What would/do you do on the day of arrival and day of departure?

[C.Ann]

Going down the first week in December - will be at WDW beginning Dec. 2nd and planned on attending MVMCP that night. We will leave for home on the 7th..

Now - I figure we'll be at WDW around noontime on the 2nd and in order to catch the last flight out on the 7th, I think we need to be at the airport around 4 p.m. or so..

Would you use part of your hopper on the 2nd and again on the 7th? Or only use it for 4 FULL days?

 

[florida sun]

Well, I think any unused days on your hopper ticket are good forever, so if you dont think you will get good value out of using it on half days maybe you could spend the time using the hotel facilitys, swimming etc.

Have a great time.

 

[wdwrich]

If you are going to have 4-day hoppers, then I would suggest using them for full days. If you're getting the Ultimate Park Hoppers (i.e. length-of-stay), then use them on any/all days.
Have fun!

 

[C.Ann]

Originally posted by wdwrich
If you are going to have 4-day hoppers, then I would suggest using them for full days. If you're getting the Ultimate Park Hoppers (i.e. length-of-stay), then use them on any/all days.
Have fun!

-------------------------

See that's just it.. I haven't decided yet on how many days to purchase (won't go with the length of stay because it includes plusses we won't use)..

If we used the hopper for the 2nd, that would pretty much be a "full" day because we would be staying right on thru for the MVMCP..

The 7th is "iffier".. We would probably only get about 6 hours of park time.. Maybe that would be better spent on a last run to the Disney outlet stores before heading to the airport..

So - does the 5-day hopper make sense?

 

[Lora]

I don't know anything about the party, but do you have to have a pass for that day AND your party ticket, or are they separate. If you have to have it anyway, I would use the hopper on the 2nd. If they are separate and you don't have to use a hopper day for the party, then I wouldn't use a hopper day for either your arrival or departure day. There's plenty to do around the property on those days - Downtown Disney, for example. Eating at Chef Mickey's or Rainforest Cafe would be fun also.

 

[jann1033]

so you have 4 full days and 2 1/2 daysin all. if you are getting a5 day park hopper, i'd do the same with the party day... and spend the hopper days on full days.

first week of Dec. I think mk is only open usually till 6 or 7 anyway( at least in the years we have gone) so you'd only get a few hrs out of the ticket even if you didn't go to the party that night. by the time you check in ect and get to the park it would be at least 1-2 so not worth it imo. if you need a pass and ticket for the party, might as well use it and get there as early as possible( I don't think you do need both but never having gone to the party don't know for sure)

the alternative would be go to what ever park is emh the 7th. it won't be crowded that time of year and you could stay there on your last park hopper day till 2:30 or so( 6 hrs) and then leave for the airport ( figuring 1/2 an hr to collect your luggage unless you have a rental car and take it to the park with you and 1 hr to get to the airport which probably is more than you need but don't know what time your flight is.)

you can save the last day but we have done that and usually lost or forgot or otherwise never used that last day of the ticket so unless you are sure you won't do any of those things I'd use it.

 

[swilphil]

From what I have read on other threads, you don't need to use your Park Hopper to get into the party. If that is indeed the case, I wouldn't use a full day up on my arrival day. We like to take it easy on the first day, exploring the resort and recovering from traveling. You could make a PS for lunch if you want something special to do.

We only go to the parks on the last day if we have an evening flight. We went to Epcot on our last trip and returned by about 3:30 to the Swan, which is close by, to meet the Town Car two hours before our flight. Remember you will need extra time to pack, check out of your room, and have your luggage taken to and from the storage area.

 

[DisneyMSF]

I've never been to MVMCP, but I know that for MNSSHP (which starts at 7pm), you can get into the MK around 4:00 or so with your MNSSHP ticket (without using a day on a hopper pass). IF MVMCP works the same way (maybe someone else here can answer that), you could just plan on heading to the MK a little early for the party and not need to use a hopper pass day. Use the time in between arrival and heading to the party for a nice lunch/checking out hotels/etc.

For your last day, since you have a later flight, it might be worth another day in the parks (especially if you could take advantage of an EE). It really depends on how much time you yourself feel makes using a day on a hopper "worth it".

 

[katypop]

you do not need to use a day on your hopper ticket on the 2nd if you are just going to MVMCP that day. your MVMCP ticket is all you need to get in, and the last few years they have let you in to MK after 4:00 with the MVMCP tickets. i had an AP last year but dd only had a hopper ticket, so we chose to resort hop to view the xmas decorations on one of the nights we went MVMCP so we wouldn't use one of her hopper ticket days and entered MK aound 4:00. we had a ps for ltt at 5:30 and it worked out great. if you are not arriving until around noon on the 2nd, by the time you check in and get comfortable and look around your resort, it will be around 4:00 any way i am going on this night too...maybe i'll see you there!
katypop

 

[cathy59]

We also were looking for other things to do on days that we wouldn't have a full day to spend at the theme parks. I found some great suggestions at http://allearsnet.com/btp/beyond.htm

Here are a couple of things we plan to do:

*Play miniature golf at Winter/Summerland and Fantasia Gardens. Winter/Summerland is my son's favorite thing in WDW!

*Go to Ft. Wilderness for the free campfire program. Chip and Dale host a sing-a-long and a Disney movie. You can also purchase sticks and marshmallows to roast over the fire. We've never done this, but I think it will be a great way to end a travel day!

Have a great time!

 

[GeekChic]

i believe that you do have to use regular park admission in addition to the tickets for the MNSSHP and MVMCP, that is how they explained it to us when we discussed maybe buying tickets last year during our stay. It made sense to me because on e-ride nights, you have to use your parkhopper admission and pay extra to stay in the later hours too.

On our last day, we usually have to leave for the airport around 3 so unless we can get a late check out, I prefer to do a character dining breakfast at a resort instead of parks: last minute shopping, taking pictures, and generally 'one last time around' our resort.

But last time, we did get a late check out and we spent like 4 hours in the MK the day we left and had a blast. But we had AP's so we weren't burning a day on a hopper.

This trip coming up, we don't plan parks the first or last day. We plan fuller days in the middle, and then the first day we're having dinner at Ohana and the last day we'll likely do a chef mickey breakfast, haven't decided yet

have a wonderful trip, whatever you decide!
geek

 

[cathy59]

i believe that you do have to use regular park admission in addition to the tickets for the MNSSHP and MVMCP, that is how they explained it to us when we discussed maybe buying tickets last year during our stay. It made sense to me because on e-ride nights, you have to use your parkhopper admission and pay extra to stay in the later hours too.

Just FYI, you only need your MVMCP ticket to attend during party hours. See the first post on the thread for MVMCP:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?threadid=595430

 

[bytheblood]

Those are our relax days. We use these days for shopping, viewing the resorts, PS meals at resorts, and using the pool.

 

[crzy4mickey]

C.Ann: we will be there too from December 2nd to December 8th. Our flight lands at 1:15 so we were planning on going to Dinner at 1900 Park Fare and then going over to the MVMCP after. That way we will not use a day on our park hoppers. You do not need a park ticket to get into the party, just the party ticket. On our last day we need to leave for the airport at 3pm so we were thinking on going to a character breakfast and downtown disney or the boardwalk for an ice cream before our flight. We'll be staying at Pop. Where will you be staying??

 

[FINFAN]

We stayed 3 nights at the Dolphin last Dec 21-24., and we did not go to the parks once! (we wanted to, but this was a travel stop over) We enjoyed the boardwalk, rented a boat at the Yahtclub marina (I think it was $25) rode the monorail for fun, went to DTD and saw Santa,swam at the resort and played a few games of pool/arcades,toured the resorts for Xmas decorations...we spent over 2 hours at AKL just watching the Animals from general viewing area! All the resorts had sp many holiday activities going on, time flew! The best part....other than eating and the boat rental/arcades/billiard pool (total cost under $40) everything was free! And we had the Dolphin @$99 a night.I know you will have your DGD , playing w/legos at the Lego store in DTD was a huge hit w/my DS9...and there was a brass band playing, we ate at McDonald's to be budget consience but had a blast, took our picture w/the character statue at the entrance with the holiday decorations....there is so much, we even rode the monorail to MK just to see the 75 Mickey statues that were on display outside the entrance(they are gone now) thenwalked over to the Contemporary, took another ride on the monorail, returned to CR, took the boat to WL checked out the decorations and enjoyed walking the grounds and petting zoo. We used every last seond of those 3 days and like I said, didn't set foot into a park(just was NOT in the budget)that was brutal w/2 kids, but we were seeing KSC on the return drive back, so they understood...even tho it was SO HARD!

 

[alloyd1170]

We arrived around noon the first day, checked into CR, had lunch then headed to MGM for the rest of the day. However, we had a 2 yr old so all we were interested in was stuff he would enjoy so the big rides were out. Plus we were only there for 3 days. Checkout day we had breakfast at Chef Mickeys (able to take our time and enjoy it without worrying about getting to a park), rode the monorail one more time since our son loves trains, then headed to DTD for some shopping. We drove so there was no issue of time, though I did want to leave early since we had a 7 hr drive.

alison

 

[wendydarling826]

We had a similar situation last year - arrived and checked in at about noon and didn't want to use Park Hopper for just the afternoon, so we spent the afternoon at Downtown Disney and had a leisurely dinner at the resort and an early to bed night so that we could hit the parks running at daybreak.

 

[tw1nsmom]

I would definitely get a 4 day pass. Maybe you could go to Trails End at Fort Wilderness for a late lunch and a trip to the petting zoo. You could then take the boat over to MK around 4pm and use your MVMCP tickets to get in (we went to the Halloween party and you don't need to use a day on your hoppers to get in). On your last day I would schedule a late character breakfast/brunch at one of the resorts (Chef Mickey's, Ohana, 1900 Parke Faire...). After, I would go to DD and do some shopping. Maybe let DGD see Santa and play in the Leggo and Toy stores. Of course, a sundae at Ghirradellis is always a nutritious and tasty mid-afternoon snack before the trip home.

 

[C.Ann]

These are the BEST ideas!!! Thank you so much!

I think I really like the idea of going to DTD - or maybe the outlet stores so we can buy some souveniers there before we go into sticker shock at the parks - LOL.. The one thing that sticks out in my mind from our last trip was going to the Disney outlets after we had been in Orlando awhile and seeing the Mickey safari hat my DD paid $16.99 for in the parks for $2.99 at the outlets! Also - we each got the 4-park scrapbooks there for $9.99 and they were $25 in the parks - not to mention the 9-cent post cards!!!!

And I never even thought of doing the Chef Mickey breakfast the morning we leave! That would be great and NOT cut into our park time!!

You people are the BEST! With all the suggestions here you can't help but get the absolute MOST out of a trip by coming here for planning ideas!