Need advice on which is the lesser of two evils. I am planning to spend two half days at AK during my upcoming trip in March.
The first visit will be on a predicted CL 10 day (non EMH). I plan to be there super early and do FOP pre-RD, then scurry over to Africa for KS, GF, and FotLK. Planning to leave the park by 12pm-ish, hopefully before I really start feeling the level 10 crowds. I think Iām happy with this part of the plan despite the predicted CL, since I am willing to be there early and I donāt plan to stay very long.
But Iām really running into trouble with my second AK day. I would like to spend more like 3/4 of the day, from early morning to late afternoon-ish (skipping RoL this time). But my only options are either
another CL 10 day or
a CL 6 day with EMH . . . but Iām not staying onsite
So I have two questions. First, which is worse? A CL10 day that gives me a shot at RD along with everyone else or a CL6 day that puts me an hour behind onsite guests?
And secondly, how does an EMH morning at AK work for offsite guests? Do they hold offsite guests at the tapstiles until official opening, or would I still get in āearlyā (like on non-EMH days)? And how far behind the crowd would I really be? Iād like to ride FOP twice during this trip, but since Iām not staying into the evening on either day, I doubt same-day FPs will really be an option.
Also, I just realized that there are Disney After Hours at AK during my trip, which would solve a lot of my problems. But itās not really in the budget and itās on my arrival night. And since I come from the West Coast and have to get up at 3am to catch my flight, Iām not sure it would be a wise way to start my trip.
Also-Also: I was one of the many people who were (apparently) wrongly taught that the correct spelling of a choice between two undesirable options is ādilemnaā . . . So the title of my post looks completely funky and itās driving me bonkers.
We just went to AK on a CL 10 emh day and didnāt stay onsite. Resort guests entered to the left, we all went to the right and then were walked across the bridge.
We got same day fp drop for fop, so I canāt answer your question about that but I give a lot of details in my Mickey-tastic trip report. We had our FP and mobile ordered lunch and left at 1 for our usual afternoon break. It really wasnāt too bad.
Interesting! Can you clarify? Were you actually admitted to the park at the same time as EMH guests, but just ended up being behind them? Were you actually allowed on rides during the EMH hour?
Backside of magic reported today that the timed drops didnāt work but an hour of hammering on the refresh on MDE yielded a party of 1 FoP FP. That was between Xmas and New Years, so presumably it wouldnāt be quite that hard.
Of course! We went through the tapstiles about 20 minutes before park opening. There, the road splits with paths right and left that meet up again at the bridge to discovery island. They were scanning magic bands for resort guests on the left and letting them in. They told all off site guests to take the right path and wait for rope drop. I believe they let us cross the bridge about ten minutes before 9.
And there were other off site guests in front of us, so I think they let everyone through the tapstiles whenever they arrived and only checked for resort at the next checkpoint.
The timed drop worked just fine during Marathon week. I suspect that BSoM simply fell victim to high crowd levels overtaking the potential daily drops.
I think Iām happy with this part of the plan despite the predicted CL, since I am willing to be there early and I donāt plan to stay very long.
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