Start at MK or AK for the last day of our trip?

[Artygal90]

In three weeks we will be at WDW for a whirlwind three-day trip! I'm so excited but I'm rethinking our departure day, which is Sunday December 8.

We are leaving late in the evening from MCO and need to be leaving whatever park we are at no later than 6:30 p.m. Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom are both expected to be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. with Early Entry at 7:30 a.m.

We will have been to MK for the Christmas party on Thursday 12/5, but I'm expecting there will be attractions we won't have time for and will want to revisit at MK. On the other hand, AK is my favorite park and the one the other members of my party have spent the least time in.

My Plan A was to hit Early Entry/ropedrop at AK hard for all the rides, enjoy a relaxed late morning/early afternoon soaking up the wonderful ambience, before heading to MK for any final must-do attractions. However, now I'm wondering if it would be better to do Plan B - do MK for a couple hours first thing (or sleep in), go to AK in the late morning and stay there until park close. The bonus of this would be less pressure to get all packed up and checked out of the hotel first thing in the morning, plus Pandora at night! But, we would probably be stuck with longer waits on all of the rides, and would have to be done with our last ride before 6:30.

Any thoughts?

 

[cropper]

do the park that is to be the most congested first thing in the morning and then switch

 

[georgina]

In three weeks we will be at WDW for a whirlwind three-day trip! I'm so excited but I'm rethinking our departure day, which is Sunday December 8.

We are leaving late in the evening from MCO and need to be leaving whatever park we are at no later than 6:30 p.m. Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom are both expected to be open from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. with Early Entry at 7:30 a.m.

We will have been to MK for the Christmas party on Thursday 12/5, but I'm expecting there will be attractions we won't have time for and will want to revisit at MK. On the other hand, AK is my favorite park and the one the other members of my party have spent the least time in.

My Plan A was to hit Early Entry/ropedrop at AK hard for all the rides, enjoy a relaxed late morning/early afternoon soaking up the wonderful ambience, before heading to MK for any final must-do attractions. However, now I'm wondering if it would be better to do Plan B - do MK for a couple hours first thing (or sleep in), go to AK in the late morning and stay there until park close. The bonus of this would be less pressure to get all packed up and checked out of the hotel first thing in the morning, plus Pandora at night! But, we would probably be stuck with longer waits on all of the rides, and would have to be done with our last ride before 6:30.

Any thoughts?

That's a tough one. I always go to AK first thing in the morning, can get a lot done by mid-morning. OTOH I have always found Sunday morning to be a good time at MK, fairly quiet. So either could work, depending on what you most want to do at MK.

Party guests can get into MK at 4:00, which will increase congestion there. So I guess I would lean to MK in the AM. Do you have any thoughts about buying the LLMP (or SP) for the park you don't rope drop?

 

[Artygal90]

That's a tough one. I always go to AK first thing in the morning, can get a lot done by mid-morning. OTOH I have always found Sunday morning to be a good time at MK, fairly quiet. So either could work, depending on what you most want to do at MK.

Party guests can get into MK at 4:00, which will increase congestion there. So I guess I would lean to MK in the AM. Do you have any thoughts about buying the LLMP (or SP) for the park you don't rope drop?

If we do MK in the PM, I don't think we'd need LLMP since what we want to do there is non-LL stuff like Tom Sawyer Island, Carousel of Progress or Tiki Room which are not open for most of the Christmas party. LLMP/LLSP for AK in the PM would make sense but we may have trouble getting good return times, since we are offsite and only have a 3-day booking window. Also I find that having to be somewhere at a particular time for a ride stresses me out a bit.

It may come down to how tired we are after 3 previous park days and how badly we want to get up early! And of course maybe my family will also fall in love with AK and want to spend all day walking all the trails, seeing all the shows, and relaxing at Nomad Lounge.

 

[georgina]

If we do MK in the PM, I don't think we'd need LLMP since what we want to do there is non-LL stuff like Tom Sawyer Island, Carousel of Progress or Tiki Room which are not open for most of the Christmas party. LLMP/LLSP for AK in the PM would make sense but we may have trouble getting good return times, since we are offsite and only have a 3-day booking window. Also I find that having to be somewhere at a particular time for a ride stresses me out a bit.

It may come down to how tired we are after 3 previous park days and how badly we want to get up early! And of course maybe my family will also fall in love with AK and want to spend all day walking all the trails, seeing all the shows, and relaxing at Nomad Lounge.

Always difficult! I am having similar issues with my March trip, using an old hopper ticket that requires me to make park reservations. I keep changing my mind.

 

[Sheryl2059]

Hard to answer because, for example, what is 'late in the evening' and does the time at the airport... in addition to everything related to park exit and arriving at MCO... include the time needed to get through TSA. Cant count on late flights meaning short lines. The 'arrive two hours early' thing airports use can be optimistic. In which case the hopper part could be moot.