Just Back from Spring Break with FP+

[xxxlovinitxxx]

(With a $20K budget, I'd go to Italy for sure! We usually don't spend much more than $3K for a week at Disney...less now that we own DVC. I couldn't imagine spending $20K at Disney...maybe Disneyland Paris or other international Disney locations...but not in FL or CA. Yikes!)

Karen

LOL. Well, like I said this is our first trip and I estimated by looking at the resort and ticket prices that we would need about $2000 per person. This is for 10 people, 10 days, 9 nights at Art of Animation with 10 day Park Hopper, Water Park, Fun & More Tickets. Plus $100 per day per person for food and whatever is left over for souvenirs. And that's because when I priced the Premium Dining Plan it was $10k for only 5 people!

I would love to have more accurate prices but Disney says prices for May of next year won't be out until August.

 

[2Tiggies]

no... we don't usually split up... but we still get a fair amount done. I think the success is Rope Drop. When we go at rope drop, it's a pleasure. This March was slightly different in that the end of the week was more crowded (EMH). Every day is different. The beginning of the week (March 22) at Magic Kingdom wasn't as crowded (9 am opening) for spring break. We did rope drop and we didn't feel crowded or in a hurry. We got so much done from 9 to 11 a.m. The rest was gravy after that... Hall of Presidents, Laugh Floor, etc... all done in the early afternoon.
.

Thanks for all those details. Again, very helpful We are preparing for late June through Independence Day so I'm using Spring Break and the upcoming Easter week as a barometer for our trip. I accept that we are not going to be able to use our former strategies so I'm looking for the best options to work with right now. I cannot tell you how many times we have had to re-do our itinerary for this trip, not only due to FP+ to be fair, but also changes in plans with friends we were meeting over the course of the trip. I am actually sick of looking at these spreadsheets now

We like the 'gravy' parts of the day too and won't dismiss them as a fundamental part of each day - we have always enjoyed the lesser attractions - we just save them for when it's busiest, but again, it looks like when we do them has to change.

We are rope drop people (although certainly not morning people by choice). We also make use of EMH but with the extended park hours in the busy summer time we are visiting this year, we have to be mindful of too many back to back super early mornings after very late nights. Our current plans actually have us skipping some of the EMH parks in the mornings in favor of the quieter (I use that word very loosely!) recommended parks for a rope drop start, with a break in the middle if we are ending up with a fairly late night.

- Before you visit, look at wait times each day in the a.m. and afternoon. I did this and was able to set expectations for my family.

Thanks - that is a very good idea and something I am going to start tracking in the week prior to our trip. Of course with FP+ being open to all guests by at least 30 days out as of this coming week, time will tell how easy it is to change parks a few days out.

Having spent our fair share of days at WDW, it is a strange feeling, but I really felt better prepared for our very first trip than I do for this one

 

[Angel Ariel]

That is because the end of February was what a 6 or 7 park day, and this week has been 9+? SO yes more crowds have always resulted in long lines, certainly not walk on or under 30 minutes for even Pirates or HM on a 9 park day during spring break crowds.

And yet during Easter week last year, with 9-10 crowd levels, HM specifically only had an average wait of longer than 50 mins on 2 days out of 7. I believe 2 or 3 days were 25-30 min average wait times, and then there was a 30-40 min average wait...

So saying that HM did not have wait times 30 mins or under during 9+ level crowds would actually not be correct.