How much time to allow?

[halssister]

We will be driving down to WDW over a couple days, and plan to stay overnight in Gainesville, then arrive on Sunday morning. We are estimating 2 hours to drive, which should put us on property around 10:00.

Our arrival day plan is to stop at POR, leave a couple bags with the resort (so nothing melts in the July heat!), check in, and then hop on a bus to Epcot. When we get to Epcot, we want to first stop at guest services to get a DAS for my son, then head to Soarin'. So I'd like to book a FP for Soarin' for that day, but I have no clue how long to allow for checking in, dropping bags, bussing to Epcot, etc. My 60 days is Wednesday so I need a plan! Anyone have any good estimates?

My other thought was to go straight to WS upon arrival, eat lunch and wander around there, then hit Soarin' on the way out - but it is DS's favorite ride and the whole reason we are doing 1 1/2 days at Epcot instead of using this arrival day for an extra MK day, so I'd prefer to give him a Soarin' ride on the way in (and maybe the way out with a DAS return time) and not have to double back to FW from WS!

 

[AllieBoo]

If it were me, I would not schedule it any earlier than 1:00 pm. There's always the chance you could run into traffic on the way there. Also, you may end up waiting for a bus to Epcot

 

[sharonabe]

If you can, do online check-in the night before and specify an 8 a.m. arrival time. There's always a chance they'll have your room ready, so be checking your MDE as you drive in. If your room is ready, you can unpack everything and have that done. If not, your time at guest services to drop bags will still be less than if you had to check in.

IF you're sure you're going to get on the road that early and be at your resort around 10, I'd make the FP for around noon. You have an hour window on the FP, so that still gives you until 1 pm to get there. You should make noon easily as long as there aren't any road delays. If there are, you can go on MDE and try moving it to later.

 

[DisneyMom2000000]

I would probably do the same, and book the FP around 1:00.

 

[kmv]

Agreed with around 1pm, but better later than earlier....you can always do other things at EPCOT if necessary before your FP time.

GO GATORS!

 

[bluezy]

We also drive to Disney and typically arrive by 11:30ish. I do online check-in at least a week (usually more) before arrival and list our arrival time as 11:00 in hopes that our room will be ready when we get there and it usually is. The 1 time it wasn't ready by 11:00, we got a text around 10:15 letting us know it wasn't ready. This happened to be the only time we didn't check the "having our room ready by arrival time is the highest priority" box during online check-in (our room location was much more important on that trip). We made a stop at Walmart to waste some time and pick up some snacks and drinks for the room. By the time we got to AoA at 12:00, we got the text that our room was ready. We usually take our stuff to the room and then have a quick lunch at the resort. Then we return to the room to do a little unpacking before heading to Epcot (we could easily skip this step and do it later). We've always been at Epcot by 4:00 without rushing and could certainly be there closer to 3:00 (or earlier) if we wanted to. I schedule our FPs for approximately 4:00-5:00; 5:00-6:00, and 6:00-7:00. I think you should be fine with scheduling your first one for 1:00-2:00.

 

[GillianP1301]

You'll probably be entering Epcot around noon, so you could do a FP then, but 1:00 gives you breathing room. You definitely don't want to feel rushed on arrival day. You can always do a few other things at Epcot before you get to Soarin', maybe Spaceship Earth or Living with the Land. I think your approach is right and do Soarin' before you head to WS for some lunch as a great kick-off to your trip.

 

[halssister]

Thanks everyone! Maybe I'll shoot for noon and adjust on the fly if needed. We don't want to spend a ton of time in the front of Epcot, as we will be spending a full day there later in the trip, and we also want to have time on arrival day to hit the pool and walk around DS a little that evening. So it's mainly a ride on Soarin' and then some of the countries back at WS, since one day never seems to be enough for us to see everything at that back end of the park!

 

[maryj11]

I would do 1:00 to 2:00 or maybe even later to be on the safe side.

 

[sharonabe]

Thanks everyone! Maybe I'll shoot for noon and adjust on the fly if needed. We don't want to spend a ton of time in the front of Epcot, as we will be spending a full day there later in the trip, and we also want to have time on arrival day to hit the pool and walk around DS a little that evening. So it's mainly a ride on Soarin' and then some of the countries back at WS, since one day never seems to be enough for us to see everything at that back end of the park!

If things don't go quite as planned, you could always drop your bags with bell services at POR and drive to EP. As long as you've done online check-in, you'll be able to park for free and you won't be waiting for a bus. Dropping your bags shouldn't take more than 15 min or so.

 

[gap2368]

It takes me just under 4 hours to drive to Disney I leave my house at about 3 am I get to my hotel around 7 am and check in drop off my bags ( or take them to my room) I take the buss to what ever park I go to and like you if it is time for me to renew my DAS I will I am normal at the park between 8 am and 8:30. So I would say from the time you get to Disney it should take about an hour and a half to get to the park.

 

[Tozzie]

If it were me, I would not schedule it any earlier than 1:00 pm. There's always the chance you could run into traffic on the way there. Also, you may end up waiting for a bus to Epcot

your generous I would not book fastpasses earlier than 2 PM There are days it isn't needed but there maybe times that they are