Park Hopping Plan Help?

[WDWRook]

Looking for a gut check here. We are going for one day on Wednesday March 25th with a Park Hopper. I got a date specific ticket and are only doing one day at the parks this trip. I'm not sure if I can change the date or not, but this date worked for the rest of our plans and has MK with extra evening hours to 1:00am. Four of us including a 19 and 15 year old and we have been to WDW maybe a dozen plus times, plus recently went to Disney Paris. We have done just about every ride except Tiana's, and seen every show except the new nighttime parade at MK and the new Villians show at HWS; I think.

Can some of you give me guidance on my current plan as we have never park hopped, but we are using it as something different to see how much we can do in one long day. My only "request" from tWife was to go to Fantasmic since we have not seen that since I first visit many years ago. My current plan isn't ideal for easiest movement between parks. FYI - we are staying at OKW.

My plan thus is to :
Start at AK early hours (Avatar and Everest must dos) - move around 10am -
Go to Epcot (our unanimous fav - Guardians and World Showcase must dos) - move around 4:30pm -
Hollywood studios (Galaxy's Edge, Brown Derby dinner, Fantasmic must dos) - move right after Fantasmic 9:30ish) -
MK until close at 1:00am (Tron, Tiana's, Parade must dos)

It would be easier to go HWS - Epcot - MK for travel ease, but then we can't to Fantasmic (hopefully we still love it as it's been a while). Obviously we want to keep it as flexible as possible and depends on LL bookings, so this is just a rough guide.

 

[Dave006]

Start at AK early hours (Avatar and Everest must dos) - move around 10am -

Park to park buses don't start until 10 AM so no need to rush out if you are using the buses.

It would be easier to go HWS - Epcot - MK for travel ease,

Not really and Epcot tends to be busier later in the day / evening. Not much difference taking a direct bus from HS to MK or the Epcot Monorail to MK since you would need to transfer at TTC.

Dave

 

[disneyfan150]

Where are you staying? Booking LLs may be a problem due to this being spring break season. We have a short trip planned Sat. March 21 - Wed. March 25. I was checking availability today. Competition for LLs is going to be tough.

 

[WDWRook]

Where are you staying? Booking LLs may be a problem due to this being spring break season. We have a short trip planned Sat. March 21 - Wed. March 25. I was checking availability today. Competition for LLs is going to be tough.

We are staying at OKW so we will get to book LL's early, but I'm not terribly worried about LL.

 

[BoilerBob]

We did a four park day on Jan 2nd (which was rammed) but had different priorities and swapped HS and Epcot from your plan. We did early entry at AK and of course everyone was running to FoP and the line built quickly. We had our 5yr old so just did River Journey a few times but by the time the park opened, the line for FoP stretched out of the Pandora area. Our first LL (booked 7 days out) were early morning for the Safari, EE, and then Dinosaur (which I guess dates this plan already). As soon as we hit the safari, I started booking things for the next park while looking for maybe harder rides at future parks. We did pre-puchase GotG and you might want to do Rise too if you are set on riding that without a huge wait or are unwilling to do single rider. We didn't have the benefit of extra hours at MK, so I did have to spend some LL for the things we absolutely wanted by the end of the night at MK. We basically only waited in line in HS for MMRR which was about an hour. Things we didn't wait for were ToT, SDD, or Rise at HS at TT or Soarin' at Epcot. It was a very full day from 7:30AM - 11PM at the parks and we hit about 40k steps.

 

[Djm_in_buffalo]

This seems way too ambitious… for me. But you are not me.

Early entry at AK starts at 7:30am. Presumably you’d want to get there earlier than that. After hoping the parks, you’re looking to end at MK to close out the night at 1:00am. Even if you don’t make it to 1:00am, that’s roughly 17 straight hours of parks and park hoping, followed by +/- 30 or more minutes to get back to OKW. But if doing early “right” and doing extended evening “right”, that’s more like 19 or so hours. Again, for me, that’s just way too many consecutive hours to be enjoyable. All the power to you if you do make it and are content at the end of the day. Hopefully it doesn’t erode the following day’s plans due to fatigue.

I think LL will be your friend if used at from 1-2, at most 3 parks. Since you’re only going the one day, you don’t get the benefit of booking LL 7+ days in advance, just the 7 days. Which means by the time you can book LL the 7 days in advance, many other people already had access to booking LL for March 25th, days prior to you being able to do so. (Premier pass would obviously help tremendously at 1 park, but with a hefty price tag.)

Keep in mind that multiple of your “must do” items are the most popular rides in the parks. Meaning: very long wait times, unsavory LL return times, no LL availability, or some combination thereof. Also keep in mind that rides go down. A lot. So 1 down ride on an already very rigid schedule may torpedo the remainder of the schedule.

In this vein, you will need to tap into a multi-pass LL at AK before being able to book another multi-pass LL at the second park. By that time, pickings may be slim to none, and get worse as the day goes on.

Having ten must-do items spread throughout all parks seems… optimistic. If it was me, I would stick close(ish) to the 3–2-1 method (3 must do rides, 2 attractions, 1 meal). Book 2 of the rides via single LL, book the meal, and backfill itinerary from there. It probably wouldn’t accomplish the entire “must do” list. But I’d rather hit stuff and not “waste” 45 - 180 minutes in line, each, to ride a 3 minute ride. So, I’d take full advantage of LL.

I would also consider nixing a park, and/or making Minnie Van / skyliner part of the thought process. Streamlined transportation alone could save you well more than an hour on the day.

Good luck.

 

[brockash]

Looking for a gut check here. We are going for one day on Wednesday March 25th with a Park Hopper. I got a date specific ticket and are only doing one day at the parks this trip. I'm not sure if I can change the date or not, but this date worked for the rest of our plans and has MK with extra evening hours to 1:00am. Four of us including a 19 and 15 year old and we have been to WDW maybe a dozen plus times, plus recently went to Disney Paris. We have done just about every ride except Tiana's, and seen every show except the new nighttime parade at MK and the new Villians show at HWS; I think.

Can some of you give me guidance on my current plan as we have never park hopped, but we are using it as something different to see how much we can do in one long day. My only "request" from tWife was to go to Fantasmic since we have not seen that since I first visit many years ago. My current plan isn't ideal for easiest movement between parks. FYI - we are staying at OKW.

My plan thus is to :
Start at AK early hours (Avatar and Everest must dos) - move around 10am -
Go to Epcot (our unanimous fav - Guardians and World Showcase must dos) - move around 4:30pm -
Hollywood studios (Galaxy's Edge, Brown Derby dinner, Fantasmic must dos) - move right after Fantasmic 9:30ish) -
MK until close at 1:00am (Tron, Tiana's, Parade must dos)

It would be easier to go HWS - Epcot - MK for travel ease, but then we can't to Fantasmic (hopefully we still love it as it's been a while). Obviously we want to keep it as flexible as possible and depends on LL bookings, so this is just a rough guide.

So you're doing 1st Fantasmic show? This all sounds doable. If you're done at AK earlier (if rope dropping and just doing those 2 you should be done much earlier than 10); you can always get a bus to BC and walk over to Epcot...or uber.

 

[WDWRook]

So you're doing 1st Fantasmic show? This all sounds doable. If you're done at AK earlier (if rope dropping and just doing those 2 you should be done much earlier than 10); you can always get a bus to BC and walk over to Epcot...or uber.

In order to make it to MK (and part of the fun of the idea is to make it to all four parks in one day) we would have to do the first Fantasmic. Bus to BC is a good idea. We will have a car too, but I think that would be worse as I'd have to get to car to MK then mono to Epcot, so that the car is where I need it at the end of the night (I'm assuming the mono from MK to Epcot ends after Epcot closes, and before MK would close.