Hollywood Studios on Arrival or Departure Day?

[MagicSoup]

A little background: I'll be traveling with my husband and our two kiddos (ages 4 & 1) for a week. My husband and I went on a few trips while we were dating but haven't been since our honeymoon in 2009. This is the first trip for/with kids.

We're leaving a week from tomorrow and something is still feeling off in our plans . We'll be arriving at MCO at 10 am, staying at Pop Century, and currently have 5 day base tickets. We fly out on departure day at 8:40 pm so I figured we would need to leave wherever we are (park or Disney Springs) around 3:30 to make it back to Pop for DME.

The plan was to do 2 days at Magic Kingdom and 1 day at each of the other parks going to Hollywood Studios on our departure day. I put the Studios on departure day because there wasn't anything there that was a MUST DO, so I figured that we could switch it to another park if we felt like we needed more time and wouldn't be missing much. However, since Woody and Jessie are no longer meeting at Magic Kingdom, we now have a must do for the Studios (I know Jessie doesn't meet there , but this is now the only place to meet Woody).

I've been having a heck of a time with our Epcot day plans and am thinking we might need a second day, or half day to really enjoy it.

I was able to grab a fastpass for Toy Story Mania on both arrival and departure day. Other things we would want to do at the Studios are meeting Buzz and Woody, Disney Junior, meet Jake, and the Frozen sing along. Muppet Vision 3D, meeting Mickey and Minnie (my husband loves Sorcerer Mickey), and the Olaf meet would be great but wouldn't be upset if they didn't happen. Doing anything else would be a bonus. The Studios close at 7 on our arrival day, would it be possible to hit our top priorities if we don't get to the park until after 2? I'm thinking switching to arrival day would leave departure day open to add an extra day to our tickets if we feel like we want more time at Epcot.

My husband's response was whatever I think is best. All help is appreciated! Would like to make a decision tonight so I can re-book my Animal Kingdom fastpasses.

 

[AllyGirl_79]

I would think two shows and two character meet-and-greets (plus your Toy Story fastpass) are possible in 5 hours. My decision would be based on the kids -- if getting there at 2pm puts you in prime nap time or you're going to be exhausted from traveling, it might not be much fun.

The advantage to arrival day might be that you can go back on departure day if you decide that's the park that needs more time.

Have a great trip!

 

[MagicSoup]

I would think two shows and two character meet-and-greets (plus your Toy Story fastpass) are possible in 5 hours. My decision would be based on the kids -- if getting there at 2pm puts you in prime nap time or you're going to be exhausted from traveling, it might not be much fun.

The advantage to arrival day might be that you can go back on departure day if you decide that's the park that needs more time.

Have a great trip!

Thanks! The more I think about it there's little downside. If the kids don't seem up to it after traveling we can switch back to our original plans and we'll have all week to look for a last minute Toy Story fastpass.