Plan reshuffle?

[Wife of Fozzy Bear]

Hi, we are three adults travelling from uk next May, haven’t been to Disney World since 2010 though we did Disneyland in 2012. Magic bands and prebooking fastpass are new to us. We felt we knew, after multiple visits since 2001, that we had a great strategy (thanks to Touring Plans) and got the best out of the old system, so we are starting our Disney education over again. We have never stayed onsite at Disney before, it’s never really felt necessary, we are never in the hotel other than to crash out late evening.

I had originally booked 14 nights at Staybridge Suites, but having read threads about difficulty of getting certain fast passes (pandora, dwarves mine train, frozen) we have booked first four nights at Port Orleans so we get 60 day out fastpass option and rolling 60 days after that, we also get the bands and the Free Disney parking. We have one night at Hard Rock which we had planned anyway to get express passes for two days and early entry. Then we will check in at Staybridge Suites for the rest of our stay. We had wanted a suite originally so we get two bedrooms and bathrooms and kitchen facility, but have sacrificed that for first five nights to benefit from the park access and passes. Our budget is fairly tight as this wasn’t a trip we were expecting to take, so there’s been little chance to save up, spending priority is on park access and few nice meals out, it’s first time my son has been over 21 in Florida or California, so we will want to try some of the places in Disney Springs, Citywalk etc. Hubby and son are both coaster fans and in the past have enjoyed them being walk on for multiple rides!

So my original plan was Hollywood Studio first day (Saturday 4 May) as there’s less there and easier to cope post a long flight, we have fantasmic package booked. MK Sunday (because we are excited to see that early in the trip), Skipper Canteen booked. Ak or Epcot Future World Monday depending on what fastpassses we can get ie Pandora? Both AK and Epcot are planned for a second visit, AK to pick up any rides we couldn’t get on and bits we missed or want to repeat and Epcot to do the countries at a leisurely pace. Monday would probably combine with a bit of chill time. Then we move to universal for two days!

We have park tickets to allow us to visit all parks for 14 days so plenty of flexibility to park hop and revisit. We usually do a park every day, but some days for a half day combined with either shopping or a water park. But my son has now queried our first three days given we will now have EMH, is it worth changing our plans to use these, or is it so busy with resort guests that we would be better avoiding these and sticking with our original plan which also ties in with crowd predictions as being sensible options?

Also, does anyone know what time in the UK the fastpassses become available to book in March?

Any suggestions or thoughts on our plans? Thanks.

 

[Realfoodfans]

7 am EST - so check depending on if before or after the clocks change. I found it necessary to log out and in again for our window to show. It also worked better for me on the app rather than the website but that was just on the day.

As we've done Epcot before we did all we needed in one day - planned around Frozen, other rides and a dinner timed prior to Illuminations.

We also did AK in one day (ending with Pandora).

With younger members in our family we did 2 and a half days in MK - just because we all love it.

We really enjoyed HS despite others negativity - really look forward to new Toy Story World opening! Love the Storm Troopers!

 

[Wife of Fozzy Bear]

Thanks for the reply. In the past we’ve done AK in one day, the park was only open to 5pm and there was no evening show, and no big draw like Pandora back then. If we do feel we’ve done it all in a day we might save a second visit on our ‘flying home’ day and give ourselves a free day to go to Kennedy, or Winter Park or something? Given we can’t FP both Pandora rides in one day I thought we might need to split it.

We usually do HS as our last day park, I guess a lot depends if any part of Toy Story Land is open by then to make it worth revisiting, but otherwise it sounds like we can do it in a more relaxed way as our first park day. Is there still an afternoon parade? I usually watch that with a big lump in my throat before heading to the airport, it’s always been a park we’ve enjoyed.

I’m still not sure about whether to reschedule to use EMH on those three days we’ve no experience of EMH but we are people who aim to be there at least 30 minutes before park opening in general so not sure if I should reshuffle our parks now we are staying onsite or stick with original plan?

We are going to do the countries at Epcot as a separate thing this time as I confess the ‘drinking around the world’ idea appeals, particularly to my son who couldn’t drink alcohol on any previous Disney trip, though we gave craft beer in Colorado a good try two years ago! I hate drunken behaviour, so we will not be doing anything to spoil others enjoyment, but sampling some tequila, sake etc sounds like a plan, along with plenty of snacks and water! We can always share so we get a drink at each country without being comatose at the end. We probably don’t need to worry about British beer, we can get that anytime

I only wish my daughter was joining us, but she’s been to Disney (Florida, California, Paris) more than any of us, 12 times in 16 years, so we’ve some catching up to do! She plans to return with her own children next time so we’ve a few years to wait until they are old enough to enjoy it. I expect we will need a whole new slower strategy then.

My son is a bit of a hero for putting up with the oldies without his sister, but we will do our best not to embarrass him too much! I need to get fit before May and we’ve promised we are not too old to do the parks just as we always have, get up early, hit the big rides first, ride while others eat lunch and aim to slow down later. Definitely need to get into training, I’m not 38 as I was first visit!

 

[loves to dive]

Are you going to be there the first part of May or the last of May. F&G lasts until May 16 so if you are there for that you might want to plan one good day just sampling booths and enjoying the flowers.

As far as age goes, I'm closer to 61 than 60 and my son has problems keeping up with me so don't worry about it.

There is no parade anywhere except MK now days. There is an afternoon parade at MK.

AK stays open later now days and you should be fine without a FP for Navi as long as you can get one for FOP.

We prefer the night time EMH over the morning one but that is just because my son is not a morning person. If you aim is to ride as many rides as you can, a good strategy is to schedule your FPs around 10 and do morning EMH, knocking out those hard to get rides first thing in the morning. We find park hoppers are our friend since we can hop over to another park if the one we are at gets too crowded or if we simply just want a break.

 

[Realfoodfans]

No parade but don't miss the Storm Troopers marching through! Wish I'd recorded the music it was especially written and I can't find it online!

 

[Wife of Fozzy Bear]

Thanks, we will be there from 4 May and so we will catch F&G, not sure exactly what it entails, I’m guessing beautiful displays but wondering what the booths are? I’m quite a keen gardener though we only have a little plot since moving house so I will be excited to see that!

I’ll have a look at EMH see if they’re early or late, I’d only thought of early entry but having option to stay late would be great, we love that at the Halloween and Christmas parties and at California last time the park was open until 1am on September13! I was flagging by then.

I’m guessing the Saturday we stick to original plan as we only land Friday evening so EMH might not work, unless our body clocks get us up at stupid o’ clock and we could be there for 6am if that’s the case? I need to research EMH a bit more. I’ve heard that getting FP for FOP and getting onNavi first thing before that works well, so I guess I have to hold my breath until 60 days out see what we get? We could rope drop but there’s a thread on how aggressive some get in pushing to the front and that might not go down well! Stand in line and wait your turn, and certainly don’t push and shove.

My son is coming over tonight, he’s keen to be part of the planning this time, usually my family just turn up with cases packed and I’ve done the planning for them. It’ll be great to have some input, so we can look at the options. It’s like going back to school, they moved all the goalposts while we were away. Stuff evolves I guess, but I will miss the afternoon parade at AK and HS and those fast pass machines that we could work in our favour.

I will turn 55 while I’m there (though my knees are 10 years older) so this is quite a special trip for me as I’ve missed it so much, since 2001 this is the longest we’ve been away from a Disney Park. We do love Universal too, gotta love Harry Potter, I even decorated my sons room in that theme. He’s a bit meh about SeaWorld other than the coasters, on ethical grounds.

Storm troopers, hmm well as long as it’s only the Star Wars variety that’s fine, otherwise I may need to pack differently! Lol!

 

[Lightsoutx12]

I didn't see it mentioned anywhere but you may want to anticipate a bit of higher crowds on May 4th at Hollywood Studios as that is May the 4th be with you (a celebration for Star Wars). I went this past may on that day and the parks were pretty busy but if you can book your FP well in advance you should be fine.

 

[Wife of Fozzy Bear]

I didn't see it mentioned anywhere but you may want to anticipate a bit of higher crowds on May 4th at Hollywood Studios as that is May the 4th be with you (a celebration for Star Wars). I went this past may on that day and the parks were pretty busy but if you can book your FP well in advance you should be fine.

My son says he knew of this, passed me by! Realise I posted original date wrongly, we arrive 4th but our day at HS is 5th. Hope it’s settled a bit then?