1st draft for once in a lifetime trip

[mrslfc]

Hi everyone

So as it looks very positive for next year I have started to think about planning our trip. This will be our first and last trip to Disney so we want to make the most of it! It will be me, DH and DS (13).

None of us are very good at relaxing so the plan may look busy for some! My thinking is we will go the parks in the morning and then back to the hotel to relax/swim before going back out to the parks in the evening. Hopefully this will be enough to keep us going

I really don't know how many days we will need in each park so would love to hear your options. We go in Aug 2022

Mon 15th - Fly out, check in to BC
Tues 16th - MK until we have had enough hope to stay for the parade (if it is happening by then!) Explore boardwalk area and hotel in the evening
Wed 17th - EP both morning and evening
Thur 18th - HS both morning and evening may go to DS in the middle of the day
Fri 19th - AK both morning and evening
Sat 20th - rest day - mini golf, DS, seeing other resorts?
Sun 21st - AK morning, HS evening
Mon 22nd - TL morning, MK evening
Tues 23rd - EP morning and evening
Wed 24th - 4 park challenge (this is something we wanted to do when we originally booked for 2020 but not sure its possible now with having to book your park days?)
Thur 25th - HS morning, move hotel to POFQ, AK evening
Fri 26th - MK morning, DS evening
Sat 27th - rest day, collect car, shopping, not sure what else?
Sun 28th - AK morning, DS, MK evening
Mon 29th - move hotel to Royal Pacific, Universal parks
Tues 30th - Universal parks, city walk
Wed 31st - Universal parks
Thur 1st - Volcano Bay, move hotel to Cabana Bay, bowling and relaxing evening
Fri 2nd - Kennedy Space Centre
Sat 3rd - (Labour Day Weekend) rest day, thinking may be air boat ride, Wonderworks? any other good suggestions welcome!
Sun 4th - Universal parks, fly home

[loldis]

4 park challenge is still doable as you only have to reserve your first park, but you currently can't hop until 2pm which gives you limited time in the other 3 parks. But if you stagger them to go in closing time order, people have definitely managed it recently. I know Paging Mr Morrow did a vlog of it a few weeks ago. And staying at BC, you'll have access to the extra evening hours which should be for MK on that day if they stick to the current schedule. I would suggest AK > HS > Epcot > MK for efficiency, especially when using Disney transport. AK is the most likely to open first as well, which will be an advantage if they bring the hop time earlier.

I think this is well balanced, the only thing I can note is DS on a Friday evening will be busy. But some people love when it's buzzing. I'm just not one of them. Give me 9am on a Tuesday instead.

[Disneybear]

I had the same thought about DS on a Friday night.
In terms of your two later rest days I note you’ll have a car then so you could always venture further afield such as by doing a beach day. Alternatively I’ve noticed you’re only doing TL for half a day on the trip so you could spend more time at the Disney or universal water parks. Alternatively I’ve heard good things about discovery cove and it being very restful so that could be an option especially with a once in a lifetime trip

[mrslfc]

Thank you so much for your comments. I will defiantly look at changing DS on the Friday night to another evening.

[Orlandoguy]

Def a packed itinerary but it’s doable you will come back exhausted but hey it wouldn’t be a Disney trip if you didn’t lol

[mrslfc]

Originally Posted by Orlandoguy

Def a packed itinerary but it’s doable you will come back exhausted but hey it wouldn’t be a Disney trip if you didn’t lol

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lol I think we will need a holiday to get over the holiday!

[Hammerstone]

Stupid question to park hop..is it literally a case of having a reservation for one park and then at 2pm you go to make a reservation in the same way as you did for the first park?

[loldis]

Originally Posted by Hammerstone

Stupid question to park hop..is it literally a case of having a reservation for one park and then at 2pm you go to make a reservation in the same way as you did for the first park?

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You don't have to reserve to hop, reservations are only required for your first park of the day.

[Hammerstone]

Originally Posted by loldis

You don't have to reserve to hop, reservations are only required for your first park of the day.

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Ah right, so is it literally just a case of say going to Epcot, and then at 2pm going straight to another park which has availability?

[loldis]

Originally Posted by Hammerstone

Ah right, so is it literally just a case of say going to Epcot, and then at 2pm going straight to another park which has availability?

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The hops aren't based on availability at all. The reservation system is probably based on the logic that a good percentage of people don't hop. Especially domestic visitors since it's an extra charge for hopping, not included in the base tickets like it is for UK tickets. So they really only need to know first park as that's where the majority of people will be.

Even when capacity was still limited, I hadn't seen any reports on US boards of people being denied hopping. Just turn up at 2pm (technically have seen people let through from 1:45) and you're good to go. The one thing you can't do though is skip your first park, you always need to tap in there even if it's after 2pm. So if you change your mind on the day and there's no capacity to move your reservation, you'll have to do the hop anyway.