Reading the “What’s Your Limit?” thread has got me worried…
We are a family of four with 9-year old twins. We are staying at Beach Club, and the Saturday of Labor Day weekend and very likely F&W is our last day of our 6 park day trip. The plan was to use this Saturday as a pool day, then head over to Epcot late afternoon for some FPP’s (Future World) and then a nice final night dinner at Monsieur Paul. Keep in mind, we will have already been to Epcot one previous day. So this should be clean up and repeat in terms of attractions.
But F&W Saturdays sound like a nightmare. Are we going to be okay as long as we don’t plan any WS time besides Monsieur Paul? Any tips or timing advice? Should we ditch and spend our last night somewhere else? ADRs to be made in a couple weeks. Please advise. Thanks!
I think this is a scenario where you will be fine. I am firmly in the camp of NEVER AGAIN for Epcot on a weekend during F&W, but if you aren’t intending to do much in World Showcase and your kids are big enough to not be in a stroller, I think this is just a matter of setting expectations. It will take you a while to walk through crowds to get back to France. I think you may see some folks who could potentially be intoxicated (whether every other person is vomiting in a bush seems to be a matter of perception). You may even find that FW is a little big lighter.
When we were there it was so crowded in WS that it was difficult to walk. Although I thought we had “plenty” of time to get to the International Gateway for our reservation, but we did not. When you can’t move through the group, you can’t move through the group and it was shoulder to shoulder packed. I’m sure it’s not ALWAYS that bad, but for us it was tight making our 7 something reservation because we had to walk through part of WS. Give yourself way more time than you typically need. I’m sure it will still be a lovely evening and as long as you aren’t planning on actually hanging out and/or accomplishing anything in WS you should be okay.
Ok, I think I’m now resigned to the fact that maybe the best strategy is to head to Epcot in the morning and get out of there by noon and back to Beach Club for an afternoon at the pool. (It’s just that after consecutive rope drop days I was hoping that maybe we could sleep in this day, but c’est la guerre. )
So, now the question is do we still try to go to Monsieur Paul for dinner that Sat. night (which I sort of had my french food loving heart set on)? We will be entering through Intl. Gateway so not a “long” walk to France, but have to consider crowds entering at same time as well as fighting them inside. Or bagging that and going with, say, Flying Fish or Yachtsmen? Thoughts?
I would keep the ADR because you have a place to go and sit… we were there for food and wine last year it is crazy but I think if you have an adr it won’t be so bad. Just might take time to get there through a crowd!
I agree with this @DCJP …getting from from the International Gateway directly to your reservation wouldn’t be too bad. It might be a good way to “test the waters” and see what the crowds are really like during that time. Maybe you’ll be like “What on earth were those crybabies complaining about? This is nothing.” and you will know that you are the kind of person that can handle F&W on a Saturday where as I am not.
Thanks everyone for the advice and encouragement! Will plan on MP and hope for the best. (Barring others chiming in and saying I’m nuts. )
Re. FutureWorld. I think I might have stuck to my original plan of sleeping in, pool, then later afternoon to Future World with FPPs. But then I took another look at the map and realized from the Intl. Gateway (which I’ve never used before), we’d need to go though UK, Canada and Showcase Plaza first, and then of course do the same to get back to France for dinner. Probably not fun on Saturday late afternoon during F&W.
What a great example of why I love this forum: A discussion in another chain makes me realize something I hadn’t fully thought of yet, only to tweak my plan to make it better…or at least less likely to run into a major problem. Thank you!
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