Pay big bucks for a short day at the MK or not? That is the question.

[kathy884]

Hi I'm doing a mini trip to Tampa / Orlando in early February. The new change is that now DS 29 who just loves Disney's Magic Kingdom is coming along too and to be able to get cheaper air (have enough points to do freebie air for him) our flight on our last day won't leave Orlando till 5:50 p.m. meaning we could add the MK to our itinerary and play in the park from 9-3 p.m. Originally I was going to leave earlier on that day. I would want to head to our car by 3 (leave the park from wherever we are at that time. We'd already have luggage etc. in the car and my nephew would drop us off at the airport). I'm debating whether to spend an extra $572 ($191 pp) - three of us (me - 64, DS - 29, and my nephew who lives in Orlando - 32) - to hang out there for seven hours. Or do we just rest / visit / chill / do something little if we want on our last day? We'll have fun together whatever we do. What would you do?

Do note that DS is not exactly Disney deprived. In September of 2023 we did three park hopper days in Disneyland Paris. And in April of 2024 he did a park hopper day at Disneyland with his spouse on a mini California trip. His favorite park is the Magic Kingdom. His second favorite park is SeaWorld. It's been a while since all of us have been there, and we are going there on this trip.

I will say, though, that my favorite day at a theme park ever was a day with these two at the MK back in 2019. They are a blast to go to theme parks with.

I do go to Tampa annually too, to visit my cousin who is in Assisted Living there and sometimes extend that and spend a day and 1/2 or so in Orlando. Usually, though, DS doesn't come along. In fact he's never come along. DH never comes on these trips as he does not care for Florida or theme parks, so this is a fun little get-a-way as I do love Disney. Also I can't see really spending the money on one day at the MK if it's just me and my nephew. My nephew used to work for Disney, so going while fun is not that big a deal for him. And I've been a zillion times. It's really DS and his enthusiasm that might bring me over the top and go.

Here is the overall itinerary too in case that would have any bearing of what you would recommend.

Sunday Feb. 2 -- early day getting up at 5:30 a.m. my time to catch an early flight (6:30 a.m. wake up Tampa / Orlando time) -- get into Tampa at 11:40 a.m. My nephew will pick us up at the Tampa airport. We'll go right over to my cousin's assisted living place and take him out for a picnic and nature day at Lettuce Lake Park in Tampa. They have some nice board walks to walk on. That evening after dropping my cousin back off at the ALF we'll just have dinner at our hotel and I'll take my nephew to see Mama Mia at the Stratz as he has never seen that musical and would like to see it (thought I'd treat him to that as he just loves theatre). DS will skip as he has seen that musical several times before.

Monday Feb. 3 -- We will do a day trip to Honeymoon Island state park about a 50 minute drive each way from Tampa with my cousin. We're not planning on swimming or anything (unless it's unusually warm). It's just a low key walk around, visit, nature outing. We'll have lunch there and drop my cousin back off at his ALF before dinner.

Tuesday Feb. 4 -- We will head to Orlando after breakfast (me, DS, and my nephew). We are going to visit the MK monorail resorts, have dinner at Ohana at the Polynesian, and watch the MK fireworks from the Polynesian. I really want to eat at Ohana again and my nephew despite working at the Polynesian when he did the Disney College program has never eaten there before and would love to try that.

Wednesday Feb. 5 -- This is my nephew's birthday. We will go to SeaWorld. Number 1 for us will be to get reservations at the Sharks Underwater Grill (one of my nephew's very favorite restaurants) as we want to do a special meal there for his birthday. DS adores SeaWorld and hearing we'd be going there I think convinced him to come along too (would also enjoy seeing my cousin and his cousin too).

Thursday Feb. 6 is the day in question. Do we do the MK and leave the park at 3 p.m. (7 hours there for $572) or do something more low key instead? DS and I who both live in St. Louis (DS and spouse just live 16 minutes away from me and DH) have a 5:50 p.m. flight home. DS works the next day. I'm a relatively new retiree. I have the budget for this, but I'm just not sure whether it would be worth it to do this or not.

Note: We are staying a my nephew's place while we are in Orlando, so I'm not paying for accommodations for the two Orlando nights, and I was able to get freebie airfare on this trip for me and DS (I used Southwest points).

 

[lovethattink]

My only concern about leaving MK at 3, is making your flight at 5. Are you flying home from Tampa? I-4 traffic can be really tricky and bottleneck, especially between the Disney exits and the Haines City exit. Then again after the Lakeland exits and near the 75 exit.

Plus the time it takes to get from MK to your car at the TTC.

And the airports want you there 2 hours in advance of your flight.

 

[cruising spud]

Six years into retirement myself, I would say-if you can afford it, do it. Seven hours is a big enough time period to have a lot of fun.

 

[kathy884]

T

My only concern about leaving MK at 3, is making your flight at 5. Are you flying home from Tampa? I-4 traffic can be really tricky and bottleneck, especially between the Disney exits and the Haines City exit. Then again after the Lakeland exits and near the 75 exit.

Plus the time it takes to get from MK to your car at the TTC.

And the airports want you there 2 hours in advance of your flight.

Flying home from Tampa would be a disaster with that traffic. We are flying home from Orlando (MCO). The flights are at 5:50, so closer to 6 p.m. We get a drop off right at Southwest and DS and I both have TSA precheck.

If we leave the park promptly at 3 p.m. we should be in our cars by 3:30 p.m. Or do you think we'd want to leave the park by 2:30 p.m. I was thinking 3 p.m. would be enough time. I'll ask my nephew what he thinks too.

 

[kathy884]

Six years into retirement myself, I would say-if you can afford it, do it. Seven hours is a big enough time period to have a lot of fun.

You're talking me into it! I asked my 88 year old dad what he thought about it this morning too. He's an Orlando loving guy who is very content with his life, but he doesn't travel anymore. It's just too tiring for him. And he said to go for it as I can easily afford it, it would be tons of fun with those two, and that I I should do it while I can (have the health and think it sounds like fun). He also thinks the Magic Kingdom is such a cool place and worth it. I have to say I'm thinking that too.

So I will ask DS if he'd like to and go ahead and get the tickets if he says yes. Knowing my son, I think there is a 99% chance he will say yes. I will ask my nephew too before I get him a ticket if DS says yes. If both of us are going and given that I would pay for his ticket, I'm pretty darn sure he'll want to join us. (We are specifically doing this trip during my nephew's slow time for his outdoor adventure company.)

 

[Indio]

If you can afford it, go for it!! I take every chance I can get to go to the parks, even for a short day.

 

[condorthb]

You state you "want to head to the car by 3" to catch a 5:50 flight.

I personally wouldn't be comfortable with such a small window. There could be a delay, traffic, longer then expected time to get through security.

 

[jujubiee4]

My only concern about leaving MK at 3, is making your flight at 5. Are you flying home from Tampa? I-4 traffic can be really tricky and bottleneck, especially between the Disney exits and the Haines City exit. Then again after the Lakeland exits and near the 75 exit.

Plus the time it takes to get from MK to your car at the TTC.

And the airports want you there 2 hours in advance of your flight.

Is it tricky all the time or just certain hours? We are flying to Tampa in the spring. Planned on doing Busch Gardens
for the day then driving to WDW that night around 830 pm. First time doing this. Thx

 

[DisneyMom93]

I think driving away to airport by 3pm is plenty of time if you have TSA Precheck.

We did it with an arrival of an hour before our flight a couple of weeks ago. But that’s because they moved our flight up last minute after it was delayed by over two hours. We weren’t happy but we sat around waiting for quite a while before we boarded.

Just check your flight times throughout the day for no surprises.

EDITED

 

[KayKayJS]

Life is short - I would do it.

 

[Pyxie]

I don't advocate for visiting Orlando without visiting the parks lol..

But could you do the park on the day you are currently planning to resort hop and then visit the resorts on your departure day? You wouldn't need as much time for that and it's a "free" activity so you don't have to worry about not getting your money's worth.

 

[kathy884]

I don't advocate for visiting Orlando without visiting the parks lol..

But could you do the park on the day you are currently planning to resort hop and then visit the resorts on your departure day? You wouldn't need as much time for that and it's a "free" activity so you don't have to worry about not getting your money's worth.

I could see most people perhaps swapping those days. You make a good point. And rope drop (We very well might not be in the park till one due to the drive back from Tampa and checking up on my nephew's animals.) isn't all that much of an advantage now when you are offsite. . Figuring we'd get there at 1, that would be eight hours in the park vs. seven, but A good hour or more would be eaten up by our dinner reservation at Ohana. Most would probably skip that. In my case though dinner at Ohana is actually a bigger deal to me and my nephew than the MK and I don't want to give that up.

I do though appreciate your posting that suggestion. If I was letting DS plan the itinerary he would I think go with that.

Maybe I'm wrong on this too, but I am also thinking that if we do any Genie Plus stuff for lightening lanes those might be easier to plan with a morning arrival or maybe that's not true??

 

[MICKIMINI]

Yup, we'd do it. Spent a day at EPCOT in October and son and DIL were only able to join us for about 7 hours but we all had a blast. It was a memorable day. DH and I went on Remy, son and DIL didn't do a single ride. We snacked our way around and didn't waste time doing an ADR. Can't take it with you LOL!

 

[lovethattink]

T

Flying home from Tampa would be a disaster with that traffic. We are flying home from Orlando (MCO). The flights are at 5:50, so closer to 6 p.m. We get a drop off right at Southwest and DS and I both have TSA precheck.

If we leave the park promptly at 3 p.m. we should be in our cars by 3:30 p.m. Or do you think we'd want to leave the park by 2:30 p.m. I was thinking 3 p.m. would be enough time. I'll ask my nephew what he thinks too.

If you have my luck with Disney transportation, it seems I often get stuck waiting for the ferry or monorail. Sometimes it’s adding a monorail or taking one out. Other times we get lucky and it’s quick.

Is it tricky all the time or just certain hours? We are flying to Tampa in the spring. Planned on doing Busch Gardens
for the day then driving to WDW that night around 830 pm. First time doing this. Thx

Busch Gardens is fun! I-4 is a mess. I never know if it’s going to take me 45 minutes or 2 hours to get to where I want to go. Here are some memes I found online that pretty much sum it up.

 

[Sheryl2059]

My only concern about leaving MK at 3, is making your flight at 5. Are you flying home from Tampa? I-4 traffic can be really tricky and bottleneck, especially between the Disney exits and the Haines City exit. Then again after the Lakeland exits and near the 75 exit.

Plus the time it takes to get from MK to your car at the TTC.

And the airports want you there 2 hours in advance of your flight.

Add TSA unless you have precheck. But Im sure everybody already knows this. Also, the last time at MCO I was the one they picked for an additional random identity check. All these little things add up. Two hours usually enough, depending, but its not a guarantee. Say if some piece of equipment suddenly breaks.

 

[kathy884]

I've talked to my son and then talked to my nephew. Now we are changing our plans a bit for the Orlando time and will have more time at the MK.

For the day we get back from Tampa we are just going to chill at my nephew's and take his dogs over to Lake Osceola.

Then we are doing to have a full day at the MK for my nephew's birthday 9 - 9. He'd love to see the fireworks on Mainstreet on his birthday proper. And we'll do the Polynesian dinner at Ohana that day for an MK break and add in a drink at Trader Sam's too as he'd absolutely love to have that special dinner on his birthday.

And then our last day will be a shorter day at SeaWorld. We'll stay till 3 and go to the airport from there. We've been there a zillion time and will just need to do more picking and choosing. It's an easier park to get out of and get to the airport from than the MK too.

We'll skip the monorail resorts except the Polynesian and we'll skip Sharks Underwater Grill and Seven Seas Festival starts the day we are doing SeaWorld - so we'll just do punch cards.

This Disney loving girl is super excited.

 

[elvispursley]

I’m in the group that says if you can afford it, go for it. But there is no way you’d catch me leaving the park “by 3:00”. You still have to get to the TTC and to your car. And you could hit traffic going to MCO. But that’s just me, I like to be early for my flight. But maybe you’ll luck out and your flight home will be delayed and you’ll have even more time in the park (I’d totally keep checking flight status during the day).

 

[MICKIMINI]

Get your ADR at O'Hana on the first day possible. Kona Cafe is IMO better and easier to get! We had a bad experience at O"Hana late 2022 with bad steak - so bad I was sick immediately. You can order what you want at Kona.

Regardless, enjoy your trip!