Help with AK Plan - Pandora and ROL

[DisneyWishes14]

Hi all!

I am planning our trip for the end of August and thought I had the PERFECT plan! But, we all know how that works with our WDW planning, LOL!

Here's the story. I will be traveling with DS9 and we've gone at the end of August for the past 6 years. To beat the heat, we go to the parks in the mornings, go back to the resort mid-day and then head back out around 5:00/6:00 pm as we find evenings/nights in August to be perfect!

I have scheduled two half days in AK (one morning and one evening) to experience Pandora and to also see ROL (we were going to do Pandora on our morning and then do the ROL dining package/see Pandora at night/see ROL on our evening).

Here's the snag. Based on the sunset schedule for our dates, I'm going to assume Pandora-at-night, won't happen until around 8 pm. ROL that evening is at 8:45 pm, which means, we would really only have about 15 minutes to see Pandora lit up before we head over to ROL.

My other option is to schedule two, afternoon/evenings at AK to see ROL and get a better look at Pandora at night. If we do this, however, I have to cancel HDDR which I was really looking forward to doing.

What would you do? Two evenings at AK and drop HDDR or 1 morning + 1 evening at AK and keep HDDR. OR, wait patiently to actually get reviews of Pandora (and Pandora at night) to make a decision

Thanks for your help!

 

[HydroGuy]

First, HDDR does have an early show (like at 4:30?) so it is possible to do that and go to AK after. That is what I would shoot for. You could also in this case plan for a RoL on this first night as it will likely not show until 9PM or so. That would leave a free evening at AK on Day #2.

Second, it is possible WDW will extend AK park hours on your night you already have planned for AK and RoL. I have not checked the whole summer but at least into July AK is staying open until 11PM every night along with an EMH until 1AM. So you may be able to see RoL and then go to Pandora after and enjoy the evening experience.

You could also kind of plan for both possibilities and see what happens with park hours. In other words, keep your HDDR and hope for extended park hours. If the park hours are extended later then that solves your problem. If not, then you will have to make the hard choice between HDDR and RoL vs. Pandora at night.

 

[Lesley Wake]

I would wait to hear from people after they experience Pandora. It could be Pandora at night will continue a bit after official park closing so you could check it out after ROL.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Thank you both! Yes, very good point about AK hours possibly expanding. And doing HDDR at 4:30 pm followed by an evening in Pandora could work, too! Ok, things to think about as the Pandora reviews roll in in May and, possibly, the park hours change!