Any considerations needed for park reservations?

[KaystotheKingdom]

Hey all,

Avid Disney traveler here but really have not paid too much attention to the changes during Covid. Now I’m trying to put together a trip for November 2021 and in reading Up on things I am (embarrassingly) lost. We always planned our park days based on ADRs and EMH. Now that these are not in play, is there anything to consider in picking which park on which day? We used to avoid HS (post GE) and MK on the weekends. Does any of this matter anymore? I have kids (3 and 5) one of which is Star Wars fanatic so HS and MK are high priority for us.

Any insight? I now feel for the first time Disney planners, feeling like one of them again.

I should add we originally bought a non hopper 4 day ticket for a trip planned for last April that had to be cancelled. We don’t hop much at this point due to the youngins, we try to minimize bus and transit time (and stroller folding!)
thank you all, stay healthy!

 

[NJ Goofy]

I used to plan around FP's and use our hoppers to take advantage of late EMH, but as you noted both of them don't happen anymore. I think you can schedule MK any day but Saturday and be OK. I'd probably stay away from EPCOT on Friday's and Saturday's, but that's probably not too important to you. I would reserve 2 days at HS for the Star Wars fanatic, it will give you a better chance at ROTR. We hop so hopefully we can still enjoy one park in the AM and another in the PM.

 

[skuttle]

HS will fill up first, so make sure you are committed to whichever day you pick. We just returned from a quick long weekend trip. We did two days at HS, which was nice because we didn't feel pressured to squeeze in everything, but my kids are older so they can ride all of the rides. We did get boarding groups both days! We did MK on a Saturday and it wasn't as bad I was expecting. Sometimes I think we're more easy going than others, though. We made the most of it and had an enjoyable day and got everything done we wanted. Our other day was AK, a favorite of ours. We skipped Epcot due to so much construction and our kiddos don't care for it. We haven't hopped in years and have never missed it.

 

[KaystotheKingdom]

HS will fill up first, so make sure you are committed to whichever day you pick. We just returned from a quick long weekend trip. We did two days at HS, which was nice because we didn't feel pressured to squeeze in everything, but my kids are older so they can ride all of the rides. We did get boarding groups both days! We did MK on a Saturday and it wasn't as bad I was expecting. Sometimes I think we're more easy going than others, though. We made the most of it and had an enjoyable day and got everything done we wanted. Our other day was AK, a favorite of ours. We skipped Epcot due to so much construction and our kiddos don't care for it. We haven't hopped in years and have never missed it.

So I have read of families doing 2 days of reservations at HS in the event a boarding group is not obtained. I’d also like to do animal kingdom, but do you think doing to days of HS is better? Would there be likelihood of changing the second HS day to AK should the boarding group work out the first day?
Also, has the process for getting a boarding group changed at all. My one and only time was feb 2020 right before the pandemic, and was there an hour before park opening (so cold!)

 

[skuttle]

So I have read of families doing 2 days of reservations at HS in the event a boarding group is not obtained. I’d also like to do animal kingdom, but do you think doing to days of HS is better? Would there be likelihood of changing the second HS day to AK should the boarding group work out the first day?
Also, has the process for getting a boarding group changed at all. My one and only time was feb 2020 right before the pandemic, and was there an hour before park opening (so cold!)

We just wanted to do 2 days at HS. I have older kids so they wanted to hit all the thrill rides. We did get a boarding group on both days at the 7am try. You have two shots per day to get a boarding group. The first is at 7am and you can do it from your room, just have to have HS reserved. If you don't get one then, you can try again at 1pm, but you have to have entered HS to try at 1pm.

We love AK so I'd never skip it to do a 2nd HS day. However, your kids are much younger than mine (17, 10 and 8) and Everest is one of our favorites, along with FOP. We were there this past holiday weekend and AK was "sold out" one of our days when I tried to move things around due to forecasted rain. But I think AK being booked up is rare. And we were there over a weekend, which tends to be busier in general.

And who knows how things will evolve by the time your trip rolls around!

 

[I_love_Cruising]

I have a november trip planned as well.
I think that now that park hopping is allowed again it will be easier to chose a park. The new EMH will give access to all parks 30 minutes early, so even if EMH will restart by then, that's not a deciding factor.

I planned Epcot after Thanksgiving, because that's usually the day that Christmas activities start there.
For me first and last day have to be Magic Kingdom, so I'll visit hopefully see Christmas decorations there as well.

 

[Imamom2]

We just booked our park days for November and I’m keeping transportation in mind. We are staying at BLT so I know we can walk into MK. I’m hoping the monorail to Epcot is open by then but if not we can Lyft to Epcot then hop to HS via Skyliner and vice-versa. AK is always a Lyft or bus for us... In November you want to think about what park you want to be in at closing, too. I think we will see holiday fireworks in HS and MK as well as Harmonious in Epcot for the 50th. If we know one thing for sure it’s that nothing is certain. Plan what you can and have a wonderful trip!