8 Days in Parks

[V.I.N.CENT.]

First trip to WDW ever. Waited a long time for this. Frequent Disneyland visitor, and obsessive trip planner. Finally pulled the trigger on the big trip, daughter now old enough (11) to enjoy more and keep up during the long haul.

We are arriving November 8th (Friday) and Leaving on November 17th (Sunday). Since we are flying from CA, probably arriving in Orlando around 6pm, i figured we would spend the evening getting to the room, dinner, and enjoying the resort (Port Orleans). Sunday is also pretty much a travel day, leaving 8 full days for the parks.

Might visit a few resorts, definitely not venturing outside the Disney bubble to any other location. It's all going to be about WDW on this trip. Trying to figure out just how the heck do you plan so far in advance with the dining reservations, Fastpass+ (this part intimidates me), and trying to project what parks to do on what days. The whole Fastpass+ kinda locks you in for a particular park, at least until your three passes are used.

Thinking about dedicating two days to each park, not buying hoppers at this point. Kinda accustomed to walking 5 min between two parks at this point

Using Touring Plans and other crowd projections as a rough guide. I came up with the following:

Sat, HW
Sun, AK
Mon, MK
Tue, HW
Wed, MK
Thur, EP
Fri, AK
Sat, EP


I guess the general tips are try to avoid MK during EMH and EMM? I am also concerned about the time zone change, we will probably not be hitting rope drop, instead optiong for staying til closing. I am not against multiple MVMCP or After Dark events. Just don't think we can get up at 4am our time to hit the parks for rope drop.

Does the above look like a good preliminary plan? A bit concerned about MK on Veterans Day following Jersey Week, but for some reason most of the crowd calendars had that as a light day, probably a mistake?

Any and all help appreciated! Don't know how you WDW peeps plan with sooo many options!

 

[Tiggerlover91]

First trip to WDW ever. Waited a long time for this. Frequent Disneyland visitor, and obsessive trip planner. Finally pulled the trigger on the big trip, daughter now old enough (11) to enjoy more and keep up during the long haul.

We are arriving November 8th (Friday) and Leaving on November 17th (Sunday). Since we are flying from CA, probably arriving in Orlando around 6pm, i figured we would spend the evening getting to the room, dinner, and enjoying the resort (Port Orleans). Sunday is also pretty much a travel day, leaving 8 full days for the parks.

Might visit a few resorts, definitely not venturing outside the Disney bubble to any other location. It's all going to be about WDW on this trip. Trying to figure out just how the heck do you plan so far in advance with the dining reservations, Fastpass+ (this part intimidates me), and trying to project what parks to do on what days. The whole Fastpass+ kinda locks you in for a particular park, at least until your three passes are used.

Thinking about dedicating two days to each park, not buying hoppers at this point. Kinda accustomed to walking 5 min between two parks at this point

Using Touring Plans and other crowd projections as a rough guide. I came up with the following:

Sat, HW
Sun, AK
Mon, MK
Tue, HW
Wed, MK
Thur, EP
Fri, AK
Sat, EP


I guess the general tips are try to avoid MK during EMH and EMM? I am also concerned about the time zone change, we will probably not be hitting rope drop, instead optiong for staying til closing. I am not against multiple MVMCP or After Dark events. Just don't think we can get up at 4am our time to hit the parks for rope drop.

Does the above look like a good preliminary plan? A bit concerned about MK on Veterans Day following Jersey Week, but for some reason most of the crowd calendars had that as a light day, probably a mistake?

Any and all help appreciated! Don't know how you WDW peeps plan with sooo many options!

Hi! Welcome!!

The advice I'd like to give for what you have planned above is this: keep your top rides in mind and when doing your FP be willing to move days around if you need to. Seeing as you're going to be there so long....your FP ressies will run you 60 thru 60+7. You more than likely will get everything you want especially if you work on the headliners on later days. Always book your headliners first and then do the rest of your FPs around those. You've got plenty of time to work that through until your 60 day window opens in September. I'll be there in June, but only for 4 days in the parks and one day in Disney Springs. My top rides which are considered headliners are Mine Train, Test Track, Frozen Ever After, Soarin, and Peter Pan. Peter Pan, technically isn't a headliner, and I've heard isn't as hard to get, but is such a popular ride still and with it's ride low capacity waits can be hours long. There's a AWESOME sticky on this board about FP and how it works. I used the new system back in 2015, but I didn't take full advantage of it. Now that I know the ins and outs....I'm set to have NUMEROUS FPs after my initial 3 are used. Well...in MK anyway.

GOOD LUCK! And keep us posted!

 

[MommaBerd]

My family and I have been to WDW that exact week three times. It is a great time to go! I think it is way too early to start assigning parks to days. So much can and will happen between now and then. For one thing, they will be releasing the Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party schedule at some point. (Who knows? It could be next month, given they released Halloween Party dates today!) That will significantly impact your MK days in one way or another. They will likely close the park early *at least* 4 nights you are there. That means everyone will pick the MK on the non-party nights to see HEA. For this reason, I would consider Park Hoppers. MK will have lower crowds during the day of a party. So you can go there during the day and then hop over to another park when it starts getting crowded or it’s time for the park to close to day guests.

Additionally, there IS the possibility that Star Wars:Galaxy’s Edge could open during November, which is a complete wild card.

Another recommendation I have is to take a “break” day about mid-week, or at least plan a lighter day. We usually do a water park for half a day, but just good pool time or Disney Springs. It does wonders for our family.

You have lots of time to plan and learn! Enjoy the process!!!

 

[HydroGuy]

First trip to WDW ever. Waited a long time for this. Frequent Disneyland visitor, and obsessive trip planner. Finally pulled the trigger on the big trip, daughter now old enough (11) to enjoy more and keep up during the long haul.

It is going to take some time for you to process everything. Please feel free to PM me with questions.

You do not need to start deciding on parks until 6 months before when you can make dining reservations. So that is May. Only a few highly in demand restaurants get snapped up at the 6 month mark. For the most part you should be good until 2-3 months before.

Once you choose FPs at the 60 day mark that will lock you into parks.

Sat, HW
Sun, AK
Mon, MK
Tue, HW
Wed, MK
Thur, EP
Fri, AK
Sat, EP

My advice? You will never actually make this. DLR you can do on a 3-4 day sprint. WDW is more of a marathon and you will have a happier trip if you pace yourself. Over 8 days I would take at least one full day completely off. Rest at the hotel. See a movie. Sleep in. Sleep some more. Then take a nap. Then go to bed early. REST!

Then I would plan at least one half day but more like two half days. Those days are also partial rest days.

A good amount of time for WDW is this:

MK 2 days
Epcot 2 days
AK 1 day
DHS 1 day

Once November comes around SWGE will be opening and DHS will be a zoo. You may need a day and a half.

Finally, the hardest to get FPs are Flight of Passage at AK and Slinky Dog Dash at DHS and soon the two SW rides at DHS (ROTR and MFSR).

What does that mean? It means you should plan AK and DHS later in your trip which will give you the best chance to get FPs.

I have not checked the calendar but I would do

Day ...
1 MK
2 Epcot
3 Rest
4. AK
5 DHS
6. Rest all day or at least half day
7. Mk
8. Epcot

Day 1 will be really hard to manage for jet lag so you may want to just plan a late start.

The Rest days can be all day or part day, and then hit a park in the evening. So Day 6 can be Rest AM and then go to DHS say at 4 PM.

The above schedule allows you to make FP reservations for AK at the 60+4 day mark, and DHS at the 60+5 day mark. If that does not make sense yet, eventually it will. But I would for sure plan your AK and DHS days out into the trip a bit.

I guess the general tips are try to avoid MK during EMH and EMM? I am also concerned about the time zone change, we will probably not be hitting rope drop, instead optiong for staying til closing. I am not against multiple MVMCP or After Dark events. Just don't think we can get up at 4am our time to hit the parks for rope drop.

Does the above look like a good preliminary plan? A bit concerned about MK on Veterans Day following Jersey Week, but for some reason most of the crowd calendars had that as a light day, probably a mistake?

Any and all help appreciated! Don't know how you WDW peeps plan with sooo many options!

EMM you do not need to work around. If you want to pay for that then go for it. But if not, that does not affect things. EMH? I have always avoided EMH parks as much as possible. That may be changing with EMM and there is lots of debate among people more expert than me on this. But I always tell people just skip EMH parks.

For dining with your 11 year old, the only thing I would shoot for at the 6 month mark is Be Our Guest at MK. Get a dinner reservation at BOG. Other than that there are lots of other options and you will get advice here when you ask. I have my other personal favorites which I will PM you on request. Do not go too far and make lunch and dinner dining reservations every day. Leave some space for going with the flow.

Another special but pricey thing to do is California Grill. It is in the Contemporary Hotel but if you get a dining reservation there late in the evening you can watch the MK fireworks which is very cool. They pipe the music into CG. This is best reserved ASAP which starts at 6 months before.



ETA this recent article gives you a feeling of how too much time at WDW without a break can be a negative - https://www.popsugar.com/moms/Why-You-Shouldnt-Park-Hop-Every-Day-Disney-World-45658498

 

[siren0119]

EMM you do not need to work around. If you want to pay for that then go for it. But if not, that does not affect things. EMH? I have always avoided EMH parks as much as possible. That may be changing with EMM and there is lots of debate among people more expert than me on this. But I always tell people just skip EMH parks.

Haven't started my PTR for August yet, but we are definitely starting to plan out park days with ADR coming up in a month. Can I ask what the reasoning is behind avoiding EMH? I mean, I can guess it has to do with the quantity of resort guests (and good neighbor resort guests) that could potentially take advantage of them, but has that played out?

 

[HydroGuy]

Haven't started my PTR for August yet, but we are definitely starting to plan out park days with ADR coming up in a month. Can I ask what the reasoning is behind avoiding EMH? I mean, I can guess it has to do with the quantity of resort guests (and good neighbor resort guests) that could potentially take advantage of them, but has that played out?

One school of thought - but not the only school of thought - is that WDW has 22,000+ hotel rooms and thus maybe 66,000 people in those rooms eligible for EMH. People are like lemmings at WDW, especially ones who do not plan much for WDW, which is most. So when they see EMH they just assume that is the park Disney wants them to go to. And they blindly go. So the park has longer hours, but is way more crowded during regular hours. Lots of folks try to do EMH, go to the EMH park, but are too tired to get up and go in the morning and arrive late. So they never get a chance to enjoy EMH. But they are saddled with the post EMH crowds all day.

That has been one school of thought for the last 10-15 years since EMH became a thing. I still follow this advice but there are many experts here who disagree and others who partly agree and partly disagree. Lots of schools.

For me on a long WDW trip with other folks who have lower energy than me, I am usually planning for more rest and off-time to recover than more time in the parks through EMH. So the value of EMH may not be that valuable.

Some folks swear by parkhopping at WDW. If you park hop then EMH works better because you can switch out of the EMH park when it is too crowded. But I also almost never parkhop as I think it is a waste of time in transportation between parks. But that is me.

 

[siren0119]

Definitely food for thought. We usually don't opt for parkhoppers but they made sense on our upcoming trip, My thought was to hit up the EMH park only during the extra hour(s) and then break for a sit down meal before heading somewhere else for the rest of the day (we're basically a one-big-meal-per day kind of group when we Disney). 2DS will be 12 and 10 at the time and are used to long walking days on vacation, so it might make sense to go full commando and see what we can accomplish on EMH time.

 

[disneycat321]

Hello! Fellow Californian and DLR native, here. We had our first trip to WDW in 2010 and loved it. Went again in 2013, and now we're finally going back this summer (and probably next summer, too.) It's a very different experience, but in the best way possible!

You're going to get a lot of great information here, but a couple things stuck out to me as a CA native who's had your experience before.

We stayed at POR our first 2 trips and loved it. We also did Disney Springs (then Downtown Disney) the first evening because of our late arrival time. Take the boat from the resort! It's such a great first activity for the vacation. I'm going to miss that this trip.

We've never had an issue with the time change. We get up very early the day we travel so that we can get on east coast time. This year, we don't have to leave for the airport until 8:00, but I'm still planning to be up between 4:00 and 5:00am. We're tired enough the first night to go to bed at what is super early with the time difference. Everyone's different, but that seems to work for us. As you probably know from DLR, rope drop can be your best friend. Not saying you have to tour that way, but it might still be an option.

You're going to get a lot of different opinions on EMH. We personally really like the night ones at Epcot and MK, but we do not try to do big rides during them. We like WS during Epcot's and some of the smaller rides (People Mover, Barnstormer, etc) during MK's. But, we go in the summer, so the sun sets much later and it's our big chance to actually be in the parks after dark. We don't try for the morning EMH, but we don't actively avoid them, either. If you know DLR well, you know crowds. The smaller walkways at DLR make the crowds much worse than at WDW, in my experience. But then, I haven't been at the busiest times of year at WDW.

I totally get what you're saying about the hoppers - it is definitely different than hopping between DL and DCA! - but we get them anyway. At DLR, we do rope drop to close for 2 days. At WDW, we go at a much slower pace. Typically mornings in the parks, afternoon breaks at the resort, evenings in the parks. Sometimes we change it up if we're out late at night. And we love our table service meals. It's completely different than how we do DLR. So, at WDW we might do one park in the morning, return to the resort, then hop to another park in the evening. Our main reason for hoppers is that we love Epcot (especially World Showcase), and tend to eat lots of TS meals there for dinner. We just like the flexibility in general.

Enjoy the planning (it's a lot, but it's fun!) and have a wonderful trip!

 

[V.I.N.CENT.]

It is going to take some time for you to process everything.

Wow, you called it. Will need to re-read all of the responses so far. Tons to take in. Thank you all for the advise so far.

Couple things I did not want to add to the above because it was turning into a manifesto

11yo is not really into characters anymore *sigh* However, they (including wife) both LOVE Marry Poppins so I am looking at the breakfast at the Floridian.

Any ride that is identical to DL, we can skip. Soaring and Star Tours come to mind. Rides that are similar, we would also be ok with skipping if need be. Already doing the research.

Going to go with the flow with the pace. We’ve had trips where we visited DL/DCA 7 days in a row, with only a couple afternoon breaks. Other trips we took consistent breaks and multiple early evenings. The whole reserved fastpass thing is what throws me off. I am accustomed to have-fastpass-must-use mentality at this point.

The mindset I need to get into is being ok with not doing everything on one trip. The only must do for me, and this might be shocking to some, is Country Bear Jamboree It was my favorite ride as a kid and I always wanted to take my daughter on it.

 

[V.I.N.CENT.]

Another question, anyone use MVMCP tickets or After Hours as a substitute for park hoppers? I know it’s more expensive, but it looks like there is an advantage to ride times.

 

[HydroGuy]

Wow, you called it. Will need to re-read all of the responses so far. Tons to take in. Thank you all for the advise so far.

Couple things I did not want to add to the above because it was turning into a manifesto

11yo is not really into characters anymore *sigh* However, they (including wife) both LOVE Marry Poppins so I am looking at the breakfast at the Floridian.

Any ride that is identical to DL, we can skip. Soaring and Star Tours come to mind. Rides that are similar, we would also be ok with skipping if need be. Already doing the research.

Going to go with the flow with the pace. We’ve had trips where we visited DL/DCA 7 days in a row, with only a couple afternoon breaks. Other trips we took consistent breaks and multiple early evenings. The whole reserved fastpass thing is what throws me off. I am accustomed to have-fastpass-must-use mentality at this point.

The mindset I need to get into is being ok with not doing everything on one trip. The only must do for me, and this might be shocking to some, is Country Bear Jamboree It was my favorite ride as a kid and I always wanted to take my daughter on it.

Be Our Guest is not characters, FYI. It is just a really nicely themed restaurant. DLR does not have anything remotely like it. It helps if you like BATB, and I guess that means most Disney fans.

I always do CBJ at MK for the same reason as you want to, LOL!

Only four rides between DLR and WDW that are identical. Soarin, TSMM, LM, and ST. All except for Soarin have a much nicer setting and queue at WDW. The queue does make a difference as much as we sometimes want to think it does not. Think about Indy at DL without that entrance and queue. The queue really adds to the feeling of the ride. I love Soarin at DCA and part of it is that queue music and entrance. At Epcot they somehow miss all of that. But the other "indentical" rides WDW does better so do not dismiss them too quickly. Even ST at DHS with that AT/AT walker outside just feels so much cooler than the ST at DL which is kind of jammed into TomorrowLand.

Another thing at MK is Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse. Reminds me of the days before Tarzan took over at DL. And also Carousel of Progress. I remember that as a young child at DL. And PeopleMover called Tomorrowland Transit Authority!

I can make a list for you but there are some cool things you do not want to miss at WDW. With 6-8 days in the parks it should not be a problem to do most all the cool things.