Help me plan what days for which parks?

[maryj11]

I have looked at Kenny the Pirates and Touring Plans crowd calendars. I know they are not completely accurate, but it’s give me an idea at least. Except this time I don’t know what to do.

It will be myself and 18 year old. We will arrive August 5th staying at CBR and leaving August 12th if Disney is open. We plan to not go to the parks our first day. We want to go to the parks 5 days and plan on going to Disney Springs 1 day.
I was thinking of making Saturday the Disney Springs day since most say Saturday’s the parks are more crowded.

We plan to go to HS or MK twice. We are not sure which one yet ugh.
We want to try to get a boarding pass for HS new ride and do the dessert party there if it is available.

I have been thinking of getting hoppers added to maybe do 1 park in the morning and another at night. Hoppers might also make it more convenient for Epcot and HS since we will be at a skyliner resort. I was kind of wanting to do HS our first day, but probably won’t be able to get any of the good fastpasses since they have the new rides. We want to do all the new rides.

Any expert planners out there have any ideas on how to decide what parks for which days or want to help me plan this week?

 

[sharonabe]

I have been thinking of getting hoppers added to maybe do 1 park in the morning and another at night. Hoppers might also make it more convenient for Epcot and HS since we will be at a skyliner resort. I was kind of wanting to do HS our first day, but probably won’t be able to get any of the good fastpasses since they have the new rides. We want to do all the new rides.

Any expert planners out there have any ideas on how to decide what parks for which days or want to help me plan this week?

You're going to want to put HS toward the end of your stay, and with the Tiers there, you'll need at least two days to get the new rides in.
I think I might let my FP options determine my days. It sounds like HS is your highest priority, so start with your last day (day 5) and see what is available at HS for Tier 1, then do day 4, then day 3, day 2, day 1. If you can get your desired Tier 1 FPs at HS on days 1 or 2, then you can go back and modify the end of your trip for another park. Personally, I'd get all my Tier 1s first and then go back and fill in the Tier 2s and do MK.

Once you have these in hand, you can then decide if you want to park hop or not. You don't have to add it now, you can add it at any time up to the day you are there and decide you want to. The price is the same, no matter when you add it.

 

[maryj11]

Ok I won’t add hoppers until I see what fastpasses I can get. I figure there will not be any of the popular tier 1 choices on the first day at the parks. I was also thinking about going to HS on extra magic hours night which is a Sunday. The park is open until 11:00. This might be a bad idea because of crowds?

 

[cobenz]

As a 20-something I have done parks with park hoppers and without. I think park hoppers are a good value if you have kids who need the break in the middle of the day. When I had tried it (HS to AK) it took so long to leave the park, get a taxi to the next park, and get into that park, it felt like we were wasting precious park time. Something additional I always keep in mind is extra magic hours. Though this gives an extra hour (or more) to resort guests, it draws in for the day many of the resort guests and many who would just be regularly visiting that day. So during EMH, it may be less crowded, but for the rest of the day, the crowds will be larger than normal. Typically I will either avoid all EMH parks in order to avoid the extra crowds, or get park hopper and go to EMH but then leave when it's busy for a -hopefully- less crowded park

 

[maryj11]

As a 20-something I have done parks with park hoppers and without. I think park hoppers are a good value if you have kids who need the break in the middle of the day. When I had tried it (HS to AK) it took so long to leave the park, get a taxi to the next park, and get into that park, it felt like we were wasting precious park time. Something additional I always keep in mind is extra magic hours. Though this gives an extra hour (or more) to resort guests, it draws in for the day many of the resort guests and many who would just be regularly visiting that day. So during EMH, it may be less crowded, but for the rest of the day, the crowds will be larger than normal. Typically I will either avoid all EMH parks in order to avoid the extra crowds, or get park hopper and go to EMH but then leave when it's busy for a -hopefully- less crowded park

Yes I agree with extra hour parks being more crowded. We did MK evening EMH 2 years ago and it was way to crowed even during EMH. I might forget about doing them at HS. The one reason I would get hoppers would be to hop between Epcot and HS that wouldn’t take a big chunk of time .

 

[loves to dive]

I agree you should just let your FPs dictate your days. As far as hoppers, we have always had them, my son has been going with me since he was just shy of 3 and is 39 now so has been through every stage in his life. He has always liked being able to hop around the parks. You might think of maybe doing your DS trip by yourself and letting your son spend some time at a park or the resort, my son always hated Downtown Disney and we actually havn't been since it's been DS because he just doesn't want to spend his time shopping. We are very loose in our plans, we actually don't make more than 1 FP at a time and make ADRs day of but we have been a number of times and are just not planners.

 

[glocon]

My DS23 is not a shopper either, but he enjoyed the SW Void game and the dine in theater there. I think there are quite a few places he would enjoy eating at there in DS also. Maybe going into the LEGO store for old times sake. But that’s it. I think you would have to see if there is anything at DS your son would enjoy. There’s also the hot air balloon. Not sure what else.

 

[MomOTwins]

Ok I won’t add hoppers until I see what fastpasses I can get. I figure there will not be any of the popular tier 1 choices on the first day at the parks. I was also thinking about going to HS on extra magic hours night which is a Sunday. The park is open until 11:00. This might be a bad idea because of crowds?

Not only will crowds be much worse on an extra magic hours day, EMH is especially a bad deal at HS because Rise of the Resistance has not been open during EMH.

You are correct that the popular tier 1s at HS and AK will not be available on day 60+1. However, Epcot and MK usually popular rides on day 1 (though if Ratatouille is open, that would likely not be available--but given the construction pause I am guessing that'll get put off to the fall). It sounds like your best bet would be to do something like MK, EP, MK, AK, HS to put the hardest-to-get FPs toward the end of your trip. If you are worried about not getting a Rise of Resistance boarding group and want to have two HS days, you could do MK, EP, HS, AK, HS.

 

[maryj11]

Not only will crowds be much worse on an extra magic hours day, EMH is especially a bad deal at HS because Rise of the Resistance has not been open during EMH.

You are correct that the popular tier 1s at HS and AK will not be available on day 60+1. However, Epcot and MK usually popular rides on day 1 (though if Ratatouille is open, that would likely not be available--but given the construction pause I am guessing that'll get put off to the fall). It sounds like your best bet would be to do something like MK, EP, MK, AK, HS to put the hardest-to-get FPs toward the end of your trip. If you are worried about not getting a Rise of Resistance boarding group and want to have two HS days, you could do MK, EP, HS, AK, HS.

Thank you! This helps me to figure out some type of plan. I was thinking to go ahead and book 2 days fastpasses for HS then if we get everything done the first day we could switch to MK.

 

[MomOTwins]

Thank you! This helps me to figure out some type of plan. I was thinking to go ahead and book 2 days fastpasses for HS then if we get everything done the first day we could switch to MK.

Good idea; easier to pick up same-day FPs at MK than at HS if you opt to switch.

 

[dchronister]

We are adding hoppers this year as my daughter will only have three full days there, I’m staying a week, but this way we can go wherever and try to fit in All the new things in 3 days. The reason I am adding a response is that if we happen to not get a boarding pass for ROTR on our day at HS, we can go back the next morning and try again but not be tied to HS whether we get the boarding pass or not! If our pass is late in the day, we can go on to another park and then come back for our boarding pass! we are not getting PH just for the boarding pass, it’s because her time is limited, but it helps us plan our time!

 

[Shellbells]

I struggle with this too. Disney opens ADR's 180 days out and fast passes for 60. It makes planning hard.

 

[Disneytrippin']

I have looked at Kenny the Pirates and Touring Plans crowd calendars. I know they are not completely accurate, but it’s give me an idea at least. Except this time I don’t know what to do.

It will be myself and 18 year old. We will arrive August 5th staying at CBR and leaving August 12th if Disney is open. We plan to not go to the parks our first day. We want to go to the parks 5 days and plan on going to Disney Springs 1 day.
I was thinking of making Saturday the Disney Springs day since most say Saturday’s the parks are more crowded.

We plan to go to HS or MK twice. We are not sure which one yet ugh.
We want to try to get a boarding pass for HS new ride and do the dessert party there if it is available.

I have been thinking of getting hoppers added to maybe do 1 park in the morning and another at night. Hoppers might also make it more convenient for Epcot and HS since we will be at a skyliner resort. I was kind of wanting to do HS our first day, but probably won’t be able to get any of the good fastpasses since they have the new rides. We want to do all the new rides.

Any expert planners out there have any ideas on how to decide what parks for which days or want to help me plan this week?

Here is a recent post on that subject:

https://mousetraveler.com/which-disney-park-on-what-day/

 

[maryj11]

I struggle with this too. Disney opens ADR's 180 days out and fast passes for 60. It makes planning hard.

Yes it does make it harder.

 

[BobbyDukes]

If you go early and grab your boarding pass, get one, and stay all day at HS, you probably wont need to go twice. HS used to be a half day park and now with all their additions its def. a full day park.

 

[maryj11]

If you go early and grab your boarding pass, get one, and stay all day at HS, you probably wont need to go twice. HS used to be a half day park and now with all their additions its def. a full day park.

Yes I think that would work. We don’t have to do Toy Story Land because we have been there twice.