Critique my strategy please?

[d0naldduck123]

We're 2 adults, no children. It'll be the first trip to Disney World for my BF in about 10+ years. This is what I have so far but am open to suggestions! Unfortunately we won't be attending MVMCP this year so I tried my best to plan around that.

Wed (Arrival day):
-spend midday/afternoon at Hollywood Studios
-hop to MK for dinner and HEA (has evening EMH)
Possible ADR: Crystal Palace dinner
(Not sure which park to FP+)

Thurs (MVMCP):
-Animal Kingdom & ROL
-Poly for late dinner
Possible ADRs: TH dinner package, Ohana late dinner

Fri (MVMCP):
-MK (morning EMH)
-hop to HS around 3:30
-watch Fantasmic!
Possible ADRs: BOG lunch, Mama Melrose dinner

Sat:
-Epcot & Illuminations

BF is a pretty big Star Wars fan so we'll definitely have to do the star wars stuff at HS. It'd also be nice to be able to catch a couple of shows at HS too, which is why I'm thinking about spending Saturday at HS and doing Epcot in two half-day visits (arrival day and Friday). But I'm not sure if that'll be enough time for Epcot since it's pretty big size-wise. Do you think HS is doable with plan 1 above?

If we do change it, the second option would end up looking something like:

Arrival day:
-EP
-MK

Thurs:
-AK

Fri:
-MK
-EP

Sat:
-HS

 

[Accident]

I'm confused on your thursday and friday.. it says (MVMCP) but then you list other parks night entertainment. Are you going to MVMCP or the other parks that night?

 

[FSU Girl]

For your Thursday I think you should do a ROL dinner package instead of eating at Poly. The show will be late and heavy crowds to leave the park to travel and depending on what time your Ohana dinner is the timing could be cutting it close. With the dinner package you won't have to waste a FP on the show.

 

[d0naldduck123]

I'm confused on your thursday and friday.. it says (MVMCP) but then you list other parks night entertainment. Are you going to MVMCP or the other parks that night?

Sorry! We're not going to MVMCP! I put that there to remind myself that MK closes early.

 

[d0naldduck123]

For your Thursday I think you should do a ROL dinner package instead of eating at Poly. The show will be late and heavy crowds to leave the park to travel and depending on what time your Ohana dinner is the timing could be cutting it close. With the dinner package you won't have to waste a FP on the show.

Yeah I wasn't sure how timing would work out between ROL and getting to Poly. I just wanted to fit Ohana in there if possible since we've never been , but if not I guess we can save it for future trips!

 

[d0naldduck123]

Should I switch over to plan 2 or would plan 1 be doable with regards to my dilemmas about HS and Epcot? I haven't tried park hopping before so am pretty lost time-wise.

 

[FSU Girl]

Will you be driving or relying on Disney transportation? If driving I would give yourself a cushion hour (probably won't take that long) but you'll need to walk to your car in the lot, drive to another park which will probably be 10-15 minutes park again and get into the park. If relying on Disney transportation between parks can be around 15-30 minutes depending on traffic, speed of the bus, random stuff. But you'll also have to factor in how long you'll be waiting for a bus to arrive. Epcot and Hollywood studios would be a quick transfer since you can take the boat or walk to the other park.

I personally don't think there is enough to do at Hollywood Studios to stay there an entire day. Half the park is under construction. Normally I don't spend a full day at Animal Kingdom either, but with Pandora it might be worth spending more time at. I would definitely go to MK on a party day, it'll be less crowded and you could leave around 4 when the party people show up and go to another park.

 

[d0naldduck123]

Will you be driving or relying on Disney transportation? If driving I would give yourself a cushion hour (probably won't take that long) but you'll need to walk to your car in the lot, drive to another park which will probably be 10-15 minutes park again and get into the park. If relying on Disney transportation between parks can be around 15-30 minutes depending on traffic, speed of the bus, random stuff. But you'll also have to factor in how long you'll be waiting for a bus to arrive. Epcot and Hollywood studios would be a quick transfer since you can take the boat or walk to the other park.

I personally don't think there is enough to do at Hollywood Studios to stay there an entire day. Half the park is under construction. Normally I don't spend a full day at Animal Kingdom either, but with Pandora it might be worth spending more time at. I would definitely go to MK on a party day, it'll be less crowded and you could leave around 4 when the party people show up and go to another park.

We'll be using Disney transportation! Thanks for the input! Yeah I'll do EP as a full day since it's bigger and hopefully the half HS days will be enough to do most things!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I guess I don't understand why you"re park hopping. To consolidate things, have you considered doing 1 full day in each park?

 

[d0naldduck123]

I guess I don't understand why you"re park hopping. To consolidate things, have you considered doing 1 full day in each park?

Yep I thought about it! It would be the easiest way and I've always done 1 park per day- but then the only day we could do MK for a full day is on Saturday since we're not going to MVMCP. We thought Saturday would be more crowded, and so since arrival day MK has evening EMH, we could see HEA then and then do MK during the morning/afternoon on a party day when it'd be less crowded. The second and fourth days would be full park days at one park.

 

[DaisyDuck001]

Yep I thought about it! It would be the easiest way and I've always done 1 park per day- but then the only day we could do MK for a full day is on Saturday since we're not going to MVMCP. We thought Saturday would be more crowded, and so since arrival day MK has evening EMH, we could see HEA then and then do MK during the morning/afternoon on a party day when it'd be less crowded. The second and fourth days would be full park days at one park.

I'm not sure Saturday would be the most crowded at MK... that's a travel day for many visitors.