Help/opinions with our park plans

[Penmac]

We will be staying in an offsite condo from July 4-July 10. We have a 3-day base ticket and can work with July 5-July 9 for park days. We are thinking two days at Magic Kingdom and one day at either Epcot or Hollywood Studios. We are agonizing over this choice between Epcot and HS. We always love Epcot and know it will not disappoint. But, we have spent less time at HS on our previous trips. My older two children are now very interested in ToT and RRC. I personally don't want to risk insane crowd levels with the Toy Story attractions opening less than a week before. It's already peak season.

Anyway, I am looking at our possibilities for avoiding EMH parks (besides HS of course) since we can't utilize them and I am getting a bit stuck. I am thinking Thursday 7/5 looong day at MK, pool day on Friday, Epcot or HS 7/7 (HS on a summer Saturday one week after a new attraction opens absolutely terrifies me!), and MK either 7/8 or 7/9. My stress with going to MK on 7/9 is that we always rope drop, take a break mid-afternoon, and then stay late (kiss goodnight). We are exhausted! My husband thinks this is great because my kids will be wiped the next day and won't mind sitting in a car for 12 hours on our first leg back to New England. BUT, we have done this twice before and I find it exhausting. Getting back from MK, packing up the last remnants of the condo, falling into bed at 1:30am and then waking up at 6:30 to get on road before 8 so we can hit our stop in Virginia before the middle of the night. I am tired just thinking about it!

We could shift our last day to Sunday 7/8 and spent 7/9 at the pool, packing up and getting to bed at a normal hour. This really appeals to me, BUT my concern is going to MK on a Sunday instead of a Monday. I think the crowd levels will be better on the Monday. And this could be a huge consideration. This will be a long trip for us. We are staying at a hotel from June 30-July 4 for a huge (and highly competitive) dance event for my two oldest girls. They will already be tired heading into this vacation before we even start. So, I am trying to keep things manageable. We usually have the attitude that you can "sleep when you're dead" at Disney but I think we need to be realistic with the addition of the non-Disney event added into the mix. Any thoughts on our itinerary???

 

[rkstocke5609]

I would do Animal Kingdom instead of Studios as the opening of TSL should lighten the lines for the Avatar stuff. If you must do Studios then I would do MK only one day and still do AK. Beyond that, the marathon before driving home sounds exhausting but I get the rationale, just not excited about that for you..

 

[Penmac]

Thanks! We did AK last summer, and did get to see Pandora and ride Navi. We didn't do FoP, but I think that's ok for now. My oldest is only 9 so plenty of time for that ride when they are older. I do really well on roller coasters, etc. But, I sometimes get vertigo and wonder if the simulation of this ride would trigger it. For that reason, I am a little afraid to ride.

We would do Epcot before AK. And I don't think I can go to Disney and only do one MK day! It's our absolute favorite park and I feel like we need two days there. I am now considering doing rope drop on the 9th and just staying all day until about 6. We can skip the night time stuff, and make sure we do all that on the 7/5 day. We really love that park at night (is there anything better than riding Splash Mountain while the fireworks are going off???), but this could be a good compromise.

 

[pitpat]

We could shift our last day to Sunday 7/8 and spent 7/9 at the pool, packing up and getting to bed at a normal hour. This really appeals to me, BUT my concern is going to MK on a Sunday instead of a Monday. I think the crowd levels will be better on the Monday

Sunday is usually recommended over Monday for MK if that makes you feel better. We've found it to hold true.

 

[Penmac]

Oh wow! That could change everything . Thank you for that!

 

[sharonabe]

If you think you'll be back in the next couple years, I think I would skip HS this time and do EP. HS is going to be crazy for the first few months of Toy Story Land. It will all still be there for your next trip (along with STAR WARS).

As to the Sunday/Monday MK. There are those who say Monday is a worse day because so many start their vacation on a Monday and head there. Reality is, I don't think there will be that much difference in the crowd level between a Sunday and Monday, so if Sunday "makes mama happy," I vote for Sunday and a more relaxing Monday before the trip home.

 

[Tksolomom]

If you think you'll be back in the next couple years, I think I would skip HS this time and do EP. HS is going to be crazy for the first few months of Toy Story Land. It will all still be there for your next trip (along with STAR WARS).

As to the Sunday/Monday MK. There are those who say Monday is a worse day because so many start their vacation on a Monday and head there. Reality is, I don't think there will be that much difference in the crowd level between a Sunday and Monday, so if Sunday "makes mama happy," I vote for Sunday and a more relaxing Monday before the trip home.

I agree 100%. I would do MK on Sunday unless everyone will be disappointed their last day isn’t at a park. Sunday is normally recommended over Mondays for the MK. If you love Epcot, go there and see HS when it isn’t as crazy.