MK or HS for first full day at WDW?

[FantasmicMike]

So I'm in the process of second-guessing and rethinking my original plan for my family's first visit to the World during the first week of January (4th-10th).

At the moment, we're planning on spending our first afternoon/evening in Epcot (primarily to do the Akershus princess dinner with my DD6). Then, the schedule is as follows:

Monday: MK (focusing on Frontierland, Liberty Square, Adventureland, and the FoFP)

Tuesday: MK again (BBB for DD6, and then focusing primarily on Fantasyland, A&E, ETwB w/scheduled FP+).

Wednesday: HS (Jedi Training for DS10, Fantastmic dinner package at H&V)

Thursday: Universal Day

Friday: Back at MK (my brother is visiting for two days, so this will be some revisiting favorites, a few new rides, Tomorrowland in particular).

So, here's what I've been considering. Monday is likely the busiest day for MK. I've considered swapping HS with MK. The benefits seem to be lower crowds at MK on Wednesday (maybe slightly busier for HS on Monday vs. Wed., but not by a great deal). That may allow us to keep a relaxed pace, but still see more.

The drawbacks, as I see them, are:

• losing our Fantasmic! Dinner package ADR (seems to be out for Monday)
• not getting to the MK early in the trip (its our kids' first visit to either Disney park).
• Having to reset FP+, and potentially not get what we had (the really valuable ones are safe - 7DMT, A&E, Belle, are all on Tuesday, along with BBB).

Any thoughts? Is it worth mixing up my original plan just based on the suggested parks in light of crowd size? Any suggestions would be great!

 

[akmolbert]

I'd personally keep it as is. We started our first trip there even though the crowd predictors suggested a different park would be better, and I'm glad we did MK first. Much of what my boys knew beforehand about Disney centered around the castle, so for us it was definitely the right thing to do. Besides, you'll have plenty of time later in the week to get to things you might have missed out on.

 

[lauradis]

So I'm in the process of second-guessing and rethinking my original plan for my family's first visit to the World during the first week of January (4th-10th).

At the moment, we're planning on spending our first afternoon/evening in Epcot (primarily to do the Akershus princess dinner with my DD6). Then, the schedule is as follows:

Monday: MK (focusing on Frontierland, Liberty Square, Adventureland, and the FoFP)

Tuesday: MK again (BBB for DD6, and then focusing primarily on Fantasyland, A&E, ETwB w/scheduled FP+).

Wednesday: HS (Jedi Training for DS10, Fantastmic dinner package at H&V)

Thursday: Universal Day

Friday: Back at MK (my brother is visiting for two days, so this will be some revisiting favorites, a few new rides, Tomorrowland in particular).

So, here's what I've been considering. Monday is likely the busiest day for MK. I've considered swapping HS with MK. The benefits seem to be lower lower crowds at MK on Wednesday (maybe slightly busier for HS on Monday vs. Wed., but not by a great deal). That may allow us to keep a relaxed pace, but still see more.

The drawbacks, as I see them, are:

• losing our Fantasmic! Dinner package ADR (seems to be out for Monday)
• not getting to the MK early in the trip (its our kids' first visit to either Disney park).
• Having to reset FP+, and potentially not get what we had (the really valuable ones are safe - 7DMT, A&E, Belle, are all on Tuesday, along with BBB).

Any thoughts? Is it worth mixing up my original plan just based on the suggested parks in light of crowd size? Any suggestions would be great!

Hopper tickets?

You could always go to Mk in am for first two hours of park opening on Monday, but it gets crazy after 11am.

Monday jan 5 say hs has emh at 7pm that's why you cant find an adr

I would hop over to animal kingdom for couple of hours then relax, have dinner hop over to hs for emh from 630-9

i wouldn't give up other plans its Monday that's being a pain lol

 

[Ceryssa]

Personally, I love the idea of going to MK the first day, it just seems "right". Yes Mondays are supposed to be busier, but you aren't going at a time where crowds should be really high I don't think. If they get busy in the middle of the day, you can always take a break and come back. We did a similar plan with breaking up MK into certain lands on different days, or tried to. If you do decide to swap because you don't want to go to the same park 2 days in a row, I wouldn't let a Fantasmic package stand in the way (although I didn't care for it so my perspective's a little different I guess). We were able to get great seats anyway (we had a FP for it but really didn't need it).

 

[magicaldisney]

We always go to MK first. It just seems to be the right thing to do!! It's just not a WDW vacation for us without seeing the castle first thing.

 

[Mikie]

I'd keep plans just as they are. I liked having the fantasmic package and I think you only have one fantasmic show per night during your time, so it's likely to be pretty full. MK on a first day is my favorite way to do it unless crowds are predicted to be really bad or drastically different from the rest of my trip (I.e. Level 7 on a holiday Monday vs 4s the rest of the week). Also, if you have a toy story FP on your DHS day, those can be hard to get & you might not want to lose it. You'll be busy doing jedi sign ups at rope drop, so you couldn't be in line for toy story at opening. Jedi training is great! A real highlight of our trip!

It's stressful (to me) to make all these plans, so I'd avoid changing them if I could and your original plan looks great.

 

[AngiTN]

Had you asked before booking FP and ADR I would have said switch, no question. Having seen MK on a Monday I would never, ever, ever go then. Same with a Saturday. It may have an over crowd level of a 3 or 4 but if you go when it's Monday or Saturday you'd swear it's 10+

I never start our trip at a certain park. I start our trip at the least crowded park for that day, no matter what park it is.

Some trips have been MK, some not. Next trip will be HS on our first day. We don't go to MK till our last day (short trip, no repeating parks)

But since your FP are set and you have ADR I wouldn't mess with things. They are too hard to fix now

 

[ArwenMarie]

You have to balance what's most important to you. I know super helpful right?

If going to MK on the first day is important, then that's what you should do!

If lower crowds are more important, then you should switch it around.

I would stick with your plan because moving FPs is a pain in the neck and because of the Fantasmic ADR.

 

[FantasmicMike]

But since your FP are set and you have ADR I wouldn't mess with things. They are too hard to fix now

I guess that was my sense - I was scrambling to switch a planned March trip to January, and hadn't thought too carefully about the crowd levels.

But thanks for all the feedback! I've talked it over with DW, and we're going to simply stick with our original plan. Since we don't have grand ambitions about how much we'll get done on that first day anyway (and with time to spare on Friday to fill in the gaps), longer lines/larger crowds won't wreck the whole thing.

 

[Mickeygolf]

I think you've made the right decision!!! No better way to start a Disney vacation then a visit to the MK. In the past we've even chosen the worst park day to visit MK but we always start there. Just seems like it's meant to be that way Good luck!!!

 

[RustManFan]

and the fact that you are not focusing on Fantasyland on Monday seems like your planned schedule will work. Hard enough to figure out FP+, ADRs and BBB appointments once without a change!