Best Tips for a Quick Trip?

[samara]

We’re heading off on a last minute quick trip just after Halloween - check in at the Dolphin late afternoon on Sunday, then Monday and Tuesday in the parks! I imagine we’ll spend a lot of time doing Food & Wine in Epcot, and the last time we were at Disney (in 2021] they weren’t doing Fantasmic and that’s our favorite so I booked a dining package for that on Monday (I must have gotten lucky and picked up something someone had just dropped!). Lightning lanes booked for Guardians of the Galaxy (Tuesday morning) and Rise of the Resistance (Monday night after Fantasmic). I’m okay not making it to AK, but can I really go to Disney without stepping foot in MK? Especially as the Christmas decorations will be going up? Any tips for quick trips or opinions on how to spend our time will be appreciated!

 

[thanxfornoticin]

Do you have park hoppers? If so, perhaps exit EPCOT Tuesday for a monorail ride to MK - enter, enjoy the decorations for a while, and then head back to EPCOT later. Not sure all of the holiday decorations will be up in MK by the 5th, but I bet most of them are! The parties start shortly after.

Or just enjoy a day at EP and a day at HS, keeping it less hectic with the transportation - also very beautiful for the holidays!

 

[samara]

We do have park hoppers, so that’s definitely a possibility! I figured MK would be decorated because the first party is on on Friday of that week, but didn’t think about the other parks possibly already having decorations as well!

 

[ak517]

I think your plans for Epcot and DHS are well-suited to park hop to MK for a few hours either via the monorail or a Crescent Lake resort bus! That said, I've done a no-MK trip before and it didn't hurt that much, especially since it was an adults-only trip. So depending on your party make-up and the goals for the trip, you may not be bothered by missing out on MK at all.

 

[samara]

I think your plans for Epcot and DHS are well-suited to park hop to MK for a few hours either via the monorail or a Crescent Lake resort bus! That said, I've done a no-MK trip before and it didn't hurt that much, especially since it was an adults-only trip. So depending on your party make-up and the goals for the trip, you may not be bothered by missing out on MK at all.

It is adults only, so you may be right. Still, I wonder if I’ll feel the pull once we get there!

 

[bethy]

We did a 2 day family visit a couple of years ago with no plans to do MK. After the first day we altered our plans entirely to include MK. It just wasn't possible to skip it - at least for us. The lure is very real when you are actually on site and MK is right. there.

 

[Cynt]

We did a surprise last minute trip with my niece Christmas 2023. It was the weekend before Christmas. It was her first time at WDW. This is what we did.

We stayed at the Dolphin. Best decision we made. We purchased lightning lanes (i think that's what it was called, the old fast pass system you pay for now) and park hoppers. We usually go Sept or May at a much slower pace and stay for a week. We had 48 hours to do as much as possible. I didn't like being on my phone stacking rides the whole time but it was the sacrifice I had to make in order for us to ride more rides in the short time we were there. And it worked. Paid a pretty penny for it but to see her overwhelmed with excitement and joy was worth it.

We arrived that evening and enjoyed the boardwalk with pizza and ice cream. We watched the Epcot fireworks from the boardwalk and called it a night.

We rope dropped MK on a party day. We hit every ride and had lunch at Liberty Tree. We also scored a ride on Tron. We hopped over to Epcot afterwards. We were exhausted after about 4 or 5 rides at Epcot. (The day before was a 17 hour drive from TX). We took the boat back to Dolphin to rest and go back out later. It was around 6pm after we grabbed a bite to eat and made it to our room. The little fell asleep and we did too. LOL!

The next morning we rope dropped AK. We Did everything we wanted to do and was finished around 2ish. We then hopped over to HS and it was a mad house. We road a few rides and promised our niece we will bring her back for a week and ride everything we missed. She was cool and so excited and exhausted by this point it didn't matter. LOL!

We left HS around 7ish pm and headed to Jacksonville FL to spend Christmas week with my In Laws.

Have a game plan but be flexible. Christmas time is crazy busy but can be navigated. Make dinner reservations. We had a little and fed her whatever she wanted. WAFFLES! Not enough time to fight over eating nutritious food. We stayed at the Dolphin but walked to the Boardwalk busses for the ride to rope drop the parks.

You're going to love it. I get why people go during Christmas. We will definitely try and visit again during Christmas but stay for a week.

We would absolutely do it again. Thank God we were off that following week. It took about 2 days to recover.

Happy planning.

 

[jazzsmith]

Looks like you’ve planned an awesome trip! Spending time at Epcot's Food & Wine and catching Fantasmic with a dining package are great choices. Fitting Magic Kingdom into a quick trip, especially with Christmas decorations, would be a nice touch if possible. Using Lightning Lanes for popular rides like Guardians of the Galaxy and Rise of the Resistance is smart. Checking out sites like travelup for last-minute deals or tips could be helpful for any added convenience. Enjoy the parks and soak in as much as you can during your short stay!