Planning without a hope or a dream

[Greenfield1984]

I’d recommend looking at historical park hours and wait times for August of 2022 to help you get an idea of what you will likely be able to accomplish.

Looks like parks opened at 9 for off-site. (AK at 8). If you want to be leaving around 1, that gives you 4 hours.

Without any kind of advantage (resort guest or G+), I would think that you could experience 3/4 attractions total in that time - 2 with wait times of around an hour, one 25-30 minute wait and either a show or a dumbo/teacups type of ride.

Honestly, I think your list is too ambitious and you are going to be disappointed if you aren’t able to do what you’ve outlined, so I’m trying to be more realistic in what I believe you can do. Pleasantly surprised rather than disappointed if you get 5 rides in 4 hours.

Fair observation. We always plan on taking a break mid day and usually dont. Hoping this time we do. We are getting 6 day tickets but can up it to 7 days since our total stay is 10 days and an extra park day is quite cheap after 5 days.

 

[Greenfield1984]

On our August trips, we sleep in a bit (7-8am), eat breakfast in the room (peanut butter and jelly sandwiches do the wallet well) and go swimming. A relaxing start to the day can be a great investment. We arrive at a park around 1pm and stay for the remainder of the day and night. There are so many details which can only be seen at night and the cooler temps are a huge benefit.
Also, as others have said, it's exhausting and time consuming to do all the transportation, especially offsite.

Without genie+ is this feasible? What are the lines going to be like? My experience has always been you get so much done in first 2 hours.

But i am getting swayed by yall that a midday break may be a challenge as well.

Maybe i ought to opt for a sort of hybrid.

One day ride or die at mk. Get there early. Get headliners done then keep going hard till 5ish. Then back to resort for relaxing evening.

Then a 2nd day at mk where we sleep in and hit the park later in day after lunch and hit the lower tier attractions and then a couole big ticket attractions late when crowds die down.

 

[Greenfield1984]

Yes, it's doable. Yes, its hot, yes it will rain, yes you are going to have melt downs at some point but it's doable.

I was there from 8/28 thru 9/3 last year and everything was a walk on, I mean the longest wait I had the entire week was EE for SDMT which was a hour and I got there maybe 10 min. into EE and 20 min. for Little Mermaid. Otherwise, everything else, including Rise and PP was a walk on. To be fair, I had hoppers so there was an advantage of being able to repeat parks at night. I always take breaks in the afternoon, we always have. Summer hours the parks are open later so that is to your advantage. If school hasn't started yet there will be crowds.

Just be prepared with some way to try to combat the heat, lots of water (free in the parks) maybe cooling towels or small fans (especially for the little one). Ride things with AC as often as you can. Be prepared to wait in lines, we don't have problems with lines since we have been going since long before any kind of FP system so if you wanted to ride a ride, you waited in line. Will you do everything in the parks? No, but lets face it, even if you bought Genie+ and ILL you probably wouldn't do everything there is to do. It's possible to ride every ride with Genie+ and ILL if you go from park opening to park close and not take a break and cross all over the parks but that is exhausting. And that is still not doing everything in the parks. Maybe pick two or three rides in each park that are must dos and go from there.

We will be bringing in tons of drinks and refilling free disney ice water. I usually do this when others are on rides im not a fan of.

Will also be getting misters. Been looking on amazon but not seeing any great ones. Does anyone have a suggestion for a decent quality one thats not too bulky?

 

[Dulcee]

Fortunately we will be staying at windsor hills. Been there a few times and its quick and easy access to the parks.

We stay at Windsor Hills as well! Excellent location and we found it so easy to pop on and off property using our own car. Quicker than when we relied on the busses for some disney resorts.

When we head back into the parks in the evening is almost always only for a ride or two, dinner and nighttime entertainment. Going with extended family, while complicated, was also really gratifying. Nothing like seeing your youngest kid and your older parent both head over heels for mickey mouse or holding hands on Main Street. Have a great trip!

 

[Greenfield1984]

We stay at Windsor Hills as well! Excellent location and we found it so easy to pop on and off property using our own car. Quicker than when we relied on the busses for some disney resorts.

When we head back into the parks in the evening is almost always only for a ride or two, dinner and nighttime entertainment. Going with extended family, while complicated, was also really gratifying. Nothing like seeing your youngest kid and your older parent both head over heels for mickey mouse or holding hands on Main Street. Have a great trip!

This guy here knows whats going on

 

[boredghost]

Since you’re offsite you may have trouble getting ILL as those go on sale for onsite guests at 7am, but only for off-site guests at park open. Depends on crowds, but last Feb (‘22) our off-site friends couldn’t snag ILLs. The early entry is also gonna bite you, as rope will already have a hefty crowd of on-site people. Look at rope dropping Frontierland at MK as that area doesn’t open with early entry.

 

[DocDCT]

We've done August many times, both off and onsite. If you're going after Florida schools are back, you'll have better luck with waits. My biggest concern with your plan is the early mornings and late evenings. I know you'll have the mid day break, but will people really nap/rest?

Good point, a plan with early mornings and late nights every day only works if everybody can get enough rest in the afternoon. The teens and pre-teens in particular may refuse to nap, so it's better to talk with them in advance and make it clear that some rest in the room is mandatory.

 

[Greenfield1984]

Since you’re offsite you may have trouble getting ILL as those go on sale for onsite guests at 7am, but only for off-site guests at park open. Depends on crowds, but last Feb (‘22) our off-site friends couldn’t snag ILLs. The early entry is also gonna bite you, as rope will already have a hefty crowd of on-site people. Look at rope dropping Frontierland at MK as that area doesn’t open with early entry.

Thanks for the frontierland tip. I am concerned about my touring strategy now that resort guests get early entry every day.

 

[Greenfield1984]

Good point, a plan with early mornings and late nights every day only works if everybody can get enough rest in the afternoon. The teens and pre-teens in particular may refuse to nap, so it's better to talk with them in advance and make it clear that some rest in the room is mandatory.

The break is more for a break from the sun and busy midday crowds rather than napping.

 

[wabbott]

It's been many, many years since we did WDW in the summertime, but one of the more welcome things to happen often is the PM Florida thunderstorm. It helps clear out the parks of quite a few people and cools things off. Make sure everyone has ponchos, and pretend it isn't raining. Only thing that happen is your feet get wet, and that's no big deal.