It does sound like you are but I get what you’re saying. We’ve always done the same thing. In February we had a similar length trip and didn’t do hoppers and only wished we did for our free evenings…but we were at the Poly and more central to just hopping back over to MK to soak up the evening atmosphere than we will be this trip.
Ordinarily, I’d say hoppers may not be necessary, and there have been times we had it but never used it. But as I found from personal experience, when you add in lots of the extra hours stuff like you are doing, like EMM TSL, EMM FL, DAH, MNSSHP, etc. it becomes more important to be able to switch parks throughout the day.
1 Like
A few thoughts… yes, go with the stroller. If it’s making you crazy, you can always park it somewhere and walk. It also serves as a nice drink holder.
Next, we always hop, mostly because I’m paranoid about the need to keep all my options open. That said, on our most recent 7 day trip, we used the hopper on 5 of the days so it was totally worth it. We usually went super early, stayed as long as we could last (normally lunch time or so), then went to our resort for lunch and a break (often at the pool). Sometimes we wouldn’t get back to a park until 6 or 7, but with late hours (like you’ll have in July) we still had plenty of time. (Aside: we always change shoes during our break. Keeps the feet fresher).
With 8 days, you might want to have one day where you don’t go to a park at all. Sleep in, hit the pool later in the morning, resort hop, go to Disney Springs for ice cream and shopping (or dinner), try mini golf if it’s not miserably hot, etc. You can ride the boat from Disney Springs in a giant circle for a change of pace.
One other tip that works for us in the heat of summer - we try to have a reservation for a meal most every day. Somehow just knowing that we’re going to sit down somewhere air conditioned for an hour or so helps the attitude and the planning. You don’t have to break the bank – share appetizers or dessert or something. It’s much better than waiting until you’re exhausted and overheated and trying to find a table at a full restaurant.
1 Like
Hi - Newbie here. Do I understand you correctly that during EMM, we can get 8-10 rides? That’d be great, but I didn’t know we could get so many
1 Like
We’ve used a travel agent and she’s been wonderful, but when we mentioned some lazy mornings and returns-to-the-hotel for swimming and naps (two adults, 9-yr-old and 6-yr-old), she said we’d lose much time (we’re at WL). Since we’re first timers and we told her we’d not be back for awhile, I think she was giving us the best bang for the buck. Any opinion on this? Thanks…
How long is your trip and what time of the year are you going? I feel like that makes a big difference on how you tour.
We did our first trip January ‘18. Five day tickets (including arrival day and departure day). Our three middle days we toured for 10 hours, 12 hours and 14 hours. We were spent.
Our last trip in February we had nine days and only had one full day where we went basically all day (8 am until 6 pm) but the other days we either took a long afternoon break, toured 8-3ish or 11-8. We never have done a full resort day.
This next trip is in July so we’re doing more consistent early morning, after noon break and back to the parks for a couple hours in the evenings.
My kids are 8, 6, 4 and 2 and have handled all of these different ways of touring like champs.
1 Like
Thanks. June trip, five nights. I think we’ll lean more toward what you mentioned. Thanks.
I am not @terp05, but when we did EMM at HS in December we rode Slinky Dog 9 times, Alien Saucers 2 times, and Toy Story Mania 1 time. We also met Buzz, Woody and Jessie, and made 1 stop at the bathrooms all before the rope drop crowds were let in. EMM is fabulous!
3 Likes
Hi @twm22columbia_685218! Yeah, as @Wahoohokie explains too, you can pretty easily manage to ride that many rides if you try. This assumes you get to the park about 30 minutes before the scheduled start time for EMM, so you can be first in. It also assumes you don’t go to the breakfast during the actual EMM event hours; I’d wait to go the breakfast at about 9:45 (assuming breakfast ends at 10).
See my trip report where I did this with my 4 year old. I think you can easily do even more rides with older kids in tow.
3 Likes
I have found that after a few days when my son was young if he did not get a break, including a chance to nap or swim, Disney became “work” not fun. I know you want to do it all, we all do. The truth is, that is impossible. Sometimes you just have to slow down and enjoy what you are doing, with some rest and sleep thrown in. I am sure you will do what is right for you, this is just what worked for us.
2 Likes