Last minute decisions on the final plans on visiting WDW and USF. Please help with a few of our decisions
Background: We will be visiting WDW and USF for roughly a week. With the hotel package we got, we’ll be staying at Pop Century to start for 3 nights and Portofino Bay for 4. That means in the middle of our visit of WDW, we’ll be switching our stay to USF while still visiting WDW so to “get a taste of everything” so to be speak. We are 2 adults (me and my wife) with 2 late teens/young adults (our 2 daughters). Here are our questions
1)We will have 2 full days and evening staying at Pop Century (Early entry applies). We will then have our 3rd day where we check out first, spend the rest of the day at a park, go back to Pop Century to pick up our luggage and move to Portofino Bay at USF for the night. And we will have a 4th day where we will travel from USF to WDW to visit at official park opening
a) Which parks have the most to do/see so to require the full day (ie the first 2 days)?
b) Which park would be best to visit on the 3rd day (moving day) where we will have the early entry but won’t really have the evening?
i) would it be wise to check out early in the morning, move our stuff to Portofino Bay and come back for the rest of the day at one of the parks so we’ll have the evening and don’t have to worry about checking in at Portofino Bay later in the evening?
c) Which park would be best to visit at offical opening time (given our other options)?
a) MK - I’ve heard that if you go full speed all day you can get everything seen/done in about 11 hours. So there should be plenty here for a full day.
Epcot - which is basically 2 parks. The area around Spaceship Earth used to be Future World and has 6 pavilions with several things to do. Followed by World Showcase with 11 pavilions representing various countries. Touring all of the Epcot pavilions can be as detailed or cursory as works.
b) AK - the safari is good early in the day. Crowds can be lightest during early entry at Flight of Passage where 999 out of 1000 guests stream as fast as possible as soon as they can. This park is generally considered half day. Earliest opening and closing park, usually.
c) Epcot probably. If Boarding Groups are still being used at Cosmic Rewind.
i)if AK doesn’t appeal, doing your Portofino move first and then doing HS at Disney might be your plan. It seems that some must do attractions are a bit cranky running in the morning.
Just my opinions. There’s lots of ways to do Disney.
Welcome to the Forum! I agree there are many ways in which you could plan this, and a lot depends on personal preference. And on how long you’re willing to wait in line or spend on Genie + and ILLs.
a) Which parks have the most to do/see so to require the full day (ie the first 2 days)?
I think most people would recommend focusing these on MK and Epcot, and it’s what I would do if I was planning for myself because there is SO much to see in both of these, and if you want to do all of the rides you probably need all day. Sadly, my family underappreciates World Showcase and would not pick a full day in Epcot.
b) Which park would be best to visit on the 3rd day (moving day) where we will have the early entry but won’t really have the evening?
Agree with @janamelia that AK is a good choice for this - AK is the only park that doesn’t have an evening show, and you can easily be done with all rides by noon - especially if you buy an ILL for FoP and rope drop NRJ, KS, and EE (multiple times, esp if using single rider) while everyone else is stuck in line for FoP. Once lines start to build and you’ve had your fill of rides, you can walk animal trails and watch shows until you’re ready to go back.
c) Which park would be best to visit at offical opening time (given our other options)?
The above logic would leave you with DHS for this day, but in my view you would need G+ to have fun doing it - and even with G+ you’ll need to plan well to get everything done. There are just too many headliners with long waits in that park.
The park in which you’d objectively have the least disadvantage for official opening times are either AK (because even at official opening most crowds are still stuck at FoP, so you can knock out a lot in that first hour before waits build) or MK (where only Fantasyland and Tomorrowland are open for EE, so official opening time allows you to rope drop Adventureland and Frontierland along with everyone else). So you could potentially also consider spending one of your first two days at DHS (especially if you have any Star Wars fans), and maybe saving MK for the end?
If it was my family, we’d do MK and DHS on the first two days (with midday breaks at the hotel as those will be tiring days), AK on the third and Epcot on the final day - but that’s strongly based on what I know everyone likes to ride and do, so your result may be different.
Thank you so much. Lots of fruit for thoughts and a family meeting is called for. Further questions here.
a) since we’ll be spending 3 days at USF with express pass, we can technically do another morning at MK but it’s good to know it’s doable.
b) so are you saying we should rush to FoP ASAP when we go to AK?
i) What would consider doing first at HS?
We won’t be renting a car, it Uber/Lyft a good option and how much should we budget for between WDW and USF?
Or would renting a car be a better choice given our family of 4? I can’t which park includes parking but I know one doesn’t.
We are planning to buy some groceries to eat breakfast at hotel, pack for lunch and eat out for snack and dinner.
We’re doing Lyfts on our combined universal/disney trip. Just don’t want to mess with parking. I’m expecting trips each way with XL (5 people) to be under $50 each way. But we only need rides from/to airport and from USF to WDW one time.
If you’re trying to not do Genie then yes. Plan to be at your resort bus stop by 6:30 am. You might wait a bit or you might not. I’d be at the bus stop by that time.
We used to be told buses start on the hour and should run every 20 minutes. I’ve always tried to be at a resort bus stop 15 min, or 35 min or 55 minutes after the hour. I’ve rarely had a long wait. I’ve usually figured 20 min to park once I’m on the bus.
Another plan for any park is to skip the headliner rides altogether. They’re the time sink. Look at websites, read up on what rides are about and each pick a ride or two to do. Some of my favorite rides have short lines.
Keep in mind that it rains in June. If there is thunder outside rides close. Put on a poncho and keep touring in your water happy shoes. Indoor rides will still be going.
