New To Disboards, Have Some Questions!

[AUTUMN SUN]

Hello Everyone! I Have Been In Stealth Mode For A While, Just Sitting Back And Reading All The Great Info On This Board. The Time Has Come That I Have A Few Unanswered Questions I Need To Ask. I Will Be Spending 5 Days And 4 Nights At The Pop From 12/27 - 12/31/05.Traveling Will Be Myself, Dh, Ds 7 And Dd 5. First Question: I Will Be Arriving On A Tuesday Around Noon Or So. Seeing As We Only Have Five Days, We Want To Hit A Park The First Day. We Plan To Spend One Day At Each Park And Two At The Magic Kingdom. The Fifth Day I Was Thinking About Animal Kingdom ,That Way We Could Get A Start Traveling To Our Next Destination Before Dark. Im Just Not Sure About The First Day. Epcott Or Mgm. Next Question Is I Have The Magic My Tickets Without The Park Hopper So I Can Only Go To One Park A day. Does That Mean To Get The Most Out Of The Extra Hours For Disney Guests I need To Go To That Particular Park That Day? Im Worried It Would Be Very Busy On Those Days. Should I Just Upgrade To A Parkhopper. I Hope This All Makes Sense! Thanks.............

 

[jordanyosh]

welcome to the boards.

First, prepare yourself to be at WDW during the busiest time of the year. If you know ahead of time that there may be gridlock at times, you will save yourself a world of disappointment.

Since you don't have hoppers, I would avoid the EMH parks. You won't be able to leave when it gets crowded later in the morning. For the MK try and be there at least 30-45 minutes before opening as they often open early during this peak time. The MK seems to be the most impacted by the crowds. Epcot is able to absorb crowds the best, although the attractions will be crowded.

I would perhaps spring for the hopper as it would give you more options, especially if you hit a park and it is too crowded. With the hopper you could hit a few parks per day and not feel stuck in one park for the duration.

I would maybe hit Epcot World Showcase in the PM that first day as you can see alot of entertainment w/o actually going into an attraction.

 

[AKLgirl]

Congrats on your first post!
Add the hopper to your tickets!! Not much more $$ for the freedom of going where you want when you want,
Tip 2. I have seen and learned...Go early! nap in the afternoon, go back at night. i have not napped in 10 years, but at Disney I did!

 

[Rootskate]

Welcome!

 

[zurgswife]

Welcome. I also highly recommend Hopper passes at that time of year. The parks will be packed. MK when we were there that week 2 years ago routinely closed to anyone entering by 12 noon. If you have hoppers you will be able to move to another park if your park is to overwhelming. The lines will be long almost everywhere prepare yourself mentally for that. Then you won't be disappointed. Plan for large crowds. Our group took advanatage of Early Morning hours and were really glad we did especially at MK.

 

[jswalker1981]

Welcome to the board! Get the hopper! This way you will be able to hit some bigger attractions from each park but not be stuck in only one park for the whole day. So you could just hit a couple parks in one day and get the bigger rides out of the way. Go back for EMH during the week and finish off the parks.

 

[babybeag]

Welcome!

We will be in WDW this Saturday for 7 days. We did not get the hopper b/c we have small kids and I dont want to feel like I HAD to hop! This way, we will be forced to relax a bit more and enjoy one park a day. May backfire but what will be will be!

Enjoy!

 

[Jackie H.]

Welcome! I agree with everyone else that the Hopper add-on to your tickets is well worth the money at this time of year!

As other have noted, this is one of the busiest weeks of the year at WDW (the other being the week before that - Christmas week). Furthermore, December 31st may be the single busiest day of the year. Please know that Magic Kingdom is very, very very likely to get so full as to close by early afternoon (if not late morning). That means that is has all the people it can handle and no one else can come in - even those staying on property.

There are different levels of closing and it can and does get to that point on New Years Eve. If you are staying on property (as POP is), you are guaranteed to get in A park - not necessarily the park you want.

EPCOT is the next most likely to fill up, but it is a huge park so that doesn't happen as often.

So you first need to decide which park you want to do on NYE. If you don't mind the crowds and absolutely have to be in MK that day then plan to get there at opening and stay all day - once you leave don't expect to get back in. I also wouldn't plan on getting to ride a lot of rides this day - the crowds are just too large. Do a search on this topic. We have been there on NYE, believe me this is the way it is!

If you would rather avoid the really huge crowds, plan to go to AK that day. It closes early and doesn't have the midnight fireworks (or any fireworks) so the NYE crowd doesn't gather there. It will still be crowded just not a mob house!

I think that is what you need to decide first then plan the rest of your stay around that.

 

[nativetxn]

I just want to welcome you to the DIS, AUTUMN SUN. Looks like you've already received some great advice.

I hope you will visit the DIS often.

Katholyn

 

[QuickGold]

Welcome

 

[swtnikki]

Welcome to the DIS!

 

[AUTUMN SUN]

Thanks for making me feel so welcome everybody and I really do appreciate all the great advice! I guess I will upgrade to the park hopper. I new it would be busy at that time of year but I had know idea that they actually would close parks! Yikesssssssssssss