Planning a trip in early December, first park day is AK morning, then Epcot. Idea would be to purchase MP for AK (cheaper pricing) and book as early as possible (Na’vi River, Dinosaur/EE and Safari). Rope drop FOP, then scan into first LL. From there, start booking in Epcot and depending on crowds, maybe modify other LLs to Epcot (ideally want to do Soarin’, TT and either Remy or Frozen). We will purchase ILL for GOG too.
Thoughts? Bad idea?
Also, this is an extended family trip with 10 people so I’m feeling overwhelmed with the whole touring-planning piece so any ideas/insights welcome!
When I was at EP last Saturday, TT LL were gone before any of the park’s opened for the day, Remy was gone before 9 am and FEA was gone by 9:45 am. These sell out times will vary from day to day depending on crowds and other factors. I tried for Remy and FEA LL at various times during the day, but ended up missing out on both of them. So keep the challenges with same day EP LLs for TT, Remy and FEA in mind as you finalize your plan.
Very helpful information and a bit of what I am afraid of - not sure if it would just be better to purchase MP for Epcot and then just get through AK in the morning with standby (which I think will likely be mostly fine). I’m usually pretty good about refreshing and picking up things throughout the day, but only for my family of 4 - I am guessing looking for a group of 10 might not work out as well.
I did like the idea of getting the cheaper price for MP with AK over Epcot and that we could - hopefully - lock in an early LL for Na’vi and Safari as those are the waits I am thinking might give us the most trouble.
This all really depends on crowd level. I found getting afternoon passes at Hollywood Studios easier than at Epcot. I did essentially the same thing but with the studios: AK –> HS and it worked out great. (But that was for 2 - 10 is going to be very challenging). Do you not have a full Epcot day to work with?
No, we do not have a full day planned at Epcot - we have two half days; AK/Epcot and MK/Epcot. Crowds are not predicted to be too bad; Epcot is at a 6 both days we will be there.
Do you think I am better off to purchase the MP for Epcot and then use our early mornings for AK and MK (which is a 2; party day the morning we are there) and use standby at those two parks and hope for the best? We will buy GOG both days; I know we will want to do Soarin’ - which I think I should be able to snag same day? - and was hoping to at least ride TestTrack once and maybe Remy one evening and Frozen the other? I am worried about the fact that I have a party of 10…
Personally, yeah I’d buy the LLMP for Epcot on your MK day. You can do so much in the first 3 hours in MK on a party day without LL. I did LLMP for MK on a party day then hopped to Epcot - I wasn’t really able to get a lot that afternoon in Epcot (it was a 5 or 6 crowd) - Spaceship Earth, Nemo, and managed a TT at the drop (which I felt lucky to get).
Yes, this will make it much harder to pick up same day LLs for TT, Remy and FEA than for a group of 4 (and it is already hard for a group of 4).
Here’s a suggestion … switch to a full day at EP and make your split day MK/AK. RD EP with TT, Soarin’ and a third attraction you can get for 9:00-10:00 am as pre-booked LLs. Tap into the 9:00 am LL and then immediately try to get Remy and FEA (one with the open LL and one by modifying Soarin’). Try to re-book Soarin’ after you tap into your second LL. Remy and FEA may still be sold out before you can book them, but I think this would be your best chance of getting all three.
If you wanted to do this but really wanted a second ride on GotG, you could book a 8:00 pm - 9:00 pm GotG LLSP for your MK/AK day and head to EP for 1 ride at the end of the day. Last week my family did a 3 park day in order to get 1 extra ride on GotG … it was worth the extra hopping
Thank you for this!
I am going to look at our plan and see if we might be able to switch things around as I do like this idea. We have dining reservations but I might be able to find something else as long as the group is okay loosing one of what we have.
