Need HELP! Trip straddles July / Aug., without Aug. hours, how do I plan ADRs?

[heycher]

Hi all, hoping to get some advice from you smart folks!

We've got a trip coming up July 29 - Aug. 5. For July 29, 30, and 31 - I, of course, have the July park hours... so I've been able to come up with a plan of which parks we'll be at on which days (and ADR wish list).

Without knowing what August's EMHs are (we tend to avoid them), AND my 90 day ADR window approaching before we'll have August hours..... I am wondering if you guys have any advice on how to plan?

Do I have ANY way to guess what parks might have EMH days in August? Do they stay at all consistent from the previous year? If I knew that, I could maybe put together guesses. I use touringplans.com's suggested best parks, etc..

THANK you so much in advance for any thoughts or suggestions!
Cheryl

 

[brendaziz]

Since it's the beginning of August, I would just plan on the hours being the same as the last week of July- but it stinks that there's just no way to know for sure :-(

This is a huge flaw in the park hours system.....

Sorry I'm not more helpful but I feel for ya! You'll prob just have to do a lot of guessing and be prepared to make changes as needed.

 

[dancin Disney style]

Look at the park hours for 2008. Mostly likely it will be the same for 2009.

You can compare the July 08/09 to see the similarities.

 

[srwarden1928]

Use the touringplans.com recommended park days to choose which park which day. They come out early enough. You may have to guess some on the times, but at least you will know where you plan to be when.

 

[KigerKat]

I had this same problem last year with our Oct/Nov stay. And you can't really rely on last year's hours to plan - I've heard that they are cutting back a lot from last year on the hours and shows.

You can try to go along with the end of July, I think that would be the safest.

Good luck!

 

[3for Me]

oops double post!

 

[3for Me]

Since it's the beginning of August, I would just plan on the hours being the same as the last week of July- but it stinks that there's just no way to know for sure :-(

This is the strategy we are using...we have the EXACT dates you do!

 

[Colleen27]

You guess, and hope you don't have to make any big changes. If it is any consolation, having the park hours in hand might not matter, since they've been making so many changes to park schedules.

We're going Sept 25 to Oct 4, and this is what I'm doing: I'm booking the very hard to get, super-desirable ADRs for the Sept part of the trip, since those will be the ones that are impossible to change if they don't fit into the schedule. Our first EPCOT day and our resort day will be early in the trip so we can be sure to get Le Cellier and both our character meals at times we won't want to change, and we will leave the less popular meals like Marrakesh and a few of the signatures for the Oct part of the trip to make it easier to make changes if needed.

 

[Leni-J]

We're going Sept 26 - Oct 3 so we're in the same situation. I do have a question about Fantasmic. I know there's no guarantees that it will stay this way, but it seems to be always shown on Thursday nights. That will be Oct 1 for us. My 90 day window opens on 6/28 but Oct hours won't be released until 7/1. Since that's the case, there'd be no way to book the Fantasmic package until the hours are actually released on 7/1, right? So I could book all my other ADR's on 6/28, then call back on 7/1 first thing to book Fantasmic (gambling that it will be shown on Thursday)? No one else would be able to book it before 7/1 either, right?

 

[NorweJenNY]

You guess, and hope you don't have to make any big changes. If it is any consolation, having the park hours in hand might not matter, since they've been making so many changes to park schedules.

We're going Sept 25 to Oct 4, and this is what I'm doing: I'm booking the very hard to get, super-desirable ADRs for the Sept part of the trip, since those will be the ones that are impossible to change if they don't fit into the schedule. Our first EPCOT day and our resort day will be early in the trip so we can be sure to get Le Cellier and both our character meals at times we won't want to change, and we will leave the less popular meals like Marrakesh and a few of the signatures for the Oct part of the trip to make it easier to make changes if needed.

Hey there! We'll be down the same time as you too! You've got some smart ideas!

We're especially nervous about Le Cellier as Food & Wine begins... weekends should be horrible... gotta get there earlier in our trip. Hope the ADRs aren't snagged up for then! We're also hoping to try Tutto for the first time then.