Switch Park Days One Week Out?

Trying to decide if I should switch park plans one week out thanks to the randomness of BG assignments. We are a family that plans for a mid-day break. No littles, so we don’t absolutely have to; we’re just generally happier. And since we break anyway, my plans have us hopping back to a different park in the evening.

With RotR boarding groups, I’m afraid our group (should we even get one!!!) will be for after we have planned to leave. So I think I need to switch so that we have a HS day where we are there both am and pm.

But then I lose the FPs that I worked so hard to get!

Right now, I’m scheduled next Sunday (1/12) for MK-am and HS-pm; note that is marathon day. Then Monday (1/13) I have HS-am and MK-pm. I’m considering switching to HS all day Sunday and MK all day Monday.

Anyone care to advise?

Keep those FastPasses. If it’s just one day, skip the break if necessary. It’s the cool season now so not as crucial. You can always just end your day early which is our preference.

It all depends on your priorities, and how often you visit WDW.

One option is that if your boarding group is called after you have switched parks, you just switch right back — you have two hours to get in line for the ride once you’ve been called, so head back to HS from MK should that happen. (And should you be happy to abandon MK at that point.)

This being said, it is “cleaner” to have one HS day and one MK day.

How badly do you want to ride ROTR, and just how good are your MK FPPs right now?

It is generally not that hard to get FPPs for MK, including day-of. You’re not going to get 7DMT, but it can be quite fun to play FPP lotto on the day and as soon as you tap in hunt around for the next one.

Just how good do you think ROTR is? How much are you willing to sacrifice for it? When is your next trip? Is ROTR worth losing 7DMT, BTMRR and PP, for example?

I’m lucky: I’ve ridden ROTR three times. I’m not sure it’s life-changingly good. I’m also lucky: I’ve got two trips planned for this year — I’m currently planning the first one in detail and I’m not even including ROTR in the plans. Unless they develop a sensible system for getting people on the ride I’m going to pass.

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I agree. People stress how early they can get a BG. But if you have all day, the stress level goes down.

I would wait until the last minute to cancel FPP, depending on BG.

Both of our BBG got called last month, albeit after 5 pm.

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I’m all about reducing stress! This is a vacation, after all!

Thanks Matt! That helps me think through the pros and cons.

We only go every 2 or 3 years, so it will be a while before we get another chance. And ROTR ranks pretty high on the “must do” list. Looking through FPs, the biggest loss will be Big Thunder at MK; none of those appear to be available right now. But we have a 2nd MK day and we have BT booked then too, so we certainly won’t miss it altogether!

I was also worried about giving up my PPO BOG, but RF came through for me in under an hour and got one for the new MK day. And I was going to MK with a PPO against liner advice on marathon day anyway! Going to check the marathon course map for HS one last time, and then hopefully make the switch.

Based on what you’ve said, it seems the switch makes total sense.

I would plan a whole day at HS. We did the same thing 2 different mornings, arrived before park open, tried to get boarding group right at open, 1 day got BG 22 which was called to ride at 6:34am. That was 12/28. On 1/2 we got BG 110 and didn’t get called until almost 4pm. It’s a total crapshoot what time you get and impossible to plan for.