Itinerary options WWYD?

[neverlandsky]

Coming from Desert PST. Our second visit ever to WDW. 5 nights / 3 day park hoppers skipping AK. 4 adults (2 mid 40s, almost 21 & 19 yrs). Wednesday: Up at 3:30PST/6:30 am EST - 6 hour flight arrival 2:45 pm EST & ETA Check-in at 5pm EST. Monday checkout 4:30am EST.
Option A
Wed: Check-in head to EP / Hop to MK for EEH.
Thurs: Rest
Fri: DHS EE / rest / MK Late Afn - close
Sat: Rest
Sun: MK EE / rest / EP

Option B
Wed: Check-in / Rest
Thurs: EP EE / rest / DHS Late Afn-close
Fri: DHS EE / rest / MK Late Afn - close
Sat: Resort Day OR MK EE/ rest/ EP Aftn-close
Sun: MK EE / rest / EP Aftn - close OR Resort Day

Option C - same as A except we rest in the morning and start our day at 2pm each day til close.
Option D -same as option B except we rest in the morning start our day after 2 pm til close.

Some background first visit was Oct. 2017. 7 nights/6 days 1 park per day and we ended up cancelling a lot of plans because we were exhausted. Plus I got really sick 2 days in. We like the rain coming from Monsoon territory. One of our best days was EP when it rained in the afternoon.

A HUGE thank you from all the Pros weighing in on this. This will probably be our last trip with our kids given their ages and schedules.

 

[btweety04]

I would go option B with a resort day on Saturday. Travel is exhausting and you're getting there so late in the day that I would save your tickets for a full day to get your money's worth. Saturdays are busy at MK so I would opt to have a resort day and then hit it up on Sunday.

 

[buzzgirls&dad]

Option B especially if you are going during warm/hot weather months. Take a pool break/nap and then head out for dinner and late night park time.

 

[Matrixleos]

Interesting scenarios, here would be my opinions and the reasons why...

First, I like the option of doing a park day on your arrival day, especially if a park has EEH. Plus it also gives you the flexibility to move around park days and rest days in case of weather. If you use a rest day on arrival, you will only have one more rest day left the remainder of the trip. What would you do if back to back days have bad weather, you'd be forced to go to the park. Keeping both rest days available, gives you a bit more flexibility.

Wednesday: Check-in and head to MK for EEH
After a long travel day, personally I'd rather just focus in on one park on arrival day with Magic Kingdom with EEH till park close. Plus if in your budget, good use of Genie+ and ILL. Schedule your first LL before your flight leaves at 4am pst/7am est. Since you mention EEH, I'm assuming you are staying at a Disney Deluxe Resort, so you'll also have access to get ILL for 7DMT and Tron scheduled for later that night. Once you plane lands, schedule another LL at 3pm est and and another one at 5pm est once you have checked in.

This will give you 5 rides to skip lines with LL and ILL as you enter Magic Kingdom.

Thursday: Rest Day\Resort Day\Pool Day\Disney Springs Day
After a long travel day and staying late with EEH at MK, take this day to sleep in and relax.

Friday: Epcot EE\Rest\MK late afternoon to close
You should have knocked out a good chunk of MK rides on arrival day with Genie+ LL, ILL and EEH. So you can used the late afternoon visit to do anything you didn't get a chance to on your first park day. Plus nice to do EE at Epcot and as most people will use EE to rope drop Frozen and Remy, you can knock out most of the front part of the park with Early Entry before it gets really busy.

Saturday: Rest Day\Resort Day\Pool Day\Disney Springs Day
Another good time to sleep in and enjoy having a relaxing resort day.

Sunday: Disney Hollywood Studios EE\Rest\Epcot late afternoon to close
Good day to use Genie+ LL and ILL to knock out a good chuck of Hollywood Studios. Then use the Skyliner to head to Epcot and explore the World Showcase, especially since you would have explored the front part of Epcot on Friday morning. I'd also would use 7am LL to reserve Remy and rope drop Slinky during EE. Those would be the two hardest rides to get a LL for later. You can always do Frozen near park closure when they have lower stand-by line wait times.

 

[neverlandsky]

btweety04 & buzzgirls&dad - Thank you =)
Matrixleo - Thank you for your very detailed response. Some very good tips and something to think about and talk over with the family.

 

[robinb]

Do are already have your tickets? I would look into the 4-Day 4-Park ticket over a 3-day park hopper. It's cheaper and there are a couple of attractions that are good for young adults at AK.

So, my suggestion would be

Wednesday: Check in and chill out.
Thursday: EE Epcot
Friday: EE DHS
Saturday: EE AK, chill at your resort and get to bed early.
Sunday: EE MK
Monday: Go home

 

[neverlandsky]

Do are already have your tickets? I would look into the 4-Day 4-Park ticket over a 3-day park hopper. It's cheaper and there are a couple of attractions that are good for young adults at AK.

So, my suggestion would be

Wednesday: Check in and chill out.
Thursday: EE Epcot
Friday: EE DHS
Saturday: EE AK, chill at your resort and get to bed early.
Sunday: EE MK
Monday: Go home

Yes already have tickets since we got a vacation package.

 

[robinb]

Whatever you do, don't go to MK on Thursday night. A Disney After Hours event is planned for 10:00 - 1:00 and any kind of late night crowd advantage will be gone with people entering the park at 7:00 for the event.

 

[neverlandsky]

Whatever you do, don't go to MK on Thursday night. A Disney After Hours event is planned for 10:00 - 1:00 and any kind of late night crowd advantage will be gone with people entering the park at 7:00 for the event.

When we go, it will be DHS After Hours event for Wednesday & EP Disney After Hours event for Thursday.

 

[brockash]

Coming from Desert PST. Our second visit ever to WDW. 5 nights / 3 day park hoppers skipping AK. 4 adults (2 mid 40s, almost 21 & 19 yrs). Wednesday: Up at 3:30PST/6:30 am EST - 6 hour flight arrival 2:45 pm EST & ETA Check-in at 5pm EST. Monday checkout 4:30am EST.
Option A
Wed: Check-in head to EP / Hop to MK for EEH.
Thurs: Rest
Fri: DHS EE / rest / MK Late Afn - close
Sat: Rest
Sun: MK EE / rest / EP

Option B
Wed: Check-in / Rest
Thurs: EP EE / rest / DHS Late Afn-close
Fri: DHS EE / rest / MK Late Afn - close
Sat: Resort Day OR MK EE/ rest/ EP Aftn-close
Sun: MK EE / rest / EP Aftn - close OR Resort Day

Option C - same as A except we rest in the morning and start our day at 2pm each day til close.
Option D -same as option B except we rest in the morning start our day after 2 pm til close.

Some background first visit was Oct. 2017. 7 nights/6 days 1 park per day and we ended up cancelling a lot of plans because we were exhausted. Plus I got really sick 2 days in. We like the rain coming from Monsoon territory. One of our best days was EP when it rained in the afternoon.

A HUGE thank you from all the Pros weighing in on this. This will probably be our last trip with our kids given their ages and schedules.

We'd probably do B in your situation

 

[LynnTH]

Just a thought..... I know for me it hard to go to Disney and not have tickets for everyday. (Usually does not cost too much to add extra days). On the rest days. We just sleep in and do a pool day. But then late afternoon we head out to a park. So, you could still have rest/downtime but also have more park time and possibly add AK to your schedule.

 

[MickeyMice]

MK EEH is amazing though timing is brutal after your travel. any way you can fly in the night before? i'd say it's worth the extra day, but the jump from 3 day to 4 day tix isn't nothing. maybe consider swapping the 3 day hoppers for 4 day 1 park tix?

 

[pixie3]

I second everything Martixleos said.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

Option B.

I've done the park on arrival day but we arrived much earlier than you are.

Originally our plan for our 2017 trip was to do a rest/Disney Springs day on arrival day but Hurricane Irma had other plans so we used up one of our Universal days instead. We did do a rest day on our arrival day on our 2022 trip worked out well.

With your particular combo of time change, wake up time and long flight time I would just rest that day. If you're up for it Disney Springs, you could plan for dinner there too.

Also I do see you have rest for all 3 park days, I realize you mentioned your 2017 trip y'all were exhausted but I'm not sure I would plan for rest each day. It'll suck out valuable park time when you only have 3 days of them and presupposes rest is needed at the resort (or at least I assume that's what you were meaning). At the ages that your kids are they probably have more stamina than when they were 17 and 14. Even if they don't have more stamina they (unless there's some reason to doubt this next part) should have much more independence at 19 and 21 to stay in the park if they want to, start a little later in the park if they want to, go off and do things, etc without meaning you have to adjust your plans.

You might consider looking up attractions, shows or dining places in the parks to rest. We are a go go go kind of touring party but still have time to pause and take a breather. Last trip we took the Skyliner over to Riviera got some coffee and paused for a bit in their lobby. While that was leaving the park technically it was with easy access to get back into the park or in the case of your plans to go from Epcot to DHS. Other places within the parks can be Carousel of Progress, Hall of Presidents, Sunshine Seasons (quick service location for food), watching one of the movies in Epcot or doing a show like Muppets Vision 3D, etc

 

[neverlandsky]

Do are already have your tickets? I would look into the 4-Day 4-Park ticket over a 3-day park hopper. It's cheaper and there are a couple of attractions that are good for young adults at AK.

So, my suggestion would be

Wednesday: Check in and chill out.
Thursday: EE Epcot
Friday: EE DHS
Saturday: EE AK, chill at your resort and get to bed early.
Sunday: EE MK
Monday: Go home

Thank you so much for this suggestion! We switched to the 4-day 4 Park ticket over the 3 day park hopper.

 

[robinb]

Thank you so much for this suggestion! We switched to the 4-day 4 Park ticket over the 3 day park hopper.

I'm so glad you could make the change! Have a blast .