Thought on Itinerary March 10-15

[austinelsa]

Hi all.
My family are all DLR vets, but we havent to WDW yet as a family, and the last time I was there was early 2000s when I was an employee of Disney corporate.

As an intro, its 2 adults, a 4 yr old princess/minnie enthusiast and a 7 yr old who loves disney but wont admit it. We know all the ins and outs of G+, ILL, RD, etc.
Anyway, here's our plan. Staying at the Swolphin and we have park hopper tickets.

Friday land at MCO at 4pm, go to Epcot for a few hours that night to get a lay of the land.
Saturday Animal Kingdom day, hotel break, HS at night with Fantasmic
Sunday Magic Kingdom, will take it easy at night.
Monday HS early entry, hotel break, Epcot for dinner and extended hours
Tuesday finish off Epcot (gotta ride Frozen 2983752987 times of course), hotel break, finish off the trip with night (until close) at MK.
Wednesday mid morning flight home.

Yay or nay? We are troopers, and my kids can WALK.

 

[coasternut22]

Staying at Swolphin, take advantage of your location and being able to walk to HS and Epcot for early entry before anyone else gets there by bus or skyliner. I recommend getting to each gate one hour before early entry. This will put you at the front of the rope drop pack. For Epcot, you will have little to no wait for Remy at early entry. If you show up to International Gateway 40 minutes before early entry, the skyliner crowd will already be there and you will have about a 20-30 minute wait for Remy at early entry opening. If you are one of the first groups to get on Remy, there is a chance you can get to Frozen before official park opening and beat that crowd.

Same for HS. Walk and get there before the bus crowd. Be at the gates one hour before early entry to be at the front of the pack to be able to get on Rise or Slinky before everyone else. This will give you a significant advantage.

Your plan looks fine. If you see Harmonious the first night, skip it on your extended hour night and use that time for rides with lower waits. Sometimes it’s hit or miss as to whether the app will allow you to get a boarding group, but still try for the 6pm Guardians drop for deluxe guests. I was successful not having been to Epcot that morning.

Be prepared for Fantsmic to be lesser than Disneyland’s.

 

[austinelsa]

Staying at Swolphin, take advantage of your location and being able to walk to HS and Epcot for early entry before anyone else gets there by bus or skyliner. I recommend getting to each gate one hour before early entry. This will put you at the front of the rope drop pack. For Epcot, you will have little to no wait for Remy at early entry. If you show up to International Gateway 40 minutes before early entry, the skyliner crowd will already be there and you will have about a 20-30 minute wait for Remy at early entry opening. If you are one of the first groups to get on Remy, there is a chance you can get to Frozen before official park opening and beat that crowd.

Same for HS. Walk and get there before the bus crowd. Be at the gates one hour before early entry to be at the front of the pack to be able to get on Rise or Slinky before everyone else. This will give you a significant advantage.

Your plan looks fine. If you see Harmonious the first night, skip it on your extended hour night and use that time for rides with lower waits. Sometimes it’s hit or miss as to whether the app will allow you to get a boarding group, but still try for the 6pm Guardians drop for deluxe guests. I was successful not having been to Epcot that morning.

Be prepared for Fantsmic to be lesser than Disneyland’s.

Thanks! and yeah - early entry for Epcot and HS are definitely going to happen since its so much easier.

On Fantasmic - is that true? Man, the music is pure childhood happiness for me. I havent seen it in a long time (it wasnt back yet at DLR on our trip last year) so maybe i wont notice the difference as much?

Also, do you think that HS on the Monday is the move? Ive tried to read everything I can about crowds by day of the week, even though i know its all a crapshoot. Like i know MK is a bad idea on Monday, but figured HS is basically the same every day-ish?

 

[T.G.I.Friday]

Would you consider doing HS and Fantasmic on Friday and doing Epcot on Saturday night?

Personally, I think after traveling and getting situated in the hotel, walking into the chaos of Epcot at the International Gateway can be a little overwhelming without a plan. My family is excited to be there, but is kind of tired and hangry and we walk around aimlessly and it’s packed and then we wonder why we are there. HS would be a little calmer to enter at that time.

Then Saturday start stacking genie in the morning for Frozen and other Epcot rides for you to do later.

 

[austinelsa]

Would you consider doing HS and Fantasmic on Friday and doing Epcot on Saturday night?

Personally, I think after traveling and getting situated in the hotel, walking into the chaos of Epcot at the International Gateway can be a little overwhelming without a plan. My family is excited to be there, but is kind of tired and hangry and we walk around aimlessly and it’s packed and then we wonder why we are there. HS would be a little calmer to enter at that time.

Then Saturday start stacking genie in the morning for Frozen and other Epcot rides for you to do later.

you know, i had been thinking about whether its better to do HS or Epcot for that first night. You think its a better intro in terms of WDW intensity?

Depending on cost for that day, Im also not opposed to buying genie for that night so we can do a ride or two as well. And i can stack LLs during the day pre-flight (im trying to squeeze every once of magic out of the trip lol. also, we dont really spend much on souvenirs or meals, so genie+ even for a few hours is definitely in budget.) But probably not needed if we are doing HS for Fantasmic tho.

lots of think about!

 

[loves to dive]

Sounds good but a few thoughts. As far as Epcot on arrival night or Saturday night, Epcot gets crowded at night on the weekends because of the locals. Especially in WS, the later in the night the worse. We don't know when F&G is starting this year but I'm going to assume it will probably have started by then. While I've never seen it myself, there have been reports of less than nice adults who have had a tad too much refreshing adult beverages on the weekend. I can attest to the crowds, I don't know if that time frame is considered Spring Break or not.

Swan/Dolphin do not use Disney transportation. The only issue with this is at MK you are going to be dropped off at TTC and not where the buses drop off, at AK you will be dropped off where the ride shares drop off (which I think is a tad closer than the WDW buses). Most of those buses do not allow you to take the strollers on to the bus, you have to fold them up and put them underneath and it's been my experience they are pretty rigid about it. I've seen the bus drivers on more than one occasion not move the bus until some parent gets it in their head they aren't special and fold up the stroller and put it underneath. Hop over to the Swan/Dolphin discussion thread to get all sorts of info. on them. I stay there just about every trip and love it.

 

[austinelsa]

Sounds good but a few thoughts. As far as Epcot on arrival night or Saturday night, Epcot gets crowded at night on the weekends because of the locals. Especially in WS, the later in the night the worse. We don't know when F&G is starting this year but I'm going to assume it will probably have started by then. While I've never seen it myself, there have been reports of less than nice adults who have had a tad too much refreshing adult beverages on the weekend. I can attest to the crowds, I don't know if that time frame is considered Spring Break or not.

Swan/Dolphin do not use Disney transportation. The only issue with this is at MK you are going to be dropped off at TTC and not where the buses drop off, at AK you will be dropped off where the ride shares drop off (which I think is a tad closer than the WDW buses). Most of those buses do not allow you to take the strollers on to the bus, you have to fold them up and put them underneath and it's been my experience they are pretty rigid about it. I've seen the bus drivers on more than one occasion not move the bus until some parent gets it in their head they aren't special and fold up the stroller and put it underneath. Hop over to the Swan/Dolphin discussion thread to get all sorts of info. on them. I stay there just about every trip and love it.

Is Sat night at Epcot worse than Friday night though? One of the those nights i wanna do HS/Fantasmic so I was thinking Sat night would be the better night to get away from the epcot crazy. But maybe im wrong? We probably arent going to do nothing that night and I cant imagine wanting to travel to MK that night since we already traveled for AK earlier in the day. One close park and one further park per day sounds more manageable?

 

[T.G.I.Friday]

you know, i had been thinking about whether its better to do HS or Epcot for that first night. You think its a better intro in terms of WDW intensity?

Depending on cost for that day, Im also not opposed to buying genie for that night so we can do a ride or two as well. And i can stack LLs during the day pre-flight (im trying to squeeze every once of magic out of the trip lol. also, we dont really spend much on souvenirs or meals, so genie+ even for a few hours is definitely in budget.) But probably not needed if we are doing HS for Fantasmic tho.

lots of think about!

It might just be us, but it seems like heading into the International Gateway without a plan has us walking in the sea of humanity in the loop and seeing big lines everywhere and not really knowing when to try to break out or what we want to see. I want to be there, but I don’t know what to do. We do much better when we are already in Epcot or have a plan of what we are trying to accomplish.

At least in Hollywood Studios, it’s more open and the crowds kind of disperse, so you can just soak it all in a little more easily or find a quiet spot.

So I guess my advice is if you do head to Epcot on arrival day, maybe have a ride or something that you want to experience. Even if it’s Figment or Nemo.

And I’m sure you know, but it’s an easy walk to both HS and Epcot. The walk to HS from the Boardwalk is safe and well lit yet peaceful and quiet.