Planning Help (3.5 days)

[Frozen2014]

Maybe this question is too detailed, but thought I'd try for suggestions.

We have added a few park days before a cruise end of August. Our flight arrives on a Thursday at 12:30pm at MCO, staying at POP, and plan on hitting the park for whatever time we have left that day....so guessing maybe at the park by 4pm or 5pm?

Then we have all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
DH also wants to fit in Boma breakfast on one of the day.

Counting attractions that interest us...I see around 12 at Epcot, 9 at Hollywood Studios (plus whatever other Star Wars stuff they have as DS and DH are big fans), 9 at Animal Kingdom (but not sure we want to his this park) and 16 at Magic Kingdom.

Skyliner can get us to Epcot and HS. We'll use the resort bus (or uber if travel day) for Magic Kingdom.
We would avoid Friday for Magic Kingdom as that will probably be a MNSSHP night based on this past summer.

Possible Option

• Thurs (late afternoon) - MK? By uber?
• Fri - Boma breakfast + HS?
• Sat - Epcot?
• Sun - MK

Or should we do a Skyliner park on Thursday since we can get there easily from Pop? I put the additional (partial) day for MK since we love rides like Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain, Pirates, Speedway, Peter Pan, but logistically it probably makes the least sense.

When does Boma make sense? If we could get Pandora FP then I would consider Animal Kingdom but I'm guessing since it's such a short trip, we have about 2% chance we could get it.

Other suggestions?

 

[g-dad66]

We do not avoid MK on MNSSHP nights. In fact, we always try to do MK on an MNSSHP day, because MK will be significantly less crowded.

But then we almost never do a park in the evenings (we are early to bed and early to rise), so this plan might not work for you.

 

[Frozen2014]

We do not avoid MK on MNSSHP nights. In fact, we always try to do MK on an MNSSHP day, because MK will be significantly less crowded.

But then we almost never do a park in the evenings (we are early to bed and early to rise), so this plan might not work for you.

Thanks. Yeah, I've heard the good thing of going to MK on a party night is the lower crowds. My main reason for not choosing a party day for MK is we are only at Disney for 3 days + a few hours on our travel day, and so want to maximize our time at the parks. Also, keeping in mind that end of August will be hot and rainy so we'll need to work around the weather and it might not be a "go go go " kind of day.

Guess another option though would be

• Thurs (late afternoon) - Epcot (Skyliner)
• Fri - Magic Kingdom -party day (bus)
• Sat - Hollywood Studios (Skyliner)
• Sun - Boma + Magic Kingdom (uber)

Or keep Boma with Hollywood Studios day.

Is Epcot a full day park? We do love Test Track, Soarin (and I know both are not on same FP Tier), there will be the new Ratatouille, Spaceship Earth, then things like Figment, Gran Fiesta.

Is Hollywood Studios a full day park with Star Wars now there? It has Toy Story, Star Tours, the new Slinky Dog Dash, and the Smugglers Run and Rise of the Resistance would be opened by summer. It seems to have less than Epcot but DS and DH love Star Wars.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Thanks. Yeah, I've heard the good thing of going to MK on a party night is the lower crowds. My main reason for not choosing a party day for MK is we are only at Disney for 3 days + a few hours on our travel day, and so want to maximize our time at the parks. Also, keeping in mind that end of August will be hot and rainy so we'll need to work around the weather and it might not be a "go go go " kind of day.

Guess another option though would be

• Thurs (late afternoon) - Epcot (Skyliner)
• Fri - Magic Kingdom -party day (bus)
• Sat - Hollywood Studios (Skyliner)
• Sun - Boma + Magic Kingdom (uber)

Or keep Boma with Hollywood Studios day.

Is Epcot a full day park? We do love Test Track, Soarin (and I know both are not on same FP Tier), there will be the new Ratatouille, Spaceship Earth, then things like Figment, Gran Fiesta.

Is Hollywood Studios a full day park with Star Wars now there? It has Toy Story, Star Tours, the new Slinky Dog Dash, and the Smugglers Run and Rise of the Resistance would be opened by summer. It seems to have less than Epcot but DS and DH love Star Wars.

My inclination would, typically, be to suggest you do a Skyliner park on your first day, but seeing as that day will only be a half day for you and you want to do MK twice, I think I would do MK on your arrival day. That way, you have two, full days for EP and DHS and, if you feel like taking afternoon breaks on Friday and Saturday, it's relatively easy to get back and forth to Pop on those days and still use your base tickets to get back into those parks in the evenings. I would also probably do Boma early on your last MK day as RD there won't be as important as RD at EP and DHS to get all of the newer attractions in on those days.

 

[Frozen2014]

My inclination would, typically, be to suggest you do a Skyliner park on your first day, but seeing as that day will only be a half day for you and you want to do MK twice, I think I would do MK on your arrival day. That way, you have two, full days for EP and DHS and, if you feel like taking afternoon breaks on Friday and Saturday, it's relatively easy to get back and forth to Pop on those days and still use your base tickets to get back into those parks in the evenings. I would also probably do Boma early on your last MK day as RD there won't be as important as RD at EP and DHS to get all of the newer attractions in on those days.

Thank you for the feedback! Yeah, MK is our favorite park so that makes sense for us to do it twice....whether we do 2 full days or the partial day on arrival day + 1 full day. I assume our quickest method to get here would be uber (unless we can catch the bus right away).

So if we go with the original plan, then need to decide if we want cut our day a bit on Hollywood Studios day for Boma breakfast (but then can't take advantage of the quick Skyliner transportation) or bundle it with the second MK day as you suggest. But from your comment, Epcot and HS are more important to get there earlier.

Are Epcot and HS full day parks? This may help us decide when to sneak in Boma for early breakfast.

I should note that we don't take breaks when at Disney (especially for such a short trip). We may duck inside or other if it's raining, but we stay at the park for the day.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Thank you for the feedback! Yeah, MK is our favorite park so that makes sense for us to do it twice....whether we do 2 full days or the partial day on arrival day + 1 full day. I assume our quickest method to get here would be uber (unless we can catch the bus right away).

So if we go with the original plan, then need to decide if we want cut our day a bit on Hollywood Studios day for Boma breakfast (but then can't take advantage of the quick Skyliner transportation) or bundle it with the second MK day as you suggest. But from your comment, Epcot and HS are more important to get there earlier.

Are Epcot and HS full day parks? This may help us decide when to sneak in Boma for early breakfast.

I should note that we don't take breaks when at Disney (especially for such a short trip). We may duck inside or other if it's raining, but we stay at the park for the day.

If you are going to take uber or lyft to MK, ask them to take you to the Contemporary Resort and walk from there. Otherwise, they will take you to the TTC and you would have to monorail or ferry to MK.

In terms of the amount of time spent in EP and DHS, it really depends on what you want to do in each park. If you want to do both SWGE rides, the Toy Story rides, RnRRC and ToT, plus shows, etc., that will probably take up most of your day. If you want to wander around WS, EP could be a whole day as well. Perhaps list what you hope to accomplish in those parks and we could help you determine how much time it would take to do everything?

 

[Frozen2014]

If you are going to take uber or lyft to MK, ask them to take you to the Contemporary Resort and walk from there. Otherwise, they will take you to the TTC and you would have to monorail or ferry to MK.

In terms of the amount of time spent in EP and DHS, it really depends on what you want to do in each park. If you want to do both SWGE rides, the Toy Story rides, RnRRC and ToT, plus shows, etc., that will probably take up most of your day. If you want to wander around WS, EP could be a whole day as well. Perhaps list what you hope to accomplish in those parks and we could help you determine how much time it would take to do everything?

Thanks so much for the tip. I wouldn't have realized to ask uber/lyft to drop us off at Contemporary. Anything that is a time saver helps! I have noted it in my planning spreadsheet!

Ok...here is a general list of the attractions:
(Our kids will be 15-boy and 11-girl when we come)

Epcot

• Must DOs: Test Track, Soarin, Ratatouille, Spaceship Earth (if not in refurb), Figment
• Hoping to also get to: Frozen Ever After, Nemo, Pixar Short Film, Living with the Land, Gran Fiesta Tour
• Night time: Fireworks if we are there and timing works out

Hollywood Studios

• Must DOs: Toy Story, Star Tours, Slinky Dog Dash, Millennium Falcon, Rise of the Resistance, anything else at Star Wars land? Not clear on what is there
• Hoping to also get to: Alien Swirling Saucers, Muppet Vision, Lightning McQueen Racing, Indiana Jones show, Mickey & Minnie Runaway Railway
• Night time: Fantastic or fireworks if we are there and timing works out