Itinerary Planning Help

[db24]

Trying to make a plan for our trip with having to make dining reservations soon. Will be going in December arriving on a Saturday and departing the following Saturday. Will be a group of 9 which includes a 1 year old, 3 year old, and 8 year old going. I am having a hard time deciding how many days are needed at animal kingdom and Hollywood studios with the inclusion of new stuff at those parks since last time we went. We will have park hopper tickets staying at contemporary and and want opinions on what I have in mind so far.

Saturday Arrival (early afternoon): Eat dinner at resort and go to magic kingdom that evening
Sunday: Hollywood studios
Monday: animal kingdom
Tuesday: Epcot
Wednesday: go to Epcot for the morning and magic kingdom for evening EMH
Thursday: Magic Kingdom and do Christmas party
Friday: Thinking of a split day between animal kingdom and Hollywood studios
Saturday (evening depart 7pm): magic kingdom in the morning and eat lunch there

 

[sharonabe]

Well, it would mean a complete redo, but if you're going to try to get FP+ for the new-to-you Flight of Passage at AK, you'll need an AK day later in your week. The same for whatever happens with FP+ at HS. If they keep the Tiers in HS the way they will be starting in Aug where EVERYTHING is a Tier 1, you'll want at least two days there where you're getting FP+ for that park in order to get Slinky Dog and whatever is a must do for your group. So doing the split day on that last Friday doesn't help with FP+. However, I think Disney's theory for HS is that with everything being Tier 1, you should be able to get something.

So...I might leave Sunday as HS because you'll probably be able to get a decent Tier 1 for that day.
I'd move my Thur MK before party to Tuesday and hop somewhere that evening. My choice would be EP. Put AK on that Thur morning before the party. That should make getting a FoP FP much easier. Move EP to Monday. Oh and to make HS a little more difficult, you may want two evenings there so you can see F! and whatever the other nighttime show will be. They should still have their Christmas show, but may also have a Star Wars show.

Sunday: HS
Mon: EP
Tues: MK until about 3:00 then hop
Wed: AK or HS then hop to MK
Thur: AK then party
Fri: AK or HS and hop to some place you need a little more time
Sat: MK

 

[db24]

Thanks for the reply! That was a lot of good info. I really like that plan. I'm open to change our itinerary completely if need be. In the past we always did 1 day at AK and 1 day at HS but with the new to us stuff we thought we might need extra time there