HS suggestions needed please!

[megster1123]

Here's my dilemma - right now I have 8am ADR at H&V and then want to sign the kids (4 & 5 years) for JTA and hit TSMM. We had planned on leaving the park right after TSMM and hit BB for the morning and then head back to HS around 5 for our JTA spot (hopefully), dinner at SciFi and Fantasmic. However, with what I've read today about the bus routes changing (and one family reporting back that they spent well over 2 hours in transit there and back on the bus) I'm thinking BB may be out of the question. Looking at the attractions at HS though - there are maybe one or two more that would interest my kids. No way there's enough there to keep their interest all day long.

So - looking for suggestions as to what we could do that day from say...930-3 that won't have us on a bus for hours and hours. We're traveling early October also in case that matters.

 

[hakepb]

Disney Jr, Beauty and the Beast, and Frozen ever After shows (and Indy if you want a more intense show)

Plus there is Muppets and Star Tours.

Add in a few meet and greets like Chewbacca and Kylo Ren as well as a few other Disney classics and it's a reasonably full day.

 

[Lynzer4]

Resort pool would be a An alternative to BB.

Things might (this is Disney so most likely will lol) change regarding bus routes.

Other option would be to uber/taxi to BB from resort. Should be less then $20 each way (über is the cheapest option)

 

[hakepb]

I suppose there is also surrey bikes on the Boardwalk and Fantasia Gardens mini golf near the Swan if you wanted to wonder out of the park

 

[hiroMYhero]

You'll be allowed to sign up for JTA before you enter H&V for breakfast.

With that early sign-up, you can choose the first show at 10:10. So, ride TSMM and then on to Jedi - check-in will be at 9:40ish for the 10:10 show.

Leave the park after Jedi and uber to BB as suggested or pool time/Disney Springs for bowling? You won't have to get back to DHS until your SciFi reservation.

 

[kayteekt]

For us HS is still a full day park. My kids absolute favorite part of HS is ToT and RnR. They of course also enjoy TSMM. We like all the shows and even with a full day we end up missing one or two. Plus now there's all the star wars stuff, and the star wars ride, seems like that may interest you all since you're wanting to do jedi training.
If you're not interested in the shows and rides or have another day at HS, i think what hiromyhero said is a great idea.

 

[megster1123]

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!
I've looked at the shows and I think they'd be entertaining, but my kids are really not into stage shows. Like...they both basically asked to leave the last stage show we took them too after about 10 minutes. And they're too short for RNR (and too young IMO for ToT.)
Ubering/taxi around is out because they both need car seats. Family über offers car seats but only one per car and I think there's a $10 surcharge. So that could add up quickly.

Maybe I just wait it out for Disney to change things around again. So frustrating.

 

[megster1123]

What about the Pirate Adventure Cruise at CBR? It starts at 930 though so...time would be really tight getting there after breakfast and probably not doable. Anything else like the adventure cruise that I may have not stumbled upon yet?

 

[yaddakal]

We are going to beaches and cream on hs day for a break lunch or just ice cream. You could check out hotels .. But I'd try shows again. It gets better as they get older. We had to keep trying too.

 

[hiroMYhero]

What about the Pirate Adventure Cruise at CBR? It starts at 930 though so...time would be really tight getting there after breakfast and probably not doable. Anything else like the adventure cruise that I may have not stumbled upon yet?

You'd have time to get to the Pirate Adventure Cruise at Beach Club. You can boat or walk over after breakfast. Just pay for breakfast when you get seated and then leave when you are finished meeting characters.

 

[megster1123]

You'd have time to get to the Pirate Adventure Cruise at Beach Club. You can boat or walk over after breakfast. Just pay for breakfast when you get seated and then leave when you are finished meeting characters.

THANK YOU! This may be the way to go! Esp because I was feeling we were a little princess heavy this trip for my 5yo and was looking for something special for my 4yr son.

 

[Shanti]

Taxi to where you really want to go if you don't want to take the bus. WDW vacations are too expensive to spend idling your time away with non-preferred activities.

I also wouldn't assume that everyone's water park bus experience is going to be like what that one family reported. We've all experienced transportation delays at times, but that doesn't mean those delays are the norm. There might have been a broken-down bus, etc., that caused that delay. I'd need to see several reports from different families on different dates, describing the same type & length of experience, to be convinced that that is the new normal.

 

[Lynzer4]

Don't count out TOT for your kids. If they enjoy thrill rides at all TOT is great. The scary part according to the 4 yr old I was with was the dark.

I was just there and we took the whole group on TOT. 4-10 years old... Our thrill seek (6 yrs old) loved it and wanted to go again right away and the others said it was OK (one did cry) By the end of the trip they wanted to go back to HS to ride it again.

 

[megster1123]

Taxi to where you really want to go if you don't want to take the bus. WDW vacations are too expensive to spend idling your time away with non-preferred activities.

I also wouldn't assume that everyone's water park bus experience is going to be like what that one family reported. We've all experienced transportation delays at times, but that doesn't mean those delays are the norm. There might have been a broken-down bus, etc., that caused that delay. I'd need to see several reports from different families on different dates, describing the same type & length of experience, to be convinced that that is the new normal.

That's a good point. I did book the Pirates Adventure cruise that morning anyway. I think that's a good substitute, and I get planning anxiety thinking about a potential huge gap in the middle of one of my days. I'll just hit a water park this summer around home instead maybe.