Need help planning!

[Powderprincess]

Hello everyone!

I am currently planning my trip for August and looking for some advice. I am traveling with 1 other adult, a 7 year old and 4 year old. We will be spending 2 and half days in the parks. Half day Sunday and full days both Monday and Tuesday.

For our first day, I am planning for us to be at the park by 4:30 pm and hope to get fast passes for mickey and minnie meet and greet, 7 dwarves mine train and peter pans flight. Then we will watch Happily Ever After. We can ride more rides if there is short wait times but Im hoping to find our spots for Happily Ever After by about 8:15.

My fast pass questions are:
How long are typical wait times when using fast pass?
Would I be able to fit 3 fast pass rides between 4:30-8:15 without rushing?

We are staying at all star movies and plan to use the bus or uber for our trip.
Are busses typically packed after Happily Ever After?
Would it be worth it to walk to the contemporary and catch an uber from there to avoid lines?

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

Fast pass line waits are generally 10 mins or less. Every now and then, you might encounter one that is longer, and anything with a pre-show (Soarin, Test Track, FOP) will take longer simply because they can only put so many people in the pre-show room at a time. Some FP lines can also be much less than 10 mins, but in general, expect to wait around 10 mins.

You can definitely fit 3 FP rides in 3h45m. You may have time to standby ride a ride or two depending on the wait times as well.

Buses can be packed after HEA. Personally, we find them to be more packed at MK after the fireworks than at any of the other parks at closing. A lot will really depend though on just how many people are trying to catch the bus at that exact time back to your resort, and how quickly you get to the bus stop. If you're able to beat the mad rush of people leaving after HEA, it won't be as bad. I haven't tried Uber down there before, so really can't offer any advice with that.

 

[mkla2015]

My fast pass questions are:
How long are typical wait times when using fast pass? I would say more than 15 mins is uncommon. I've personally never waited more than 20 mins and that has only happened once or twice
Would I be able to fit 3 fast pass rides between 4:30-8:15 without rushing? absolutely. For your plan I'd try to grab the character meet for 430pm to go there right when you get to the park, then SDMT 530, and PP 630.

We are staying at all star movies and plan to use the bus or uber for our trip.
Are busses typically packed after Happily Ever After? YES
Would it be worth it to walk to the contemporary and catch an uber from there to avoid lines? Probably not. You could either watch HEA from the very front of the park and try to be in the front of the mass rush to the busses or you could hang out in the park for a while and be after the mass rush to busses.

 

[Brian4891]

Like you, I was concerned about getting a bus back to the hotel after the fireworks. For this reason, we chose a spot half-way up Main St so that we would have a good view but be able to leave the park quickly when it was over.

When the fireworks ended, there was a mass exodus from the park as expected, but when we got to our bus, we were the only ones there along with another family, and the driver even waited another 5 minutes for more people. Only 6 or 7 more people arrived, and our half-full bus left the lot. I was a bit disappointed, because we could have watched the fireworks from much closer and still had time to get on that same bus.

Now this was a Thursday night in February, and we were staying at the Dolphin. Maybe other hotels have longer waits for the bus, and maybe other days of the week or times of year are also a factor.

The show was great where we ended watching from, but I do think it's worth it to watch from in front of the castle if you can.