First timer arrival day plan

[martinmont]

Change of plans, arriving on sun, dec 14 instead of 15th. We will probably arrive around 10 30am, so with ME will be in the hotel hopefully around 12 plus. Planning to go to downtown disney for lunch and shopping/walk around. Is it realistic to hope to be in a park around 5 sth? Should we do HS or Epcot? MK is closed early for mvmcp, so that's out. Based on last years hours, HS will be having extra magic hours, so it will close later ( we are staying onsite) but some ppl told me you need 2 days in epcot, well we allocated one full day for both HS and Epcot so maybe this half day will help? Would love to get fantasmic out of the way though, so we do not rush on our full HS day

 

[mm1971]

Change of plans, arriving on sun, dec 14 instead of 15th. We will probably arrive around 10 30am, so with ME will be in the hotel hopefully around 12 plus. Planning to go to downtown disney for lunch and shopping/walk around. Is it realistic to hope to be in a park around 5 sth? Should we do HS or Epcot? MK is closed early for mvmcp, so that's out. Based on last years hours, HS will be having extra magic hours, so it will close later ( we are staying onsite) but some ppl told me you need 2 days in epcot, well we allocated one full day for both HS and Epcot so maybe this half day will help? Would love to get fantasmic out of the way though, so we do not rush on our full HS day

We usually fly in about lunch time and by 2PM are at the resort and in our room. We always either went to DTD on arrival day or MK, but that is just because we still see MK as Disney and prefer to start there.

Based on your schedule, I would say go ahead and do HS using the EMH. I would think this will definitely allow your next full day to be relaxed. For us, we only spend a half day at HS in the morning. Not because we don't like it, mostly because the kids do not do ToT and some of the other attractions. We usually go at RD, hit RnR and TSMM first thing. All the other attractions we normally do have shorter lines and we finish up. This doesn't seem to be the case for your family.

 

[amberpi]

We RD DHS and are out within 3 hours or less. I think its what you want out of that park. We adore ToT, so that one a couple of times after a ride on TSMM, then single rider RNCC and do Star Tours. We're done after that. I can't even imagine filling a whole day at DHS. Epcot is full of small things to explore - and big things like Soarin'. If you have park hoppers, you can just look at the waits at the various parks and bounce around once you've done you're FP+.

Have a great time - BTW, I HIGHLY recommend park hoppers.

 

[siskaren]

We RD DHS and are out within 3 hours or less. I think its what you want out of that park. We adore ToT, so that one a couple of times after a ride on TSMM, then single rider RNCC and do Star Tours. We're done after that. I can't even imagine filling a whole day at DHS.

Well, that's because you're only doing 4 attractions. I haven't been since TSMM opened, and I had no trouble filling a whole day.

 

[ponyboy]

We always go to Epcot the first evening we're there. Everybody loves it and it's awesome at night plus there's Illuminations which is 48 times better than Fantasmic.

That said, even if we didn't always go to Epcot first, I'd still pick Epcot over HS. If you've got one day of each planned you'd definitely want to spend the extra time in Epcot. There's lots more to see there than in HS.

 

[martinmont]

Thanks everyone! Nope, no park hopper. How long do you guys typically spend downtown? This would probably be our only time going downtown and is it far from epcot? I know you have to take a bus to a resort and transfer?

 

[martinmont]

We RD DHS and are out within 3 hours or less. I think its what you want out of that park. We adore ToT, so that one a couple of times after a ride on TSMM, then single rider RNCC and do Star Tours. We're done after that. I can't even imagine filling a whole day at DHS. Epcot is full of small things to explore - and big things like Soarin'. If you have park hoppers, you can just look at the waits at the various parks and bounce around once you've done you're FP+.

Have a great time - BTW, I HIGHLY recommend park hoppers.

I doubt I can do HS in 3 hours! Hubs and I really like the sound of ToT and RNCC! Thinking of a way we can ride those a few times and seeing everything else in HS

 

[shellstar]

I second the extra time spend in Epcot. There is a lot to see in Epcot that isn't "attraction" based (ie, you don't have to worry about lines.). I feel like one day in Epcot would leave me feeling like I missed something.

One day in HS, even though you'd be busy, would be enough for me. (And I'm part of a thrill seeking action packed couple, just like you.)