How much would it cost to upgrade to hoppers for your group?
Doing MNSSHP does not get you HEA, just Hallowishes. You could watch those from the Poly beach for free 
If it’s HEA you’re after (totally worth it) I think upgrading your tickets might be your best bet.
My math based on UT website shows ~$620 to upgrade for 9 people.
We’ll be there in December and are totally planning on watching Holiday Wishes from the beach one night because we have decided not to do a party. But we have a longer trip so are also doing MK on a CL 7 or 8 (I can’t remember) day to see HEA and the MK at night.
@OlafsDad if HEA is top of your list for things not to miss then do it. Everyone says a good TP trumps CL. But don’t let FOMO (fear of missing out) make you do something that you know is not the best decision for your party. You’re going to miss out on something, either rides/shows/swimming on the CL8 Day (that you can’t get to because of higher CL) or HEA on the low CL and party day. You just need to decide which is more important.
I would not add park hoppers for the sake of one event.
However, if I recall, you are planning on midday breaks for your granddaughter anyway,correct? If so, then your schedule is perfect for park hopping. Take a break and come back to a different park…you could include MK as your evening park. Since there are more FPP rides in MK than any other park, you will likely find some additional FPP.
I love MK fireworks. Not just because I like fireworks but seeing tinkerbell fly is magical. Truly. Magical. I wouldn’t want to miss that experience. In fact, i’d Skip any other evening at a park in order to see it.
What about bumping your tickets up from a 5 day to a 6 day pass and going to fireworks on your arrival day? That presumes arrival day offers HEA of course.
I think the cost difference to go from 5 day to 6 day is only $10.63 per adult ticket so even for a group of 9 that’s only a $100 bump…
I love all the suggestions. Thanks everyone.
@BoilerMomPharmD. Upgrading to park hoppers would be cheaper than adding the 1 party night so that’s definitely a consideration.
@polskamichelle. you are so right. Sacrifices need to be made. If it were just me and my small group we would skip HEA. We had a bad experience with crowds in the hub last trip during HEA and I really don’t want to put my larger group through the same experience. But at the same time this very well could be the last time we all tour together as a group.
@SillySamsMom. great point about our touring schedule. It is designed perfectly for hopping and I totally get the Tinker bell experience.
@Damavs. I never thought about adding a single day. That could work as well. Probably not on arrival night as we will have an early flight and most likely a 3-4am wake up call. That would make for too long a day. But I purposely left Saturday as a no park day in case we wanted to bump a day due to weather. We could just add the extra day and show up for a ride or two and catch the fireworks.
Again, I can’t thank everyone enough. You guys are the best.
You are very welcome!! I really hope you have the trip of a lifetime! You’ve put so much consideration into this trip; you deserve it.
I’m so excited. I just secured our reservation for 9 for EMM on our final park day. I stumbled across EMM during our trip last year when it was just dd13, DW, and I. We had no idea what exactly it was, but because I was looking for a PPO ADR it just popped up. We had so much fun, it was the cherry on top of an already perfect sundae. Of all the things I was hoping to add to this trip, EMM was top of the list. If we don’t make HEA now I think I can live it with it. Lol.
Now, getting back to adding hopper or adding an extra base day… does anyone know the process?
I purchased our tix through Visit Orlando during the black Friday sale. They were the 4 day plus 1 free base tix. They show up as 5 day base in MDE.
Do I do this over the phone prior to arrival so I can book fpp for that day? I assume I call Disney and not V.O.? Or do I have to wait til I arrive and go to GS.?
Again TIA for all your answers to my questions. I’ve seen all these answered in the chat room but never really payed attention because it didn’t pertain to me.
ADR update
Booked all the ADR’s, even got the EMM for our last park day. Still don’t have an exact day for each park so I have a few extra ADR’s to play with.
Procrastinated on the BBB. Figured I had time, I was wrong. Wanted an early morning time and by the time I got around to it… 181 days out, the earliest time I could get was well into the afternoon.
We opted to do BBB on our off day @ DS as we will be visiting there that day anyway. Will tie in nicely with the Photo studio I think. We should get a ton of pictures.
I’m calling BBB precisely at 7am when they open. I’m hoping for a 10 am apt in MK.
(How many PB&J do I need to eat to cover this?! LOL This Budget is swelling by the day.)
I went to SoA with DD3 and DD5. They loved it! At the end I was with my DD3 in the bathroom and she was really quiet. I kept looking at her and she turned to me and said “That. Was. AWESOME!!!” It was all about the fire dancer at the end. The show is a little hokey, but the girls went up and learned how to hula and then they had the traditional Polynesian danceing towards the end. Food was good too.
If you can’t get into BBB check out a pirates league. They have mermaid and pirate makeovers. We did it last year and I think it was $55/DD. One chose a pirate and one chose a mermaid. The makeup artists are hilarious and they all get announced to the room when they are done. There might be videos of it on YouTube. I think that’s where the girls saw a BBB pop up and didn’t want to do it because they didn’t want all the gel in their hair.
No major updates. Kept switching MK and EP days in my TP’s. Couldnt seem to make a decision. Think I’ve finally landed on a solid plan.
Day #1. Arrival day. Early flight. Head to Walmart/Target pick up supplies for the house then spend the day enjoying the home and the resort itself.
Day#2. Epcot w/ early EMH @8am then 10:30 GG, tour til 1pm, midday break, then back to EP at 6pm for WS touring and Illuminations.
Day#3. Hollywood Studios for RD have 8am and 10am ADR for H&V all depends on park hours. Tour til about 1pm again, midday break, back at 7 for Tot, F!, and possibly some fireworks but I notice no fireworks are scheduled and park closes early. 8pm. Hoping things change there or else F! will be packed.
Day #3. Saturday!! Sleep in. BBB appt @ DS at noon. Spend a few hours at DS then break back at the house. Then MK @ 7pm for HEA.
Day#4. Sunday. First official MK day. Short hours 9-6 as it’s a party night. We’ll RD, then late breakfast at 11:30 @ Ohana. Back to MK and tour til party crowds start to take over then call it an early night.
Day #5 Monday. AK w/ 8am EMH. 1/2 the group going to RD FoP while the other half sleeps in. I’ll be in the group that’s RD. I’ll either head back to house to pick up other 1/2 after FoP and NRJ or I’ll have them Uber to AK to meet us. Have a10:45 TH ADR then touring til about 4 or 5. Then head back to house. Depending on the FoP experience some may head back to AK prior to closing to jump on FoP again.
Day#6. MK w/ EMM morning. Have a BOG lunch ADR at 2:20 just to see it. Not sure we’ll be hungry but I’m sure we will snack there. Then tour til the party crowds start taking over around 4 or 5 and call it a night.
Day#7 Departure day. Late flight, going to pay for late checkout at the house and spend the day at the house and resort til it’s time to head to the airport.
Kept wanting to make our first park day (Thursday) @ MK instead of EP. Would have been nice to start and finish our trip with MK. Also MK has a lower CL that first day but if I switched EP to the Sunday we’d be giving up the AM emh and it just threw off my entire EP plan. So im gonna stick with EP as 1st park day. That’s what we started off with for last years trip. Same scenario. 1st park day w/ 8am EMH @ Epcot and it worked out so wonderful.
Totally Different touring style this trip though. Last year with just the 3 of us we could RD to close. This trip I have most park days ending early and the ones I don’t I have built in a 5 hour midday break. The MNSSHP parties really threw a wrench into the mix. But with y’alls great suggestion of adding a day to the tix we will get to see HEA without spending a grueling day in the park with a high CL. It will be a non scene for a few hours but we can handle that. We also are skipping RoL. It was a one and done for us last year. Don’t think it’s worth keeping the group up to see it.
Sounds like a great plan! With a 10:45 TH ADR on your AK day, I would definitely suggest that the non-RD group take an uber. You don’t want to be scrambling to get back with them in time for the ADR. I hope they all appreciate how much effort you have put into planning for them.
Thanks @paulasc it’s gonna be a goal of mine to get them acclimated to Uber/Lyft before we go. The group staying behind will be DW, DMiL, DSiL and DgD3. I think my best bet is to teach my Dgd3 how to summons a ride. She’s more tech savvy than the others. Lol… but on a serious note I’ve only used the app twice myself. I’m hoping I can summons the car to pick them up at the house even though I’m at the park. Havnt checked to see if that will work. If they have to have the app downloaded to their device and a form of payment linked and then they have to summ9ms a driver we could be in trouble.
Thanks for sharing your plans. It’s bringing back memories of the April 2012 trip I planned for my 2 sisters’ families. We were 9 in total as well. But I had it so much easier - both my B-I-Ls had vehicles and were happy to drive!
I recommend that you schedule some time for yourself if you can - I remember for myself heading to the Swan and Dolphin to have a pedicure while my family was at either HS or Epcot. It was definitely a sanity saver!
Glad to share. I wanted a thread i could look back on but also for my oldest DD to look back on as well. She’ll be planning the next trip and having this thread to refer to should be beneficial for her.
As for some “me” time. Im with you on that one. Already looking at possible tee times i can sneak in.
Update 5/19 (150 days til trip)
Got a solid plan for each day except HS day. I have no clue what to do there until Toy story land opens and permanent hours are announced. Those can change as close as a few weeks prior. If everything stays the same the current hours are 9am-8pm with 1 fantasmic show @ 8pm and no announced SW fireworks. I can’t see that staying the same. I’m thinking hours will be closer to 8am-9pm than 9am-8pm but who knows.
What’s important to us @ HS? Obviously TS land, also breakfast with Disney Jr. Characters, and finally Fantasmic.
I had 2 sets of breakfast ADR’s for H&V. A ppo @ 8am in case opening hours stay at 9am, and a 2nd ADR @ 10:15 in case hours switch to 8am. I successfully switched those 2 ADR’s to the Fantasmic dinning package. Seeing that F! is important to us I wanted to secure good seats without giving up a fpp for it. When I originally tried to book the dinning package for F! there was no availability. I had to drop the original ADR’s first and hope to pick them back up as part of the package. Thankfully it worked.
5/22. Still waiting to pull the trigger on airline tix. I’ve got everything else booked but the airfare. Everything I read says to wait til about mid June for lowest prices. Making me anxious. We want an early arrival and late departure and we are using points from 2 different airlines to book each leg 1 way for the 9 of us. I came across a great rate on SW for a late departure a few days ago and I hesitated, now it’s gone up again. I will not hesitate if I see that rate again regardless of the timing. It’s SW so I can always rebook at the lower rate anyway. I just wasn’t sure I could count on getting a reasonable rate and early arrival from the other carrier we will be using to book with points (Jetblue). Regardless, I’m kicking myself for not pulling the trigger when I had the chance.