First Timers - Park Booking Questions

[Lunty_1]

Hi all

We are a family of 4 visiting for the first time, kids will be 7 & 10. We are booked to visit next Easter.

We are coming for 14 days and have already purchased our Disney passes. With other things planned I have allocated 8 days to cover the Disney parks and waterparks. We have decided to do other things over Easter weekend including Discovery Cove.

With the reservation system in place I want to make bookings now to cover the worst case scenario that things get booked up.

I'm just a little unsure of how to split our time across parks and how long we need in each. I'd be grateful of any advice?

Finally how do we know which parks will have fireworks and on which days? We wouldn't want to miss out by booking the wrong days too.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

Thanks

David

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

Hi all

We are a family of 4 visiting for the first time, kids will be 7 & 10. We are booked to visit next Easter.

We are coming for 14 days and have already purchased our Disney passes. With other things planned I have allocated 8 days to cover the Disney parks and waterparks. We have decided to do other things over Easter weekend including Discovery Cove.

With the reservation system in place I want to make bookings now to cover the worst case scenario that things get booked up.

I'm just a little unsure of how to split our time across parks and how long we need in each. I'd be grateful of any advice?

Finally how do we know which parks will have fireworks and on which days? We wouldn't want to miss out by booking the wrong days too.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

Thanks

David

At this stage, I would make reservations for all 14 days. I would start with MK as your first park because it ‘is’ Disney and then just reserve each park twice. With your tickets, you have the option to park hop (at the moment after 14.00) and you may want to visit a park after/before a waterpark or after doing something offsite. AK always seems to be the quietest park on weekends/holiday days.
The fireworks/parades etc times will be released nearer the time. Are you staying onsite? Your children are the perfect age for a first visit.

 

[Minniesgal]

I agree book all 14 days if you don't use all the booking nothing lost you can cancel on the day or the day before. We never ever do full park days, we go in the morning and then go do something else. Then maybe go back in the evening.

For 14 days we book 4 days MK, 4 days Epcot, 3 days AK, 3 days HS.

 

[Lunty_1]

Thanks very much everyone for your replies.

I think I will do as suggested and make park bookings for all days then at least we have the flexibility to go later or mix days up. We can just enter the park booked and park hop later on.

Is there any penalty or issue if we have a booking for a park and decide not to use it? I'm guessing we have to cancel it online but is on the same day acceptable?

Thanks

David

 

[Plague]

Is there any penalty or issue if we have a booking for a park and decide not to use it? I'm guessing we have to cancel it online but is on the same day acceptable?

No penalty I've heard of. The only condition is that it must be the first park you visit that day. So you could go off-site for the day and just pop in to that booked park for an hour before it closes. So I wouldn't cancel it until bedtime, if at all.

 

[ellataylor]

We found HS and AK were ok to do in one day each if focusing on the “highlights.”
Epcot needed a day each for Future world and World Showcase and Magic Kingdom at least 2 days.
I would really try to focus on the rides/shows you think you and your family will enjoy in order to get the most out of the days. There are definitely those not to be missed rides, shows, experiences and others that are similar to rides you will find in any other theme park.
Exciting to be planning your first visit!

 

[Kbrb]

We found HS and AK were ok to do in one day each if focusing on the “highlights.”
Epcot needed a day each for Future world and World Showcase and Magic Kingdom at least 2 days.
I would really try to focus on the rides/shows you think you and your family will enjoy in order to get the most out of the days. There are definitely those not to be missed rides, shows, experiences and others that are similar to rides you will find in any other theme park.
Exciting to be planning your first visit!

HS in one day might be impossible without some kind of fast pass system. Hitting both starwars rides, both toy story rides and Runaway, tower of terror and rock and roll would be a long long day.

 

[marcais]

HS in one day might be impossible without some kind of fast pass system. Hitting both starwars rides, both toy story rides and Runaway, tower of terror and rock and roll would be a long long day.

Mostly spent doing nothing but standing in line if the queue times in MDE are any indication. When I checked earlier this week there were 6 rides in HS with wait times over 45 minutes. Slinky Dog ride was 90 minutes. And that's with restricted admissions. They'll likely climb even higher as they increase the number of people in the parks.

 

[Plague]

They'll likely climb even higher as they increase the number of people in the parks.

That does depend on the current ride capacities being used. Disney know what queue lengths they can 'get away with', so to speak, and may not be running all-out when these long waits are shown.
Eg. SDD can run 4 trains, but they will reduce that when possible to save money, like all theme parks.