advice on parks/ trip planning for mid Jan

[javy2004]

Be warned, this is very wordy and long with something that may not even be that big a deal, given that this will take place during not such a busy time of year. So really, thank you if you have helpful words for what I'm asking about.

I'm planning on a trip with my sis from Jan 17th TH-21st M and I'm trying to be as efficient with my 4 day hopper as i can be. We're driving up on the 17th from Miami with the intent of making it to our hotel by 745-8am to hopefully be at rope drop for animal kingdom at 9am. Its our first time at any park other than MK, (I was 7 and she was 3 when we went to EPCOT in 92' I'm not counting that ) so I'm not sure how long we will be at AK. Since the park closes at 5pm, I figured we'd hop to EPCOT since they close at 9pm. The plan for Friday the 18th would be rope drop at HS and staying through to Fantasmic that night at 6:30 and then hop there to EPCOT being that they're open until 11pm for EMH. This was my original plans.

What I'm thinking now to do maybe is do HS our first day, reading that Thurs are not as busy, and I want my sis to be able to see Fantasmic with hopefully not a crazy huge crowd. I love the show, but I've already seen the show at DL and want to make sure my sis really enjoys it as well. Doing this would give us enough time to hop to EPCOT to maybe ride one or two less busy attractions and view Illuminations since HS closes at 7pm. i say maybe because I don't know how the rush is of people hopping from HS to EPCOT to do the same thing I'm thinking about doing. I'll consider it a win if i make it in time for Illuminations honestly. Day 2 would then be AK at rope drop then EPCOT for the rest of the day until 11 for EMH.

What is more worth it if you had to decide? I'll give more context for what my sis and I will want to experience at the parks.We're not so big into non-evening parades, meet and greets or musical shows.
At AK, we'll probably want to walk most or all the trails, ride Kilimanjaro Safaris, see Flights of Wonder and It's Tough to Be a Bug, the rides minus Triceratops Spin and Kali River Rapids (too cold) and will want a few rides on EE and Dinosaur.

At HS, we'll probably want to ride ST, TSMM, ToT, and RnR 2-3 times each, check out Indy, MV-3D, LMA, GMR, SBT as well and of course, Fantasmic.

At EPCOT, the only attractions I see us visiting more than once is TT and M:S. Gran Fiesta Tour and Maelstrom are the only WS attractions we plan on seeing. Soarin' isn't that big a deal to me (got to ride a couple of times in DCA) and I feel my sis will feel the same, so we'll ride it once along with the rest of FS. I wanna check out some things foodwise in WS, such as the Grand Marnier slush, Boulangerie Patisserie, Karamell-Küche, and La Cantina de San Angel. We aren't able to afford a lot of the more expensive food options (we're saving that for ADRs at Crystal Palace before opening and BoG) so at least we'd like to try a handful of less expensive offerings at EPCOT. I doubt we'll eat at all these spots, but they're on my list of places I want us to check out.

Saturday the 19th is our non-park day. We have breakfast ADRs at Kona Cafe' and we're going to check out some of the other hotels, more than likely the Poly and AKL and will check out DTD as well. I figured giving us a break from the parks will get us ready for the second half of the trip.

Sunday the 20th is when we have both of our ADRs and MK has evening EMHs so it'll be 15 hours at that park. No MSEP on this night though.

Monday the 21st will have us checking out of our hotel and using our last day to revisit whatever we liked best on previous days, maybe us starting with viewing the rope drop show at MK and ending up back at MK to catch the 7PM MSEP 8PM Wishes and right then heading back for Miami.

Halfway through I decided to include a brief description of days 3-5 if anyone has any suggestions to help us get the most out of our times at the park. My sis really likes Disney, but I want her to LOVE IT like I do Again thanks to anyone that has any helpful words for us.

WHOO!! I think I took waaaay too long writing this out!

 

[Mukta]

Congratulations on knowing what you want and planning a trip. That is always exciting!

The first thing that stood out to me was that you were driving up from Miami and hitting the parks all day. I think it is a bout a 4 hour drive from Miami, so please go to bed early and get lots of rest. I would hate for you and your sister to burn out on Day 1.

Secondly, it sounds like you know what you want to see in each park, you just need a little guidance.
This is exactly what the optimized/personalized plans at touringplans.com were made for. You put in the ride you want to see, how many times you want to see them, your ADRs and the plan is printed for you. I highly recommend signing up for their service to maximize your time in the parks and minimize your time waiting in line.
Where are you staying?
Are you going to drive to the parks?

 

[javy2004]

Congratulations on knowing what you want and planning a trip. That is always exciting!

The first thing that stood out to me was that you were driving up from Miami and hitting the parks all day. I think it is a bout a 4 hour drive from Miami, so please go to bed early and get lots of rest. I would hate for you and your sister to burn out on Day 1.

Secondly, it sounds like you know what you want to see in each park, you just need a little guidance.
This is exactly what the optimized/personalized plans at touringplans.com were made for. You put in the ride you want to see, how many times you want to see them, your ADRs and the plan is printed for you. I highly recommend signing up for their service to maximize your time in the parks and minimize your time waiting in line.
Where are you staying?
Are you going to drive to the parks?

Thanks for actually reading through my post
We're staying at Shades of Green so we'll use their transportation or Poly since its about a 10-15 walk to the monorail/ buses there. Driving will only be to the resort.
As far as getting burnt out, my sis will be sleeping while i drive there and my time in the military has helped give me the ability to keep going for a long while. This will be easy still I'm at WDW, not working
I'll give touringplans.com a chance maybe. How much do they charge?

 

[midwest_mice]

Epcot does have some good quick service stops that you can still experience the flavors of the country without spending a ton of money. Grab a brat at Germany, they are great! Thanks for your military service.

 

[javy2004]

Epcot does have some good quick service stops that you can still experience the flavors of the country without spending a ton of money. Grab a brat at Germany, they are great! Thanks for your military service.

i guess i will have to try a brat if you say they're great

 

[awesomeinabox]

You'll be there the same time I will! There is one thing for you to look at, the weekend you are there is MLK day weekend so the parks will mostly be crowded with locals who have the day off of school. Other than that you should be good!
Do the Gran Marn Slush... It's the best. As a head's up I'd pass on the China quick serve choice, it tastes a lot like panda express. I've heard the brats are fantastic and pretty filling, if you don't eat meat (like me) the pretzels and caramel corn is delicious.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

One little bit of advice...It will be crowded as parents will be taking kids out because of Martin Luther King Weekend which is the 21st..This is why I avoided that week before and during..I'm going out the week of the 27th - Feb 10th...

 

[javy2004]

You'll be there the same time I will! There is one thing for you to look at, the weekend you are there is MLK day weekend so the parks will mostly be crowded with locals who have the day off of school. Other than that you should be good!
Do the Gran Marn Slush... It's the best. As a head's up I'd pass on the China quick serve choice, it tastes a lot like panda express. I've heard the brats are fantastic and pretty filling, if you don't eat meat (like me) the pretzels and caramel corn is delicious.

Pretzels and brats sound great and filling, but not overly rich as well. The GrandMarn slush is up there on the list of drinks for me to enjoy along with Poly's Backscratcher

One little bit of advice...It will be crowded as parents will be taking kids out because of Martin Luther King Weekend which is the 21st..This is why I avoided that week before and during..I'm going out the week of the 27th - Feb 10th...

How crowded is crowded? My family's (parents, sis, 6 year old nephew and I) one day at MK was on a Sunday in mid-July. Including MSEP and Wishes, we hit 10 attractions from 1-11PM and had sat for a while eating at Village Haus. We were also sidelined mid-day by some rain (of course!). I still feel we got a lot done while missing the whole morning. I read Thurs and Fri won't be too busy and that Sat-Mon will be a little busier due to the Holiday. I guess Disney parks handle crowds better than some Six Flags. I went to Six Flags' Astroworld in Houston while it still existed. HORRIBLE. 3 rides done in 8 hours. It was Easter weekend, but that's atrocious! I was worried how busy DLR would be on labor day weekend as they also hold a half marathon that weekend, but aside from Radiator Springs Racers, TSMM, Splash during the day and Space near the end of the night, the lines were not bad anywhere, but it was crowded.

 

[corey154]

It sounds like you have your plans figured out, the only advice I'd give is to prepare her for all the walking she's about to do! Warn her early mornings and late nights with lots of walking in between! And most importantly, have fun!

 

[javy2004]

It sounds like you have your plans figured out, the only advice I'd give is to prepare her for all the walking she's about to do! Warn her early mornings and late nights with lots of walking in between! And most importantly, have fun!

yeah I know I need to take it easy on her with the walking all day. I'll probably wake up earlier than her to get a quick run each morning doing the Poly jogging trail. It'll wake me up good and wear my legs out a little bit so hopefully I'll more at her pace

I got to speak with my sis and she's wanting to do meet and greets and wants to check a few of the musicals at the parks. I'm glad I asked. So it looks like we'll have more sit down moments at the parks as well.

 

[Cmdr_Crimson]

How crowded is crowded?

My family's (parents, sis, 6 year old nephew and I) one day at MK was on a Sunday in mid-July. Including MSEP and Wishes, we hit 10 attractions from 1-11PM and had sat for a while eating at Village Haus. We were also sidelined mid-day by some rain (of course!). I still feel we got a lot done while missing the whole morning. I read Thurs and Fri won't be too busy and that Sat-Mon will be a little busier due to the Holiday. I guess Disney parks handle crowds better than some Six Flags. I went to Six Flags' Astroworld in Houston while it still existed. HORRIBLE. 3 rides done in 8 hours. It was Easter weekend, but that's atrocious! I was worried how busy DLR would be on labor day weekend as they also hold a half marathon that weekend, but aside from Radiator Springs Racers, TSMM, Splash during the day and Space near the end of the night, the lines were not bad anywhere, but it was crowded.

It depends..The last time I went during MLK Weekend was 2007 and the wait for rides were about 15-20 minutes..and since your on the end of your trip during MLK Weekend families will start heading out there before the weekend hits...That's what I remember happening..

 

[javy2004]

It depends..The last time I went during MLK Weekend was 2007 and the wait for rides were about 15-20 minutes..and since your on the end of your trip during MLK Weekend families will start heading out there before the weekend hits...That's what I remember happening..

15-20 min?? I sure as hell can manage that! I'm really excited about this whole trip in that having done the research this time and learned what I could from other people's trip reports and other tools online. It made a world of difference on my Labor day weekend trip to DLR with my gf. That trip was truly magical and I feel this will be too.

 

[Tinkerbell 8]

Heres some advice. If either of you have Verizon as your cell phone provider, I'd suggest downloading the Disney Parks app, it came in really handy on our trip last week for ride wait times. I'd also suggest using fastpass for the major rides, or hitting them really early in the day, since it is MLK weekend, the crowds could get a little heavy. Also, arrive EARLY for the MSEP, Wishes, Fantasmic, and Illuminations, ATLEAST an hour before it starts if you want to get a good viewing location. Park hopping is great, just remember that sometimes you can wait a while for the disney transportation, we were VERY lucky this last trip, having to wait only about 10 minutes for each bus, but just remember that going between parks will eat up some time, so leave yourself plenty of time incase you have to wait a while for a bus. I think you should be fine after a drive up from Miami and hitting the parks right away, we drive from Philly (about a 15 hour drive) and we hit the parks as soon as they open and stay till closing, just pace yourself. As for checking out some of the resorts, I finally took some time this past trip to do that and it was great! I'd suggest checking out Wilderness lodge, AKL and Poly. Also, take some time to check out the Boardwalk, its a short boat ride or walk from both EPCOT and Hollywood Studios, they have some yummy restaurants and its much more relaxed than being in the parks. You should try the Grand Marnier Slush in France, and the Jalapeno margarita in Mexico. Hope you have a great time!