Help Making WDW Intinerary Decisions

[consultant]

Veteran DLR/WDW patrons. 50-yo Dad and his 18-yo son. Doing some college touring in Florida during mid-Winter break. Want to squeeze in a couple days at WDW on maximize my budget. We are true pros on theme park touring and have employed all the tricks and strategies over the years. Haven't been to WDW in about 6 years (we are West Coast)

I don't see enough new attractions suitable for older teenagers at Epcot or Magic Kingdom so we are focused on Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom.

My understanding is the Star Wars attractions probably won't have Fastpass when we will be there (Feb 20-23) as it would launch probably a minimum of 90 days after an announcement (I guess they could announce it sometime between now and Nov 20 though.)

I also understand of the rides we would target, the Avatar Flight of Passage your only realistic chance of getting a FastPass is logging in the morning of the 60-day mark.

Park crowds are supposed to be moderate On Thur and Fri, high on Sat, and moderate on Sunday (many families will be leaving to go home that day.)

There EMH at Animal Kingdom on Saturday and at Studios on Sunday (we fly home on Monday.)

My main decision I'm grappling with is whether to stay at Holiday Inn Disney Springs which includes EMH & FP+ 60-day or Disney Pop Culture for more money. Considerations for that decision are as follows:

For Pop culture, is the closer proximity to the parks, free direct bus shuttle to parks and to the airport worth maxing out my budget and paying $60 more a night? The problems with Disney resorts at WDW (as opposed to DLR at Disneyland) is that you are sort of held hostage to the resort dining options as taking an Uber to go eat elsewhere negates any cost savings. But it also looks like the dining options at Pop Culture are abysmal (food court) but then, we are going to be at the parks all day and night so I guess that doesn't matter.

Next, is, we went Friday and Sunday, on moderate crowd days and were there for rope drop, is EMH really that valuable? I'd guess no on Friday as there's no EMH at either park, but since Studios has Star Wars and no FP+ (assuming) the EMH at Studios on Sunday (especially considering a lot of resort guests are checking out that day) could be VERY valuable.

And finally, is Avatar a slim chance I'll get a FP even with the 60-day timeframe option?

Last but not least, two very interesting unanswered questions...

1) What happens if you book, get your FP 60-day in advance and then cancel your reservation. I wouldn't do it as it sounds unethical to me but I'm curious if anyone knows?

2) Is it impossible or very difficult to link your reservation for the 60-day FastPass if you book a Disney resort on Expedia or Travelocity? I assume for EMH they give you a wristband at check in no matter where you booked from.

Thanks in advance for any insight and advice.

 

[hiroMYhero]

1) What happens if you book, get your FP 60-day in advance and then cancel your reservation. I wouldn't do it as it sounds unethical to me but I'm curious if anyone knows?

Discussion of booking strictly for the FP advantage and then Canceling the room is not allowed on this Theme Parks board. You can post on the Resorts Board.

2) Is it impossible or very difficult to link your reservation for the 60-day FastPass if you book a Disney resort on Expedia or Travelocity? I assume for EMH they give you a wristband at check in no matter where you booked from.

Any reservation at a DSprings hotel links to MDX. You use a voucher from your hotel for EMH access.

 

[consultant]

Thanks for the initial info. Yes you are right, information about hotel cancelation and FP+ can be found here (it talks about 30 and 31-60 days)

https://www.disboards.com/threads/confirmation-fastpass-cancelled-inside-30-days.3749480/

 

[HuskieJohn]

Don't you have to pay parking at POP? Just want to make sure you have that number figured in your $60 per night cost.

Statistically EMH is TYPICALLY more valuable those first 2 hours. After that the park will be more full than a non-EMH morning after that 2nd hour. So really you have to decide if you want to do a hard core RD plan and exit after 3hr then return after dinner. If you want to stay in the single park the whole day then I would avoid that park. Also you are not interested in a hopper right? If its an option then you could RD the EMH park then exit after 3hr and use all your FP+ for the second park which also SHOULD be a tad less busy.

Are you going to a park on your departure day? If so then keep in mind that WDW has you at the ME bus stop about 4hr before your flight which to me is about 75min too early.

High level crowd are more likely to have more CMs working and more rides running at full capacity than Moderate crowd levels. Disney is squeezing their fists full of cash to try and eek out a few pennies so even though its the same weekend the waits may be the same even though there are more/less people actually in the park.

According to a cheat sheet I use for FP+...FOP FP+ is currently unavailable up until 63 days out. This is currently for the first week of December so I dont know the crowd level difference for your trip. But ya at 60 its going to be almost no chance and you should plan around Rope dropping FOP and be excited if you get a FP+.

I would pick the earliest HS opening to RD RotR then for your remaining days pick the earliest AK opening for your to RD FOP...Then fill in as your party wants.

 

[consultant]

Thanks for the input.

- EMH is 8A-9A both mornings for those parks (were you assuming 8A-10A?) Not sure if that changes your advice?

- We only have one day at each park, no park hopper. So I don't think we will be leaving and coming back. Although at our ages, there's really only a handful of attractions in each park we feel are worthwhile. Even if we don't stay at Pop Culture, we'll default to Holiday Inn just to get the FP+60 to give us at least a chance for Avatar.

- Disney has a free shuttle to the airport, although our flight out is at 8:30A but I would expect they are used to accommodating people with early flights. I was planning on turning our rental car in once we get to Orlando. So parking fee isn't an issues. The closer proximity, free direct shuttle to parks and airport I think would be worth it considering the lack of rental car cost would offset the additional cost over Holiday Inn. (I also see we can walk over the bridge to Animation Resort which supposedly has a better restaurant) Frankly if we had free time at Disney Springs we might take a shuttle to one of the more elaborate resorts to hang out.

Your comment about Saturday crowds being not that much longer than Friday is useful as I think we'd then just take advantage of EMH at each park and go Sat and Sun. I could even switch from Pop Culture to a hotel at the airport Sunday eve. I hear the bus lines at the park can be long. Maybe there's a place to store our carry on luggage at the park and just Uber it from the park to the airport hotel Sunday night. Or maybe the extra $100 is worth just staying at Pop Culture Sunday night and taking advantage of their airport shuttle Monday morn - that seems to make more sense. You have to put a price on convenience and extending the Disney experience to Monday morn. But expenditure wise I have to draw the line somewhere.

 

[leebee]

For an 8:30am flight, Magical Express will pick you up at 4:30am, or thereabout. CRAZY early! You can avoid this and save some money by staying the first three nights at POP Century and the last night at an airport hotel. Tell POP that your flight is late late late on Sunday night (just find whatever the latest flight out of MCO to anywhere leaves). POP will hold your bags for you during the day on Sunday while you go to the parks, back to POP to pick up your bags and then you can take Magical Express to the airport Sunday night... and then take a hotel shuttle to an airport hotel, stay overnight there, and take the shuttle back to the airport on Monday morning (be there 2 hours before your flight to clear security). No rental car, no parking fee at POP, no completely stupid crack of dawn Magical Express bus on Monday, and you save a bit by opting for an airport hotel that last night instead of POP Century.

 

[KristinU]

For FOP, I would rope drop for it on a non-EMH day. Having done it several times, I really miss the queue theming when we get a FP for it. That said, we've also snagged day-of fastpasses for it. Just keep refreshing the app and you might see it pop up, especially for a party of two.

So, if it were me, I'd go for an offsite hotel and maximize my budget. I'd also drive or Uber/Lyft to rope drop, even if I had bus access, so Pop doesn't appeal to me that much in your scenario. I also prefer me magically driving to my hotel/resort and not waiting in more lines or on buses with the MDE. Rental cars are usually cheap in Orlando and you have so much more flexibility. Just watch for resorts that charge you to park.

 

[consultant]

Thanks Kristin. That's some good insight on FOP and the buses. Having one to DLR about 10 times and WDW about 4 over the last 20 years, I can admit that about half those times we stayed at a hotel that had a Park Shuttle Bus and remember that probably 3/4 of the time, we found the buses frustrating for two reasons. Some of the hotels we stayed at weren't direct shuttles and stopped at other hotels (I know that's not the case with Disney and some of the Orlando Hotels - I think Holiday Inn Disney Springs is a direct shuttle.) The other reason is, after staying at a park all day until close, waiting in the lines to go back to your hotel when you're dead tired is not a great experience to cap off an otherwise great day. And as I've seen in other posts occasionally people mentioning depending on which hotel bus you are on, some queues aren't as well organized and there can be tired guests that cut the line so to speak creating this mad scramble to get on the bus.

 

[consultant]

I should note from a budget perspective, for 2 days, assuming rental car is $30 and parking is $25, that's $110 extra cost. So the question becomes, does not waiting in bus lines and being able to come and go from the park quickly "at will" justify the extra cost. I guess it depends on your budget and how painful the bus lines are and the value to you of avoiding them. I'd say it's a close call for me personally as that $110 could pay for a pretty nice dinner for 2 inside one of the parks.

 

[KristinU]

True, but that $110 could be saved by staying offsite, and you might find a place that has a free breakfast included that could offset the dollars even further. There are just so many options, that's the problem...I can drive myself batty trying to figure out the best deal and the best options for our trips.

So I just poked around at room rates for your dates. Let me back up and say that I'm 48 and have a nearly 16 year old DS, so imagining your scenario isn't that far off for me . Anyway, I think what I'd end up doing is getting a place in the Disney Springs area and if I didn't get a car I'd use Uber/Lyft when the shuttles and buses weren't something I felt like dealing with. It looks like even the Disney value resorts are about $100 more per night and I just have a tough time paying over $200 for those rooms. Sure, an Uber/Lyft isn't free, but with the savings I would be able to justify it when I didn't feel like dealing with the bus loads of other cranky people