MLK, Jr. Day- Festival of Arts, crowds?

[ambula603]

We typically stay a week at WDW and visit MK more than once because it is my favorite park. But for this trip, we are adding 3 days of parks before/after our cruise. We have been to WDW many times, our girls are 10 and 12. We are typically one park per day, rope drop, then rest in middle, then come back at night. We have not seen the new shows at MK or Epcot, so we want to be in those parks at night.

Due to traveling, our only full day to be in any park is Thursday before our cruise, so we bought a park hopper. Planned to do AK and Epcot that day. We get on the cruise on Friday morning.

We get off the ship on Monday (actual holiday) and plan to go directly to MK. This will give a late start (hoping for lunchtime). That would be about 8 hours in the park. Since we are typically rope droppers, I am anxious that we will roll into the park and everything will be very crowded. But we could at least see the new fireworks that night. I've never done anything on MLK day so I have no idea what to expect.

On Tuesday, we would rope drop HS. We have to leave to go home that day around 5, but hopefully, we can see and do almost everything we want. So neither Monday nor Tuesday will be full days.

I was good with this plan until I realized that I MIGHT get to see some Festival of the Arts on Monday, Jan 17 if we did Epcot that day instead of Thursday. (Dates are Friday, Jan 14- Feb 21) I don't know what offerings they will have...but we have never seen this Festival before and have always wanted to. I had heard that the Festival was only on weekends so that is why I didn't consider it before. But having a holiday may change that. Due to Covid, I have no clue if I can look at previous years for information.

So... I could change and park hop to MK after AK on Thursday. It would be fewer hours (about 6). I don't typically put a ton of stock in crowd prediction numbers but I do think the Thursday before will be less crowded than the actual Monday holiday. But not being able to arrive until 2 really makes me sad. What about rope dropping MK until 2, then going to AK for a few hours, then back to MK for fireworks. Is that too much for one day!?

Add in Genie+ and I really don't know what to do - I had planned to purchase it for our MK day and HS day only. Now if I still get it for MK then I can also use it at AK, so that is a bonus

But will I regret not having those few more hours at MK?

So here are my questions:
1. Will Festival of the Arts have exhibits and booths on that Monday?
2. Will MK be too crowded for a late start on Monday?
3. Would you pick fewer hours in a less crowded park or more hours in a more crowded park?
4. Does park hopping take up so much of my day that I shouldn't do it twice? (MK, then AK, then back to MK)

Thanks for your input!

 

[bsmcneil]

I can't speak intelligently to 1 (going in '22 for my first time) and 2 is hard to gauge but I think you'll get a lot done with your Monday arriving at lunch plan (though maybe not everything). I would say that fewer hours in a less crowded park would be my choice because I really don't want to deal with crowds (just generally); and that if you're relying on Disney Transportation, then yes - I think PH would take up too much time to really be worth it. If you're doing rideshare/driving, maybe - but it still feels like it eats up a lot of time, especially considering AK is such a physically large place and closes earlier often (not sure of the time on the day you're traveling - but it doesn't feel like PH to Animal Kingdom for 2-5 would be worth much. If it were me, I'd go with the original plan (AK/EP before the cruise, MK on the Monday and DHS on the Tuesday) and let go of the Festival idea.