Arrival Day TS- WWYD??

[Pirate1+Princess4]

I have to make a choice on our arrival day dinner. What we do on arrival day has an affect on the rest of the week. I'm ready to let some extra ADRs go. Which would you try to do, based logistics, risk, and possible stress level?

We arrive on SWA @ 1:40, taking ME to POP. No car- using WDW transportation.

4:35 1900PF OR 5:20 Akershus???

We are first time visitors and kids are first time flyers. Party of 7, including 5 kids ages 7 & 9. The kids will have their eyes open wide and their heads in the clouds. We'll have to herd them.

4:35 1900PF- I think we would have to take a cab, requires a minivan for the whole family. Cost about $20ish + tip? Sound right? I don't think we'll have time to take buses and monorail AND the adults are pretty much first timers and don't have experience with WDW transportation yet. If we don't do this, we'll still have Akershus princesess and will do breakfast later in the week, so we'll still see the GF.

5:20 Akershus- Easier to get to using buses. Requires credit card hold. I have to cancel by 5:20 TOMORROW, or risk paying $70 in no show fees. If we don't do this, we'll do it for lunch on our EP day. Requires using a park day, but we are covered with that.

Weather in our home city that day is forecast to be clear, but cold. At this time it looks calm, with no wind or yuckiness to delay our travel. But I don't know where our plane comes from....maybe I'll look into it.

Weather at WDW is forecast to be warm with "t-storms possible".

So, would you risk losing the $70 in the event of a weather or other delay? Or cut it close with 1900PF? How late could we be for our ADR at PF before they get snippy or give away our table? If we miss both, we'll have an extra TS to fit in later in the week.

Thanks!

 

[KiKi Mouse]

I would do a later reservation. Doing something at 5 p.m. ish sounds like it is cutting it close.
You need to get yourself to your hotel, check in, get everybody rounded up and head out. Not sure of the ages of your kids but the younger they are the harder it is...LOL
You need to get yourself to the park, through the park to your restaurant and be there a bit early to check in. Askerhaus is a long walk from the main gait at Epcot.


We just got back last night and on our first night we did Crystal Palace in MK. We had to wait 30 min even though we had a reservation. We also had a rental car which made things a bit easier.

Are you committe to a certain park or is that flexible? We did the Chip n Dale Harvest dinner at Epcot and loved it.

 

[DVC California]

I vote for 1900 PF as your quad girls are the perfect age to meet Cinderella and Prince Charming. Don't forget your camera and autograph books!

If your flight gets in at 1:40, you should be on the bus around 2:15 and at the resort between 2:45 and 3:00 pm. (Tag your luggage so that ME transports it to POP for you instead of waiting at the carousel and taking it on the bus.)

Do online check-in before you arrive and shorten your wait at the front desk. Your room might be ready, so you can put your carry on away. If not, they can hold it at the luggage stand and deliever to your room later with the other luggage.

I'd skip taking a cab, and take the bus to Magic Kingdom. From there you can take the monorail to GF and I'm sure the kids would love that. Give this about 45-60 minutes travel time.

If your a little late, 1900 PF won't turn you away but you may have to wait a bit for an available table.

After dinner, you could hang around GF to watch the Electric Water pageant, or even watch the fireworks from the marina area in the back, facing the castle.

Or you could take the bus from GF to DTD, shop/explore, and take the bus from there back to Pop.

We've never done the dinner at Akershus, so I can't say whether it good or bad. I do know that it will be along walk from the Pop bus stop, to the Epcot front gate, through Future World, and then to the Middle of World Showcase and Norway. Plus you have to burn a day on your tickets for dinner.
HTH, Steve

 

[Pirate1+Princess4]

I'm not commited to any particular park. Just wanted a very fun kickoff for our trip. Need to get to bed somewhat early for RD next AM. I did my original ADRs when things were screwy at 3AM and have been trying to get something else since then. Having no luck with other choices. Chip/Dale would be fun too, but coudn't get ADR at this late date, and with our party size. REALLY wanted to kickoff with Chef Mickey, but that's not gonna happen.

 

[Pirate1+Princess4]

Thanks for the feedback. After a live chat with a friend, we both decided that I don't want to start the vacation with stress. So, I've decided to forego Akershus for arrival day and keep our EP day reservation. I also didn't realize how long the walk is to Norway.

If we miss PF, I'll be disappointed, but I won't tell the kids the dinner plans, in case we have a delay. Then it's just MY disappointment.

I think if we make it, it will be a lovely start to our trip. We can stroll around GF looking at decorations, then head back to POP for an early night.

BTW- when I was looking for newly available ADRs, a 7 PM Akershus came up, so I'm betting that many people are at least canceling the cc hold ADRs. WE are a party of 7 and can't get much else for 12/12.

 

[jenseib]

I don't think you'll make it to 1900PF. I would cancell it now, and either do something later somewhere else, or try for another TS another day. They say to allow 2 hours from when you arrive till you get to your resort. It can be less, and it can be more. And then depending on how check in goes, that could take awhile. Your room may also not be ready. I just think it wil lbe cutting it too close,so you should just cancel ahead of time and let someone else have the ressie now.
I have only made one TS for arrival day ever, becuase I just worry on delays. We have had delays when weather is perfect.
Last year I made one for CRT but it was several hours later, so I knew we had a good shot at getting there, and I was still nervous.
I'm also guessing that a cab for 2 people will run more than 20.

 

[ceeamom]

Way too close to get to pf , just returned from there this week. we arrived sw and took me to pop,took 2 hours from when plane touched down, wait for bags, wait for bus to pop, 20+ min drive to pop, then checkin find room. Wait for buses from pop to parks was not great last week some days waited 10 min , some days waited 30+.
Leaving HS one night we had to wait for 5 buses to fill up before we made it on a bus!
Give youself more time!

 

[squirrel]

Way too close to get to pf , just returned from there this week. we arrived sw and took me to pop,took 2 hours from when plane touched down, wait for bags, wait for bus to pop, 20+ min drive to pop, then checkin find room. Wait for buses from pop to parks was not great last week some days waited 10 min , some days waited 30+.
Leaving HS one night we had to wait for 5 buses to fill up before we made it on a bus!
Give youself more time!

If you sent your bags with ME than you wouldn't have had to wait so long!

I went during Free Dining and got on an ME bus before my neighbours. There wasn't very many people waiting for ME buses. I was in the check in line for about 5 min when they showed up at the resort. I have no idea why you had to wait so long.

Going from Pop to the GF Resort isn't that hard. I know that the CM's are now saying to allow 1 1/2 or more hours for travel time, but most times you would be there at least 45 min early. I had many reservations away from the area I was in requiring bus, boat and or monorail and an hour was plenty of time. DTD was the only place I found that you could wait a lot longer for a connection. The buses there seemed to have a different time schedule than the rest of the buses.

 

[ceeamom]

We arrived 930 pm too late to risk bags taken to me. also , cm at airport was at baggage telling people to get bags themselves, they were having some issues with baggage that day , would not specify. waited for at least 20 min in line for bus to arrive to take us to pop .
One day at pop last week , my husband waited for over 30 min with no bus present before getting one to go to HS.
At end of day, but several hours before park closing, the pop line for buses was all the way from ques to the park entrance- 5 buses filled before we got on..
I went to GF several times, even with immed ,bus service then monorail to gf took 45 min with no waits.