Determining Entry Park

[Frozen2014]

Starting to plan for our Disney trip from Tues Aug 29 - Fri Sept 1.

I am thinking of using our magic morning for the Thursday since this is our first trip and we'll still be figuring out way around the parks on the Tuesday.

We have park hoppers so probably not a huge deal, and I am not going plan ride by ride like WDW, but I feel I should come up with a general plan of what FastPasses we want (especially the first one to pull), what park to enter first, and of course any table service meals (character and/or dinner package).

This is what I am thinking..

• Tues - Start at DL (grab Fastpass for Indiana Jones)
• Wed - Start at DCA (grab Fastpass for Soarin and WOC if no dining package)
• Thurs - Start at DL (grab Fastpass for Star Tours). For Magic Morning, go to Peter Pan (depending on line), Alice, Matterhorn, Mr Toad, etc
• Fri - Start at DCA (grab Fastpass for Radiator Springs)

The above set up also happens to match up with early morning entry, but I kind of want to start at DL and the rest flows/matches magic morning. Is that a bad thing or not much difference? I'm hoping crowds that last week will subside so not big deal.

Also, does WOC run every night? I am just selecting based on when it would be nice to go and matching up with the park if we end up just using the FastPass.

Will Fantasmic run every night?

 

[HydroGuy]

First, MM at DL is at 7AM during peak season. Not sure if your days will be 7AM or not. Look at historical calendars. Unless you are getting in very late on Monday, I would highly suggest using MM on Tuesday. You will have the most energy and will be more able to get up and at 'em on Day 1. By Day 3 it is likely you will be dragging a bit and if you are out late the night before that will make it hard still to get up early.

Try and get to the gates 30 minutes early - yes, by 6:30AM if MM is 7AM. Standing with your feet and bodies at the entrance gates, not just leaving your room. If you can manage 6:20AM, better still.

Yes WOC runs every night. Fantasmic! should be running by then and, if so, will likely be running each night at least once.

If you plan to arrive at arrive at rope drop each day, it is best to start at the park without EMH (except for your MM day of course).

Here are my suggested changes:

Tues - Use MM and visit DL
Wed - Rope drop DL and hop to DCA at some point
Thu - Rope drop DCA and visit DCA
Fri - Rope drop DL and visit DL

Overall I would say you should spend 2.5 days at DL and 1.5 days at DCA.

 

[Frozen2014]

From Touring plans, MM is 9am on Tues-Thurs and 8am on Fri....so not super early. We're staying across the street so that should make it easier.

But good point about Tues vs Thurs, especially if we see a show the Wed night. We are actually flying in the Thursday before (from Ontario so a time change), and visiting LA area first. So the Monday night we are transferring to Anaheim ...which means we could make it an "early" night and plan to get up early as you suggest. Do you think we'll be at a disadvantage not knowing the parks yet? i.e. first trip to Disneyland (at WDW once).

We do have park hoppers (wanted flexibility of swapping parks due to show we want to see in evening) so we can watch crowds etc for later on. And of course if our kids have their favorite ride they want to go on again, we can just hop over if at the other park.

Also, aside from magic morning, not sure we will rope drop. We'll need to see day by day how we feel on that.

 

[Winnowill]

Note that, as of right now, you can grab FPs for Space Mountain during MM. So you can do that, and still grab your FP for Indy pretty quickly after regular park opening.

 

[agamble]

I second using your MM on Tuesday. Only Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are open during MM, so there isn't much navigating. Use your MM in Fantasyland and get a good 6-8 rides done in that first hour. I would try to start at least one day at DCA that isn't an EMH day for hotel guests.

 

[Nevada Jen]

I don't think you will be at a disadvantage not knowing the parks. It sounds like you are planning to use magic morning for fantasyland. Look at a map ahead of time to see how to get there and walk with purpose to Peter Pan. Fantasy land is really quite small. You basically exit one ride and walk 50 feet to the next in a circle. If you are not in the first 100 or so people for PP, go to Alice. That line gets long too. Don't waste your magic morning on a long line for Peter Pan. When magic morning is ending, head across the way to Indy. There won't be any more of a line than the fastpass line later in the day, so just ride it. Hit the rides on that side of the park until about 11. I doubt you will even need fastpasses. Looking at the app right now (and its a magic morning), there are like 5 and 10 minute waits on that side. Play it by ear after 11 (personally, I would head over to DCA for night fastpasses on RSR and eat lunch at DCA but that is just me).

 

[Frozen2014]

Thank you!

Didn't realize that only Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are open during MM, but from what I read on here, people recommend the PP first (if not too long...100 is a good number to gage) and then the rides near by. Am writing down Nevada's suggestion. And then greta...if Indy is near by, then that works. The Tomorrowland rides that interest us (e.g. Star Tours) has FP anyways so this makes more sense.

Good advice too on RSR FastPass. We have 4 days to play with so can do this then or on DCA morning .

 

[Drcbelle]

Difference of opinion here...Tuesday magic mornings always seem super crowded to me. I always thought that maybe people came for a long weekend, stayed through Monday and then hit the parks for MM early Tuesday and took off later in the day. I feel like Thursdays are a lot more calm in general and the MM even more so. Again totally just my two cents. I could see the value of using it when you are less tired but if you are wanting to avoid crowds I'd go for Thursday

 

[Frozen2014]

I think the half day marathon runs that weekend (with maybe something on the Thurs or Fri). Will that affect MM selection?