More for Less: A Theme Park Planning Strategy

[Cormoran]

This next trip only 3 Days @ WDW and then 3 @ Universal. Then depending on how the trip goes, we may not be visiting for several years. It's a 6 hour drive to DLR, so we can visit more often for a lot less money.

 

[johde]

This next trip only 3 Days @ WDW and then 3 @ Universal. Then depending on how the trip goes, we may not be visiting for several years. It's a 6 hour drive to DLR, so we can visit more often for a lot less money.

The question LakeTravis is asking is would you be better served with a Universal Powerpass (or 14 day 3 park pass) and a 6 day Disney ticket and treat all 6 parks as 1 unit.

A 6 day 1 park per day Disney ticket is $10 cheaper than a 3 day Park Hopper ticket.
You can upgrade a 3 day Universal ticket (assuming it's not the buy 2 get 1 free) to a power pass for $9. So, ticket prices could be a wash. Your "park hopping" would be between a Universal Park and a Disney Park although with a power pass you could park hop at Universal and ride the Hogwarts Express.

Visiting both park families nearly every day you can take advantage of the fact the Disney Parks tend to stay open later in the evening compared to Universal Parks especially MK and EPCOT. With 6 Disney days you have 6 days worth of prebooked FP+'s as well.

 

[soniam]

If you are flying out of ABIA, then you could grab a quick, cheap sandwich from Thundercloud. Those are pretty filling and usually survive boarding. I thought you were driving this trip. It must be the following one.

 

[Shaden]

I think this depends on if you're willing to burn a ticket for a few hours of park time. The only time this would appeal to me is if we had AP's. But we don't visit enough to justify the cost.

Also if you are staying beyond 6 days, its only about $7 per day right ? At that point to get 2 - 3 hours in the park, seem worth it to me ..

 

[Robo]

Also if you are staying beyond 6 days, its only about $7 per day right ?

Adding a "day" to a 5-day (or more) ticket currently costs $10.65 per day.

 

[Robo]

- FP'ing a headliner takes what? 20 minutes? So let's allocate an hour to those. Wishes lasts 15 minutes? And MSEP is 30?

I'm not sure what you are asking, but the length of "show" of Wishes is about 14 minutes, and MSEP is nearly the same.
Neither of those accounts for any time spent waiting for them to begin.

 

[Jennasis]

I'd be more concerned about the drive time from the resort to the park. I know it says 15 minutes, but very often Orlando traffic says otherwise LOL.

 

[Laketravis]

I've updated Day One with the FP's that were available this morning at 7:30 on the first day of our 30 day window.

It was interesting to manipulate the choices. At first I wasn't able to get much of anything for later in the evening, but I stuck with my three choices and changed the times around on all of them several times. It was like being dealt a hand from a deck of cards. Each time I changed one it opened up new time choices for the others. Eventually I was able to arrange them in the order you see, hoping for an efficient park route while placing us close to Wishes and MSEP as we exited a ride. So the schedule came out as follows:

8p-9p: Haunted Mansion. This is our sacrificial FP since we won't arrive until after 9p
9p-10p: 7DMT. We'll head straight to this after arrival, should exit this ride with enough time to make our way to a decent viewing spot for Wishes
10p: Wishes
10p-11p: Space Mountain. We'll be fairly close to Tomorrowland and anticipate getting onto SM by 10:25p, exit SM and head toward Hub for parade.
11p: MSEP

I think that's a pretty efficient use of less than 2 hours in the park on our arrival night.


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[mom2rtk]

I've updated Day One with the FP's that were available this morning at 7:30 on the first day of our 30 day window.

It was interesting to manipulate the choices. At first I wasn't able to get much of anything for later in the evening, but I stuck with my three choices and changed the times around on all of them several times. It was like being dealt a hand from a deck of cards. Each time I changed one it opened up new time choices for the others. Eventually I was able to arrange them in the order you see, hoping for an efficient park route while placing us close to Wishes and MSEP as we exited a ride. So the schedule came out as follows:

8p-9p: Haunted Mansion. This is our sacrificial FP since we won't arrive until after 9p
9p-10p: 7DMT. We'll head straight to this after arrival, should exit this ride with enough time to make our way to a decent viewing spot for Wishes
10p: Wishes
10p-11p: Space Mountain. We'll be fairly close to Tomorrowland and anticipate getting onto SM by 10:25p, exit SM and head toward Hub for parade.
11p: MSEP

I think that's a pretty efficient use of less than 2 hours in the park on our arrival night.


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Looks like a great start for arrival day! I've always thought arrival day was one of the advantages of FP+. That never really mattered to me on our 10 day trips, but on a shorter trip it would be a bigger deal to me.

 

[Laketravis]

I'm not familiar with Orlando traffic patterns, but won't it be late enough at night to not be an issue?

LT.... what time will your DS have gotten up that morning? Will he have any trouble staying up that late?

Last month we zipped around between MCO and International drive pretty quickly. Seems like we passed Rosen Shingle Creek after leaving MCO within 10 minutes. I suspect many over-estimate Orlando transit times but I'll pay closer attention in the future to see if that's the case.

DS9 is a monster when it comes to staying up, I had to force him to leave MK at 2am last year. I suspect I have a late-night party'er on my hands in a few years. He'll have been up since 6am for school that day, but FL is an hour ahead of us. So being up until midnight will be like 11pm for him - and he's just getting started at that point

 

[mom2rtk]

Last month we zipped around between MCO and International drive pretty quickly. Seems like we passed Rosen Shingle Creek after leaving MCO within 10 minutes. I suspect many over-estimate Orlando transit times but I'll pay closer attention in the future to see if that's the case.

DS9 is a monster when it comes to staying up, I had to force him to leave MK at 2am last year. I suspect I have a late-night party'er on my hands in a few years. He'll have been up since 6am for school that day, but FL is an hour ahead of us. So being up until midnight will be like 11pm for him - and he's just getting started at that point

And with it being your first day, I'm sure he'll have his adrenaline pumping. I managed to hang in there a lot later on our first day in DL last December after a 2 hour time change.

What time do you intend to get going the next morning?

 

[Laketravis]

And with it being your first day, I'm sure he'll have his adrenaline pumping. I managed to hang in there a lot later on our first day in DL last December after a 2 hour time change.

What time do you intend to get going the next morning?

I've never left the parks by car before, so I don't have a feel yet for how long it will take to exit MK after an 11pm MSEP using the alternate exit, get to our car and back to the Rosen. But let's say 1am? USO opens at 9am and is less than 10 minutes from the Rosen so I'm planning on hitting HP by 10am or so. A few hours in US is plenty, we'll leave for an early dinner in International, and then head to EP for the evening for FW and WS. It might sound like a rush on paper but my experience tells me it can be done at a leisurely yet fulfilling pace. And DS9 just got elected to student council treasurer yesterday, so he'll be tasked with keeping the running total on this trip!

 

[erc]

I don't see using an AP for a single 7 day trip as saving money. Unless this plan is for multiple 7 day vacations in one year? A non-premium AP for a family of 3 (2 10+) is $2,025. A 7 day ticket for that family is $1,013.

 

[WendyLou]

interesting.....

 

[Laketravis]

I don't see using an AP for a single 7 day trip as saving money. Unless this plan is for multiple 7 day vacations in one year? A non-premium AP for a family of 3 (2 10+) is $2,025. A 7 day ticket for that family is $1,013.

You forgot to add parking and hoppers to the 7 day ticket price.

But wait for it. Apparently I have to show the entire plan before I can demonstrate why an AP will be worth it in terms of cost and the ability to realize an additional visit or two with the savings realized.

If that turns out not to be the case, then the AP requirement can be removed and the savings calculated against a 7-day ticket. So in all fairness, you could say I'm starting out with worse-case.

 

[WillAustin]

Apparently I have to show the entire plan before I can demonstrate why an AP will be worth it in terms of cost and the ability to realize an additional visit or two with the savings realized.

I'll be interested to see if the AP savings could possibly get you enough to cover airfare on an additional visit. Having the AP sure makes you more aware of any low fares or specials.

 

[Laketravis]

I'll be interested to see if the AP savings could possibly get you enough to cover airfare on an additional visit. Having the AP sure makes you more aware of any low fares or specials.

This trip next month is a bit of a fluke - it's the first time we've been over spring break, I'm speaking at a conference and have to stay at that resort, airfare/rental car, etc.......

So I can't really draw a fair comparison between our previous trips (Onsite meal, onsite lodging, etc) and this one because this one is already starting out with unusually high inflated costs.

But the real litmus test is in June when we drive to Orlando, stay in a condo for $242 a week, etc. That's when savings and value converge.

 

[WillAustin]

But the real litmus test is in June when we drive to Orlando, stay in a condo for $242 a week, etc. That's when savings and value converge.

For me, just the idea of those numbers might justify booking another trip by air, especially holding an AP.

 

[Angel Ariel]

It was interesting to manipulate the choices. At first I wasn't able to get much of anything for later in the evening, but I stuck with my three choices and changed the times around on all of them several times. It was like being dealt a hand from a deck of cards. Each time I changed one it opened up new time choices for the others. Eventually I was able to arrange them in the order you see, hoping for an efficient park route while placing us close to Wishes and MSEP as we exited a ride. So the schedule came out as follows:

8p-9p: Haunted Mansion. This is our sacrificial FP since we won't arrive until after 9p
9p-10p: 7DMT. We'll head straight to this after arrival, should exit this ride with enough time to make our way to a decent viewing spot for Wishes
10p: Wishes
10p-11p: Space Mountain. We'll be fairly close to Tomorrowland and anticipate getting onto SM by 10:25p, exit SM and head toward Hub for parade.
11p: MSEP

I think that's a pretty efficient use of less than 2 hours in the park on our arrival night.


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LT- how did you book the fp+ originally? Did you accept Disney's evening times that they suggested and then modify?

I don't know if you have tried this, but I've found that if I'm trying to book all evening fp+ (or morning), that I see the best availability for fp+ by first booking times at the opposite end of the day that I want, and then modifying them to what I really want. This way the system is showing me a ride's full availability in the time frame I'm wanting to book. I found it cuts down on the amt of shuffling/modifying I had to do.

 

[dayvewc]

Tomorrow morning I'll see what FP's are available and solidify Friday night's agenda. Then, the eat-fest will begin on Saturday as I decide what off-site venue will be my victim.

Kind of late to this thread, but I'm partial to Bahamas Breeze on Irlo Bronson headed west if I'm looking for really good food, and for lots of food cheap there's a Cici's pizza out there as well.

Off topic. Not used to the new forums. Not liking them much yet.