First Trip - Schedule planning

[Sixx]

Hello everyone. This will be my family's first trip to Disneyworld. Will be my wife and I and 2 boys (10 and 16). We're staying at the Beach Club. Getting in late on the 28th of February and leaving around noon on the 8th of March. So, that leaves us with 7 full days.

At this point, I've decided not to get the park hopper because I'm not sure we'll need it until we get a schedule figured out. I've started to figure out a plan, taking advantage of extra magic hours and thought I'd post it here for some thoughts. We've got a park scheduled for every day and then one day of Universal as well. Some of these won't be full days, taking breaks as needed, starting late, or finishing early on certain days, etc.

So, any critiques on the below? Am I going overboard on this? I'm listing the hours as well that the parks are open, so that doesn't designate that we'll be at the park during all of those hours, haha.

1st SUN Animal Kingdom 9-7, 1 extra magic hour in morning
2nd MON Hollywood Studios 9-7, 2 extra magic hours in evening
3rd TUE Epcot 9-9, 1 extra magic hour in morning
4th WED Universal Studios
5th THU Magic Kingdom 9-10, 1 extra magic hour in morning
6th FRI Epcot 9-9, 2 extra magic hours in evening
7th SAT Magic Kingdom 9-12, 2 extra magic hours in evening

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

I've started to figure out a plan, taking advantage of extra magic hours and thought I'd post it here for some thoughts. We've got a park scheduled for every day and then one day of Universal as well. Some of these won't be full days, taking breaks as needed, starting late, or finishing early on certain days, etc.

Just a couple of observations -
1) If you're not doing full days why visit the park on a EMH day ? It will be busy with resort guests taking advantage of the extra hours and while they can hop if its too busy, you can't
2) Universal ? I can understand you wanting to visit, but 7 days full on you may want to consider a pool or water park day otherwise days 5, 6 and 7 may find you struggling and lead to short tempers

 

[Sixx]

Thanks for the reply!

Hmm, I didn't even think about the crowds being possibly busier at those parks with extra magic hours.

As for Universal. Have some Harry Potter fans that definitely don't want to disappoint.

Park Hopper isn't out of the question, so perhaps we could think about mixing the schedule up a bit and bring Epcot down to 1 full day. Give a rest day in between somewhere, and then if there is anything left to see at Epcot that we can't do in the full day, we could hit up again on another day since the resort we're staying in is close by.

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

Park Hopper isn't out of the question,

Weigh up the expense of adding the Hopper option against being limited to just one park a day.

If you're not going to be in the parks for a full day, then plan on returning to your resort during the early afternoon and lazing by the pool before returning to your chosen park for the evening. OR, schedule a Pool Day and do the parks on the other days to the max

 

[JillC LI]

We never miss a park with early EMH because we force ourselves to get up early and be there before park opening. You can get more done in that first hour and most of the next than you can all the rest of the day. I find that parks with evening EMH are more crowded than early days because people don't like to get up early. I like your plan.

 

[Weather_Lady]

I agree with those who think the schedule needs more "down time" (perhaps a daily break between 12 and 4pm?). Otherwise, you'll burn out by mid-week.

Also, unless you are super-into touring the "countries" of World Showcase in exhaustive detail, you may have trouble filling two full days at Epcot. Perhaps half of that second Epcot day would make a nice swim/relaxation break.

 

[Ali in Wonderland]

Hello everyone. This will be my family's first trip to Disneyworld. Will be my wife and I and 2 boys (10 and 16). We're staying at the Beach Club. Getting in late on the 28th of February and leaving around noon on the 8th of March. So, that leaves us with 7 full days.

At this point, I've decided not to get the park hopper because I'm not sure we'll need it until we get a schedule figured out. I've started to figure out a plan, taking advantage of extra magic hours and thought I'd post it here for some thoughts. We've got a park scheduled for every day and then one day of Universal as well. Some of these won't be full days, taking breaks as needed, starting late, or finishing early on certain days, etc.

So, any critiques on the below? Am I going overboard on this? I'm listing the hours as well that the parks are open, so that doesn't designate that we'll be at the park during all of those hours, haha.

1st SUN Animal Kingdom 9-7, 1 extra magic hour in morning
2nd MON Hollywood Studios 9-7, 2 extra magic hours in evening
3rd TUE Epcot 9-9, 1 extra magic hour in morning
4th WED Universal Studios
5th THU Magic Kingdom 9-10, 1 extra magic hour in morning
6th FRI Epcot 9-9, 2 extra magic hours in evening
7th SAT Magic Kingdom 9-12, 2 extra magic hours in evening

In my opinion, the park hopper is worth every penny. It gives you a lot more freedom. Also, you will be able to go back to a park later on if there was an attraction that you have missed or to experience your favorites a second (or more) time. It is especially a good thing if trips to Disney are few and far between.

 

[Sixx]

Thanks for the advice everyone. We're definitely planning on taking breaks each day, don't think we'd survive going all out every day and come out alive at the end.

After doing a lot of research on this, it seems there are a few ways to approach it.

1) Avoid extra magic hours completely and hit the parks that are expected to see less crowds for that day.
2) Get Park Hopper, and hit extra magic hours at each park, and then hit a less crowded park for the other half of the day
3) Hit all the extra magic hour parks and just take a break and return to park later

Since we'll be there the first week of March, it doesn't appear that crowds will be too bad, but want to make the most of our time for sure.

Option 1 I can see why it's a solid plan, but would be strange not taking advantage of the extra magic hours

Option 2 seems like a good idea, but would require a bit more planning. I would guess if we're taking a break at the resort each day, we could do the park split around the break

Option 3, which is what I was originally looking is a bit worrisome with no park hopper. If a park that we choose is too crowded because of the extra magic hours, we're just going to have to stick it out.

 

[Jae99]

If you can afford the Park Hopper, I would go for option 2. It gives you the ability to hit the parks with the morning EMH and then hop to another park that is less crowded later in the day. Now that you can get from park to park by bus it makes it very easy to hop from park to park.

 

[DisDadWoz]

Park hopper well worth it, especially with staying at Beach Club as it allows you the option to walk into Epcot to cross over to get to monorail to Magic Kingdom and same for the way back. It also gives you options to hit one park in the morning, such as Epcot, head back to the resort, the maybe a walk over to DHS in the evening.

 

[Rodb]

The park hopper is only going to add about $10 a day per person to your trip, but having the ability to spend my afternoons at storm along bay and then walk to Epcot or boat to hollywood studios is priceless.

 

[BigRedDad]

First off, not getting the Park Hoppers is smart. IF you need them, just add them when you are there. It is the same cost. Second, see what you can get a room for at US for the one night. The "front of line" passes for resort guests truly makes both parks a 1 day experience. Plus, it gets you into Harry Potter 1 hour before park opening. This is a huge benefit for only about $125 -$150 a night if you can get it. Third, do not even think that you can do everything. If you did everything you possibly could, you would only get about 30-40% of what Disney offers.

 

[sgtmgd]

Weigh up the expense of adding the Hopper option against being limited to just one park a day.

If you're not going to be in the parks for a full day, then plan on returning to your resort during the early afternoon and lazing by the pool before returning to your chosen park for the evening. OR, schedule a Pool Day and do the parks on the other days to the max

I also would urge the Park Hopper..gives you alot of flexibility, keep in mind as well that universal has 2 parks with Harry Potter attractions so factor that into your budget as you will have to get a 2 park ticket to see both attractions and ride the Hogwarts Express.

 

[NHMouse]

With older children I definitely recommend the Park Hopper. Like it was said before your resort location is walkable to many different attractions. Plan you Fast Passes ahead of time and you will be able to relax bit knowing you will get to all your must sees attractions