Disney planning questions

[ZipZop]

So a couple questions in terms of planning (I am aware these are wishy-washy);

First: we have reservations for Ohana at 7:50 on the Tuesday of our trip, the night we would be able to do MNSSHP. We would be at MK during that day anyway. I would like to get tickets for the event that night, but my fiancé says that eating dinner and the event starting at 7 anyway means that we’ll miss too much of the event to justify the price of tickets. I know things run pretty late, so we would still get like 3 hours of Party time. Changing the reservation at Ohana seems like an impossibility at this point. The only other thing I can think of would be to get tickets for Friday night as that’s our HS day and we should have the evening free, or Sunday which would be our first day where we had planned on having a Boardwalk evening. However, I’m leery of doing that as weekend nights are supposed to be ridiculously busy and not so much fun. Also, if we go on Sunday, a day that we hadn’t accounted on going to any parks, being that it is a separately ticketed event, does that count against our park-hopper passes or not? So is it worth it to get tickets for Tuesday even though we’ll miss out on some time? Or should we work to move something else around? Would I be missing out on all that much if we didn’t spring for it?

Second: When do the fireworks go off for Happily Ever After in early October on non-party days? We have reservations for California Grill pretty late, and we may stick around to see the fireworks from there. Also, since we have never seen HAE and I know it’s a projection based show, is it a good idea to watch from the rooftop for your first time? Everyone says it’s lovely, but I wonder if we have no context for what’s going on if it will be the same kind of show/feeling/mood/whatever.

Finally: In planning for our fastpasses, we are considering opting to rope drop but not worry about going on big rides right away. The idea is that while everyone’s piling on FoP or 7DMT we have basically the whole park to ourselves and can just use our fastpasses for those rides later. Is this a viable strategy? We still want to maximize our fastpasses we can use in a day, so if we decide to pursue this strategy, when would be a good time to start using fastpasses? What are the best things to do in the parks early with this strategy? Any warnings or downsides?

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

First, I would not do Ohana on a party night. It would be a total waste of a party ticket. If you can't change the reservation, I would just do the party a different night. There won't be THAT big of a difference in crowds, just do whatever works best for your schedule.

HEA does go off on non party nights. You won't be able to see the projections from CG, but the fireworks can be seen and I believe they pipe the music in.

As long as you have FPs for the big rides then sure, you can skip them at RD. The hardest park for that strategy is Epcot, if you want to do all the headliners you definitely need to hit one at RD. We usually do Soarin at RD, single rider for TT, FP for FEA. Our strategy is to start our FPs around 11am when crowds start to build.

 

[Capang]

1. Choose one or the other. You do not want to leave the park to eat during a party. Heck, even having an ADR at MK during the party is a big waste of time IMO.

2. Normal time, 8 or 9ish? You can check historical times for those.

3. If you have a FP for those big rides then you have a sound strategy. We tend to do the same.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

So a couple questions in terms of planning (I am aware these are wishy-washy);

First: we have reservations for Ohana at 7:50 on the Tuesday of our trip, the night we would be able to do MNSSHP. We would be at MK during that day anyway. I would like to get tickets for the event that night, but my fiancé says that eating dinner and the event starting at 7 anyway means that we’ll miss too much of the event to justify the price of tickets. I know things run pretty late, so we would still get like 3 hours of Party time. Changing the reservation at Ohana seems like an impossibility at this point. The only other thing I can think of would be to get tickets for Friday night as that’s our HS day and we should have the evening free, or Sunday which would be our first day where we had planned on having a Boardwalk evening. However, I’m leery of doing that as weekend nights are supposed to be ridiculously busy and not so much fun. Also, if we go on Sunday, a day that we hadn’t accounted on going to any parks, being that it is a separately ticketed event, does that count against our park-hopper passes or not? So is it worth it to get tickets for Tuesday even though we’ll miss out on some time? Or should we work to move something else around? Would I be missing out on all that much if we didn’t spring for it?

Second: When do the fireworks go off for Happily Ever After in early October on non-party days? We have reservations for California Grill pretty late, and we may stick around to see the fireworks from there. Also, since we have never seen HAE and I know it’s a projection based show, is it a good idea to watch from the rooftop for your first time? Everyone says it’s lovely, but I wonder if we have no context for what’s going on if it will be the same kind of show/feeling/mood/whatever.

Finally: In planning for our fastpasses, we are considering opting to rope drop but not worry about going on big rides right away. The idea is that while everyone’s piling on FoP or 7DMT we have basically the whole park to ourselves and can just use our fastpasses for those rides later. Is this a viable strategy? We still want to maximize our fastpasses we can use in a day, so if we decide to pursue this strategy, when would be a good time to start using fastpasses? What are the best things to do in the parks early with this strategy? Any warnings or downsides?

1) I personally would not want to do a 7:50PM Ohana reservation and MNSSHP. Even if you’re seated on time (which is rare at Ohana), you’d be eating up a ton of party time. You might not even be leaving there until 9:30-10. Unless you are OK with 2-3 hours of party time (which most people won’t be), I’d come up with a different plan.

2) HEA is currently on the calendar for 9pm on non-party days in October. Fireworks times can change, but dessert party ADRs are open for October dates and you don’t tend to see a fireworks time change once those are bookable. FWIW, it was also 9pm all last October as well - just for some historical context.

3) What you describe is how we tend to do things. Take advantage of rope drop and/or morning for lower priority rides, FP anything that gets a quick line. But, it can depend on the park and assumes we got the headliner FPs on time, of course.

Happy planning.

 

[Disfan454]

EJN is right about all of it. I agree completely.

 

[Jadyreen1282]

Another vote for bail on the ADR. Waste of party time.

 

[rwdavis2]

Ohana is just not that great to waste party time for.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

First, I would not do Ohana on a party night. It would be a total waste of a party ticket. If you can't change the reservation, I would just do the party a different night. There won't be THAT big of a difference in crowds, just do whatever works best for your schedule.

HEA does go off on non party nights. You won't be able to see the projections from CG, but the fireworks can be seen and I believe they pipe the music in.

As long as you have FPs for the big rides then sure, you can skip them at RD. The hardest park for that strategy is Epcot, if you want to do all the headliners you definitely need to hit one at RD. We usually do Soarin at RD, single rider for TT, FP for FEA. Our strategy is to start our FPs around 11am when crowds start to build.

Totally agree and agree with all PP's as well. Either do MVMCP on the evening of your DHS day or do it instead of your Boardwalk evening. If you aren't planning on visiting a park on your PH ticket on your planned Boardwalk evening, you can simply enter MVMCP at 4 pm and use the party ticket - you will not use one of your PH tickets if you only enter for the party (at 4 pm or later, using the MVMCP entrance).

You will miss the projections from Cali Grill, but it's still an amazing view.

I think your FP+ strategy is sound. If you are going to try to RD as many rides as you can except the headliners, I would start your FP+ around 11 am. As another PP pointed out, with EP, you'll probably want to RD one tier 1, do single rider for TT and FP+ the third tier 1.

 

[Indio]

Definitely don't do the party and O'hana the same night - party tickets cost too much money to spend 2 hours or more eating. I'd do the part on the Sunday night that you don't plan to go to the park during the day. It doesn't eat up a park ticket since it's a separately ticketed event and you'll be rested up for the night since you don't plan to be in a park all day.