One solo day - help me decide which park

[Schneewittchen37]

Hi everyone, my upcoming solo day at WDW is in flux and I'd like some opinions about how to proceed.

Background: About every other year, I get a solo day at WDW. I go to an annual conference, it's usually in Orlando every other year. This Fall it's in Orlando again. During previous trips, I'll fly down to MCO Monday morning on the 6 am-ish flight and arrive in Orlando before 9 am. Get a black car to my hotel and dump my bags in my room or at concierge. Then I grab a Mears taxi to Contemporary and walk to MK. I'm usually walking down Main Street by 10:30 am and I'll do all the rides I want. Get a QS lunch and have a TS dinner in the park before catching another Mears taxi back to my hotel.

Whelp. I'm staying at a swanky off property conference resort hotel. I bought a 1 day, 1 park ticket and have a MK park pass booked. The park closes at 8 pm for a 9 pm after hours party. And I have a dinner reservation for Kona Cafe at 8:45 pm. And in theory, DH and the kids will fly down the last day of my conference later in the week and we'll all spend 4 days doing our first Universal Orlando trip. (So excited about that).

But the airline just changed my flight. Now my flight is at 7 am-ish. I'm glad for the extra hour of sleep, but now I'm re-thinking MK or going to just one park. I love MK, but I'm wondering if it's going to be worth it now. I'll probably get there closer to 11 or 11:30. I'm not going to AK, that's a given. AK is as hot as the seventh circle and I don't dig Pandora. There's plenty of park passes left for all of the parks. I have long term love feels for Epcot. In 1985 it was the most amazing thing ever and that's still with me. And HS is beginning to grow on me.

Of the 3 remaining park options, the hours are:
MK - 9 am - 8 pm (with the 9 - 1 am After Hours Party)
Epcot 11 am - 10 pm (with 10 pm - 12 am extended deluxe hours)
HS 9 am - 9 pm

I feel like I have four choices. What would you do?

Please tell me in minute by minute detail how you would plan this day.....

 

[Schneewittchen37]

Oh no, now I definitely can't go to MK. Philharmagic will be closed during my visit.

 

[xlsm]

If I were you, I think I'd start at MK to see the castle and do my favorite rides, and then monorail myself right on over to Epcot once hopping opens at 2:00 for Spaceship Earth (and maybe Soarin' and LWTL) before hitting the World Showcase.

I don't really plan minute by minute anymore, but if it were me, I would...

- Get to MK, take in Main Street and the Hub. Ooh and Aah over the castle.
- Head to Pirates
- *maybe* Tiki Room, *maybe* Dole Whip
- Check wait time for Splash, either ride if the line's not bad, or skip it and head to Country Bears.
- Haunted Mansion
- It's A Small World
- People Mover

Head out of the park, taking in last minute details, saying goodbye to the castle, maybe cry a little, monorail to Epcot.

Enter Epcot and...

- Ooh and Aah over the pretty lucite fountain and Spaceship Earth
- Visit Rome Burning
*Flip a coin...Head right to Soarin/Land OR stop in and check out Club Cool and Creations.

World Showcase time!

Shop, sip, and eat my way around the world. If Genie + is a thing at this point, pay to ride Remy to keep myself moving, and just enjoy the evening. If there's no festival booths (and maybe even if there are!), Stop at Spice Road Table for hummus fries and a drink (either the Sahara Spritz or Iced Mint Tea with gin), and again in Canada for maple popcorn.

Whatever you choose to do, I hope you have so much fun!

I'm leaving in a few days for a quick three day visit to see Happily Ever After one last time and the scenario I've laid out is basically how I'm spending my arrival day!

 

[loves to dive]

If it were me, I'd have a PH. Then I'd start my day at MK since it opens the same time as HS. I'm assuming your flight is 3 hours? Which would mean you are arriving around 10ish, Epcot would either not be open yet or just open by the time you get there.

My plans would be: Go to MK after I drop my bags off. Walk around Main Street and just soak it in, maybe catch a ride or two, depending on the wait times. Around noonish, hop over to Epcot. (edit to add: forgot aboout the 2pm hopping rule now so I'd hop at 1:45, maybe grab a snack at MK at some point in the morning) Since it's Fall, I'm going to assume F&W is happening so I'm eating my lunch by snacking around WS, wandering around countries in between snacks. I'll take my time and eventually make it up to FW. There I'll go into the Land and ride those two rides. Then I'll go over and walk through the Living Seas, then hit SSE. I will have made a dinner reservation at HBD in HS so I'll walk over there from Epcot. By next Fall, I'm hoping Fantasmic is back up and running. After supper, I'm walking around HS, catching a ride on ToT after dark cause I love it, maybe hoping in line for RoTR if it's to long. Ending my night at Fantasmic since it's actually my favorite night time show.

 

[2vets]

Another option would be to sacrifice the parkhopper and dinner at Kona - go to Epcot during the day and spring for an After Hours ticket for MK. That gets you into MK at 7 pm. More money, long day…but what a day!!

 

[Schneewittchen37]

Nice ideas. I'm thinking a park hopper might be good.

Another option would be to sacrifice the parkhopper and dinner at Kona - go to Epcot during the day and spring for an After Hours ticket for MK. That gets you into MK at 7 pm. More money, long day…but what a day!!

So true. That's tempting too.

 

[2vets]

Nice ideas. I'm thinking a park hopper might be good.

So true. That's tempting too.

Disney math n’ all. Enjoy! That’s my itinerary for my solo day in Nov.

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

Maybe I missed it, but when is this trip? That can really affect how I'd do a day so I'll wait to hear the answer. I agree with the others that if you can, I'd get a park hopper. I hate staying in one park all day.

 

[Schneewittchen37]

Maybe I missed it, but when is this trip? That can really affect how I'd do a day so I'll wait to hear the answer. I agree with the others that if you can, I'd get a park hopper. I hate staying in one park all day.

It's early November. Not a holiday weekend timeframe at all.

 

[MusicalAstronaut]

It's early November. Not a holiday weekend timeframe at all.

Ok! If Food & Wine is still going on and you're able to get a hopper, I would do Epcot & DHS, especially if your flight has you getting to the park at 11am-ish. You'll be able to go around the world and try all the food & drinks, and then you can hop to DHS in the afternoon for rides and SWGE. It might change in November, but right now DHS is having much lower lines in the afternoon vs morning. Have you explored SWGE much? I used to say DHS is a half day park but there's a lot to do in there right now if you like Star Wars.

Now, generally, MK will be less crowded on party days because park hours will be shorter so people will sometimes avoid it. The opposite might be true for Epcot in the evening - since they have extended hours people may wait until later in the day to go there. If you normally do MK I'd say do Epcot & DHS. There is a lot of new stuff in those parks and while I do love MK, lately that has been the park I'm done with in just a couple of hours. Just some food for thought! Plus if you have a hopper you can always hop to MK for a couple hours at the end of the night if you finish with Epcot & DHS quickly, and that way you can squeeze in some favorite rides before leaving.

 

[Schneewittchen37]

Ok! If Food & Wine is still going on and you're able to get a hopper, I would do Epcot & DHS, especially if your flight has you getting to the park at 11am-ish. You'll be able to go around the world and try all the food & drinks, and then you can hop to DHS in the afternoon for rides and SWGE. It might change in November, but right now DHS is having much lower lines in the afternoon vs morning. Have you explored SWGE much? I used to say DHS is a half day park but there's a lot to do in there right now if you like Star Wars.

Now, generally, MK will be less crowded on party days because park hours will be shorter so people will sometimes avoid it. The opposite might be true for Epcot in the evening - since they have extended hours people may wait until later in the day to go there. If you normally do MK I'd say do Epcot & DHS. There is a lot of new stuff in those parks and while I do love MK, lately that has been the park I'm done with in just a couple of hours. Just some food for thought! Plus if you have a hopper you can always hop to MK for a couple hours at the end of the night if you finish with Epcot & DHS quickly, and that way you can squeeze in some favorite rides before leaving.

Yep. It is Food and Wine festival time. That will make an awesome lunch.

Okay, I've upgraded to a hopper ticket. And changed my park pass to Epcot. My dinner reservation is now for Mama Melrose at HS.

 

[Schneewittchen37]

Thanks to all for helping me get out of my comfort zone. We'll see how it goes!

 

[Schneewittchen37]

Now I have to laugh and update. It looks like I won't be solo. A co-worker wants to join me.

ME: Are you sure you want to spend "ALL THE MONEY" getting a park hopper and going to Epcot and Hollywood Studios with me?
CW: Sure. It sounds like fun. Remember how I went solo a few years ago at your suggestion?
ME: But you said you had a terrible time and only like Animal Kingdom.
CW: Whatever. We'll get drunk....

 

[christie0562]

I would start at MK then go to Epcot for food and Wine