Quick trip, April 2021. WWYD?

[Tawney]

Hi all!

I did a quick search, and while I gained a bit of perspective from other posts I didn't find my exact situation.

I planned a quick little trip for my Husband and I for his birthday/our wedding anniversary. Our flight arrives at MCO early on 4/26 (Monday) and we leave late 4/28 (Wednesday). We have three day hopper tickets.

My original plan was to hit up EPCOT on arrival day and enjoy some of the F&G festivities, and then hop to MK to visit some "greatest hits" and (hopefully, if hours are extended...) enjoy a late park closing. Day two was planned as a HS day, hopefully with a Rise boarding group. If I could secure a early Rise boarding group, then we would hop over to MK or Epcot again after visiting our favorites at HS. If the early Rise group was not secured, I would try again for the afternoon release and plan accordingly. Our last day was going to be dedicated to AK, this is my Husband's favorite park and the park hours work really well with our departure time.

I've been giving the trip some thought and am now considering dropping park hopper and just enjoying a full day at EC, HS, and AK. We have never had hopper tickets before, and it just seems it might be a little rushed - especially if park hours aren't extended! This is an adult only trip, so maybe we wouldn't be rushed hopping from park to park... I'm assuming things have potential to move quicker without two kids in tow. Also of note, as I said, this is just a quick trip - we have a longer family trip planned in November/December 2021. Would having a trip planned for later in the year sway you one way or another with which plan to follow?

Plan A - Day, 1 EC/MK
Day 2, HS/MK or EC
Day 3, AK

Plan B - Day 1, EC
Day 2, HS
Day 3, AK

Thank you!

 

[HiStitch626]

I would do Plan B and use the money you save on hoppers to enjoy the booths at Flower and Garden. If they do extend the hours out quite a bit then you can always add hoppers later if you want to.

 

[CAPSLOCK]

I also like planning for Plan B. You can add the park hopper on that Mon while you're there if you decide to - at that time, you'll know the hours for sure and will also know exactly how energetic you are at that point at the end of the travel day. You will still have the option but not feel obligated.

 

[DisMommyTX]

My plan would be:

Day 1 : Mk
Day 2 : HS hop to EP (but only add hoppers if we felt like hopping that day)
Day 3: AK

If you prioritize EP over MK, then do the same with EP on Day 1, then decide that evening whether you feel like adding hoppers to visit MK either evening. HS to and from the back side of EP is our favorite hop, especially for an adults only trip. The others seem to take too much energy and defeat the purpose of our relaxing non-kids trip. We are perfectly happy wandering any park without kids just soaking in the atmosphere.

 

[Stacybaeasm]

Apparently, I'm in the minority here, but if hoppers are available, I ALWAYS get them. I've been often enough that I like the freedom to jump to another park when I feel "done" with 1. I also like to be able to say "nope, too many people here right now" and go somewhere else for awhile. I would do the hoppers and jump around as wanted.

 

[Chelsea B]

Here to say Hi, cause I'm trying to plan a quick adults only trip for that week as well! I'm struggling with having plans on our travel days though. May I ask what time you get in on Monday? We don't have many options, and it looks like we may arrive around 3, unless they change flight times on us! Same with departure day. I don't want to be on edge waiting for the time to go. But gotta get in all the park time we can!
It's hard to plan with park times. A 6pm MK close?! Pleeeeeease change to 9pm!

 

[kylenne]

Where are you staying? That’s going to make a huge difference logistically.

 

[Tawney]

Where are you staying? That’s going to make a huge difference logistically.

Pop Century, as the original plan was to not visit MK... I thought we could utilize the SkyLiner for Epcot and for Hollywood.

 

[Tawney]

Here to say Hi, cause I'm trying to plan a quick adults only trip for that week as well! I'm struggling with having plans on our travel days though. May I ask what time you get in on Monday? We don't have many options, and it looks like we may arrive around 3, unless they change flight times on us! Same with departure day. I don't want to be on edge waiting for the time to go. But gotta get in all the park time we can!
It's hard to plan with park times. A 6pm MK close?! Pleeeeeease change to 9pm!

Hi! I feel like I should have just made my trip a 4 day trip so I could have had one day at each park (and no worries!), but this originally started as a one day visit, so I couldn’t justify four days!


These are my final plans...

Our flight gets to MCO at 9:40 AM. I’m hoping there are no delays! We are only bringing carry-on bags, so after we get off the plane we are just heading straight to the ME. I’m hoping to be en route to Pop Century by 10:30 , and I would really love to be at the resort no later than 11:30. I requested an early check-in, but who knows if I will get it. If not, we are just leaving our bags with Bell Services. The ultimate goal of everything is to be in Epcot by 12:30-1:00 PM!

Day two is reserved for HS, and I am really banking on an early boarding group for Rise. If I’m successful, then we will hit up our favorites at HS (Tower, Rockin’,TSM, Runaway Railway), experience Rise... ride the SkyLiner back to Pop and then catch the bus to Magic Kingdom (yes, I decided to add hopper!)

We depart on day three, but our flight doesn’t leave until 7:30 PM. Our plan for that day is to get to Animal Kingdom early and just kind of wander around and ride whatever. I’m not sure what time we will have to be back for the ME to the airport, but I’m expecting that we will be back at Pop by 2 or 3. There is no reason we shouldn’t be!

I hope that I can get through Epcot in time to have some MK time that night too, but I’m not too worried about it. I’m just really banking on the hours getting extended. That would be so great!

 

[kylenne]

Hi! I feel like I should have just made my trip a 4 day trip so I could have had one day at each park (and no worries!), but this originally started as a one day visit, so I couldn’t justify four days!


These are my final plans...

Our flight gets to MCO at 9:40 AM. I’m hoping there are no delays! We are only bringing carry-on bags, so after we get off the plane we are just heading straight to the ME. I’m hoping to be en route to Pop Century by 10:30 , and I would really love to be at the resort no later than 11:30. I requested an early check-in, but who knows if I will get it. If not, we are just leaving our bags with Bell Services. The ultimate goal of everything is to be in Epcot by 12:30-1:00 PM!

Day two is reserved for HS, and I am really banking on an early boarding group for Rise. If I’m successful, then we will hit up our favorites at HS (Tower, Rockin’,TSM, Runaway Railway), experience Rise... ride the SkyLiner back to Pop and then catch the bus to Magic Kingdom (yes, I decided to add hopper!)

We depart on day three, but our flight doesn’t leave until 7:30 PM. Our plan for that day is to get to Animal Kingdom early and just kind of wander around and ride whatever. I’m not sure what time we will have to be back for the ME to the airport, but I’m expecting that we will be back at Pop by 2 or 3. There is no reason we shouldn’t be!

I hope that I can get through Epcot in time to have some MK time that night too, but I’m not too worried about it. I’m just really banking on the hours getting extended. That would be so great!

Hours were just extended for some April dates so you should have a look again. Just a couple of comments:

1) Park to park buses start running shortly before park hopping hours begin, so you may not need to take the Skyliner back for a bus at Pop. I’ve never stayed there before, but from pre-Covid experience at other resorts, buses from resorts to parks tend to not be as frequent at midday. It may actually be faster catching a ride to MK at HS.


2) AK is a great park to spend the last day of a short trip, I do it a lot on my 4 day long weekends, just be mindful of time. Tragical Express usually wants you 3 hours before your flight.