How would you divide 8 park days (non hoppers)?

[Mintycake]

Hello, family of three headed to the parks in mid January (me F49, hubby M51, DD F13) with 8 day non hoppers. Thinking of allocating 2 days to each park except AK which I think we can do in 1 day if we rope drop/early entry (we have access to early entry as we are staying at Swan/Drury). Am hoping to take advantage of evening hours as well when we are at Swan. so far trip looks like this:

Day 1 Sunday - travel day (late arrival at Swan)
Day 2 Monday - Resort day/Disney Springs/explore resorts/rest
Day 3 Tuesday - MK
Day 4 Wednesday - Epcot
Day 5 Thursday - Hollywood Studios
Day 6 Friday - MK
Day 7 - Saturday - Rest/move hotels to Drury
Day 8 - Sunday - Hollywood Studios
Day 9 - Monday - Resort day/Disney Springs/explore resorts/rest
Day 10 - Tuesday - MK
Day 11 - Wednesday - Epcot
Day 12 - Thursday - Animal Kingdom
Day 13 - Friday - Resort day/Disney Springs/explore resorts/rest
Day 14 - Saturday - Travel day (very early morning departure)

We may move days around based on Extended evening hours - and I allocated 3 days to Magic Kingdom - was torn between that or Epcot. Any feedback is appreciated!

 

[xlsm]

My only advice is to do Animal Kingdom earlier in your trip, that way, if you decide you want to spend more time there you have a lot of days left to swap that in over one of the other parks.

Have fun!!

 

[bluezy]

I was going to say the same thing -- I'd move AK to earlier in the trip. That way you have the ability to return again if you want to *and* it gives you the option to to reschedule the AK day if it rains.

I'll also mention that we used to always do Disney Springs and resort hopping on our last day at Disney (leaving for home early the following morning). But it was never really an enjoyable day for us because we felt like we were wasting our last day at Disney. So we started making our 2nd or 3rd last day our DS day. Our last day is a sleep in day followed by packing and then heading to a park for the rest of the day (usually MK). We found that to be much more satisfying for our last day -- we end our trip with a magical feeling. We like to hit a few favorite rides and maybe stay for the fireworks (depending on the timing). We make it a very casual day.

 

[CynBeth]

I would spend 2 days at AK. We don’t do every ride or show but on our last trip a few years ago even with booking the rides we go on through Genie+ we still needed that other day as we like walking a lot of the trails and seeing the bird show and usually do TS for most meals as my family members have food allergies. If on the second day you don’t need a full day you can always go to Disney Springs or play miniature golf.

 

[roller99]

You might think about swapping your 2nd HS or Epcot day to the first half of your trip, since you will be in walking distance at the Swan. That's just so much easier than using transportation.

 

[Skippyboo]

Extended hours are normally Mon- Epcot, Wed- MK. They are mixing the MK up now with other parks because it’s party season.

 

[crazy4tig]

It looks like you have 2 parks for your day 4? I noticed this because I was counting how many days your trip is and was going to suggest adding on another park day with such a long trip. When you are already paying for 8 days the price doesn’t go up very much to add another day. Just a thought… and then you could have a more relaxed 2 days at AK.

 

[RoseGold]

The late hours are currently Monday at Epcot -- with another Guardians queue. I would absolutely do that, not a rest day on Monday.

I would put AK later in the trip, because you need a bus from Drury as you would from anywhere. While you are at Swan, I would take advantage of Epcot and HS walking distance.

 

[Genie+]

We’ve used Boardwalk Ticketing for most of our recent trips as they were cheapest.

Their pricing for Jan 2024 starting Jan 7 (not sure your specific dates)

8 day $672
10 day $714

8 Hop $745
10 hop $786

Next trip we bought UK tickets from attractiontickets

Price for their 14 day hopper plus ticket (includes memory maker photo package too)

For the next 3 days they have 10% off, £521 which is $656 complete.

 

[Mintycake]

It looks like you have 2 parks for your day 4? I noticed this because I was counting how many days your trip is and was going to suggest adding on another park day with such a long trip. When you are already paying for 8 days the price doesn’t go up very much to add another day. Just a thought… and then you could have a more relaxed 2 days at AK.

oops thanks, corrected it! Do you think it might make more sense to do 2 days in AK? I know it's a BIG park but attraction wise I'm wondering if it makes sense to spend one day in AK and add a 3rd day to either MK or Epcot.

 

[Mintycake]

The late hours are currently Monday at Epcot -- with another Guardians queue. I would absolutely do that, not a rest day on Monday.

I would put AK later in the trip, because you need a bus from Drury as you would from anywhere. While you are at Swan, I would take advantage of Epcot and HS walking distance.

This makes sense, I think I'll swap Epcot for day 1!

 

[Skippyboo]

There’s no park reservation requirements for dated tickets starting next year so you can switch it up on the fly now.

 

[Mintycake]

There’s no park reservation requirements for dated tickets starting next year so you can switch it up on the fly now.

my tickets are not dated - I bought them ages ago (Canadian resident tickets). So I would guess i do need to make park reservations?

 

[Mintycake]

This makes sense, I think I'll swap Epcot for day 1!

Oh! I just realized my Day 1 will be Martin Luther King day. That's why I had it as a resort day! I figured it would be very crowded