Should I edit my trip plans, or will 6 hours in DAK be enough?

[ajollyholidaywithjo]

So I’m going at the end of January, so I’m really hoping it won’t be terribly crowded. As of right now, the plan is to rope drop DAK on my departure day, and leave for the airport around 2:30, to catch my late night flight at 6:30. So I’ll have about 6 hours at DAK. I’ve done DAK on a departure day before and I actually got a lot done. But I was by myself, I’ll be with a group this time.

Is that enough? I mainly just go to do rides, and food, and the Lion King and Nemo show. I don’t spend a ton of time doing the animal trails.

Or should I get a hotel room at the airport and leave the next morning? The only problem is that I’m flying with friends, and they probably won’t want to take an extra day off work (it’s a non issue for me).

 

[RoseGold]

Even if the schedule works, I'd rather stay another day than fly with friends, which is stressful and not fun IMO.

MCO is a terrible airport, you have to allocate lots of time, so this is a really right schedule. It's taken me 45 minutes just to get through security before. That's a whole park day tickets for maybe 3-4 hours of getting to do something. I have an AP, so fine for me. But maybe not for full price tickets.

Edit: thought the flight was 2:30. You don't have to leave at 2:30 for a 6:30 flight, LOL. MCO is bad, but not that bad.

 

[ajollyholidaywithjo]

Even if the schedule works, I'd rather stay another day than fly with friends, which is stressful and not fun IMO.

MCO is a terrible airport, you have to allocate lots of time, so this is a really right schedule. It's taken me 45 minutes just to get through security before. That's a whole park day tickets for maybe 3-4 hours of getting to do something. I have an AP, so fine for me. But maybe not for full price tickets.

Edit: thought the flight was 2:30. You don't have to leave at 2:30 for a 6:30 flight, LOL. MCO is bad, but not that bad.

I have to leave DAK at 2:30, because I have to catch the bus to the resort to pick up luggage, then leave from there for the airport.

 

[MomOTwins]

We did everything in AK during Thanksgiving week by 2:30 and that was with skipping rope drop/arriving late and a leisurely lunch. We had G+ and FOP ILL though. Cheaper to pay for those than another night at a hotel though.

 

[ajollyholidaywithjo]

We did everything in AK during Thanksgiving week by 2:30 and that was with skipping rope drop/arriving late and a leisurely lunch. We had G+ and FOP ILL though. Cheaper to pay for those than another night at a hotel though.

Hmmm good idea. I wasn’t planning to use G+ for this trip, but I may for AK, just since we have less time.

 

[coasternut22]

When you say rope drop, are you staying offsite or on-site? That makes a difference since you won’t have easy access to pandora rides first thing if staying offsite. I picked Jan 25 as a sample date. Early entry is at 8:30, park opening is at 9am. Assuming offsite, you can do Dinosaur, Everest, and Safari by 11:30 I’d say. That puts you in Africa for a 12ish Lion King show. Conversely you can do the opposite and go Safari, Everest, and Dinosaur by 11:00 which puts you in Dinoland for an 11:30ish Nemo show. Then you would have to decide for the next two hours: FoP, Navi, FOTLK. You probably have time for two. Perhaps FoP and a 2pm FOTLK? But even that would be cutting it close. The show times are what is the issue. You may have to choose only one show if you go this route.

Of course if you are on-site and/or you have G+/ILL for FoP, your options expand.

 

[ajollyholidaywithjo]

When you say rope drop, are you staying offsite or on-site? That makes a difference since you won’t have easy access to pandora rides first thing if staying offsite. I picked Jan 25 as a sample date. Early entry is at 8:30, park opening is at 9am. Assuming offsite, you can do Dinosaur, Everest, and Safari by 11:30 I’d say. That puts you in Africa for a 12ish Lion King show. Conversely you can do the opposite and go Safari, Everest, and Dinosaur by 11:00 which puts you in Dinoland for an 11:30ish Nemo show. Then you would have to decide for the next two hours: FoP, Navi, FOTLK. You probably have time for two. Perhaps FoP and a 2pm FOTLK? But even that would be cutting it close. The show times are what is the issue. You may have to choose only one show if you go this route.

Of course if you are on-site and/or you have G+/ILL for FoP, your options expand.

I’m on-site. I never do rope drop offsite anymore, it’s basically pointless with early morning entry going on.