Going Nov 7-10 First time in years- Can you help me with my plan and G+ please?

[DisneyDreamer2325]

Hello!
Thank you all in advance for reading this long post and offering your help!

We are a family from Montréal Canada, with a 15 year old boy and a 13 year old girl. We have been to Disney World in 2013 and 2014 and loved it both times. Back then, we were traveling with preschoolers and a double stroller (time flies!), now the planning with teenagers is a whole different game. This trip is extra special to us because it might be our last trip in a long time.

I did a lot of research and came up with a tentative plan. Could you please let me know what you think, especially when we should buy G+ and ILL to make our plan happen. It's not that we're against paying extra for G+/ILL, it's just a lot of money especially with the canadian exchange rate, and we want to make sure to buy it when it's worth it. I'd also like to avoid backtracking around the parks whenever possible.

About our trip:
-We have 3 park days left on the no expiration park hoppers we had bought back when we first went. We also have some fun days left too (waterparks, minigolf, etc.) and will use that on non park days.
-We are staying offsite, so no extra hours possible. As much as we like Disney, we really enjoy staying offsite. We will have a car so hopping from one park to another is not a bother.
-We are traveling from Nov 5-13. I'm well aware that this is a busy week because of Jersey Week and Veteran's day, but that is when the kid's school have their fall break, so we'll try to make the best out of the situation.
-We are planning Monday Nov 7, Tuesday Nov 8 and Thursday Nov 10 as our 3 park days. Our park reservations are already made for our first park of each day.
-Our plan is to rope drop every day, take a midday break and hop to a second park until closing.
-We are not attending the Very Merry Christmas party, it's very expensive for us and not something hubby and kids want to prioritize.
-I'm a roller coaster chicken, so while my husband and kids do the big rides, I'll do rides like It's a small world and indulge in meetings characters LOL I made the must-do list below and plan according to what they'll be doing, not what I'll be doing in the meantime.
-The focus of our trip will be rides, we can skip parades and fireworks. I do have my heart set on seeing Spaceship Earth lit up at night though, that's why we don't start any day in Epcot, I'D rather do it in the evening.
-2 areas that I would really want to take time to enjoy: World Showcase in Epcot and walking the trails in Animal Kingdom.

Here is our must-do list for each park. Obviously, we would be happy to do a bit more, but that would be frosting on an already great trip. A lot of these rides are new to us, even 7DMT opened a few weeks after our 2014 trip, so we never got to ride that.

MK:
-Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
-Haunted Mansion
-Pirates of the Caribbean
-Seven Dwarves Mine Train
-Space Mountain
-Splash Mountain

Epcot:
-Guardians of the Galaxy
-Ratatouille
-Soarin
-Spaceship Earth
-Test Track

HS:
-Mickey and Minnie Runaway railway
-Millenium Falcon
-Rock and roller coaster
-Slinky Dog Dash
-Star Tours
-Rise of the Resistance
-Toy story Midway Mania
-Tower of Terror

Animal Kingdom:
-Flight of Passage
-Everest
-Festival of Lion King
-It's tough to be a bug
-Kali River Rapids (we've done this in the past and will make sure that this will be our last ride before we head home completely soaked for our midday break LOL)
-Kilimanjaro Safari
-Navi River Journey

Here is my plan so far:

Monday Nov 7:
AM: Animal Kingdom
PM: Hollywood Studios
Normally I would have planned AK/Epcot, but I saw that Epcot has a special marathon event that night, so I believe it is best to be avoided.
I'm thinking we could buy G+ and stack for the evening at HS. Would a whole morning at AK be OK without any G+ in your opinion?
I'd like to start at rope drop with the Safari, then all the other AK rides on our list, as well as the Lion King show. I was thinking of skipping the whole Pandora section on this day to have a more relaxed morning and enjoy everything else the park has to offer. We would hop back to AK the next day to enjoy Pandora at the end of the day.
For the evening in HS, hopefully the evening stacking would allow us to ride MMRR, Millenium Falcon, Toy Story Midway Mania, Slinky dog Dash, Star Tours and Rise of the Resistance. On top on the G+, would you also purchase ILL for Rise of the Resistance?
Is it wishful thinking on my part to hope that Fantasmic will be back by then, so it would result on lower lines for us to enjoy rides in the evening?

Tuesday Nov 8:
AM: Magic Kingdom
PM: Animal Kingdom (and maybe Epcot after AK closing if we have energy left)
This is a party day at MK, so hopefully it won't be too crowded in the morning! We would start our day with Adventureland/ Frontierland at rope drop.
This is the only time we would have in MK, so I'm on the fence if we should buy G+ or not. I'm thinking that we should buy ILL for 7DMT, but would you also purchase G+? Do you think that would be the only way to do all the rides on our list in a half day?
After our midday break, I was thinking we would head back to leisurely enjoy Pandora all lit up at night (only time I'm happy that the sun sets early in November LOL). AK is supposed to close at 7 that night, I'm thinking we wouldn't need to buy ILL for Flight of Passage at the end of the day. What do you think?
Since AK closes at 7 and Epcot at 9, I'm thinking we could buy ILL for the Guardians of the Galaxy ride for the last hour of the day, go to Epcot just for that and maybe catch Harmonious. My thinking is that this would relieve some of the pressure for our next planned day at Epcot if the big GOTG ride is already checked off our list. This is the ride my husband and kids are most excited for.
Am I correct that we can only buy 2 ILL per day? So in my scenario, if we buy ILL for 7DMT and GOTG, we would have to wait standby for FOP.

Thursday Nov 10:
AM: HS
PM: Epcot
I don't plan on buying G+ for this day, but please let me know if you think otherwise.
I have read on a Disney planning site to zig when they zag, so we would start at rope drop at HS on Sunset Boulevard, with Rock and Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. After that, we would hit any other rides that we couldn't do on Monday night. HS also has a lot of rides that we also might want to ride again, such as Star Tours and TSMM. So hopefully, this would be a leisurely morning, followed by an early break to head to Epcot at 2 PM.

Thank you for reading all this! Please let me know what you think Your help is very much appreciated!

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

Would a whole morning at AK be OK without any G+ in your opinion?
I'd like to start at rope drop with the Safari, then all the other AK rides on our list, as well as the Lion King show. I was thinking of skipping the whole Pandora section on this day to have a more relaxed morning and enjoy everything else the park has to offer.

If you're skipping Pandora, you can definitely do AK without using G+ and just stack rides for HS. RD Safari, Everest single rider if the standby has gotten long by the time you get over there, and accept that Kali might be a bit of a wait as your last ride of the morning.

I'm thinking that we should buy ILL for 7DMT, but would you also purchase G+? Do you think that would be the only way to do all the rides on our list in a half day?

Your must do list with MK is short and not particularly spread out. If you RD BTMRR> Splash> Pirates> Mansion, you can then go have one less-than-awesome standby wait at Space and use ILL at 7D all in one morning. Especially on a party morning when overall crowds are lower.

Am I correct that we can only buy 2 ILL per day? So in my scenario, if we buy ILL for 7DMT and GOTG, we would have to wait standby for FOP.

Yes, only two ILL per day. I don't like your timing here, though. If you hop in line at the end of the day, FoP is still going to be a 30ish minute wait and then 20ish minutes between the two preshows and the rides themselves. Could be longer depending how things go.

If you aren't walking out of AK until 8, that's really tight to get to EP and use your late GotG ILL before Harmonious. If anything goes wrong in that plan, you're out the ILL money without having ridden.

I would probably try to do FoP as ILL on your AK morning instead so that it's done. Then, you can definitely hop here just to see Pandora at night, ride Navi with a short line, and get to EP with plenty of time to use that ILL. Navi lines get shorter earlier and the ride experience is less time, so you aren't looking at being in the park an hour after closing to get that one done.

As to your last day, you can always make a game day decision whether you buy G+ depending on how much you got done previously in HS. If you still have a lot to accomplish, then buy it.

Final overall thought: with only 3 days in the parks, and considering you aren't buying tickets as these are holdovers from years ago, I would be buying G+ and/or ILL every day so that you can do more of your like-to-dos instead of just must-dos.

I don't know your financial situation, and I would never suggest spending more than you can realistically afford for vacation. That said, you're paying all that money to travel down here and get a room for those days already. Adding in the G+ for each day is going to add a ton of value to the vacation in terms of doing more, having shorter lines, and generally having a more pleasant trip. For such a short trip and during a busy week, too, I believe G+ will be worth its cost in terms of the benefit you get from it.

 

[T.G.I.Friday]

I don’t mean to be negative, especially when I am failing to come up with helpful alternatives. But I’m just trying to give some perspective.

You are trying to hit all of the top attractions at each park without the benefit of early entry for on-site and minimal use of G+. Plus take a driving mid-day break. It stresses me out just thinking about it.

On 11/7, AK opens to you at 9. Assuming you want to be at HS close to 2, so you would have 7 hours to try to get some things done there, you would need to be leaving AK by noon. (30 minutes to exit park and drive to resort, 1 hour break, 30 minutes to drive and line up to enter HS)

I’m 3 hours, I have no idea how you could do what you’ve listed (even excluding Pandora) above. The Lion King show is 30 minutes.

I think you might be better served if you considered not hopping on a schedule. Like on 11/7, go to AK and spend as long as you’d like and get everything you want done and make it the only day you will be there. Take your afternoon break and then hop to MK since it’s open until 10.

Then Tuesday, go back to MK and finish up what you didn’t get to do the night before. Then hop to Epcot late that afternoon so you can see SE and ride or do World Showcase.

Then as long as you want at HS. Then probably go back to Epcot to do what you didn’t get to do the night before.

I know it’s not what you’re asking, but it just seems like you will lose so much time touring the parks by leaving and trying to hop.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful trip! We will also be there that week - fingers crossed for nice weather and manageable crowds!!

ETA - I look at your must-do list but then see you are trying to have a leisurely/relaxed trip. And I think that’s what is stressful. I think you need to decide if you want to absolutely hit your must-dos and will tour aggressively to get it done, or if you want to experience the parks and have a slower pace even if it means you don’t get to do all of your must dos. Neither approach is wrong, but I think you will be disappointed if you go into it thinking it can be both.

 

[Frozen2014]

We are similar...Canadian too (Toronto), first trip in 2014 when kids were 9 and 5. Just returned late August for second time at Walt Disney World trip when kids are 17 and 13....so more into headliners (but we also still did the classics like It's a Small World, Winnie the Pooh, etc)

We didn't do park hopper so can't comment there, but if it's in the budget, I would consider Genie+. It would help knock off some of the headliners without a wait. Having said that, it might not work at Epcot if you are going there later as park hopper (since headliners do sell out). More experts though may be able to weight in more though as have only used it once and crowds weren't bad.

 

[sponica]

Since you only have 3 park days, I would skip the midday breaks on those days. If you were on site, I'd feel differently about it, but given that it's a crowded week, I'd tour aggressively on those days and then relax on the non park days.

 

[DisneyDreamer2325]

If you're skipping Pandora, you can definitely do AK without using G+ and just stack rides for HS. RD Safari, Everest single rider if the standby has gotten long by the time you get over there, and accept that Kali might be a bit of a wait as your last ride of the morning.

Your must do list with MK is short and not particularly spread out. If you RD BTMRR> Splash> Pirates> Mansion, you can then go have one less-than-awesome standby wait at Space and use ILL at 7D all in one morning. Especially on a party morning when overall crowds are lower.


Yes, only two ILL per day. I don't like your timing here, though. If you hop in line at the end of the day, FoP is still going to be a 30ish minute wait and then 20ish minutes between the two preshows and the rides themselves. Could be longer depending how things go.

If you aren't walking out of AK until 8, that's really tight to get to EP and use your late GotG ILL before Harmonious. If anything goes wrong in that plan, you're out the ILL money without having ridden.

I would probably try to do FoP as ILL on your AK morning instead so that it's done. Then, you can definitely hop here just to see Pandora at night, ride Navi with a short line, and get to EP with plenty of time to use that ILL. Navi lines get shorter earlier and the ride experience is less time, so you aren't looking at being in the park an hour after closing to get that one done.

As to your last day, you can always make a game day decision whether you buy G+ depending on how much you got done previously in HS. If you still have a lot to accomplish, then buy it.

Final overall thought: with only 3 days in the parks, and considering you aren't buying tickets as these are holdovers from years ago, I would be buying G+ and/or ILL every day so that you can do more of your like-to-dos instead of just must-dos.

I don't know your financial situation, and I would never suggest spending more than you can realistically afford for vacation. That said, you're paying all that money to travel down here and get a room for those days already. Adding in the G+ for each day is going to add a ton of value to the vacation in terms of doing more, having shorter lines, and generally having a more pleasant trip. For such a short trip and during a busy week, too, I believe G+ will be worth its cost in terms of the benefit you get from it.

Hello! Thank you so much for your comments! I will definitely rework my plan and consider buying G+ every day. Why does planning a Disney vacation feel so much like homework now?

 

[DisneyDreamer2325]

I don’t mean to be negative, especially when I am failing to come up with helpful alternatives. But I’m just trying to give some perspective.

You are trying to hit all of the top attractions at each park without the benefit of early entry for on-site and minimal use of G+. Plus take a driving mid-day break. It stresses me out just thinking about it.

On 11/7, AK opens to you at 9. Assuming you want to be at HS close to 2, so you would have 7 hours to try to get some things done there, you would need to be leaving AK by noon. (30 minutes to exit park and drive to resort, 1 hour break, 30 minutes to drive and line up to enter HS)

I’m 3 hours, I have no idea how you could do what you’ve listed (even excluding Pandora) above. The Lion King show is 30 minutes.

I think you might be better served if you considered not hopping on a schedule. Like on 11/7, go to AK and spend as long as you’d like and get everything you want done and make it the only day you will be there. Take your afternoon break and then hop to MK since it’s open until 10.

Then Tuesday, go back to MK and finish up what you didn’t get to do the night before. Then hop to Epcot late that afternoon so you can see SE and ride or do World Showcase.

Then as long as you want at HS. Then probably go back to Epcot to do what you didn’t get to do the night before.

I know it’s not what you’re asking, but it just seems like you will lose so much time touring the parks by leaving and trying to hop.

I hope you and your family have a wonderful trip! We will also be there that week - fingers crossed for nice weather and manageable crowds!!

ETA - I look at your must-do list but then see you are trying to have a leisurely/relaxed trip. And I think that’s what is stressful. I think you need to decide if you want to absolutely hit your must-dos and will tour aggressively to get it done, or if you want to experience the parks and have a slower pace even if it means you don’t get to do all of your must dos. Neither approach is wrong, but I think you will be disappointed if you go into it thinking it can be both.

Hello! Thank you so much for taking the time to help me out. Your comments are very helpful and I will use them to adapt the plan. I know my family's stamina and tempers and the midday break is a must LOL, but I was leaning more towards your approach, taking all the time we need at the first park, even if the midday break ends up being mid-afternoon. You hit it right on the nose, parents wanting to have a leisurely/relaxed trip, while kids want to do rides like no tomorrow
I hope you have a great trip too!

 

[DisneyDreamer2325]

We are similar...Canadian too (Toronto), first trip in 2014 when kids were 9 and 5. Just returned late August for second time at Walt Disney World trip when kids are 17 and 13....so more into headliners (but we also still did the classics like It's a Small World, Winnie the Pooh, etc)

We didn't do park hopper so can't comment there, but if it's in the budget, I would consider Genie+. It would help knock off some of the headliners without a wait. Having said that, it might not work at Epcot if you are going there later as park hopper (since headliners do sell out). More experts though may be able to weight in more though as have only used it once and crowds weren't bad.

Hello fellow Canuck! How scary is that exchange rate right now? Yikes...
Thank you so much for your input, we will definitely consider buying G+. I hope you had a great trip this summer

 

[DisneyDreamer2325]

Since you only have 3 park days, I would skip the midday breaks on those days. If you were on site, I'd feel differently about it, but given that it's a crowded week, I'd tour aggressively on those days and then relax on the non park days.

Thank you for your help! I'm afraid taking midday breaks is the only way we will stay until park close, but you're giving me good arguments to convince my husband to splurge on G+ every day

 

[sponica]

Thank you for your help! I'm afraid taking midday breaks is the only way we will stay until park close, but you're giving me good arguments to convince my husband to splurge on G+ every day

Maybe redefine a break as a late lunch somewhere. You'll be off your feet, in a climate controlled environment?

 

[StitchandPooh'sMom]

I'll be there the same week and just have a few thoughts:

1. The half-marathon after party at Epcot is Sunday, November 6, not Monday November 7. But Epcot has evening extra hours for deluxe guests on Monday, so it will likely be more crowded that evening.

2. Monday - AK/DHS - I think you can get most of AK done by lunch-ish if you are not doing Pandora. I would stack for HS as best you can, but you have a busy afternoon planned. Since it is your first park day, would you consider a late lunch at Sanaa at AKL as your midday break? I don't know where your offsite lodging is, but midday breaks always seem to take longer than planned, at least for my family. But if you're soaked on Kali, it might be worth the time to go back to where you are staying.

I would either buy ILL for Rise or get in line just before closing - even with ILL, you might have a bit of a wait in line. It's hard to get a LL for Slinky, although you might have luck since you want an evening time. But your DHS plans will take awhile to accomplish.

3. Tuesday - MK/AK/Epcot - going to MK today is a great plan - crowds should be lower since it is a party day. That doesn't mean they will be low, just lower. I would hop to AK when you're ready, but I wouldn't risk an ILL for Guardians this day. Like a previous poster said, Flight of Passage can take a while even at park close. You could buy an ILL for FOP, but you probably don't need it if you are willing to wait a little while. If SDMT is important, definitely get an ILL for that - the line will be very long by the time you can enter as an offsite guest.

4. Thursday - HS/Epcot - I would buy an ILL for Guardians today, and I would also get G+. Starting on Sunset is a good plan, but you will be far from the only ones, and mornings at DHS are never leisurely. You can also stack for Epcot since this might be your only Epcot day. Since you won't have Epcot reservations, you might not have the opportunity for the virtual queue (although if boarding groups are still available when you hop, you can definitely try for one). If you're able to get a boarding group when you hop, you can ride Guardians twice if you also have ILL.