Could anyone help me plan my short Disney time wisely?

[Aidensmommy22]

We will be in Disney next week for 3 days (Dec. 14-16). We have 3 day park hoppers. My plan is this so far:
Dec 14- HS/ hop somewhere/ back to HS for Osborne Lights
Dec 15- MK/ hop somewhere after they close for MVMCP but everywhere is red so not sure where to go
Dec 16- EP/ hop somewhere/ hop to MK for the MEP.
What would you do to make the most of these 3 days? Also, a friend told us we have to be in HS by a certain time in the afternoon for admission? I've never heard this. Thanks!

 

[Spunky946]

That's a lot of hopping around. On your first day of start the day somewhere else, and then hop over to Hollywood for the lights.

I'd probably do animal kingdom for a couple of ours in the am.

Then the second day id do magic kingdom and then maybe Epcot for the evening or downtown Disney.
Then the third day I would start at Epcot and hop for magic kingdom for the evening.

We always have hoppers but I would not want to hop three times in one day

 

[Alesia]

That's too much hopping. You aren't going to have time to really enjoy anything.

Before coming up with a plan, I need to know how early you're willing to get to the parks and how late you're willing to stay.

 

[amylevan]

Agreed, way too much hopping. You'll spend more time travelling between parks then actually enjoying attractions.

Without knowing how much time you want to spend at each park (are you skipping AK altogether?) and how late you plan on staying in the parks, I can only make general suggestions.

Dec 14 - If you didn't want to spend all day at HS, you could start the day there and then hop over to EP for the afternoon/evening and do Osborne lights the next night. But don't start at HS, hop somewhere else only to hop back. You could also start your day at AK and then hop to HS for the afternoon/evening.

Dec 15 -After MK closes, hopping to HS to see the lights would work if you didn't do that on the 14th. It's a not recommended park, but it's not the worst. Hopping to EP would work depending on what you want to do. It's an early EMH, so it will be busier than normal, but it's a big park and crowds spread out so it won't "feel" awful but lines will be long. But walking around WS shouldn't be too bad.

Dec 16 - EP is a good choice during the day. But again, if you want to end at MK, just stay in EP and then hop to MK before the evening, don't add a third stop in there.

 

[hamilkm]

We are headed down for the weekend this weekend. We are squeezing in 4 park days but actually decided against hopping at all due to our limited time in the parks with only 2 partial days and 2 full days. With only 3 days if I really wanted to do all four parks I would probably rope drop AK then hop to HS and use my FP+ there on the first day, then do the entire next day in the MK and hop to another park after MK close for fireworks/entertainment only, then the last day spend the entire day at Epcot (I could spend multiple days here) and hop back over to MK for evening entertainment if you feel like it. I probably wouldn't try to hop too much during the day!

 

[Aidensmommy22]

My plan is to be there at RD or within 5-10 minutes at least. We would like to go to AK but it's not a priority. Would like to spend all day at MK on Tuesday but it closes early for MVMCP. I think 7? My boys are at the age where they love to hop & ride rides in each park. Last time, we went commando & hopped to 3 parks a day. But it was very tiring so 2 will be our limit this time. Do any of you know if it's true that you can't get into HS after 2pm?

 

[OB1]

I have a 3 day weekend coming up DEC 11-13. I plan to hop once a day. SAT is the only day that MK does not have a MVMCP. That night, we will hop to MK from EPCTO around 7:30, just to see the night time shows. It will be packed, but it is our only option. Keeping to 2 parks a day, and we will not have a morning at HS, so we have afternoon FP there for 1 of our days. Our goal is to just soak in all the Christmas stuff that is not there in May when we normally go. Some rides, but all special stuff.

 

[DCLbrideSept2009]

it really depends on what is most important to you. Dh and I were just there about 48 hours total from plane landing to plane taking off again. But we had been there the end of October and we go at least 1-2 times a year. Our priorities this short trip were the CP (NPH) and Osbourne lights. Other Christmas stuff and rides were a bonus. We arrived Tuesday evening and got to the hotel around 9:00 p.m. Dinner at DTD and then back to the room. Wednesday was our mega day. Rope drop at DHS, boat to EPCOT for our CP lunch, back to DHS for Osborne lights, back to EPCOT for CP. I wiped out (tripped and fell) while in line for CP and it had rained earlier so I got pretty wet. (Also scraped the HECK out of my knee and foot and was bleeding like crazy.) But I wasn't about to miss CP/NPH. The plan was to hit MK after CP (it was open until 1:00 a.m.). I was too uncomfortable (wet) and hurting, so I went back to the room and DH went to MK until almost closing. Then we went to MK the next morning until around noon or so, then monorail resort hopped to see Christmas decorations (gingerbread house at GF especially). We wouldn't normally hop quite that much but it was what was important to us for this trip and we only had one full day. With just 3 days I would probably pack it in pretty good. Anything longer than that, I wouldn't. Just pick what is most important because you won't get everything or even close to it in just 3 days.

 

[Tuffcookie]

I just got back from a 3 day trip. I decided park hoppers were out. I did not want to waste any time traveling between different parks! This was our plan: We arrived very early on Friday morning. We checked into our hotel and headed to Epcot. We had booked the Candlelight dinner pkg. Whoopie Goldberg was awesome! Stayed for Illuminations. Sat., I knew that HS would be crowded because of the Osbourne Lights so we went to the monorail resorts to see their decorations in the morning. From there, (it was around 1:00 PM) we headed to HS to spend the rest of the day. That proved to be a good plan. We got in without a problem.(we decided not to stay for Fantasmic, or we really would have run into a mess leaving!) Even leaving before Fantasmic, there was a wait time of an hour at the boat dock, going back to our resort. I heard horror stories of people on buses, trying to get to HS to see the Osborne Lights!
Sunday, we had tickets to MVMCP so Magic Kingdom was where we headed! We didn't get there until noon, which allowed us time to enjoy sleeping in a little and having a leisurely breakfast at our resort. We were at MK until midnight!
Have fun, a short trip can be done but I highly recommend no park hopping!

TC