jenmsmith
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 29, 2016
- Messages
- 632
We did a split stay at BLT (Oct. 11-15) and Yacht Club (Oct. 15-19) during the "fall break" busy week. Many people have already given informative trip reports. But I was very much helped by this thread before we went, so I want to share a few things to pay it forward.
This probably has the most applicability for people who will be there during some busier times, as reports from this present week seem to show a bit of the weekday slowdown that has been the "norm" since reopening. With our week, the weekdays seemed as busy or as close to busy as the weekends, as the hours on the weekdays were not extended. As has been reported here, the fall break crowds didn't clear out of the parks like the - what I'm assuming have been more local crowds - do. So to ride a couple of headliners without much wait, you must rope drop.
We did a split stay for a few reasons:
1. to have access to a variety of pools since a major focus of this trip was to spend time at the resort/pools as our local pools were closed this summer
2. to have access to a variety of dining, as with limited offerings at the open restaurants and with not all dining areas open, it can get boring quickly when eating at the resort for many days
3. to have the ability to walk to parks
I highly recommend doing this if it fits your schedule/plans. We did each park one day. AK and MK when we were at BLT and Epcot and DHS when we were at Yacht Club. We also built in two resort days and one day my DH took our 17-year-old aerospace fan to Kennedy Space Center.
We traveled with myself, DH, two teenage DSs and a 2-year-old DD. We are frequent visitors, and usually AP holders. We chose Disney for this trip because we were ready to escape for a bit and felt Disney's safety precautions were more consistent than the other places we researched. Reading reports before we went, I knew we'd need to be strategic and manage expectations. That was definitely the case. We had our son's choose their must-do attractions/activities in each park and we made those the priority. We rope dropped every park - driving to AK by 8:30 on a 9 am open; walking to MK at 7:50 on a 9 am open (allowed into the park at 8:30); walking to Epcot just after opening; walking to DHS (leaving the room at Yacht Club at 8 a.m., was about 50 people back at 8:20 a.m., the line quickly grew to hundreds of people behind us before being moved to the temp tents at 8:50 a.m. let into the park and able to ride rides about 9:10 a.m.). Especially at MK and DHS that was essential to being able to experience a couple of attractions without long waits. The lines grew quickly after.
We did take mid-day breaks even with the shorter hours. It was in the 90s most days, and with so much out in the sun, we needed to recharge and let the toddler actually nap. With the short hours, that did cut into our park time, but it was essential. Staying at resorts close to the park helped. It was frustrating that Disney did not pivot and extend the hours during the week. That will be feedback I share with them, and hopefully something they will correct for the upcoming busy weeks. Cooler weather will help for that touring, too, of course.
Overall, I am glad we went. We went with the expectations that this would be different and strategically planned our meals and our days. If my sole reason was to go to the parks and do as much as possible, especially with a toddler or young child, I'm not sure this is the best time to go.
I'd be happy to answer any specific questions. I hope you all have magical trips.
This probably has the most applicability for people who will be there during some busier times, as reports from this present week seem to show a bit of the weekday slowdown that has been the "norm" since reopening. With our week, the weekdays seemed as busy or as close to busy as the weekends, as the hours on the weekdays were not extended. As has been reported here, the fall break crowds didn't clear out of the parks like the - what I'm assuming have been more local crowds - do. So to ride a couple of headliners without much wait, you must rope drop.
We did a split stay for a few reasons:
1. to have access to a variety of pools since a major focus of this trip was to spend time at the resort/pools as our local pools were closed this summer
2. to have access to a variety of dining, as with limited offerings at the open restaurants and with not all dining areas open, it can get boring quickly when eating at the resort for many days
3. to have the ability to walk to parks
I highly recommend doing this if it fits your schedule/plans. We did each park one day. AK and MK when we were at BLT and Epcot and DHS when we were at Yacht Club. We also built in two resort days and one day my DH took our 17-year-old aerospace fan to Kennedy Space Center.
We traveled with myself, DH, two teenage DSs and a 2-year-old DD. We are frequent visitors, and usually AP holders. We chose Disney for this trip because we were ready to escape for a bit and felt Disney's safety precautions were more consistent than the other places we researched. Reading reports before we went, I knew we'd need to be strategic and manage expectations. That was definitely the case. We had our son's choose their must-do attractions/activities in each park and we made those the priority. We rope dropped every park - driving to AK by 8:30 on a 9 am open; walking to MK at 7:50 on a 9 am open (allowed into the park at 8:30); walking to Epcot just after opening; walking to DHS (leaving the room at Yacht Club at 8 a.m., was about 50 people back at 8:20 a.m., the line quickly grew to hundreds of people behind us before being moved to the temp tents at 8:50 a.m. let into the park and able to ride rides about 9:10 a.m.). Especially at MK and DHS that was essential to being able to experience a couple of attractions without long waits. The lines grew quickly after.
We did take mid-day breaks even with the shorter hours. It was in the 90s most days, and with so much out in the sun, we needed to recharge and let the toddler actually nap. With the short hours, that did cut into our park time, but it was essential. Staying at resorts close to the park helped. It was frustrating that Disney did not pivot and extend the hours during the week. That will be feedback I share with them, and hopefully something they will correct for the upcoming busy weeks. Cooler weather will help for that touring, too, of course.
Overall, I am glad we went. We went with the expectations that this would be different and strategically planned our meals and our days. If my sole reason was to go to the parks and do as much as possible, especially with a toddler or young child, I'm not sure this is the best time to go.
I'd be happy to answer any specific questions. I hope you all have magical trips.
Hurried out of TSL cause it was a zoo. SDD line was near LM. Ugh. We go often so we already new we were skipping that ride and SW land cause we have already done it before, except resistance. Got in line for MMRR. Wait said 90 mins. Waited 75 mins. Life saver tip....they let u take your stroller with u in the line to the entrance, so kids were happy with my phone and some snacks. It would have been hard otherwise. Tip: grab some sodas or snacks, makes the line much more bearable. We are spoiled and not used to waiting so long but we really wanted to ride this. It was def worth the wait! Went to backlot for lunch. Then star tours (15 min wait). Then Mickey shorts. Cute! Saw some car parades. Did some shopping. Done. Again, none of the big rides, but we did what worked for our family. Oh and I forgot to try for a 2 pm boarding pass. Oops. Oh well.next trip! Next up, epcot!
We saw people use all the purell stations which are great and didn't dry out our hands as much as regular purell. I never once saw anyone use the hand washing stations around the park. We did the pool twice at night. First time it was a little crowded, but we stayed in our corner. Second night we had a half of the pool to ourselves. Both time were about 5pm or so. Now onto planning our next trip! 
