Planning park days after GE announcement

[snowwhite84]

Hi all! We are going two nights, Friday and Saturday, September 27-29. Saturday we will rope drop Epcot then head to MK at lunchtime. My question is should we do DHS afternoon/evening on Friday, planning to get in line for MF right at park close, or rope drop DHS Sunday morning?

My first thought was to do the former idea, but then I’m wondering if a month in there will still be issues with GE reaching capacity and guests being shut out. If so we should rope drop it on Sunday. I realize DHS will likely extend its opening hours to 7am following the opening, meaning I would need to get there even hours before that. Would much rather try and do it at park close Friday but don’t want to risk getting shut out.

I know a lot of this is unknowable right now. But whatever day we don’t do DHS I want to plan to do AK and pick up FoP FP. GE won’t be open by our 60 day mark for me to make a more informed decision.

We are four best friends going for a little weekend without husbands or babies. All Dis veterans so not concerned with hitting everything. And we are staying at Swan and Dolphin for the convenience of walking to DHS.

 

[gap2368]

Hi all! We are going two nights, Friday and Saturday, September 27-29. Saturday we will rope drop Epcot then head to MK at lunchtime. My question is should we do DHS afternoon/evening on Friday, planning to get in line for MF right at park close, or rope drop DHS Sunday morning?

My first thought was to do the former idea, but then I’m wondering if a month in there will still be issues with GE reaching capacity and guests being shut out. If so we should rope drop it on Sunday. I realize DHS will likely extend its opening hours to 7am following the opening, meaning I would need to get there even hours before that. Would much rather try and do it at park close Friday but don’t want to risk getting shut out.

I know a lot of this is unknowable right now. But whatever day we don’t do DHS I want to plan to do AK and pick up FoP FP. GE won’t be open by our 60 day mark for me to make a more informed decision.

We are four best friends going for a little weekend without husbands or babies. All Dis veterans so not concerned with hitting everything. And we are staying at Swan and Dolphin for the convenience of walking to DHS.

My guess is that if the line is very long then they will close the line down well before park close ( they did this for FOP when pandora opened) so this is something you need to keep an eye out for.

 

[snowwhite84]

My guess is that if the line is very long then they will close the line down well before park close ( they did this for FOP when pandora opened) so this is something you need to keep an eye out for.

Understood! Thanks

 

[Rach3975]

Another thing that could affect the RD strategy is the possibility of EMH. The announcement said something about "select WDW resorts" being eligible for EMH at GE. Until they clarify that and announce which mornings will have EMH, it's hard to know if you could end up RD-ing an already crowded land.

My uber-planner self is hating all the unknowns while I try to pick which parks for which day, too! At least I've got the advantage of still being 6 weeks away from my ADR day so I can hope more will come out before then.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

Another thing that could affect the RD strategy is the possibility of EMH. The announcement said something about "select WDW resorts" being eligible for EMH at GE. Until they clarify that and announce which mornings will have EMH, it's hard to know if you could end up RD-ing an already crowded land.

My uber-planner self is hating all the unknowns while I try to pick which parks for which day, too! At least I've got the advantage of still being 6 weeks away from my ADR day so I can hope more will come out before then.

But it won't be open in six weeks, so how will you know? That's what I'm trying to figure out. I'm scheduled for Thanksgiving, and my ADR day is the end of May. Neither land will be open at that point, so it will still be a guessing game, won't it?

 

[Mom2Stitch]

But it won't be open in six weeks, so how will you know? That's what I'm trying to figure out. I'm scheduled for Thanksgiving, and my ADR day is the end of May. Neither land will be open at that point, so it will still be a guessing game, won't it?

Yes, you are correct it will be a guessing game, but you can make some educated guesses. When you think about it, that's what most of the planning we already do is since we are making ADRs at 180 and FP's at 60. Disney can and has changed park hours, EMH, etc. so this really isn't that different.

We will be there 8/31-9/9, didn't plan for GE and the announcement came 3 days after I made my ADRs. I had planned to be in DHS on a Sunday and then again on the following Saturday. Once this announcement came out, I decided that being in DHS on a weekend would be crazy, so I switched to a Wed and Friday. We are there the first week, so maybe it won't make a difference, but I made the changes anyway. I'm going to plan one day for GE the other for the rest of the park.

I do worry about them making EMH for certain resorts on certain days - that will be aggravating since I'm trying to have a plan in place.

 

[Biceratops]

Another thing that could affect the RD strategy is the possibility of EMH. The announcement said something about "select WDW resorts" being eligible for EMH at GE. Until they clarify that and announce which mornings will have EMH, it's hard to know if you could end up RD-ing an already crowded land.

Blog Mickey followed up with Disney and confirmed all Walt Disney World Resorts will qualify for Extra Magic Hours, but the partner hotels will not qualify.

 

[Nezumi Fan]

Another thing that could affect the RD strategy is the possibility of EMH. The announcement said something about "select WDW resorts" being eligible for EMH at GE. Until they clarify that and announce which mornings will have EMH, it's hard to know if you could end up RD-ing an already crowded land.

True. We made double reservations for Christmas; Contemporary if we're feeling flush, our usual CSR if not. If CSR is one of those "select" resorts, we'll definitely cancel the Contemporary and spend that money on GE merch, LOL.

 

[Nezumi Fan]

Blog Mickey followed up with Disney and confirmed all Walt Disney World Resorts will qualify for Extra Magic Hours, but the partner hotels will not qualify.

This sounds fair. I don't remember which site it was, but I read a clear explanation of the various "closure phases" and the partner hotels were definitely among the first to be cut.

 

[Rach3975]

But it won't be open in six weeks, so how will you know? That's what I'm trying to figure out. I'm scheduled for Thanksgiving, and my ADR day is the end of May. Neither land will be open at that point, so it will still be a guessing game, won't it?

Open, no, but they may have released more details. The reality is that we can make ADRs in multiple parks in one day as long as we space them out enough. So I'll probably book 2 ADRs for each of the days that I'm considering HS and AK, allowing us the freedom to choose later which park will be which day. Hopefully we'll all know a lot more before we get to our FP days and need to really commit to a schedule.

 

[DisneyStarWisher]

Open, no, but they may have released more details. The reality is that we can make ADRs in multiple parks in one day as long as we space them out enough. So I'll probably book 2 ADRs for each of the days that I'm considering HS and AK, allowing us the freedom to choose later which park will be which day. Hopefully we'll all know a lot more before we get to our FP days and need to really commit to a schedule.

That makes sense to make multiple ADRs. I am taking my whole family this trip, and I was cringing at the cost of our meals. Maybe this is a reason to just do almost all CSs, which will save me a whole lot of money and a lot less planning!

 

[rubysparkles]

I'm going to plan park days around FP+. I might make an ADR or two, but I'm just hoping they open FP+ for MF by November. If not, there's always the single rider line, however I remember the single rider lines after the Gringott's attraction opened were as long as the regular posted wait time. So I wouldn't be surprised if the same is true for the first few months of MF being open. I've got a rough idea of what parks I want to do each day, but I think it's going to keep changing until those FP+ spots open.

 

[gorkt]

Yes, November is tricky for planning GE. My ADR day is in May and there will still be lots of unknowns. Will the other ride be open by then? Will they still be doing daily/frequent EMH at that point? Will there be FP+? My tentative plan is to set up my GE day (yes I am reserving a whole day) as the last Weekday of my trip so that if there are FP+, I will have a decent shot at reserving one (It will be 60+7), and avoiding weekend crowds.

 

[IluvMGM]

I don't know what to do. I am guessing the best plan is to arrive as early as possible, but don't know if we will be staying the whole day or will want to leave. Not sure whether to keep my ADR's at the park or not.