I need help with planning a shorter trip...

[jacobsmommy]

This will be our first (and probably only) trip in October. Since I'm a teacher and my kids are in school, we can only swing a 5 day trip (which includes arrival and departure days). We are going at this time because my kids really want to do the Halloween party. We will arrive around 12:45 on a Friday (October 23) and head straight to resort and then straight to a park. We will leave on the 27th around 2:45 (when ME picks us up. We will go to a park that day until pick up time. I am planning on not doing breaks since we have so little time (except for our Halloween party day). We bought tickets for the Sunday, October 25th party. How much time would you give each park with only 5 days? We have never been on this short of a trip before… It'll be me, dh, 11yo ds, 7yo dd, and my mom. We are staying at Art of Animation.

My kids have made a must do list: MK-Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Seven Dwarves Mine Train, see new Fantasyland, fireworks, daytime and nighttime parade; DHS-TSMM, Star Tours, TOT, Rock & Rollercoaster, Fantasmic; AK-Everest, safari; Epcot- Soarin, Test Track, Phineas and Ferb thing in World Showcase.

 

[tstottle]

Hi! We only do short trips...from one to 4 days. Doing three this year. It's going to be different with FP+ and more challenging for you I think, because you want all the headliners (so do we!) Sounds like you have 2 days at MK and one at the other three? Or it might be more helpful to look at your trip in half days. Or maybe not since you are not afternoon breaking, save the travel time, so back to the first plan, maybe doing AK last because if you really only want two things there then you could go back somewhere else for that half day and get whatever you missed or want to do again!

For us, MK is a whole day, the others are 1/2 to 3/4, but we like headliners like you (HOWEVER THIS IS UNDER THE OLD FP, it will probably take more time now). Hope that helps.

 

[mrzrich]

Are you buying Park Hoppers? For a short trip, you might want to

October 23 is a MNSSHP night, so I would go to DHS that night FP TSMM, ST and TOT. Ride RNRC single Rider if the wait is too long for regular Stand by. Catch Fantasmic that night.

October 24 AK- FP+ the 3 things most important to you. The park closes at 6, so If you want to see MSEP and regular Wishes. you may want to hop over the night of the 24th after AK

October 25 is your MSNSSHP day, you may want to go there all day, as the park will be less crowded with the early close.

October 26th Epcot FP Soarin and whicher tier 2 rides you want. You can do Single rider for Test tract, or arrive at rope drop for shortest standby line.

October 27th Let the kids decide where they want to go back to, or got to DTD. Keep in mind you need to get back to your resort 3 hours before your flight.

.

 

[jacobsmommy]

We do have park hoppers. I had planned on only spending a few hours at AK. We aren't going to waste any park time on many sit down meals. We want to try to to Be Our Guest for lunch one day and maybe Rainforest Cafe. We usually do lots of character meals, but don't feel we have time for any this trip. Our return flight is at 5:25, so I figure we will need to be back around 2:00.

 

[sharonabe]

Will your kids be okay with single rider lines? I think mrzrich's plan is a good one if your kids can do the single rider. My youngest DS11 doesn't like the single riders because he has to sit with strangers.

Here's another option:

Arrival day hit AK and get those two things done. That late in the afternoon, you shouldn't need FP. Hop to HS and FP+ one of the Tier 1 rides for around 6:00-7:00. RnR coaster makes the most sense, so you can ride and then go into F!

Saturday do either HS or EP. You could do HS in the a.m. and finish up the must-dos there and then hop to EP (the boat ride is a good break). You could immediately do the P&F stuff in WS.

Sunday MK all day!

Mon EP in the morning with FP for the things you missed on Sat. Spend the evening at EP or hop to HS or MK

Tues Open to wherever you need/want more time or just play bus roulette and go wherever the first bus takes you.

 

[jacobsmommy]

My dh and 7yo won't be riding the "thrill rides". For TOT it will be just me and my ds. I think he'd rather ride with me. RnR will be the same and it'll be his first ride on it so I'm sure he'll want to ride with me.

For that short of a trip would photo pass be worth it at all? Do you get your ride pics with it like you do at Disneyland?

 

[mrzrich]

If you can't do single rider for rockin rollercoaster you will just have to ride stand by. Tot is tier 2, so you can Fp+ Toy Story (tier 1), tot and star wars

Test track will be doable standby at rope drop

 

[Angel Ariel]

This will be our first (and probably only) trip in October. Since I'm a teacher and my kids are in school, we can only swing a 5 day trip (which includes arrival and departure days). We are going at this time because my kids really want to do the Halloween party. We will arrive around 12:45 on a Friday (October 23) and head straight to resort and then straight to a park. We will leave on the 27th around 2:45 (when ME picks us up. We will go to a park that day until pick up time. I am planning on not doing breaks since we have so little time (except for our Halloween party day). We bought tickets for the Sunday, October 25th party. How much time would you give each park with only 5 days? We have never been on this short of a trip before… It'll be me, dh, 11yo ds, 7yo dd, and my mom. We are staying at Art of Animation.

My kids have made a must do list: MK-Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Seven Dwarves Mine Train, see new Fantasyland, fireworks, daytime and nighttime parade; DHS-TSMM, Star Tours, TOT, Rock & Rollercoaster, Fantasmic; AK-Everest, safari; Epcot- Soarin, Test Track, Phineas and Ferb thing in World Showcase.

Arriving at 12:45 and using ME, I'd give 2 hrs before you'd expect to be in a park...so arriving around 3ish. If you're entering a park that day, I would go to Epcot as it's open the latest. You don't have to stay til closing, but you can make the most out of your tickets even by staying til 8 (the other parks now are listed at closing at 7 (MK/HS) or 6 (AK). Schedule your FP+ for Epcot for maybe 3-4, 4-5, 6:30-7:30 (and then have a dinner ADR somewhere between 5-6:30ish.

Saturday - RD @ Animal Kingdom - spend as long as you want there. If desired, hop to DHS in the evening to see Fantasmic at 7:30

Sunday - Spend entire day at MK. Crowds will be lower during the morning b/c of the party (those w/o party tickets won't want to waste a ticket on MK that day) But if you're entering a park in the morning that day, not just entering at 4pm on your party ticket, then it makes the most sense to go to MK. Eat dinner before the party actually starts, so you don't waste party time eating dinner.

Monday - RD @ Hollywood Studios. Ride what you can before lines get long. Schedule FP+ here for re-rides of favorite attractions (if interested in re-rides, otherwise schedule in MK). Could hop to MK in afternoon/evening to see non-party nighttime attractions (MSEP, Wishes) if desired.

Tuesday - head to whatever park you want to spend more time in. Epcot (for Phineas and Ferb maybe),

just some thoughts that may work for you. We usually only have 4 day tickets, since we use the Armed Forces Salute tickets, so we try to do 2 MK days, 1 Epcot day, and 1/2 days at AK and DHS (generally).

 

[Angel Ariel]

My dh and 7yo won't be riding the "thrill rides". For TOT it will be just me and my ds. I think he'd rather ride with me. RnR will be the same and it'll be his first ride on it so I'm sure he'll want to ride with me.

For that short of a trip would photo pass be worth it at all? Do you get your ride pics with it like you do at Disneyland?

If you get Memory Maker, yes ride photos are included. We were there for 5 nights (but only 4 in park days) in November, and had almost 300 photos on my photopass account - BEFORE edits. Definitely worth it for us

 

[vicb]

Glad you bought hoppers, we always hop and our last couple of trips have been 4.5 days. With hoppers you have so much flexibility. Last trip we hopped into AK after being most of the day at Epcot, we just wanted to ride EE which we did twice then left for our dinner ADR.

I was also wanting to say even on short trips we always plan lunch ADRs in parks. Never underestimate the value of sitting down out of the chaos for an hour, cooling off and getting re-hydrated. Some of the restaurants function like an attraction and if your kids haven't been they might get a kick out of like Sci-Fi Drive In. Plaza in MK is good for lunch, so is Via Napoli in Epcot.

Good luck.

 

[dpswift]

as much as I am not a big eater I enjoy table service meals in Disney. We use sit down meals the same way as others use pool time. Get out of the crowds and cool off a bit. I also like not worrying about getting a seat at quick service restaurants.

 

[tcherjen]

I'm a teacher too! We do quite a few short trips. ( Live in Florida) I always do rope drop, then schedule FP+ for a different park in the evening. This works well for us. Park hoppers are great for short trips. My oldest and youngest went to the MNSSHP and loved it. They said it was a perfect time to ride the rides with hardly any wait and they went on October 31st. Have a great time.

 

[jacobsmommy]

I'm trying to get my plans in place before making a few ADRs on Sunday... What makes more sense for arrival day when we arrive by plane at 12:45- DHS though Fantasmic, AK to get it done in the few hours left, or Epcot (even though it will be busy with F&WF)??? I'm torn...

 

[vicb]

Hmmm, AK sometimes thins out later in the day so that might not be a bad idea. You could plan a dinner ADR at Yak and Yeti or RFC if your kids would enjoy either.

Last few trips we have done one of the other parks on arrival night as they have better night time atmospheres. MK at night is pretty special. If you go you can use your FP+s to ride a fav ride an extra time from your planned MK day or use FP+ on rides you wouldn't have used a FP for on your MK day (does that make sense?). We ate dinner at the Plaza last trip on our eve in MK as it was a shorter meal than some of the others but still a sit down.

 

[jacobsmommy]

MK closes early on our arrival day for the Halloween party.

 

[vicb]

MK closes early on our arrival day for the Halloween party.

Yikes, then forget what I said haha!

 

[jacobsmommy]

What I'm looking at right now is DHS on arrival night with Fantasmic, on Saturday AK (breakfast before opening) with MK that night for parade and fireworks, on Sunday MK with Halloween party that night, Monday Epcot all day, Tuesday until 2:30ish DHS.
Does this plan make sense?

 

[vicb]

Last trip we did arrival night at HS but it was eve emh and we arrived a lot later than you are. The good thing about doing an extra visit to HS is getting some attractions done which makes touring day easier in terms of fitting in all the shows you might want to see also. Somehow we run out of time for LMA or one of the big shows. HS is fun at night too. If you want to see F! that might be a good night, maybe folks will be at F&W and the MK Halloween party.

 

[vicb]

Sure, I think your plan sounds good. You can use one of your FP+ arrival night for TSM and do it again with FP+ on your day visit.

 

[Angel Ariel]

If you land at 12:45, I'd plan on being able to enter a park around 2:45pm. Given the park hours that day, I would either choose DHS or Epcot. I don't know if 10pm Illuminations is too late for your group. If it's not, I'd head to Epcot. We were there on a Friday night last year, on arrival day - went to see David Cook perform at the American pavilion. WS wasn't crazy...I would have had no issue having DD with us had she been on the trip. If 10pm is too late, then I'd go to DHS for the extra hour of touring.