Question on park planning

[newbie58]

This is our first trip to Disney - We can't wait! We will get to Orlando around noon on a Tuesday. Will we have enough time to make it worth purchasing a ticket for that day to go into one of the parks? We leave on Saturday at 7 p.m - what about that day? Is three days enough with a park hopper pass? We are thinking about typhoon lagoon for a day too! We will be there in August!

 

[WDWCastMember]

Be sure to plan; use the EMH and research what park is open early and/or late; if it's your first trip have fun but don't stretch yourself too thin that you won't enjoy it! And aren't you purchasing your tickets before you get to Disney? Just curious....

 

[ZoZo]

It pays to research your options. Usually with a WDW ticket, the more days you stay, the cost per day goes down. So it probably makes sense to add your arrival and departure days to your ticket! You definitely have time to spend lots of times at the parks based on the hours you gave us.

I myself always get the "hopper" feature on my park pass, but some people never use it at all. It's nice to have, especially when you go during crowded times of the year, like August. You can hop from park to park as needed. (But, if you decide not to add the hopper feature up front, you always have the option of adding it after you get there if you decide to hop!!)

It probably doesn't make sense to add the "waterparks and more" option to your base ticket, since you will only be going to a water park one day. You can usually purchase a one-day water park ticket for less than the cost of adding the "water parks and more" option to your ticket. (Plus, if you add the "water parks and more" option to your ticket and don't end up using it, you're out about $50! That happened to me on my last trip - frustrating!)

Keep reading these boards for more tips about planning your trip - the DIS is a wealth of information!

 

[dizzi]

Just my opinion, but i think if this is your first trip, you shoudl forgo the water parks and only do the 4 parks, You wont be able to see everything in the time you have. And you will LOOSE valubale time going from a theme park to a water park, and IMHO the water pasrks at the end of the day are still just water parks!!!!
I would also suggest NOT doing the PArk Hopper Pass, Just plan your days in each park , and plan them out detailed.
You will waste time again, hopping form one park to another.....unless ti is for EMH or the late hours and i have not had great success with late hours but some people have.
Dont forget that there are FAST PASSES......MAKE SURE TO USE THEM!
Look at a map of each park and see what is most important to do, and DONT SKIP THE SHOWS!!!!!

 

[Pure Diz Addict]

On the first day, a piece of advice, don't go to the parks, you'll just wear yourself out. There's more important sutff to be done, such as buy food, unpack, all that good tuff. As for Saturday, you should pack everything and get ready to leave early, then take your car with everything in it to the parks. So, when you have to leave, you just take the car to the airport.

 

[disneygal2007]

I myself think the park hopper is a good deal. Say u go to animal kingdom and they close at 5 pm and your not ready to go back to your hotel yet. Then you can head over to the magic kingdom for dinner and then for the lights parade and best of all my fav wishes. I like the other person said the water parks are fun but you will feel more disney is u stick to the 4 parks. Good luck and you can also look on the web site allears.net that helped me out as much as this one did but I am parchel to MY DIS

 

[amery]

That time of year and with what sounds like a limited number of days, the last thing you want to do is kill a day at a water park. While certainly a welcome relief from the steamy weather that Orlando will offer up daily, you can find relief at a couple of key attractions such as Splash Mountain in MK and KRR in AK.

Between FastPass, EMH (if staying onsite) and the park hopper option, you can do Disney in 4 days but it won't happen without a plan. You don't need to go totally Griswald with the planning but if you are looking to make ADR's or take in any evening shows (Fantasmic, Illuminations), you will want to map your days out.

 

[dizzi]

If you are arriving at noon on your first day, i still think you have PLENTY of time to get in a park, WE have only gone to purchase groceries one time and that was when we were there for 2 weeks!, and rarley really UNPACK, i know alot of people do, but when we are on vacation we dont want to go for groceries, even if you are going to pick up some stuff, it cant take that long, i think you are totally wasting a good 6-8 hours that you could get in a park, if you dont go the first day.

 

[dizzi]

I myself think the park hopper is a good deal. Say u go to animal kingdom and they close at 5 pm and your not ready to go back to your hotel yet. Then you can head over to the magic kingdom for dinner and then for the lights parade and best of all my fav wishes. I like the other person said the water parks are fun but you will feel more disney is u stick to the 4 parks. Good luck and you can also look on the web site allears.net that helped me out as much as this one did but I am parchel to MY DIS

That does make sense about the hopping if one park closes, or i guess even if you would get done everything you want to do in one park and head to another, or if one park is WAYYYYY to crowded. I do remeber leaving MGM one time cause it was too crowded!

We just usually dont becasue we plan it well enough to not have to spend the extra money, but maybe the first and even second time without knowing the parks well it could be helpful.

 

[fAnnF]

You should have time, August the parks are still in summer hours so their open later. Are you staying on property? If so be sure to look in to the EMH schedules. I do park hop as I like to do one park in the morning, take a break, and then hop to a different park in the evening. If you think a park is getting to crowded for you, you can always go to a different one. I think Park Hopper is a great option, and if you only want to go to one water park, buy that ticket sepreatly it's cheaper then the water park and more option.

 

[Goofy's Sis]

You'll have plenty of time on that first day--we like to go to Epcot the first evening, just hit a couple attractions and take in the atmosphere, get your bearings. I also like the hopper option, just to have maximum flexibility. And my family thinks the water parks are worth some time, even though we have plenty of more mainstream water parks around home. We like to head there in the late afternoon, ideally during a typical brief thunderstrom--a lot of the families who have been there all day clear out, and the rain is usually short in summer! Think of this trip as a "sampler", and try to see at least a little of several parts of the world!