Skip HS?

[VikingInMouseEars]

IMO, DHS is more of a 1/2 day park than AK. We will be skipping DHS for our April trip since we aren't getting hoppers and having seen all the shows numerous we can easily skip them for a trip so for the 4 or 5 attractions we enjoy its just not worth it.. AK on the other hand we usually spend at least a day and a half at, granted the time of year we usually go the park closes at 5 PM. Kids are going to like Dinoland and want to spend time there as well as the play area. The shows are great and the other attractions that your DD is able and wants to do. You have the Nemo show, Lion King show, the bird show, safari ride, maybe kali river rapids. You have the train ride to and from Rafiki's Planet Watch, plus the time spend back there and that can easily approach 2 hours. You have the Maharajah Jungle Trek and the Pangani Forest Exploration Trails, both of which are well worth an hour plus. AK tends to get sold short by so many people, but you can spend the day with absolutely no problem. I will like to see more attractions in AK (although Avatar wouldn't be my first choice) but if your family enjoys the animals you won't have any problem staying busy.

 

[theyoungs07]

Get afternoon fastpasses, do a partial pool day in the morning and then head to DHS and use your FPs and watch Fantasmic. She might really like Animation Academy...I know my kids do. I wouldn't go to DHS for a morning half day...we love Fantasmic too much.

 

[lily2521]

Looks like a great plan. We would have a hard time not finishing with MK though. We would probably swap the AK and MK day. That would also give you an earlier evening towards the middle of the trip since AK closes earlier than the other parks.

I totally agree that HS has a lot more than it seems. The animation academy is also a must do for us. So fun to draw with a real Disney artist. ...and you leave with a great memento.

Dan

I thought of this too. Most of my planning strategy has come through crowd calendar predictions.

My reason for avoiding MK on our last day is the crowd calendars, and they're offering EMH that day which we weren't going to take advantage of. Plus if we switch to AK the day prior, we'd be hitting EMH's that day too.

Maybe I'm underestimating our use of EMH's? We are staying on site. I didn't plan on taking advantage of the EMH's, but maybe I should reconsider?

If we do AK on the Thursday, it closes early, so we could easily be up earlier to take advantage of the EMH at MK that Friday. I hadn't considered that until now, I've been trying to avoid the EMH's, but like I said, maybe that shouldn't be my strategy?

 

[lily2521]

If we go to HS in the AM, go back to the resort for the pool in the afternoon (staying at Pop) and then head back to HS for maybe another couple of rides and F! show, how much travel time would it take us going back and forth?

 

[rizzo0904]

We have animal loving kids too and we didn't finish AK in one day. We did a pre rope drop ADR at Tusker House and then went to the Safari first thing. We spent a lot of time wandering the trails and checking everything out. I could have used another hour or two.

 

[Guest-expert]

Personally, I'd do a second day at MK. You really don't need two for AK, nor Epcot (unless you couldn't get on to soarin or etc)

 

[VikingInMouseEars]

Including waiting on buses I would say an hour.

 

[lily2521]

Personally, I'd do a second day at MK. You really don't need two for AK, nor Epcot (unless you couldn't get on to soarin or etc)

We already have 2 MK days planned in our itinerary. This is in addition to that.

 

[lily2521]

Including waiting on buses I would say an hour.

So we'd lose 2 hours total in the day going back and forth?

 

[VikingInMouseEars]

No sorry, that's an hour total travel time round trip. Maybe not even that long, but to be safe I would plan on an hour total.

 

[lily2521]

No sorry, that's an hour total travel time round trip. Maybe not even that long, but to be safe I would plan on an hour total.

That's not bad to me though, better than I thought!

Now it's just deciding if we should switch our AK and MK days around.

If we do, both parks are 'not recommended' for those days according to EasyWDW. I think that's partly to the EMH's. Would you avoid based on the predictions for those days?

 

[VikingInMouseEars]

That's not bad to me though, better than I thought!

Now it's just deciding if we should switch our AK and MK days around.

If we do, both parks are 'not recommended' for those days according to EasyWDW. I think that's partly to the EMH's. Would you avoid based on the predictions for those days?

It could possibly be longer, but I wouldn't think much long.
As for the recommended days I would pay more attention to the predicted crowd levels than whether the park is recommended or not. Like you said those crowd sites usually give a EMH park a not-recommended regardless of the crowd level.

 

[Guest-expert]

I always assume 35-45 minutes on buses. Just to be safe.

 

[lily2521]

It could possibly be longer, but I wouldn't think much long.
As for the recommended days I would pay more attention to the predicted crowd levels than whether the park is recommended or not. Like you said those crowd sites usually give a EMH park a not-recommended regardless of the crowd level.

It shouldn't be too bad then for us to switch.

if we do MK, then AK, as we originally were, it'd be MK-4 and AK-4

If we switch it, we're looking at AK-4 and MK-5

So really all that's changing is the MK day goes up from a 4 to a 5, and I'm guessing in retrospect we won't noticed a difference between a 4 and a 5 at MK

 

[VikingInMouseEars]

It shouldn't be too bad then for us to switch.

if we do MK, then AK, as we originally were, it'd be MK-4 and AK-4

If we switch it, we're looking at AK-4 and MK-5

So really all that's changing is the MK day goes up from a 4 to a 5, and I'm guessing in retrospect we won't noticed a difference between a 4 and a 5 at MK

I think you are correct. Others may disagree, but I personally seem to notice higher crowds more at AK than any other park. As far as MK being slightly higher I would make sure I was there for rope drop, have FP+ and a touring plan ready to go and you should be fine.

 

[lily2521]

I think you are correct. Others may disagree, but I personally seem to notice higher crowds more at AK than any other park. As far as MK being slightly higher I would make sure I was there for rope drop, have FP+ and a touring plan ready to go and you should be fine.

and with switching our days around, we'll take advantage of the EMH at MK on that last day - especially since AK will be the day before so I know we can get to bed at a decent time. thanks for the advice, I like this new plan!

 

[VikingInMouseEars]

Sounds like a plan, have a great trip!

 

[IBLarsen]

You just gave me an Aha moment!

Original plan for our 5 days:
MK
Epcot
AK
MK
HS

I'm going to switch it up to:
MK
Epcot
HS
MK
AK

That way, we can have a relaxing type of day right in the middle of our vacation - I was worried about getting pool time, and having a more down-day - so if I rearrange our schedule this way, to put HS right in the middle, that can be our down day, and it won't be so go-go-go for us up until we leave!

Yes, exactly what I did to put our HS day/relax day in the middle of the week, for that very reason.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

I seem to be in the minority here, but HS is my family's second favorite park.

I think Indiana Jones is worth doing once. We saw it twice, and probably won't see it again. But it was fun when we watched it.

I can ride Star Tours 6 times in a row and still want to ride it more.

It looks like you have enough on your list that it's worth going for a day.

 

[Kohara]

I hated Hollywood Studios