Background: This will be my son's first (4) and my husband's second Disney trip. I LOVE Disney; my husband could care less. However, my husband does love having fun with our son, so this was supposed to be a trip to "ease him into it" and hopefully we can become an every year (or at least every other year) Disney vacation family.
Important info: My husband HATES crowds. I was going to rely heavily on utilizing FPs, play areas for my son (Tom Sawyer Island, Fantasyland splash pads, Boneyard) and nice dining experiences to be less ride/crowd heavy, and to be able to tour from 9 - 12 and then 4 - 7 to avoid the highest crowd times.
Original Plan: In January, I booked our trip for 9/11 - 9/15. Perfect for light crowds, a nice short trip to visit 3 of the 4 parks, including seeing Toy Story Land, which is my son's favorite movie. Plan was MK, AK, DS (1/2 day), Disney Springs in the evening, and then head home. We got BoG for our MK day and Tusker House for our AK day. Not too much, not too little, juuuust right.
and then: The big announcement - so much for a peaceful vacation, two weeks after the opening of Galaxy's Edge! I did lots of re-jiggering our plan. After much debate, I decided that we would just skip DS all together. We could still do MK, AK, and then another half day at MK, since I think my son will love it. We would avoid any EMHs, avoid MK on the Halloween Party. Still OK.
AND THEN: Found out this past weekend that there will be Extra Extra Morning Magic hours at MK and AK - so 7 am opening for us! We would have had NO problem getting to any of the parks by 8:30 a.m. for a 9 a.m. opening, and maybe even by 8 a.m. However, there is just no way I'm getting a 4 year old and my husband to a park for a 7 a.m. opening time. Not. Happening.
So should I move my trip? Due to work and other vacation commitments, the only other dates that really work for us would be 8/14 - 8/18. Crowds are projected to be higher overall during that time; however, we could visit DS and see Toy Story Land, and we would avoid the EMHs and still be able to be at the parks for opening.
The only other option would be to postpone entirely and try for the first week of January. However, I feel like that's a crap shoot - what if Disney opens the other Star Wars ride then? Then I'm right back in the same boat, AND I've delayed the trip another 5 months (I have not been to Disney in 6 years due to having kids - I am ready to get back to my happy place!)
What are your thoughts???
AND THEN: Found out this past weekend that there will be Extra Extra Morning Magic hours at MK and AK - so 7 am opening for us! We would have had NO problem getting to any of the parks by 8:30 a.m. for a 9 a.m. opening, and maybe even by 8 a.m. However, there is just no way I'm getting a 4 year old and my husband to a park for a 7 a.m. opening time. Not. Happening.
What are your thoughts???
Unless Disney is doing something vastly different with EMH than in the past, EMH will be a free-for-all with no fast passes. If you wait until official opening time, you can go on attractions with your FP. Just book them one after the other, starting with the first hour the park is open
Thank you for talking sense into me!
You are right - we can do our FPs for 9, 10, and 11 as we had planned AND have some bonus rides from 8:15 - 9. Also, the only BoG ADR I could get was late breakfast at 10:20, so that will actually work out well if we can get ourselves there early.
I also anticipate that my son will really like the Wilderness Explorers game at AK and the animal trails, so we won’t actually be doing many rides at AK.
And - I must remind myself - a crowded day at Disney is better than the best ever day at work!
Thanks for your help with my #firstworldproblems
Preface this by saying that yes it will certainly be busier than normal and I'm leaning towards skipping DHS all together, BUT I'm not convinced that the expanded hours at AK and MK are because Disney has determined that all of the parks are going to be overly crowded and so they needed the extra hours at those parks. Their reaction of expanding park hours and particularly adding the EMH for two months at AK and MK could be to help alleviate the concerns that many are expressing that might be holding guests back from planning a trip those months simply because the guests are anticipating all the parks will be insane.DH can’t change his week of vacation to earlier so September 16-23 is our vacation week. We booked our Disney trip in September specifically because SWGE was to open in late 2019 and we would not have to deal with those crowds. There is so much that we haven’t seen at Disney that SWGE wasn’t really something we felt we would even have time for so we decided to book before it opened. Now we are right in the middle of the first few weeks of SWGE. Disney’s expanding park hours as much as they have causes me to be even more concerned about crowds than if they had done nothing. The cost of personnel hours, extra ride maintenance due to longer hours of operation, extra food, security, etc. are business expenses that impact the bottom line and no business is going to spend that money unless they feel like they absolutely have to.
I don't want to sound preachy...but going into this with negative energy will guarantee you have a miserable trip...sorry.LOL, me too. It'll be hot as Hades, and now insanely crowded too. Jeeze, maybe we'll get a hurricane?
Now that I've had some time to process this bomb they've dropped, and to go through the stages of grief for the loss of any semblance of a pleasant vacation, I have to admit...I still haven't come in off the ledge. I still feel sucker punched. For 2 reasons. 1) SWGE effectively removes HS from my touring plan, I won't attempt to go near it on my 2 week trip. And it makes me angry that I'm getting even LESS value for my money now, as an entire park is no longer available to me. The value of my trip is already inherently compromised due to all the people and the lines they generate-lines for buses, lines for security, lines for food, lines for rides, lines in shops (sometimes even just to walk through!), lines for bathrooms, lines for characters, and waiting for spots for parades and fireworks. Can I expect to even get on 6 rides in a day (including FP)? Can't help but think I'm paying a ton of money to just...stand in lines, and spend more money. Add to this the emotional distress of being crammed in anywhere with a lot of hot, tired, entitled people...and I am also paying a premium to be run over with strollers and ECV's and to be yelled at by their operators. I was in MK on the 45th anniversary (crowd level 7/10) and I witnessed some of the ugliest human behavior that I have ever seen and experienced anywhere else in the (real) world. I never wanted to be in that environment again. And 2) I feel like Disney doesn't care about the quality of the guest experience anymore, not every guest anyway. The way they deliberately withheld SWGE opening date, and said it would be fall/late fall and then dropped it on us in the summer when those of us who are extremely adverse to crowds would be willing to travel...it feels like a personal affront. There seems to be only very few short windows for people like me to visit during the year anyway, but Disney is still actively trying to stuff the parks at those times too. I get it, they're a business, but I thought they were also one of the few businesses that truly valued the quality of the customer's experience. I see now that I was naive about that.
So, I have to avoid an entire park for my trip, and probably afternoons at all the others. I will have to hide out at AKL more than I intended (I know, first world probs, but still...). That's how SWGE will impact my trip. But I think I have also learned that this will be my last trip to Disney for a long time. WDW is not for those of us suffering from anxiety. We are clearly not welcome. I'm sorry, I wish I could see this another way but I'm just not there yet. I'm envious of those who can just brave the hordes, my life would be so much easier if I could do that.
Pandora is 12 acres and I thought it was really small, so you have a good point.DHS is 135 acres and SWGE is only 14 acres, [Toy Story Land is 11 acres], to me that is a set up for disaster. Our trip is 12/7-12/13/19. I have no hope even being able to get into SWGE to walk around much less ride the rides with it being that small.
I think you'll be fine. You seem to have a positive attitude, and a good plan. I'm sure you'll enjoy your vacation. There are always tucked away places you can find where there don't seem to be too many people, even at high crowd levels. Enjoy!Posted on another thread, but looks like it fits better here...
Well, I've tried adding on 1 day before or one day after my 09/19 - 09/27 trip with nothing but the Polynesian Villas and Beach Club coming up for my party of 5. A bit pricey for me and I do not want to do a split stay. Currently booked at the CBR. When I looked at the Poly rates, it gave a disclaimer about SWGE and the park , land, and attractions having limited capacity. UGH! We really are locked into our dates, so we can't reschedule. We have 7 day base tickets and are there for 8 nights (hoping to add one more night). During our stay, MK closes at 6pm for MNSSHP several nights, so I think we'll go ahead and buy tickets for one party night. Original plan was to spend 2 days in MK, EP, AK and one day in HS, but I'm not so sure about HS now. I went ahead and subscribed to Touringplans for the first time ever to hopefully get an idea on crowd calendar estimates, but figure that won't really be accurate until early Sept.
I'll admit to having some ongoing anxiety issues over this. We wanted to come during Sept to have lower (relative to peak seasons) crowd levels. I never, ever want to experience Christmas/ Spring Break/ Summer crowds. I'll probably need a prescription to make it through this.
We don't plan to have a lot of ADRs as we are not on the dining plan. Just hoping I can work the FP to our advantage and make the best of it. It's been 4 years since we were last in WDW and now I'm having mixed emotions about returning. Darn these expiring tickets!! This would have been a good year to visit the dark side methinks.
Disney changed from saying Late Fall to just Fall a while before they announced the date.Then they dropped the SWGE opening date and I thought, why in the world did you say late fall and then decide for the end of August?
It sound fine. I'm sure you'll have a great trip no matter what.We are scheduled Aug 31- Sept 7 w free dining. Already have our flights and MNSSHP tickets because our dates aren’t very flexible. We are back in school by then and we picked a eeek that our kiddo would only miss 4 days. When searching there is no availability for our dates. We aren’t moving the trip, but I’ll be honest I’m nervous. We booked this as a last trip before our son turns 3 and for lighter crowds after going in December. I’m trying to remain hopeful that most of the crowds will stay towards HS and we will be ok in the other parks. Our HS day is only a 1/2 day with a Fantasmic ADRand hopefully fastoasses for the few things we actually want to do this trip. Going to go in with a good plan. I hope...
I'm curious as to peoples thoughts on strategies now with the EEMH announced.
Prior to this announcement all information pointed to doing the park with EMH that day and then go to a different park where crowds will be lighter...Now with EMH in the morning for every park (except Epcot) does it matter which park and is it even worth going to a different park in the afternoon?
We are going for 2 weeks from UK on 9/13 and plan to have a nap during the middle of the day anyway for our 2 year old. Having spent ages looking at crowd calendars and having done ADRs I'm a little reticent about changing which parks we do on which day significantly, but if it's worth it then I will - our original plan was to do midweek visits to DHS in the vague hope that it might be 'quieter' than weekends...! (Aware of the irony of that)
Kind of resigned to the fact that i will be doing GE by myself at stupid o clock on our DHS days (I dont think its fair to drag our 2 year old and the wife through it all!) and also that our 'quiet' September visit will be much busier, but like most I imagine, keen to avoid crowds where we can outside of DHS.
Part of me is excited that we get to see GE whilst we are out there as i doubt we will be back out anytime soon (we booked it before the opening date announcement, I.e. when it was 'late fall' and were of the opinion that if they open it great - for me! - but if they dont no worries), but the other part of me is a little concerned about the crowds in the rest of the parks.
Tapping into the Dis-hive-mind for opinions on timing in September.
Original plan was for 9/4-9/10 to take advantage of school being newly back in session.
But then SWGE announcement, and that kinda blows my chances for a low crowd trip.
I could also make 9/16-9/22 work. Usually I’d expect slightly higher crowds later in September, as we move into the fall, and more families pull kids from school for Disney.
But with SWGE, I wonder if the crowds would be higher in early September for the SW fans who want to see GE immediately.
Obviously, it’s going to be crowded no matter what. I’m just wondering if it’s a complete toss up, or if one might be slightly better than the other.
You have no idea how many scenarios are going through my head once DL SWGE opens.Perhaps when SWGE opens in Disneyland, it will give folks a better idea of whether our anticipated vision of the craziness is warranted or not. Maybe everyone will be pleasantly surprised and everything will be managed so smoothly it won't make any difference when you go.