So I thought I'd post my experience with park opening strategies and how things played out compared to my plans. Not a full trip report, just my plans and realities of park openings. Trip for 5 - myself (41; 8th trip), wife (4th trip); 3 y/o daughter (2nd trip), my folks (66; 10ish trips).
The point here is that no matter how much planning you do, factors both within and outside your control can work to affect your plans. We had, as always, an utterly magical trip that was never ruined by anything you read below. So I encourage all to plan, b
ut be ready to improvise when things go awry. So without further ado...
Day 1 (Saturday, 11/10)
Plan: Adults wake up at 4 AM in Houston; wake up child at 4:30 and surprise her with a Disney trip; Fly to Orlando; DME to Contemporary; EPCOT
Reality: Absolute perfection. She was excited and happy. Traveled great. Everything went as smoothly as possible with travel.
Rating: 10/10. The kid was excited and happy. No mater what else you read, that is all that mattered to me.
Day 2 (Sunday, 11/11)
Plan: MGM Extra Magic Hours: Rope Drop SDD, ride A.S.S. and TSM before 10 AM FP+ (Muppets for the ladies; ToT for the Gents)
Reality: SDD was down for over 2 hours at park opening. When the park actually opened, RnR was down for over an hour. We rode TSM and A.S.S. Ladies skipped Muppets to meet Sophia. When dad and I got into our ToT FP return, it was down. So 3 of the 6 (and 3 of the 4 headliners) were down. This led to me sending a polite, but firm, email to Disney which resulted in bonus SDD fastpasses for the following day. SDD is the one ride my 3 y/o HAD to ride. So this could have really thrown a kink in everything, but we worked with it and made it work for us. Without the fastpasses, I would have gotten her on that ride somehow. But Disney made it as right as they could - look, I get that if something isn't safe, you can't operate it. But to have half your rides down on the same day is utterly unacceptable. But it all worked out. My advice - if you have a real issue that was caused by something outside your control, complain (politely), and Disney will usually do what they can to make it right. My email started with compliments about TSL (which I think is really well-appointed, despite it's faults) and the new scenes on Star Tours; then went into my problems. I wasn't vitriolic, but I was firm in what I viewed as problems they caused. It got us fastpasses for the one ride I had to get my daughter on.
Rating: 5/10 - didn't get to do SDD, but did get the other TSL rides. Not a great use of EMH, but not wasted. This was the absolute worst day of the trip for blowing up plans. As you can see, it wasn't that bad. And by the end, I had forgotten it. I do love Disney.
Day 3 (Monday, 11/12)
Plan: EPCOT: Rope Drop Soarin' and Test Track before a FP for Frozen
Reality: Rope Dropped Soarin'. Kid loved it. She didn't want to ride FEA again (rode it Saturday), so we got in line for Test Track. Weather came in and shut it down, but she fell asleep on my shoulder. So we were indoors in A/C during the hour delay. Win/win. Wife and mother went and ate and drank while Dad, daughter and I made friends/napped. She loved Test Track once it got going.
Rating: 10/10 - this worked out incredibly well. The shut down of TT let the daughter nap and my wife get some F&W fun. All good.
Day 4 (Tuesday, 11/13)
Plan: 8:10 Pre-park opening (scheduled opening 9:00) BOG reservation for breakfast. Eat quickly, then hit 7DMT, PP, Pooh, etc before a 10:00 Splash FP.
Reality: Disney decided to add a EMM that day, so my hope to hit 7DMT took a hit. Then breakfast took longer than expected (3 year olds - you really have no control!). We had a potty break after breakfast - my dad headed outside and said that between the time he got there and the time we were done with the restroom, the wait went from 0 to 40 minutes. So the only thing we got done before our FP was the Carousel (don't judge if you don't have a toddler who LOVES carousels) and Haunted Mansion before our Splash FPs. We had a 7DMT FP for later, so all was well.
Rating: 4/5 - I was supremely annoyed at Disney adding the EMM so close to our trip, which really impacted our ability to be efficient with a pre-park opening ADR. And we really didn't do much. But breakfast was good. The kid loved BOG. And we did get to ride HM with virtually no line.
Day 5 (Wednesday, 11/14)
Plan: I'm the only one riding FoP, so I'm getting there at 7:30 for a 9 am opening; the rest mosey in whenever they want for a 9:30 NRJ FP+.
Reality: PERFECTION. I Uber over and get there at 7:10. Rope drop reminds me of rope drop circa 1985 (my first trip), with people running when the gates open. I'm on and off FoP by 8:30, so I head over to Asia and DO A SECOND ROPE DROP IN THE SAME DAY!!!!!! I ride Everest in the back row and front row, then head over to meet my family (where my dad has already ridden NRJ standby) for our NRJ FP.
Rating: 10/10 - absolute perfection
Day 6 (Thursday, 11/15)
Plan: 8:00 BBB appointment for daughter before a 9 AM park opening. Again, try and do 7DMT, PP, Pooh before crowds.
Reality: She was out of the chair by 8:30 and done with other pictures by 8:40. We got in line for 7DMT and were told it would be a couple of hours, and no earlier than 10, before it would be running. So daughter and I rode PP, Pooh and Small World before our 9:00 FP for Enchanted Tales with Belle. Riding PP early let me go and ride Space Mountain while the others used their PP FP.
Rating: 9/10 - while we didn't get to walk on to 7DMT either of our MK days, even with pre-park opening reservations, it all worked out OK, because we already had FP for the ride.
Day 7 (Friday, 11/16)
Plan: None, really. MK had EMH, but we did the the Christmas Party the night before. We had 9 am FP for 7DMT, but it all depended on how everyone felt.
Reality: Wife, mother, father all were done. Daughter woke up ready to go, so we had a daddy/daughter day before heading home. Walked from Contemporary to MK. Randomly caught GMA filming something with fireworks at 8:45. Rode BarnstormerX2 and Dumbo, then 7DMT with Fp, Pooh, Under the Sea, and Small World (all in about 2 hours) before calling it a trip and heading back to the hotel to get ready to leave.
Rating: 1000000000/10. There is NOTHING like a 1-on-1 with your kid in the park on a relatively relaxing day, especially when you know everything else is being taken care of (my lovely wife was packing us to come home, and she was happy to have some quiet time).
So that's the deal. I am a huge fan of rope drop and PPO reservations. And while things almost never work out as planned, it works out well enough. At least well enough for my daughter to say, sua sponte, today: "I love Disney World. I want to go back. And I never want those days to end." Made my cold, shriveled, lawyer heart grow 3 sizes!
The point here is that no matter how much planning you do, factors both within and outside your control can work to affect your plans. We had, as always, an utterly magical trip that was never ruined by anything you read below. So I encourage all to plan, b
ut be ready to improvise when things go awry. So without further ado...
Day 1 (Saturday, 11/10)
Plan: Adults wake up at 4 AM in Houston; wake up child at 4:30 and surprise her with a Disney trip; Fly to Orlando; DME to Contemporary; EPCOT
Reality: Absolute perfection. She was excited and happy. Traveled great. Everything went as smoothly as possible with travel.
Rating: 10/10. The kid was excited and happy. No mater what else you read, that is all that mattered to me.
Day 2 (Sunday, 11/11)
Plan: MGM Extra Magic Hours: Rope Drop SDD, ride A.S.S. and TSM before 10 AM FP+ (Muppets for the ladies; ToT for the Gents)
Reality: SDD was down for over 2 hours at park opening. When the park actually opened, RnR was down for over an hour. We rode TSM and A.S.S. Ladies skipped Muppets to meet Sophia. When dad and I got into our ToT FP return, it was down. So 3 of the 6 (and 3 of the 4 headliners) were down. This led to me sending a polite, but firm, email to Disney which resulted in bonus SDD fastpasses for the following day. SDD is the one ride my 3 y/o HAD to ride. So this could have really thrown a kink in everything, but we worked with it and made it work for us. Without the fastpasses, I would have gotten her on that ride somehow. But Disney made it as right as they could - look, I get that if something isn't safe, you can't operate it. But to have half your rides down on the same day is utterly unacceptable. But it all worked out. My advice - if you have a real issue that was caused by something outside your control, complain (politely), and Disney will usually do what they can to make it right. My email started with compliments about TSL (which I think is really well-appointed, despite it's faults) and the new scenes on Star Tours; then went into my problems. I wasn't vitriolic, but I was firm in what I viewed as problems they caused. It got us fastpasses for the one ride I had to get my daughter on.
Rating: 5/10 - didn't get to do SDD, but did get the other TSL rides. Not a great use of EMH, but not wasted. This was the absolute worst day of the trip for blowing up plans. As you can see, it wasn't that bad. And by the end, I had forgotten it. I do love Disney.
Day 3 (Monday, 11/12)
Plan: EPCOT: Rope Drop Soarin' and Test Track before a FP for Frozen
Reality: Rope Dropped Soarin'. Kid loved it. She didn't want to ride FEA again (rode it Saturday), so we got in line for Test Track. Weather came in and shut it down, but she fell asleep on my shoulder. So we were indoors in A/C during the hour delay. Win/win. Wife and mother went and ate and drank while Dad, daughter and I made friends/napped. She loved Test Track once it got going.
Rating: 10/10 - this worked out incredibly well. The shut down of TT let the daughter nap and my wife get some F&W fun. All good.
Day 4 (Tuesday, 11/13)
Plan: 8:10 Pre-park opening (scheduled opening 9:00) BOG reservation for breakfast. Eat quickly, then hit 7DMT, PP, Pooh, etc before a 10:00 Splash FP.
Reality: Disney decided to add a EMM that day, so my hope to hit 7DMT took a hit. Then breakfast took longer than expected (3 year olds - you really have no control!). We had a potty break after breakfast - my dad headed outside and said that between the time he got there and the time we were done with the restroom, the wait went from 0 to 40 minutes. So the only thing we got done before our FP was the Carousel (don't judge if you don't have a toddler who LOVES carousels) and Haunted Mansion before our Splash FPs. We had a 7DMT FP for later, so all was well.
Rating: 4/5 - I was supremely annoyed at Disney adding the EMM so close to our trip, which really impacted our ability to be efficient with a pre-park opening ADR. And we really didn't do much. But breakfast was good. The kid loved BOG. And we did get to ride HM with virtually no line.
Day 5 (Wednesday, 11/14)
Plan: I'm the only one riding FoP, so I'm getting there at 7:30 for a 9 am opening; the rest mosey in whenever they want for a 9:30 NRJ FP+.
Reality: PERFECTION. I Uber over and get there at 7:10. Rope drop reminds me of rope drop circa 1985 (my first trip), with people running when the gates open. I'm on and off FoP by 8:30, so I head over to Asia and DO A SECOND ROPE DROP IN THE SAME DAY!!!!!! I ride Everest in the back row and front row, then head over to meet my family (where my dad has already ridden NRJ standby) for our NRJ FP.
Rating: 10/10 - absolute perfection
Day 6 (Thursday, 11/15)
Plan: 8:00 BBB appointment for daughter before a 9 AM park opening. Again, try and do 7DMT, PP, Pooh before crowds.
Reality: She was out of the chair by 8:30 and done with other pictures by 8:40. We got in line for 7DMT and were told it would be a couple of hours, and no earlier than 10, before it would be running. So daughter and I rode PP, Pooh and Small World before our 9:00 FP for Enchanted Tales with Belle. Riding PP early let me go and ride Space Mountain while the others used their PP FP.
Rating: 9/10 - while we didn't get to walk on to 7DMT either of our MK days, even with pre-park opening reservations, it all worked out OK, because we already had FP for the ride.
Day 7 (Friday, 11/16)
Plan: None, really. MK had EMH, but we did the the Christmas Party the night before. We had 9 am FP for 7DMT, but it all depended on how everyone felt.
Reality: Wife, mother, father all were done. Daughter woke up ready to go, so we had a daddy/daughter day before heading home. Walked from Contemporary to MK. Randomly caught GMA filming something with fireworks at 8:45. Rode BarnstormerX2 and Dumbo, then 7DMT with Fp, Pooh, Under the Sea, and Small World (all in about 2 hours) before calling it a trip and heading back to the hotel to get ready to leave.
Rating: 1000000000/10. There is NOTHING like a 1-on-1 with your kid in the park on a relatively relaxing day, especially when you know everything else is being taken care of (my lovely wife was packing us to come home, and she was happy to have some quiet time).
So that's the deal. I am a huge fan of rope drop and PPO reservations. And while things almost never work out as planned, it works out well enough. At least well enough for my daughter to say, sua sponte, today: "I love Disney World. I want to go back. And I never want those days to end." Made my cold, shriveled, lawyer heart grow 3 sizes!