How to PH (if at all) on a short trip staying at Dolphin

[MammaMia 80s Kid]

Hi! Thanks to anyone who reads this and offers your advice!

My family of 5 (3 kids aged 9-1st visit, 14, and 16) and senior parents are headed to Disney and staying at the Dolphin for a 2 night, 2.7 day trip in one week!

If we add PH to our passes and want to visit MK (especially for my son’s first visit), EP (definitely for the extended hours on Monday and especially for Guardians of the Galaxy, Ratatouille, Frozen, and Soarin’), and maybe HS (especially for Slinky Dog, Tower of Terror, Rise of the Resistance, and Star Tours), plus visit the pool for 20-45 minutes on Monday, as we do have Ext. Hours at EP within walking distance that evening, how should we make our park reservations and plan to PH?

Currently, the plan is this:

Sunday-MK (we may arrive as early as 2 or as late as 5 pm from our 2 hour drive over from Sarasota, and my husband wants to close out MK that day) with ILL for Tron at night ($140 for all 7 of us, which is a LOT!, but I only paid $105 (and it will be $85 if so allow my parents to pay their $40) for a $150 discounted DGC at BJs with +$30 in promos and rewards to cover this, plus we will still have $10 left).

Monday (only full day)-can friendship boat to HS am (Mom has advance reservations for DAS for Indiana Jones and something else, and we hope to rope drop, DAS, and wait in line to accomplish Slinky Dog Dash,TOT, Rise, and Star Tours)

Hopefully-a midday break (take friendship boat, Skyliner/walk, or walk) for a late lunch from Fuel or any nearby QS and 20-35 minutes at the Dolphin Grotto pool

EP-friendship boat or walk for late afternoon and evening with Ext. Hours with VQ, DAS, and line waiting for Guardians, Ratatouille, Frozen, Soarin’, and whatever else we ride and eat

Tuesday-MK (either drive or take transport there after checking out of the Dolphin) and monorail or drive to maybe EP or HS to finish out the day before friendship boating back to our car and heading to the airport for our rental car return/10:50 pm flight

Is this how you would do this?

We will def. go to MK on Sunday since that’s the only night we can stay for the fireworks and full MK evening (Mon.-EP Ext. hours, Tues.-depart at 8 for airport).

Monday also must allow for Ext. Hours at EP that evening.

I’m pretty sure we won’t PH on Sunday since we will not arrive until 2 pm at the earliest.

If we do PH, how would you suggest we do it for Mon. (EP Ext. Hours) and Tues. (MK again is most likely smart for at least part of the day since we will only be there Sun. night, but I think it might be best to finish at HS or EP, as we can leave the car at the Dolphin-with someone walking/taking the friendship boat to bring the car to EP or HS).

Or would you not PH at all? I could leave our reservations as MK Sun., EP Mon, and MK Tues. (with a plan to change to HS Tues. if we can don’t feel strongly about returning to
MK after Sun.), but, even if we went to HS Tues., I could see it being awesome and feasible to be able to PH to EP that day.

I could return (to Get Away today-for a 100% refund) and repurchase one of our tickets with DGC so that I don’t have more money on them than we could use for the Tron ILL (and maybe the 7 Dwarfs Mine Train) and food. This would actually end up costing less than I had already paid.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

So we do short trips all the time to WDW but we usually don't try to do as much as you're aiming for so it definitely will be tight. I realize with DAS that could change your wait times as I'm not sure how that whole system works but your priorities at DHS should be SDD, Rise then TOT. Are you going to rope drop DHS or do Indian Jones first?

For MK, it would benefit you all to arrive as early as you can especially if you plan to watch fireworks as that will eat up your evening time and whatever you don't get done that day, save that for your last day.

Epcot, do you plan to watch fireworks? If not, try a headliner during fireworks as the lines will be shorter and then plan to get in line for another headliner at park close. And your Tuesday at the parks, whatever you missed before, try to hit that up as you can, but again, with such a short trip, arriving early will be your best bet.

Your park day plans make sense based on EEH and your departure times. I can't offer much advice on DAS and how it works for park hopping but I do think for such a short trip, PH makes sense for allowing you flexibility to accomplish what you want to do.

 

[StevieB81]

I'd rope drop SDD and get a DAS for ROTR at HS. Is Mom the only DAS holder? DAS allows the holder + 5 guests. Your group is +6. Just something to think about. Remember, you'll only be eligible for the 6pm VQ lottery for GOTG for the EEH at EP. Are you planning to rope drop MK? I'd avoid driving to MK if at all possible. It's a PITA IMHO. I'd definitely keep the park hoppers.