This Would Be Nuts, Right?

[Anonomom]

Why not just do all of DHS on 11/2 with EEMH? You could then do AK on 10/31, during the day, not invest in extra tix and not exhaust everyone.

Fair question. The short answer is crowd levels -- they're estimated to be reasonably low during Halloween week, then jump way up on Saturday. So we'd originally planned to spend just a few hours in one of the parks that day, catching up on what we missed or wanted to do again. Then I was able to get reservations for Oga's and for droid building on Saturday so we figured we'd head back to DHS for those, maybe catch some shows or whatever we could do in a few hours, then spend the rest of the day at the pool. Basically, with crowds predicted to be high, I don't want Saturday to be a day where I'm trying to make sure we see a lot.

 

[hereforthechurros]

Yup.
That's the opposite of vacation.

Ain’t that the truth. The other day I saw a post from someone (another board) about hitting three TS and four QS stops at Disney Springs IN ONE NIGHT because there was so much they wanted to try. Like I get it, but no. Logistically and physically impossible.

 

[CastAStone]

The short answer is crowd levels -- they're estimated to be reasonably low during Halloween week, then jump way up on Saturday.

I get this completely but crowd levels at 6AM will probably be pretty darn low giving you the ability to do a LOT that morning, even on a busy day. Besides, even with SWGE you can still easily get through the entire park with 2 days, even if you sleep in on the less crowded one and RD and go hard on the more crowded one.

The good news is that you can wait and see if I’m right about 6AM crowds being low enough to make for easy touring (and what changes TP makes to their crowd calendar once they see how SWGE is going), then decide whether or not to switch things up. Based on the ones so far, it’s unlikely that the AK DAH will sell out super far in advance.

 

[bryanb]

No one has a good time on that itinerary. Everyone will be exhausted and potentially miserable. I'd go with things that are priorities and let the rest go. Being anywhere at 5:15am is not a vacation...not in my world.

Yeah I don’t get the super early 6am extra magic hours. Are there really so many extreme morning people in the world? I truly feel bad for the cast members who have to work those opening shifts!

And unless you’re jetlagged and coming from Europe, who is full of vigor at 5:15am and saying, “awww yeah!!!! It’s time to party!!!”?

 

[disneygirlsng]

Yeah I don’t get the super early 6am extra magic hours. Are there really so many extreme morning people in the world? I truly feel bad for the cast members who have to work those opening shifts!

And unless you’re jetlagged and coming from Europe, who is full of vigor at 5:15am and saying, “awww yeah!!!! It’s time to party!!!”?

Me!!! I only wish I could use the 6AM mornings more than once, but because I'm there for the races that weekend and they start at 5:30AM, I can't. Otherwise I would be there bright and early every single day!

 

[MrsSaraG]

You know you're family better than we do. If you think everyone will be fine without sleep, I say go for it! On our last trip, we did 7 days of park open to close in a row and threw in a MVMCP and TSL EMM and everyone advised us not to. However, I knew it would work for our family and it did. Our 5 year old was amazing and literally the most well behaved I've ever seen her. So you do you.

 

[mamaofsix]

Fair question. The short answer is crowd levels -- they're estimated to be reasonably low during Halloween week, then jump way up on Saturday. So we'd originally planned to spend just a few hours in one of the parks that day, catching up on what we missed or wanted to do again. Then I was able to get reservations for Oga's and for droid building on Saturday so we figured we'd head back to DHS for those, maybe catch some shows or whatever we could do in a few hours, then spend the rest of the day at the pool. Basically, with crowds predicted to be high, I don't want Saturday to be a day where I'm trying to make sure we see a lot.

If you were able to get Oga's and droid reservations for 11/2 and not the first day you're at HS, then it's likely a safe bet that 11/2 will be LESS crowded at HS than 10/31. Don't build a difficult itinerary and miss out on AK based on projected crowd calendars. The differences will be negligible in crowds!

I agree that you should go with the itinerary suggested by pp's. Makes way more sense and works so much better with the EEMH!

10/30 - Epcot
10/ 31 - AK
11/1 - MK EEMH
11/2 - HS EEMH and reservations

 

[DGsAtBLT]

Yeah I don’t get the super early 6am extra magic hours. Are there really so many extreme morning people in the world? I truly feel bad for the cast members who have to work those opening shifts!

And unless you’re jetlagged and coming from Europe, who is full of vigor at 5:15am and saying, “awww yeah!!!! It’s time to party!!!”?

We’ll be taking advantage of at least the DHS one because I don’t want to put as at a disadvantage skipping it. We’re adults only this trip though. I’m particularly annoyed that MK and AK are also 7 AM openings, making early ADRs hard to justify (don’t want to waste those prime hours) while MK closes so so early.

I hope this early morning garbage is gone by March and replaced by later hours instead .

 

[GovieMom]

Good luck with everything! Would you mind telling me how/where I can reserve a spot for building a light saber?

 

[MomOTwins]

I can't believe the crowd calendars are saying 11/2 will be less crowded at HS than 10/31. For one thing there are reduced hours at MK on 10/31 due to the Halloween party so you can bet crowd levels at all other parks are going to go up a bit. Plus, I would expect a fair number of locals with annual passes thinking "hey, wouldn't it be fun to put on star wars costumes and go celebrate Halloween in SWGE?"

 

[MomOTwins]

Good luck with everything! Would you mind telling me how/where I can reserve a spot for building a light saber?

They will likely be sold out if you are going there in the near future, but you can always keep checking here: https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/shops/hollywood-studios/savis-workshop-handbuilt-lightsabers/

 

[Chickinvic]

That sounds horrible to me. I would have a more relaxed day before the After Hours event, then I wouldn't even think about getting up a few hours later to go to a park. Pick another day for that.

 

[GovieMom]

Thank you, MomOTwins. Saw that I have to wait til our 180 day mark to do that, but at least now I know to be ready, so thanks again.

 

[BadgerGirl84]

Children need at least 10 hours of sleep, so that seems like an incredibly foolish choice and honestly cruel to the children to be honest.

 

[FeistyDisneyMom]

I absolutely love the insanity that comes with trip planning. I found myself thinking gee, yeah that sounds doable - but all the comments are right, it might look perfect on paper but in reality most likely would lead to a hot mess of tired, cranky people. Your alternate plans look pretty fun and likely to accomplish everything you are hoping for anyway