How would you spend 6 full days?

[maswanson11]

Hello All,

Heading to AOA December 9-16, Saturday to Saturday. Traveling with DH and 3 DDs 12,10,9.

A little overwhelmed trying to begin planning my days. We want to do the Mickey Christmas Party, have 7 day ParkHoppers.

Would love any advice on how to start planning our 6 full days! Park each day? What parks to spend more than 1 day at? Best day to do Christmas party?

Thanks for any help!

 

[minniegirl19]

Have you booked your flights yet and know when you will be arriving/ leaving?

 

[AdamEfimoff]

I would say skip La Nouba. I liked it but its nor the best production from Cirque I have seen. But its not too dear for a Cirque Show. But Totem Kooza are all better.
Get FP for test track, Mission Space and Sorin in EPCOT
Get FP for Mine Train(which I have not ridden but your age group will love) Space Mountain and Splash Mountain
Get FP for Everest, Pandora , Kilmajaro Safaris ignore the Rapids Ride
Ignore Hollywood Studios but I would do fp for tower of terror and toy story mania (did not go because going for 6 rides is stupid imho)

Book Be Our Guest (sorry Mr Warner)!!!! it's not overrated at all

if interested in fine dining Jiko was amazing michelin star esq dining exp

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

First I would look at the EMH (I know they can change) we like to be at MK when they are opened late - we pick that day and plan days around that.
We would plan our days as this.
2-3 MK days plus 2 nights.
1 1/2 EPCOT
1 AK
1/2 HS

MK - we love all the rides so we go there often. We separate the days by sections - so 1 day would be Tomorrowland and Fantasyland. 2 would be Frontierland, Liberty Square and Adventureland.

EPCOT has several headliners that my family likes - so we would do 1 full day with Soarin and other rides plus the countries and 1 morning to get Test-track and more countries.

HS - So many things are changing we don't spend a whole day there anymore.

AK - The opposite of HS - so many things are changing we spend more time there.

We love to plan some time at the hotel (watch a movie, attend a camp fire) plus some time at the Disney Springs.

I hope that helps.

 

[maswanson11]

Have you booked your flights yet and know when you will be arriving/ leaving?

Not sure on our flights yet, planning to arrive by early afternoon at Disney. Leaving first thing the following Saturday.

 

[kay1864]

Since you asked "How would you spend 6 full days" , here's how I would:

MK - 2 days (left half one day, right half other day)
EP - 1 day
AK - 1 day
HS - 1 day
Harry Potter/US - 1 day/2-park ticket

I've done this itinerary several times. I use easywdw for which park/which day. and RideMax to minimize my line wait times. Well worth the $4 a day.

 

[Amanda999]

First thing I'd do is review/bookmark/make notes after reading the FP+ thread (Stickie?) by mesaboy. Be ready to book your FP+ the 60th day before you arrive (if onsite; if offsite 30 days). You have to have park tickets linked to your MDE account to choose FP (sounds like you have a package, so all set there). Do you have MDE set up? All travelers listed in your MDE? If so do a test run: choose FP for next week, all 5 of you (then delete). You can learn if any odd IT issues with a ticket (I've had it happen).

You really want to book FP+ as soon as permitted for the entire trip because you are assured 3 rides without a long wait. (You'll notice when reading the FP stickie that you can only choose 1 'tier 1' ride in Epcot, HS and now AK. So if DDs like Frozen, at Epcot you'll see via mesaboy stickie that getting FEA (Frozen Ever After - its a newer ride) FP will save you far more time than Soarin or Test Track (do those at 'rope drop' - you save the most time in line if you can get to the park before it opens). Trust me, if you have Frozen fans you'll regret choosing anything other than FEA for your tier 1 FP at Epcot.

I felt so bad for a single mom and her sweet son who were on their 1st trip to WDW, and chose Living with the Land as their tier 1 at Epcot (it rarely has much of a wait). This was before FEA was open, and Test Track was down, so Soarin waits were over an hour. Don't let that happen to you - see the ranking in that stickie about which will save you the most time.

Do the xmas party midweek - usually quieter than weekends (but you never know). MK will be quiet that day, so if you have a ticket for every day of your trip its nice to spend the morning there, take a pool/hotel break, then back for the party. The party ticket lets you in at 4pm (unofficially; but its been true for years), so if you don't have a park ticket for that day then just do a nice out of park breakfast, pool, and book FP for 4pm at MK and go to the party (you can book FP until IIRC 7pm on party nights).

HTH! Oh and be sure to customize your MagicBands - you don't want any sad gray bands, and its so fun to customize with the kids online, and then open the box when they arrive.

PS Many people choose ADRs asap (you can do that 180 days ahead for entire onsite trip), then make FP+ to fit that, but I find it too exhausting to deal with all those logistics so we just wing the dining. That definitely won't work if you want Cinderella's Royal Table at 8am though!

 

[Magic2000]

I would definitely do at least 2 days at Magic Kingdom; and allow 1 day each at Epcot, HS, AK. We always do Magic Kingdom on our first and last day, then fill in with the other parks. Since you have park hoppers, maybe do a split day between Magic Kingdom and Epcot on the other day. I would suggest dropping down to a 6 day ticket, with or without the hopping, since yall want to do the party. We've been to the Christmas party many times, and we love it!!

On the Saturday you arrive, maybe head over to Disney Springs to get some lunch and do a little shopping. Or, if your girls prefer (and depending on the weather), spend some time at the pool. Not sure how early your day will have started (what time yall had to get up for to get to the airport), but if your not too tired, get fast passes for early evening at the park of choice if you keep the 7 day ticket.

Look to see which days the Christmas Party is offered during your stay. I would also suggest a weeknight. Whichever night you choose to attend, pick HS as the park for your next day. Do your fast passes for late morning/early afternoon at HS. That would give you a sleep in day (after a late night), and you'd still have the fast passes to do your favorite rides.

Don't forget to make a few ADRs for whichever restaurants yall would like! My kids love eating at Sci Fi at HS!

Have a great trip!!!!!

 

[squirrel]

If using ME they will pick you up at least 2 hours before your flight maybe even 3 hours.

I would plan 2 MK days, plus the party.
1 or 2 days at AK, Pandora may make it so you want that extra day.
1 (not full day unless you don't have hoppers) at DHS (if hopping go early and do all the rides you want, then hop over to Epcot and then back in the evening for either Fantasmic or the Star Wars evening show).
1 or 2 days at Epcot.

 

[Praying Colonel]

We'd spend 6 full days
2 MK
2 EP
1 to 1.5 AK (depending on how much new stuff you want to explore in AK)
0.5 to 1 DHS

 

[Daniela Rose]

We're doing Tuesday - Tuesday and have 7 day park hoppers. Here's our itinerary.

Arrival day, afternoon MK
Day 2 Epcot
Day 3 AK
Day 4 MK
Day 5 HS
Day 6 MK
Day 7 MK
Day 8 departure day, bon voyage breakfast. No park

 

[crazedprincess]

Personally, I would allow more time in Epcot, so since you have park hoppers, maybe you could hop over there for a half day!

 

[Moushe]

We are going for 5 full days and 2 half days at the end of the month. this is how we are spending them:

Day 1 - Arrive around midday head straight to Hollywood Studios/Check in (or check in first if we get the message that our room is ready)
Day 2 - Magic Kingdom
Day 3 - Animal Kingdom
Day 4 - Pool/Resort in the morning, head to AK after lunch.
Day 5 - Magic Kingdom
Day 6 - Epcot
Day 7 - Check out/Epcot for a few rides/begin drive home after lunch

I study the various crowd calendars to decide on which parks to visit each day. We like to rope drop and leave the parks in the late afternoon/early evening. sometimes we do end up going to another park later at night but we just decide right then and there where we want to go. I only preplan for the parks so that I can plan our FP choices.

 

[maryj11]

We have 6 days also and plan to do our first day at HS since we will not be there a full day due to traveling.
We do plan to hop to Magic Kingdom for the fireworks after HS.
If your not that into HS I would do it on arrival day.

 

[AdamEfimoff]

 

[KittyKitty]

All adults, 2 days MK, 2 days Epcot, 1 AK, 1 DS.... I am staying longer but it's my friends 1st time. We are doing EMH morning for AK, so hopefully ride both Pandora rides.