I’ve got a combined Universal and Disney trip planned for early January. Going to do Universal first and then Disney. Universal will be 1/4 - 1/6 and Disney days will be from Wednesday, 1/7 - Tuesday, 1/13 though the last day will be a recap day since two of our group won’t be there that day. May also spend one of those days back at Universal. Our group is 6 people. My wife and I are in our mid 40s and it’s my three kids ranging from 23 to 17 and my daughter in law. Our last big trip was January 2020 but my daughter in law hasn’t been to Disney except for one trip as a little kid (around 6 years old). We’re more of a thrill ride group but will also want to do the good shows. It’s going to be quite awhile before we’re going to come back so we’d like to hit everything we can.
Our park rankings are HS, AK then probably Epcot and MK. We don’t have early entry but I plan to book LLMP and LLSP to offset that. Also, we’re Orthodox Jews so Friday will be a short day (need to head back at around 3:00 at the latest) and Saturday will only start around 6:00 PM. In addition, because of that we don’t care at all about food. Meaning Epcot loses a lot of appeal because we can’t partake in the various food offerings. Lastly, our tickets will start either 1/4 or 1/5 so we’ll be able to book LL starting on either 1/1 or 1/2 (just depends on if the extra day earlier is worth $100 total to me).
My initial thoughts are to start with MK on 1/7 since the first day will have the shortest LL booking time frame and MK offers the most options. Then HS on 1/8 with AK on Friday 1/9 since we can probably knock off that park on our short day as it opens an hour earlier than every other park. Saturday night will be a quick run to HS for Tower of Terror (our favorite under the radar ride in all the Disney parks) followed by the fireworks at Epcot. Then do Epcot on either Sunday or Monday (whichever day we don’t go back to Universal) and another quick run back to HS since Epcot tends to be a shorter day for us as we don’t care all that much for World Showcase.
Thoughts on this plan? Any better way to move around our days? Will probably plan to leave mid-day during our MK day and for the Epcot day.
Thanks. I noticed that but short of switching my Universal and Disney days I’m locked into my trip days. Would have preferred the following week but my daughter in law’s school schedule locks us in.
Any overall thoughts on the park days? If the run Disney weekend starts on 1/7 should I avoid MK that day since most visitors will go there first?
Actually looking some more I think I’ll do a Universal day on Sunday 1/11 since that’s the full marathon day. And we don’t do anything on Saturday until about 6PM so the half marathon shouldn’t impact us much. Maybe it will help since runners and guests will need to get to bed early the night before. So I’m leaning towards MK on 1/7, HS on 1/8, AK on my short day on 1/9 and then Epcot on 1/12. Will probably do the Epcot fireworks on the Saturday night 1/10.
I don’t have the brain power to think about the whole trip, but is there a reason you particularly want to see the Epcot Fireworks vs Fantasia at HW? If you’ll be at HW in the evening, I would absolutely stay for Fantasia. In terms of Disney evening shows, I think it takes the cake. I do like Epcot fireworks, but Fantasia is worth staying for.
We’ll likely do both. Figured I’d do Fantasmic on the HS day. We like HS a lot so we’ll probably be there all day whereas we aren’t likely to be at Epcot all day.
I think you’ve got a really solid plan! I think it’s a smart move to flip that Sunday to Universal. I think you said you’re offsite? But just beware that Disney will have a lot of roads closed off for the marathon Sunday and getting in/around the resort might be a hassle as least in the earlier part of the day.
AK is a smart park to slot in to your shorter day on Friday.
Thanks. I will flip that Sunday to a Universal “repeat” day and will do Epcot on Monday 1/12 and will have Tuesday 1/13 as a Disney “repeat” day. I tend to love those repeat days since you’re just trying to hit the rides you really like. Last trip back in 2020 we hit three Disney parks in one day (left out MK) and got just about everything we wanted at each park.
One other quick question. Do you think it’s worthwhile to have my ticket start date on 1/4 vs 1/5? It gets me one earlier day for making LL bookings. My first park day will likely be MK on 1/7 so it’s getting me a six day pre-booking window vs a five day window as well as an earlier day for HS the next day. The only downside is that the tickets are about $100 more on 1/4 for the six of us combined. If there’s not going to be much difference then I’d save the money but I’m willing to spend the extra $100 for a better experience, especially on the HS day on 1/8.
I wouldn’t think that would be necessary. But if the amount is relatively nominal to your overall vacation budget and you’d appreciate the extra peace of mind go for it.
I went back and checked this date for 2025 (Wednesday. The first day of the Expo and kickoff to Marathon Weekend and park crowds were relatively chill).
I think RunDisney crowds typically impact the crowd levels a few days after the races conclude as runners often delay adding a lot of additional steps to their days ahead of their races
ETA: I will be there at the same time as your fam! My friend and I are running Dopey this year
The only day to be kinda worried about is Sunday 1/11. As the roads will be all randomly closed up for the marathon. MK is a decent park for that day because it’s the first park to clear out of guests. Epcot would probably be the worst as it’s where the race starts and ends.
Though your idea of going to Uni that day is also a very valid way to get away from everything marathon.
