Hi all, I added a modified version of the 2 days with little kids - Holiday Version to my personalized plans for Dec 24th and 25th at MK. Another Disney forum I belong to, people are saying NO WAY is my plan possible. Opinions?? How good is the Lines ap when predicting busy days like these? It’s taking into account being there at rope drop and EMH and the current park hours (closing at midnight both days). It is predicting crowd levels 10 out of 10. Sorry if this is not best place to post. This is my first post. 
So, your planning on doing the whole park over those two days? You will be there at 7:00am both days?
Right now Disney says EMH all days that week at MK are 8:00-9:00 and park closes at midnight. I was planning on being there at 7 both days to be ready to go, staying all day on the 24th, and leaving no later than 8pm on the 25th, because I have a res at Artist Point at 9:00PM on Christmas day. I’d prefer to leave mid-day for a break, but having never gone at Christmas, I’m worried if I leave MK, I won’t be able to get back in. I don’t currently have Park Hopper, and am iffy on whether or not to get it. So all day the 24th, and up till 8pm on 25th. Touringplans.com says it’s doable, and I have a lot of things in the plan I’m more than willing to skip. I figured I’d drop things if I was behind, but people are telling me pick 3 or 4 things and don’t expect to get in anything else. I can move my days around (I’m there the 22-25th), but would prefer not to as I have a lot of dining reservations and not sure what I could get if I start switching things up.
Thanks for any opinions/ help!
Seems to me you can do 3 things with the EMH in the morning and 3 FPP, that’s 6 with my math. Make sure you know what is open for EMH.
Yeah, I am pretty sure MK has opened at 7:00 at least on Christmas the last few years. Even if it is 8:00, from 8-10 you should be able to plan 3-4 attractions, then FPP. If you add Peoplemover and Philharmagic in between you should be good!
You need to know that even with the perfect touring plan the parks are extremely crowded. If you know that in advance, get there at rope drop and plan to enjoy the holiday parade and other holiday offerings you will still have a great time. If you go planning on riding alot of rides you will be disappointed and frustrated.
We were.there Christmas week last year. MK will open at 7 am both days. We were in the MK on eve but not actual day. We go during all the busiest seasons. Plan your days very carefully. Must be there before RD. We scheduled lunch at Tony’s for the first seating (11:30 I think) and requested a patio table. At 12:30 the Christmas parade came through and we watched from the patio. Walking down Main St to get.to Tony’s at 11am was extremely challenging. The crowds by that time are literally shoulder to shoulder like sardines. 0 personal space! We high tailed it outta there after lunch because it was too much for DGMA88 and honestly my kids (ds4 and ds16) couldn’t stand it either. As we were leaving they were still swarming in. Be prepared, after 10:30-11am you are lucky to get to a line even if it is hours long!
@KimPossible5 - I’ve looked at your Christmas Eve plan, and you shouldn’t have any trouble. For one thing, you’ve got at least two hours of free time available in case lines run long. And your plan doesn’t even include Fastpass+ reservations yet, so all of your wait times are standby. Also, the MK may open at 7 AM, giving you another low-crowd hour. (Follow @WendyWelcher_go_com’s advice.)
My only concern would be the availability of Anna and Elsa Fastpass+ reservations. You’ll need to try for those on both 12/24 and 12/25 as a backup.
If you’re interested in seeing how the Lines app wait time predictions work, we post yesterday’s predictions along with what actually happened, on the crowd calendar every day. You can also look at the wait time charts for Christmas 2013 to see how our predictions worked at individual attractions. Here’s Space Mountain from 12/24/2013. We were within 5 minutes of the average posted wait during the busy part of the day.
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Thank you so much for looking! So this is exactly what I was thinking - I had looked at last years info and the wait time charts, and it seemed doable to me, but I’ve not been on those days - at least not in 20+ years. There are a LOT of things - especially on day 1 - I’ve built in that are skippable, and I thought if we get behind, we will ditch those. I also thought once we are able to add FP, I’d reconfigure it all based on that info. I added A&E with the hopes of getting a FP, but if that doesn’t happen, they’re gone. I only have one girl who would be horribly upset, and that’s the 4yo - I’m pretty sure I can distract her with something else. LOL! Also we have a res at Akershus on a different day, and I’m hearing rumors they may be adding A&E to the lineup there. If that comes to pass, we won’t even try for them at MK. I was feeling awfully discouraged by comments elsewhere though, and don’t want to set us all up for disappointment.
I’d love to be able to go back to the Lodge for a mid-day break, but am really concerned about being able to get back in. I will likely do another plan with a lot fewer items for each day and a long break built in to have as “Plan B” LOL! Thank you again!
You’d be able to get back into the park after a mid-day break (resort guests get priority), and you’ve got two days to see everything. Might be possible. See how your morning goes.
I’m hearing that the Frozen stuff at the Studios might be extended through the holidays, so that could be another chance for you to see A&E without significant waits. We should know more toward the end of next month. (And how your 4YO is doing.)
Remember that you can re-optimize the plan while you’re in the parks, too. If something happens and you need to adjust the plan, it only takes a minute to get back on track.
ETA: I especially liked the “You should contact TouringPlans and tell them their estimates are wrong” suggestion on the other forum.
I surprised that no one else has mentioned this yet… I have never toured with little kids, but even as an adult, a 16 or 17 hour MK day with no break, with LOW crowds is exhausting. Based on what I have read here, going that long with little kids, and crowds so dense that you will litereally be sharing other people’s air, and then following it with a 14 hour day under the same conditions (with only about 6 hours of sleep in between) sounds like a recipe for a melt-down disaster to me…
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I agree with @bswan26 . Of course it depends on your kids… I make sure my kids eat very well & often when we are in the World. 1 soda a day at dinner (but they usually chose lemonade), somewhat decent snacks, and only 1 desert or a sweet. Lots of fruit and water also seemed to help them avoid meltdowns. My mom says I’m a kill joy, but my kids have never had a breakdown in the parks, so I think it works. Good luck @KimPossible5, we will be there then too and we are going to need it.