What days to do what parks?

[ChanaC]

I'm starting to set plans for a quick two park day trip and I could use some thoughts about what days to do what parks.

Some background: I'm a former CM who hasn't been to WDW since 2015. I don't live in FL anymore but will be back for an extended holiday trip and my sibling and I decided to do a quick Disney trip. With work, time, and money we are only doing two days. My main "goal" is to do a lot of the attractions that are new* (at least to me). For example, the Pandora attractions, Frozen, MMRR, Remy (which will be new to everyone), etc. We are going to get park hoppers and do two parks each day. I just need help deciding which days to do them! As of now, it looks like we'll be going on Sunday, Dec 5th and Monday, Dec 6th. Hopefully we can avoid the big Thanksgiving and Christmas crowds. Also for some reference, we'll be staying off site and driving our own car.

*I have been to Disneyland recently so I’ve done Galaxy’s Edge, RotR, and Smuggler’s Run, but doing them again would be great if we get a boarding group.

So far I'm thinking:

Sun Dec 5th: Start with a park reservation for Hollywood Studios, park hop and end the day in Epcot
Mon Dec 6th: Start with a park reservation for Animal Kingdom, park hop and end the day in MK

We want to see both Epcot and MK’s new shows, so we’ll be ending each night there. Sunday night is tricky, because I know Epcot especially is worse on the weekends, especially during Festival of the Holidays. However, that night is also a Christmas after hours party at MK, and I’m assuming it will be extra crowded that night, especially if we are trying to stop and watch the fireworks. Since we’re limited on times, we’ll have to deal with crowds in either park on Sunday, I’m just trying to figure out which will be worse. Also, does it seem like there would be a big difference about which park to start in on each day? With the new resort perks it seems like each day resort guests get an extra 30 minutes at each park (unless I'm wrong) so it's not like there are specific EMH mornings to avoid. I do want to specifically start in DAK and DHS to rope drop Pandora and get a boarding group for RotR.

Thoughts? Opinions? Words of wisdom? Thanks in advance!

 

[GBRforWDW]

I was going to suggest the opposite days for the parks, but it probably won't matter much as far as crowds go, though I've heard MK can be busier on Mondays because everyone arriving on the weekend wants to start there on Monday, but really, with park reservations, it's usually not much different between days now.

The only real wrench in the plans is how virtual queues will work once Remy is open. We already know they'll be utilizing one. Up until very recently, you could not get a rise of the Resistance boarding group if you park hopped. It mostly was a non issue having needed to be in DHS to obtain the 1pm boarding pass and park hopping not starting until 2pm and groups filling up in seconds. With the recent low crowds, Disney quietly changed their policy to allow anyone to get a boarding group once they arrived at the park.

With Remy's ride utilizing boarding groups as well, and crowd levels will also be going back up after October 1 which is also when Remy's opens, it'll be interesting to see if Disney reverts back to the original WDW RotR policy of needing the specific park to be where your park pass reservation is, meaning you would have to start your day in Epcot to get the boarding group. Or... Will they switch to how it works in Disneyland where at the 7am drop, you're restricted to the park you start in, but at the afternoon drop, hoppers can get a boarding group for either ride as long as they don't have an active boarding group for a different ride.

Another option around this will be the Genie+ lightning lane option as I believe both RotR and Remy's will be available as specific ride purchases.

 

[ChanaC]

Good points. And yes, we are looking at just doing a lightning lane for Remy if the boarding group system is the same as RotR. It sucks to spend extra money, but with limited time it might be the only way to do it. I really don’t want to start the day with Epcot, especially with their current later opening times. But so much can change between now and December so who knows.

 

[ChanaC]

Bumping this because I would love some more thoughts and opinions.

Also, it looks like my dates now overlap with the Candlelight Processional (which I guess happens every night?). Dec 5th is Neil Patrick Harris and Dec 6th is Whoppi Goldberg. I like them both but really have no interest in Candlelight so we'll be skipping that. With two big celebrities, I'm assuming picking a day with less crowds really isn't going make much difference, right? Seems like World Showcase is going to be swamped either night.

Also since I wrote this the RotR boarding group virtual queue is gone, but I still think we'll want to do a morning at HS to try to get on some of the big ticket attractions. And unless Epcot's hours change, I don't want to start the day there and wait until 10 or 11 to get into the park. We'll either have to skip Remy or pay for the Lightning Lane.

Once again, any thoughts or advice would be appreciated!

 

[scrappinginontario]

A lot is changing right now and going to change so it's challenging to answer your questions until we know more.

Personally, with the 2PM park hopping restriction in place, I would plan my park days as being the 2 parks we want to do most at in their given open hours. If it were me I would reserve 1 day in the MK and 1 day in DHS. Epcot opens later and AK really does not need the same amount of time the other 2 parks do. Also, AK sometimes slows down later in the day so you could possibly hop there, do what you wish and then still hop to Epcot after that.

If it were me I would book MK on Sun, Dec 5th as that is a Christmas Party day and historically crowds are lower those days.

Just my .02 during these ever-changing times.