Which parks which days (January 2023)

[Crystal2732]

We're taking our kids (daughter 8 and son 10) to WDW for the first time in January and are trying to figure out which park to reserve for which day. We're staying off site from Sun-Sun as a gift from family that have a week at the Sheraton Vistana, so we'll mostly be off site, but we're going to stay on-site Saturday 1/21 and will have early entry on Sunday 1/22.

Our overall priorities -- we're big Star Wars fans so RoR and Smuggler's Run are important to us. We'll probably spring for making light sabers if we can get a reservation and would love to stop in at Oga's Cantina too. We're not sure how adventurous the kids will be with the roller coasters -- they haven't been on any yet and are sometimes a little timid but we’re hoping they’re up for the milder coasters.

My main question right now is deciding which parks to plan on for which days so I can make ADR reservations. Since we’re staying offsite, I have to make them day by day starting this week. We’d like to do a character meal sometime but don’t have our hearts set on anything specific — Oga’s and Savi’s are probably the most important to us.

On Sunday, we’ll take advtange of our early entry — any thoughts on whether this is more important at MK or HS?

Here’s my tentative plan now, but nothing is really set in stone.

Sun — early entry at MK
Mon — AK?
Tues — HS
Wed — Epcot
Thurs — possibly a break day
Fri — Back to MK
Sat — Back to HS

We have 6-day park hopper tickets right now and might spend the extra $60 to upgrade to 7 day tickets for more flexibility. If we do that, we might do MK on Thurs and HS on Friday and leave Saturday open to go back to favorites or anything we missed.

Any tips or suggestions would be awesome!

 

[set88]

Based on my experience, I think early entry is more important at HS. Also, you'll want to do HS on a day when you have access to onsite privileges so you can buy Rise ILLs early. Based on your schedule, that has to be your first day.

You didn't mention if you are planning to buy Genie+ or ILLs, but I would highly, highly recommend the Rise ILL if nothing else. It's expensive but it's the only way to guarantee you can ride with a less than 2 hour wait. Genie+ is also very useful at HS.

If what I'm talking about is totally unfamiliar, I recommend giving this a read:

https://www.disneytouristblog.com/lightning-lanes-genie-plus-disney-world-faq-guide/

You don't need to read the commentary about the price first - I would skip down to the section starting with "What are Lightning Lanes."

Basically, Genie+ will give you access to skip lines at a few rides throughout the day, whereas ILLs are bought for just one ride which you book to skip the line for at a specific time. Each park has one ILL with the rest of the rides on Genie+.

The main reason I recommend HS being your early entry day is because onsite guests are allowed to purchase ILLs before offsite guests - and Rise sells out before offsite guests are eligible to purchase it. None of the other ILLs at the other parks will have that problem, should you wish to buy them.

 

[Bullseye]

Sheraton Vistana, that will be nice! PM extra hours have been Epcot on Mondays, and MK on Wednesday if you want to stay late in parks you could plan around that. Sounds like you must be close to your 60 day mark. Get your parks scheduled then book ADRs around that. Disney roller coasters are great for breaking in young kids! Most are fairly tame! Have fun

 

[Crystal2732]

Thanks for the tips! We're thinking about maybe staying an extra night onsite before moving so we can do both MK and HS with early entry. Right now, I'm thinking HS on Sunday and Magic Kingdom on Monday but every site I look at has different advice about which park will better/worse on which day. There is an after hours event at MK on Monday - will that make a big difference?

 

[set88]

Thanks for the tips! We're thinking about maybe staying an extra night onsite before moving so we can do both MK and HS with early entry. Right now, I'm thinking HS on Sunday and Magic Kingdom on Monday but every site I look at has different advice about which park will better/worse on which day. There is an after hours event at MK on Monday - will that make a big difference?

If MK has shortened hours, crowds will be much lower during the day.

 

[Crystal2732]

Thanks! It looks like the hours are still typical that day — the after hours event is from 10pm-1am.

 

[set88]

Thanks! It looks like the hours are still typical that day — the after hours event is from 10pm-1am.

Oh I see what you mean.

It'll usually be more crowded on one of those extended hours days.