Planning & Fast Pass questions PLEASE HELP!

[Kirstyn]

Hi everyone,
We are a family of five, 4 adults and a teen going on our first ever trip to WDW in 24 days!
I was able to book my fast passes for the 30 day mark this past Sunday. My plan is to visit MK on the 1st day, AK and Epcot on the second day, and stay in HS the third day. Here are my fast passes:

Day 1:
Arrive for rope drop what time should we get there to be at front of the line?
Haunted mansion 9:20-10:20
Lunch at 11:35 Chef Mickeys What time should we head over there?
Splash Mountain 1:35 to 2:35
Dinner at the plaza 7:35
Wishes 9:35-9:55

Day 2
Arrive at rope drop
Everest 9:05-10:05
Kali River Rapids 10:30 - 11:30
Lion King 11:30-11:50
4th fast pass for safari
5th if anything else we want to do
Hop to Epcot
Would like lunch at via Napoli About what time should I book the reservation for?
Fast passes for Epcot if anything left
Dinner at San Angel 6:45
Either stay in Epcot or hop to MK for more stuff there

Day 3
Arrive at rope drop
Go stand in line for rockin roller coaster
Lunch at Sci Fi 11:00
Toy story
1:45-2:45
Frozen sing along 3:05-3:20
TOT 4:30-5:30
Dinner at 6:05 Melrose
Frozen fireworks at 9
Last show of fantasmic I think 10:45

Logistically and proximity wise do these work out well? If not do you have any ideas? Do all 3 passes have to be used before you can get a 4th one or can you use one and then replace it at kiosk?

Any ideas on how to make the most of our park hopper while keeping dining reservations for HS? We would absolutely love to spend more time in MK and eat lunch at BOG since this is likely our first and only trip for quite some time. Chef Mickey is a must though but can be moved to 9pm on day 2 to allow for more park time day 1.

I really am feeling overwhelmed with planning since we want a lot of time in MK & HS but still visit all four parks. I feel like we are missing out on BOG if we skip it. We Would like to go to Epcot but not all that interested in it. HS has to be on the last day due to not showing fantasmic on the second day. I really do appreciate any help you can give me as we are 24 days out. We will be there July 14,15,16th. Thank you!

 

[Lucius Best]

I really am feeling overwhelmed with planning since we want a lot of time in MK & HS but still visit all four parks. I feel like we are missing out on BOG if we skip it. We Would like to go to Epcot but not all that interested in it. HS has to be on the last day due to not showing fantasmic on the second day. I really do appreciate any help you can give me as we are 24 days out. We will be there July 14,15,16th. Thank you!

I think natural to feel overwhelmed on first trip because you're trying to do so much in such a short time. If you want to see all 4 parks, you have to realize you're not going to be able to see everything in such a short time. I'm guessing there are no ADRs available for BOG, you might be able to get one last minute if someone cancels.

Day 1: For 9am MK opening, rope drop ceremony may actually start closer to 8:45am. We're usually fine getting there 30 minutes before, but if you want to be at the front of the line, get there as early as you want. It won't take long to get to Chef Mickey's, you can walk to Contemporary in 5-10 minutes, or it is first stop on resort monorail from MK. You are correct that you need to use all 3 FP before you get a 4th at a kiosk. Thus if you're using one for Wishes, you won't be getting any additional FP all day, at the MK which has the most rides and where the most same-day FP are usually available.

Personally I would skip the Wishes FP. I would go to 7DMT at rope drop, have FP for Splash/Thunder/Space mountain, then try to get additional FP at kiosks for rides like Haunted Mansion, Jungle Cruise, Pirates.

Day 2: I'm guessing you are staying offsite if you were booking FP 30 days out. AK looks like Extra Magic Hour morning, thus WDW resort guests got in at 8am, and you're not getting in until 9am, which is far from ideal. I would guess availability for a 4th FP for Safari would be slim or much later in the day. Since you're not getting in at rope drop, I would FP Safari instead of Lion King. Timing wise, there's no way you can do Lion King at 11:30am, then more rides with FP that might not exist, then hop to Epcot for lunch. If you left AK right at noon, wouldn't want an ADR Via Napoli before 1:30pm. When you get to Epcot, likely no way you're getting FP for the big rides like Soarin/TestTrack.

The strategy most people use when hopping is to have the FP at the second park. If you are offsite and AK has EMH, I would think about maybe going to Epcot at rope drop. Rides in morning, then lunch at Via Napoli, then hop to AK with FP there in the afternoon for Everest/Safari/Kali. Since AK was open at 8am for WDW guests, and it is hot summer and a lot of people look at AK as a half-day park, it might clear out a bit later in the day? Then when AK closes at 7pm, either hop back to Epcot for Illuminations, or hop to MK open until midnight.

Day 3: This day looks fine. Note that RnRC also has a single-rider line. If you were desperate for more MK, you could go to MK for a couple of hours in early morning before hopping to HS. But it looks like MK has early EMH this day.

 

[DisneyBelle27]

In regards to rope drop arrival for MK, per Josh at www.easywdw.com (I highly recommend this site for his crowd calendars and park touring cheat sheets!):

"One of the more common questions people ask is, “When should we arrive?” It’s an easy question to answer. With a regular 9am open, 8:20am tends to be the sweet spot in between arriving too early to gain any additional advantage and arriving so late that you’re so far back in line for the tapstiles that you’ll encounter longer waits throughout the morning."

I also agree with the pp in regards to your AK/Epcot day. Josh tends to say that you can have a lot of luck getting on rides in the afternoon at AK, since that park closes so early and a lot of people view it as a half day park. And then, also as pp said, you can hop back to Epcot after AK closes for the evening entertainment.

 

[ghtx]

Sounds like you should skip Epcot and save money by not buying the park hopper option.

 

[Kirstyn]

Thank you!

 

[GoofyinBuffalo]

Your AK and Epcot day doesn't seem realistic unfortunately. If you're getting out of Lion King at 11:50 you won't be able to schedule your FP for safari until then and more than likely the return time would be later in the day (if they are still available). I would have walked on @ Lion King & scheduled safari FP. If you want to catch lunch @ Epcot you would probably have to leave after Lion King. Logistically to get from AK to Epcot would take you approximately an hour; maybe even a little more (getting out of Lion King theatre, walking to car, driving to Epcot, taking tram to entrance, getting through bag check & turnstiles, walking to World Showcase & Via Napoli). Then take into consideration waiting for a table (you didn't mention an ADR), you may not be seated till 2 or later. Then your dinner ADR is at 6:45? Will you be that hungry just a few hours later? Someone previous suggested giving up Epcot for more time at AK. I wouldn't do that as I find Epcot more appealing than AK. But that's my personal opinion.

Also, I noticed that you scheduled a FP for Wishes on your first day. You won't be able to take advantage of a 4th FP that day because your last one is so late in the day and you can't schedule until you've used your 3rd FP. Personally I wouldn't waste a FP on Wishes. You'll still be able to watch it. I wouldn't want to give up standing in line for an attraction so that I could sit in a designated area for fireworks.