Ok... I need help! There isn't a headache like a WDW planning headache. I wish I can be a kid again and just show up and go along with what my parents planned 25+ years ago. However, I'm an adult with a family and I guess I have to plan. I'm getting information overload with all the researching. I have FOMO syndrome. Fear Of Missing Out adds another layer of complexity.
Details...
Party of 7. Me, my dad, wife and 4 children (well adults according to Disney).
Sunday Nov 20th - Friday Nov 25th at the POLY
4 day park passes for Mon-Thur (My FOMO kicked in so we have park hopper)
Quick Dining Plan (Although we would like to do one table service for Thanksgiving. We were thinking Spirit of Aloha or Ohana)
We will show up on Sunday around 10am at the resort and take advantage of the pools, amenities and start our quick dining until we can officially check into our room. We will stay at the resort all day. When Monday comes we will run around trying to do and see as much as possible.
We are early risers and go to bed early. However, we will make a vow to stay up as long as possible and take soak in as much as possible.
I hear HWS and AK are not full day parks. I need help with parks and hopping. What would you do?
ETA... this is my dad and my kids first time. My wife and I went when we were younger.
So exciting taking kids for the first time
Many people do say AK and HS are half-day parks, and half-day can mean different things to different people: done in 3 hours, or 6 hours, or for those who stay in other parks from open to close, is half day 8 hours?
For a first visit (which I would classify yours as
) I hate to tell people ANY park is a half-day, because we don't know and even you don't know all that will interest you. By the time you go, AK will hopefully have all their nighttime entertainment and additional entertainment, and it's reputation as a half-day park may very well change. I'd plan a full or full-
ish day there.
HS is another story unfortunately. It also happens to have been my favorite park, holding on by a string now. If you're SW fans I'd again say plan for a full day. If nobody is, that might be a good day to plan to hop since you got the hoppers anyway. If you're interested in Fantasmic, HS's night show, you could always go there early, leave mid-day to go to another park (Epcot is closest) then hop back for F!. Just a suggestion. As far as hopping other days I think you should figure out exactly what and how much you think you want to do in each park. With technically one day per park and maybe a half day to revisit one, you may not want to hop a lot. We do always get hoppers but we go often and find them very convenient for eating since we tend to eat a lot in Epcot regardless of where we were during the day.
After you all figure out how much interests you in each park you can decide if and when you think spending less than a full day makes sense. And do it soon, not much longer till it's time to make ADR's lol!! As I mentioned in a post above, having gone last Thanksgiving it'll serve you well being early risers. Making RD is a plus any time of year and most definitely will be a benefit the week you're going. Coincidentally we'll be there when you are, the 19-26th.
Hope I didn't confuse you and keep in mind what I've said is my opinion, there are lots of touring plans/strategies that work and lots of opinons on which parks deserve the most time. Except the part about making RD, that's fact
