Talk Me Into This (or out of it)!

[DDuckVols]

Long story short ------from Tennessee, heading to Jacksonville for the Vols bowl game on Jan. 2nd. Thinking about surprising our little guy (5 year old) with a trip to MK on Saturday Jan. 3. We were at Disney for 7 days for his first trip in September and he LOVED it. We've told him we are not going back until 2016. The wife and I are just worried about dropping $400 + for a day in MK with crowd levels predicted at 7. We LOVE WDW, but we have never been at such a crowded time and are worried that it will not be worth it (long waits, etc). I really want to do this so........tell me that we should!

 

[sharonabe]

I think that crowd level of 7 is a little low. This is the last Saturday of the holiday weeks and the last weekend before everyone goes back to school. It will be crazy crowded!!! I'm afraid I would have to say no if it were my DH wanting to go (and I'm the one who LOVES Disney in our family). That is a lot of money for a very crowded, long lines kind of day.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

All my children appreciated their Disney fix we have then back in February to the tune of $600 for our family of 6. I say go for it.

 

[ArwenMarie]

If you can keep your expectations low-ish, and just take whatever fun as it comes, I say go for it.

 

[msb578]

It's easy for me say this, as it's your money. But I'd try to do it. But only knowing we'd be going for the atmosphere, rather than rides. Some people consider that a waste of money, and rightfully so, but I love just being there.

 

[JimmyV]

If you can keep your expectations low-ish, and just take whatever fun as it comes, I say go for it.

...and the financial aspect of it makes sense to you....Can't leave that part out. Big difference if Bill Gates were asking for my advice on spending money at WDW for a last-minute pop-in versus someone who just lost their job. Ask yourself if you are OK spending the money only to find out that crowds are worse than you thought and FPs for all your favorite attractions are gone leaving you with 1+ hour standby lines. If the trade-off between fun and money works for you, than go for it!

 

[LSUfan4444]

Long story short ------from Tennessee, heading to Jacksonville for the Vols bowl game on Jan. 2nd. Thinking about surprising our little guy (5 year old) with a trip to MK on Saturday Jan. 3. We were at Disney for 7 days for his first trip in September and he LOVED it. We've told him we are not going back until 2016. The wife and I are just worried about dropping $400 + for a day in MK with crowd levels predicted at 7. We LOVE WDW, but we have never been at such a crowded time and are worried that it will not be worth it (long waits, etc). I really want to do this so........tell me that we should!

The do it.

 

[DDuckVols]

Appreciate the advice so far ........ The $ is not really a deal breaker. Not rich by any means, but I'm not really worried about spending the money. I guess I'm more worried about not being able to do the things we like to do because of the crowds and only having one day in the park. I realize "crowded" differs greatly from person to person. With that being said, is a crowd level of 7 (which I understand may be on the low side for this particular day) absolutely miserable for most folks? I don't want to spend 12 hours of a 16 hour day in lines if that is what we are looking at.

 

[LSUfan4444]

The only way you should be disappointed is if you have unreasonable expectations and/or don't want/can't to put forward the effort in "beating the crowds".

Work the system in your favor, classify things as must dos, like to dos then if we have time. Have a plan, then be able to scrap that plan on a moments notice and do something completely different.

On Thanksgiving day we showed up an hour later than we wanted to, had lunch at CRT, did our three FP+ and never waited more than 20 minutes for the other attractions we wanted to and got ALOT more done than we expected.

 

[DDuckVols]

The only way you should be disappointed is if you have unreasonable expectations and/or don't want/can't to put forward the effort in "beating the crowds".

Work the system in your favor, classify things as must dos, like to dos then if we have time. Have a plan, then be able to scrap that plan on a moments notice and do something completely different.

On Thanksgiving day we showed up an hour later than we wanted to, had lunch at CRT, did our three FP+ and never waited more than 20 minutes for the other attractions we wanted to and got ALOT more done than we expected.

Awesome ........ If we do this, we'll have a plan. We are definitely planners when it comes to WDW. It won't be a "fly by the seat of your pants" type deal at all.

 

[Pooh2]

Go!!!

 

[cgattis]

Go. I wouldn't drive 12+ hours and be within an hour of the park and NOT go. Ride what you can, soak in all the things like parades and fireworks that he will never have seen, meet some characters, and he won't know what else he missed. And from a fellow Tennessean, Roll Tide! . Have fun!!

 

[notrub98]

Long story short ------from Tennessee, heading to Jacksonville for the Vols bowl game on Jan. 2nd. Thinking about surprising our little guy (5 year old) with a trip to MK on Saturday Jan. 3. We were at Disney for 7 days for his first trip in September and he LOVED it. We've told him we are not going back until 2016. The wife and I are just worried about dropping $400 + for a day in MK with crowd levels predicted at 7. We LOVE WDW, but we have never been at such a crowded time and are worried that it will not be worth it (long waits, etc). I really want to do this so........tell me that we should!

Kids are only five once. I would go - if the crowds are bad, you spend more time in Mickey's Philharmagic but you still go

 

[DDuckVols]

Go. I wouldn't drive 12+ hours and be within an hour of the park and NOT go. Ride what you can, soak in all the things like parades and fireworks that he will never have seen, meet some characters, and he won't know what else he missed. And from a fellow Tennessean, Roll Tide! . Have fun!![/QUOT

Great advice until I got to the "Roll Tide' part. Now I question your judgement and can no longer take anything you said prior to that seriously.

 

[DDuckVols]

Kids are only five once. I would go - if the crowds are bad, you spend more time in Mickey's Philharmagic but you still go

That's funny ...... I have uttered the line "he's only going to be 5 once" a million times over the last couple of days while considering this.

 

[BigOrangeGal]

As an aside, Go Big Orange! I'm super jealous that you get to go watch their bowl game!

 

[JimmyV]

Appreciate the advice so far ........ The $ is not really a deal breaker.

If the money isn't an issue, then do it! The absolute worst case scenario is that it turns out to be the worst visit to WDW that you ever had. But think about where the "worst day I've ever had at WDW" ranks in the relative pecking order of life!!

 

[BrianL]

To paraphrase Yogi Bera, "Nobody goes to Magic Kingdom on a Level 7 day...it's just too crowded!"

Of course, a LOT of people go...and they have fun too. It can be manageable, but I would definitely get there super early. I think you'd have a great time!

 

[ArwenMarie]

...and the financial aspect of it makes sense to you....Can't leave that part out. Big difference if Bill Gates were asking for my advice on spending money at WDW for a last-minute pop-in versus someone who just lost their job. Ask yourself if you are OK spending the money only to find out that crowds are worse than you thought and FPs for all your favorite attractions are gone leaving you with 1+ hour standby lines. If the trade-off between fun and money works for you, than go for it!

Well, Bill Gates would just rent out the whole park.

But yes, of course one should make sure that they can afford it.

 

[DDuckVols]

As an aside, Go Big Orange! I'm super jealous that you get to go watch their bowl game!

Go Vols!