Replies coming, Magdelene! Have to do some other stuff right now, but have read all of your great responses and tips! Thanks! Comments, questions, etc.. coming in an edit to this post.
I think your math is wrong. If Epcot is a EMH Morning park that day, you will have 3 hours in Future World before WS opens at 11am. However, are you sure you want to do EMH morning on the day after your arrival day when the time difference is still working towards your disadvantage regarding mornings. Especially if the evening will be at the one event you are looking forward to so much? I would be to afraid to jeopardize the evening by going strong all morning already.
You are right, we have 3 hours. Cool! That's WAY plenty of time to hit up all the stuff we want before we head to the back. But you may have a good point. We just may want to start out a little slower and shoot for a 9:00 arrival, instead of Rope Drop. Plus, we very well, may want to just concentrate on WS, then go back to the Art for a nap until the party, and head for MK around 2:00. I will add this as a very viable Plan B depending on how we feel.
And once again I am concerned for your comfort!
I usually would totally agree with you that on your first day you want to take the monorail to the MK. BUT it is a really really long hike from the back of WS all the way to the monorail. Just hopping over to the BC (you could even take a boat...) and then on a bus to the MK would save you a lot of walking in the potentially baking hot afternoon sun. And you want to be able to enjoy the upcoming party to the fullest!
Ok, I moved this reply up to the last one, because I think it ties in with above comment. Again, depending on how we feel that day and the Plan we go with, I'll either take the boat/bus from the back of the Park or the monorail from the front. I'm just curious how MUCH extra time it would take with the scenario you spelled out above. Yes, I totally understand the hot sun and extra walking, but are we looking at like an hour or more that way to transfer?
With regard to making use of mornings, keep in mind that with FP+ they are now giving out FP for the first hour of the day. I have not enough experience on what effect that has on early morning wait times, but in theory it could have the effect to make morning waits longer because they will need to put the FP+ people on the ride as well. So, you might see longer waits earlier compared to what it was in the past.
This is great news; I hadn't read that before! I assume that they are not available during EMH, though, right? Hmmm....
Timeline on Soarin Over the World is still kind of unclear. Currently they are building the third theater. The rumors are that once that is up and running the other two theaters will go down one after the other for changing over to digital projection and maintenance (well overdue as they more or less cannot close this attraction for a refurbishment, it is the one attraction that makes people go to Epcot). Once that is completed the change over to Soarin over the World should be really easy. I think the current estimate is "late 2016" - whatever that means. And I am not sure if that is for the new film or just for building the third theater.
"late 2016" is promising. I think they should keep both films going and give you a choice. At least for a while. I am looking forward to the new one, but would love to have the option of a trip down memory lane one more time too.
Be aware that Spaceship Earth now regularly has lines thanks to FP+.
Great.
You do know the Disney Food Blog?
http://www.disneyfoodblog.com They have a whole section about the F&W Festival where they have all the current and past booth menus. They usually post them as soon as they become available. They are great for getting an overview and usually post pictures of the tastings as well. Also, menus do not change that much from year to year, so you could certainly look at this years coverage and most likely prices we be similar next year and you will find many of the menu items there as well.
I wasn't aware of that one. Well, that's not entirely true. I've heard of it, but haven't ever gone there or poked around any. I'll have to add that to my bookmarks and see what's what over there.
Thanks for tip!
Late Spring 2016 is the current estimate for it to open.
Again, super! I"m glad Fall is after Spring!
For a moment you got me there!!!
It's not often I can pull that off!
Generally thumbs up for your choice!
However, be prepared that this continuous loaders can get quite longish slow moving lines now thanks to the addition of FP+ on them.
I think the Disney app will come in handy this trip for wait times. I've played around with it some and really like it. Have you used it? Do you feel like it's very accurate for wait times?
Since you are going to get FP+ on a party day, you will only be able to get them for time slots up until 7pm. No FP+ during the party (which is great as it makes lines move so much quicker!).
Nice! Yes, I knew that they wouldn't be available during the party, but I will certainly get some for before it!
Generally a good idea to do the party early in the trip and Tuesday is certainly the best day to pick for it! I am sure you know that the second parade will be much easier for viewing than the first one?
Then I think we've got a winner date! YAY! And yes, I like your idea below about the 2nd one in front of Frontierland.
Hallowishes would be a must see for me! I loved it! We had no trouble finding a good spot in the hub, which I considered a great location. Try to be a bit further back from castle as that gives you a better chance to see the fireworks going around the park perimeter.
Good advice... further back. Check!
There are some candy trails that were fun to walk through - no obligation to take any of the candy, but it is a fun experience and a lot of the CMs were having fun talking to the guests getting the candy, especially later at night.
I think if we feel like just wandering for taking in the atmosphere, this is a great plan for doing that.
We lined up for the second parade about 45 minutes early and had a great front row spot in Frontierland.
Ok, noted!
I don't remember any crazy waits for HM during the party, something like 20 minutes maybe...
That's certainly good news! This is one of my must-do's and I didn't want to blow the whole night waiting for it.
Overall, most waits for attractions were really manageable, but they were not walk ons. The same was true for the Christmas party last year. There we were able to do the 7DMT late in the evening with a 15 minute wait even.
This paints me a good picture of what to expect, and I really appreciate all of the helpful comments you've offered about the party! I, above all, want the party to be well worth the money, since I'll only ever do this probably once. ANd the more I know, the more I know I'll enjoy it because I'll be able to plan it better and know what are reasonable expectations.
The one thing I would try to do differently would be to try to be less caught up in the general hectic. I found the park to be very filled with people running from A to B to C. Everyone appeared to be in such a hurry. And it was dark and crowded. This really was not very pleasant and I let myself kind of get caught up in it and started to feel like I needed to rush around as well. One of my best memories of the party is indeed that time that we spent with Marv and Jon waiting for the parade to start as we could just watch the craziness around us without being part of it. Don't try to do everything. You can't do that!
I think maybe a good strategy for us is to get out the park map and the Party Map specifically and spend a while planning out a "best" route. That way we don't criss-cross too much. That last thing I want to do is spend precious amounts of time just walking. And it's good to keep the whole thing in perspective. I know I can't do everything, so I'll concentrate on the highlights and during the rest do a minimum amount of rushing and extra walking.
Why not? The flag has to come down one way or another. The party does not start until 7pm. Until then it is very much a normal operating day. Btw, usually the mornings of the party days are great days to go to the MK. As the park closes so early, a lot of people go to the MK on the other days when the park is open late (and those days then become insanely crowded).
Good advice here as well. Maybe hit the highlights at EPCOT, skip WS, and head straight to MK after a quick pool dip or nap...
Short little walk around the place, it looks like a fun and nice place to stay!
for school being paid. Can't wait to read more.
So you're saying I'd have to wear my earphones all the time???
