, then leave the park wet and head to MGM. LOL

 

[sters]

This site might help you, too with scheduling shows

http://pages.prodigy.net/stevesoares/index.htm

 

[strawberryblonde]

I've been reading that this first week of Dec. is going to be more crowded than last year's. I believe it because they have added two Spectromagic parades during our week. I just don't know how much more crowded it will be? We took my MIL (who is a teacher) to WDW for 2 days in April during her spring break. We went to MK/Epcot on a Tues. and AK/MGM on Wed. That way we weren't dealing with early entry at any parks.

We did just what you are planning, DH ran for FP's to the Safari while we stood on line for Lilo and Stitch (they were right at the entrance to Camp Minnie Mickey) , we then pin traded while waiting for DH to show up and to be allowed to sit for the Lion King show. They did not run out of seats for this first show, could have gotton there later. We then went directly to the safari and our FP's didn't save any time (maybe 5 min. at most) as there wasn't wasn't any line except at the very end (of about 5 min.). For FP we were diverted to a loading dock that seemed to take longer than if we had stayed in the reg. line. Now, we were finished with what we had planned for AK and we made for the front of the park to go to MGM, this is where we noticed the crowds. Seemed to take forever to get out of AK. We were leaving earlier than you plan on as we had noon PS's at MGM for Sci-FI. Don't know if it will be this uncrowded in the morning on the day you are going but I would guess so as spring break normally is a more crowded time.

You can read about my entire day in my trip report (just remembered that I had written one back in April) http://disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=356571

I just read through it again myself and realized that we didn't have our Dec. 2003 trip planned back then . So don't feel sorry for me, I will be in the world when you are

 

[strawberryblonde]

Forgot to mention that MGM's parade is at 3:45pm when you are going. If you view it over near Star Tours, you would be at the beginning of the parade route. You would be done seeing it while most of the park is still standing by the curb. This would be a good time to dart over to see the muppets and play at the "honey I shrunk...." playground.