We have been to WDW frequently and usually travel in May or October. Our family wants to visit WDW this December to attend MVMCP and see the parks and resorts decorated for the holidays. I was leaning toward December 3 - December 13. I just got the new book and decided to start reading in the DHS section, and frankly I am blown away by some of the commentary on pages 659-660 regarding the opening of SWGE.
We are very often one of the first cars in the WDW parking lots and one of the first groups at the tapstiles an hour or so before opening. The idea of pulling into the parking lot at, say, 7:00 A.M. for a 9 A.M. opening and finding the crowd already hours deep is somewhat concerning.
I’ve trusted Touring Plans and the Unofficial Guide since the mid-2000’s. I’ll be watching your suggestions faithfully and wonder if I should maybe discount a 2019 trip altogether and head back out to DLR for some Christmastime fun (though not quite as involved as MVMCP sadly.)
These are just my two cents worth of thought about SWGE. When Pandora opened up, AK was crazy. People would wait hours to ride FoP. It’s still very popular a year and a half later. This is for a movie that doesn’t have a following like SW has. The opening of SWGE is going to be much, much more in terms of pure fans wanting to get into it. These are the people who camped out at theaters to watch on opening day. You honestly could not pay me money to visit HS during that time period.
Our May 2020 trip, I expect to need to avoid HS. We will still go, but plan to get little done other than to see things. In December 2020, I hope we can pull off a FPP in HS since I will be doing 8 nights, and purposely put HS at like day 7. We shall see.
While I am a SW fan, I am not a SW fanatic. I am more excited about the ride concept than the theme itself.
Anyhow, I am afraid of SWGE and what it will ultimately do to Disney. I expect to see large price increases. Disneyland ticket prices just went up from 5 to 23%. Most likely due to SWGE!
I will likely be there the same time you will be. I’m not letting SWGE freak me out. DHS has always been my least favor park, and although I would love to see TSL, I am prepared to completely skip the park if things are too crazy. Rumors are flying about things such as advanced reservations only for SWGE (possibly with an ipcharge), phased openings, separate park entrance for SWGE, and various other things. Well just have to wait for the time to get closer to see how this all pans out…
Ww’re currently booked for the week after you (or maybe two weeks). I’ll either avoid HS totallly (sorry kids, the park’s closed the mouse out front should have told you) or we’ll do EMM or DAH if offered.
I’m 50%-50% between a Disney-centric trip with 6 days of WDW and one MVMCP vs. a SeaWorld/Discovery Cove trip with a DC dolphin swim day and 3? days to SW and then do two nights of MVMCP. The cost works out the same. We’d also get access to Aquatica if there is such a thing as a good waterpark day in December.
I don’t have to make any plans til Southwest has airfare for December, anyway. And I won’t need to start making ADRs until June. Hopefully we will get some insight into SWGE once DLR opens, and maybe even a better guess at an open date for December??? (That’s pretty wishful thinking, though, huh?)