Short, last minute trip

[ABC Mom]

I just decided I am going to take my 11 year old son on a quick trip down to Orlando, just the two of us. We are flying in early on 6/27 and arriving at MCO at 8:45 am and flying out at 9:00 pm on 6/29. We've been to Disney a kabillion and 4 times and plan to do 2 days there. He's a big Harry Potter fan so I figured we would do a day at IOA as well. My question is do we do 6/27 - but not arrive until mid-morning, or do we go all day on 6/28? Looking for some advice on that.

My son will ride everything at WWoHP. He MIGHT ride the Hulk, but that's iffy (he loves Space Mountain and Rock'n Rollercoaster but something about a big steel coaster all out in the open intimidates him!), he will not ride Dr. Doom. I'm pretty sure he'll do SpiderMan and Jurassic Park but he could surprise me. Harry Potter is the big reason for going.

With 1 headliner (Dr Doom) out for sure and another (Hulk) unlikely, will we be OK with a midmorning arrival on Mon 6/27 and plan to do WWoHP after 5:00? We would head straight to IOA from the airport and just wait to check in to our resort until later that night. I'm OK with doing 6/28 instead but 6/27 works better for getting in all I know he will want to do at WDW.

For what we want to see, and knowing FJ doesn't accept Express pass, should we get EP or do you think we will be OK without it?

Thanks for any advice!

 

[mesaboy2]

Personally I would wait until the 28th so you can arrive before park open. Going later in the day to WWoHP has worked for me and may very well work for you, but I'm uncomfortable recommending it for fear you will not leave yourself time to do everything you want. I also have an aversion to Mondays at WWoHP--many reports come back that they are crowded, at least in the off-season.

As for Express, they will probably not sell out so you can wait until you get there to see the crowds and lines for yourself then judge if they're worth it to you. Do expect lines to be long and to wait, however....

Another option is the single-rider queue, which is at quite a few IoA attractions, including FJ. Doesn't cost a thing, and could reduce your wait times considerably.

 

[Metro West]

I would wait and spend the entire day on 6/28 instead of trying to rush to do anything major when you arrive. Use that evening to relax and settle in and then hit IOA early the next day. It's going to be very busy when you're here but getting an EP is really up to you and if you're going to skip a few of the headline attractions, I would just play it by ear. You can always purchase them when you arrive if you feel you need them. Of course the price can always change until you've actually purchase them.

 

[ABC Mom]

So, I guess another option would be to book the night of 6/28 at RP and head to IOA the morning of 6/29 and stay there until it is time to head to the airport for our 9 PM flight?

I could do the night of 6/27 but if we are doing 6/28 at IOA it's not as convenient.

If he isn't likely to do a few of the big rides, will we have enough to fill the day at IOA? I have 2 day park hopper tickets for WDW left over from our last trip. I have 1-day one park tickets to IOA that we won in a drawing. So we don't have the option to do US as well. I am limited to those dates as my other son will be away at scout camp (my husband is taking him on a weekend trip while my 11 year old goes to HIS scout camp in July). My concern is that if we get there and do WWoHP first thing and then he will only ride a couple of other things, are we going to be done super early and not have tickets for anything else? If it was my whole family we could do the pool for the rest of the day but he gets bored and complain-y at the neighborhood pool just he and I for too long and that is with a high probability of running in to friends, which is unlikely to happen in Fla!