Magic Kingdom + EPCOT on Flight Day Plan - Does this seem possible?

[DavidDL]

Hey there, everyone. Wanted to share my "plan of attack" and get some input regarding how feasible you think this might be. Some quick context: our flight leaves at 6pm on our "travel home" day. I would like to sneak a quick trip into Magic Kingdom and EPCOT to hit a handful of key attractions at both on this day. Both parks open at 9am on the day in question and we do not have early entry.

Here is my plan:

1) Pre-purchase Individual Lightning Lanes for both TRON Lightcycle/Run and Guardians of the Galaxy - Cosmic Rewind for the appropriate times.
2) Park at the Ticket & Transportation Center early and make sure we are inside Magic Kingdom for rope drop. Rope drop Space Mountain.
3) Ride TRON Lightcycle/Run, Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover, then see Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress and Tom Sawyer's Island.
4) Have a Minnie Van pick us up at Magic Kingdom and drop us off at EPCOT.
5) Ride Guardians of the Galaxy - Cosmic Rewind, Mission: SPACE and Spaceship Earth.
6) Take EPCOT Monorail line back to the Ticket & Transportation Center where we originally parked and head directly to the airport.

Giving ourselves an hour to get from Magic Kingdom to MCO and arriving the recommended 3 hours earlier than our flight time means we would need to be done at the parks by 2pm. Which is only about a 5 hour window of time to be hitting the parks.

Seems a little tight but possible if you know what you're doing? Most of these attractions do not usually have long waits in my experience and 2/3 of the ones that do will be a paid line skip.

What do you all think? Is leaving 4 hours in advance of our flight being overly cautious?

 

[nickys]

When is this for?

Also when purchasing the LLSPs how far ahead will you be booking? Obviously you’re staying offsite but that gives you 3 days plus the length of your ticket.


I think it’s possibly doable IF you get the times you need for LLSP and are prepared to drop TSI.

Adding TSI though worries me. If you’re exploring the caves and the Fort it’s easy to lose track of time. The queue for the raft there and back can be fairly long. (Also check what time it opens). You’ll likely need an hour just for the rafts and a walk round, more if you want to “explore”. Then 30 minutes back to the entrance and waiting for a Minnie Van.

You also need to give yourself time to get back to the TTC and to your car on top of the drive to MCO and returning the car once you get there.

 

[MotherofaPrincessLover]

Are you an international guest? Arriving to the airport 3 hours early seems like a lot (I know different people have different tolerances for how early to get to the airport). I agree with possibly dropping TSI. It's quite a walk over there from Tomorrowland and the rafts aren't quick. If TSI is a must do, I'd probably skip Carousel of Progress and Peoplemover since those can be done on a future trip.

 

[DavidDL]

When is this for?

Also when purchasing the LLSPs how far ahead will you be booking? Obviously you’re staying offsite but that gives you 3 days plus the length of your ticket.


I think it’s possibly doable IF you get the times you need for LLSP and are prepared to drop TSI.

Adding TSI though worries me. If you’re exploring the caves and the Fort it’s easy to lose track of time. The queue for the raft there and back can be fairly long. (Also check what time it opens). You’ll likely need an hour just for the rafts and a walk round, more if you want to “explore”. Then 30 minutes back to the entrance and waiting for a Minnie Van.

You also need to give yourself time to get back to the TTC and to your car on top of the drive to MCO and returning the car once you get there.

Are you an international guest? Arriving to the airport 3 hours early seems like a lot (I know different people have different tolerances for how early to get to the airport). I agree with possibly dropping TSI. It's quite a walk over there from Tomorrowland and the rafts aren't quick. If TSI is a must do, I'd probably skip Carousel of Progress and Peoplemover since those can be done on a future trip.

This is for a weekday in early June and I am from California. Have been going to Disneyland my entire life and have made at least half a dozen drips out to WDW. -and yeah, would be booking as early as I can, which is the aforementioned 3 days in advance. If there aren't any workable times left by that point, the whole thing goes out the window and we'd just pick one park to focus on.

TSI is a must for us because it is going away and my wife has never been to theirs, only having ever been able to stare at our boarded up version of the fort and wondering what it might have been like to see for herself. Emphasis would be placed on being able to see that, the hidden tunnel exit, etc.

It would be easy enough to just pick Magic Kingdom and be done with it (since TSI is closing) but truthfully, I have lost faith in Disney's WDW decision-making with everything they're ripping away from us so I want to get some last rides in on some of our favorite attractions here while on our "farewell tour" here to see other stuff like Muppet*Vision 3D and DINOSAUR one last time. Especially Mission: SPACE (which I absolutely LOVE but do not feel is long for this world) and Spaceship Earth (if a re-theme ever happens, Disney is 100% sure to ruin it).

I think my main concern and questioning is for locals who have more experience with the Minnie Vans and MCO than anything else. I also agree that 3 hours feels a tad excessive for that airport (I have never had to wait that long) but I am fearful when I hear stories from locals saying it's either absurdly busy or empty there, never one or the other. I guess I'm worried that we've just gotten lucky on all our other trips and this will be the one time showing up 2 hours early instead of 3 bites us. Additionally, would love some insight regarding how long it usually takes for a Minnie Van to arrive. I would assume it is like Lyft/Uber where you can schedule a time in advance but does anyone know if they are pretty punctual?

I appreciate everything shared already and things to be shared. Thank you all!

 

[Worldlover71]

Unless something has changed, three hours is too early for a domestic flight at MCO. I once arrived that early due to DME and I was not allowed through security because it was too far in advance of my flight. I had to wait an hour before I was allowed through.

 

[RememberWhen]

Afaik you can’t preschedule the minnievans. At peak times the wait can be lengthy, but you could also walk to the contemporary and grab an uber there if the wait for a minnie van is too high.

 

[nickys]

This is for a weekday in early June and I am from California. Have been going to Disneyland my entire life and have made at least half a dozen drips out to WDW. -and yeah, would be booking as early as I can, which is the aforementioned 3 days in advance. If there aren't any workable times left by that point, the whole thing goes out the window and we'd just pick one park to focus on.

TSI is a must for us because it is going away and my wife has never been to theirs, only having ever been able to stare at our boarded up version of the fort and wondering what it might have been like to see for herself. Emphasis would be placed on being able to see that, the hidden tunnel exit, etc.

It would be easy enough to just pick Magic Kingdom and be done with it (since TSI is closing) but truthfully, I have lost faith in Disney's WDW decision-making with everything they're ripping away from us so I want to get some last rides in on some of our favorite attractions here while on our "farewell tour" here to see other stuff like Muppet*Vision 3D and DINOSAUR one last time. Especially Mission: SPACE (which I absolutely LOVE but do not feel is long for this world) and Spaceship Earth (if a re-theme ever happens, Disney is 100% sure to ruin it).

I think my main concern and questioning is for locals who have more experience with the Minnie Vans and MCO than anything else. I also agree that 3 hours feels a tad excessive for that airport (I have never had to wait that long) but I am fearful when I hear stories from locals saying it's either absurdly busy or empty there, never one or the other. I guess I'm worried that we've just gotten lucky on all our other trips and this will be the one time showing up 2 hours early instead of 3 bites us. Additionally, would love some insight regarding how long it usually takes for a Minnie Van to arrive. I would assume it is like Lyft/Uber where you can schedule a time in advance but does anyone know if they are pretty punctual?

I appreciate everything shared already and things to be shared. Thank you all!

Pretty sure you can’t schedule a Minnie Van in advance.

From what you say TSI is going to take a couple of hours. There’s so much to explore at both ends of the island. Even with more time (I assumed you were flying internationally) I think to do everything you might end up racing around TSI - which in places isn’t easy. You really can’t get past people in the caves or escape tunnel (unless you’re a child) or the barrel bridge.

What I meant by how far ahead is what day of your trip is this? Remember some people will be getting 7 or 3 days plus 14 for the LLSP.

Do you have other days you could do the Epcot rides?