Advice on our plan, including whether we should do Epcot MM vs Extended Evening Hours at MK

[heathpack]

We are going to the world after I attend a conference in Naples FL. We’ll arrive Sat Apr 26and stay off site, then check in to BLT Sunday Apr 27 for 2 nights, then move to Copper Creek for 3 nights checking in Tues Apr 29.

Right now we have free water park admissions on Sun Apr 27 and Tues Apr 29.
There is extended evening hours at Epcot Mon Apr 28
There is extended evening hours at MK on Wed Apr 30 + Moonlight Magic at Epcot that same night (we got reservations for it).

We will have APs and we will be back for 2 weeks of II exchanges at Boulder Ridge and OKW. We are also planning stays at AKL and BCV before our APs expire. I want to avoid the paid genie+ or whatever they call it- if possible but this is not an absolute.

Our current plan is:
Sunday check in early, rope drop Magic Kingdom, with lunch at Steakhouse 71 and the Fireworks Dessert after party
Monday rope drop Magic Kingdom in the AM. Ohana dinner at 3:40. Epcot extended evening hours
Tuesday Sleep in a little, free Waterpark. Storybook Dining at Artist Point
Wednesday Hollywood Studios rope drop. EPCOT MM or MK EEH. If MK, then Geyser Point for dinner.
Thursday sleep in, Saana late breakfast then AK in the afternoon. But ILL for Avatar Flight of Passage. Hoop de Doo 8:30pm
Friday. Breakfast Whispering Canyon, then drive home.

Questions:
1. First day: would you give up the free waterpark day to go to MK? We like both WP and MK but were thinking we’d take advantage of BLT proximity to visit MK. We will have two free WP admissions with the May trip, plus later in the year (may be cold however).
2. Tuesday: Is Storybook dining worth it? I was thinking since we just bought at CC, it would be nice to experience it for future planning. I actually booked this because I thought one could get ADR at Geyser Point and I couldn’t figure out how when booking my ADRs, so I grabbed Storybook instead. Later I realized there’s no ADRs for Geyser Point. But I read more about Storybook Dining and think it sounds worth doing at least once. This will be a short trip so we probably wont stock our kitchen too much, and this trip is a better time to have more ADRs.
3. If we decided to go with the free waterpark on day 1, we’d probably sub MK for HS this day, and wait to visit HS until a later trip. Not a terrible option because we avoid busses or driving and parking to get to HS, and can visit MK by launch.
4. The big question is: from Copper Creek- would you recc MK EEH or go ahead to Epcot MM? This would be our second evening in a row at Epcot. We‘d enjoy the festival booths, which we probably won’t avail ourselves of the prior night due to the Ohana early dinner. (We’ll be stuffed.). We can make use of MK EEH twice during the May trip, although from OKW won’t be very convenient.
5. How does the ILL for Flights of Passage work? Can we book it before tapping into the park? I don’t know if buying the ILL is a realistic plan if we’re going to make a late start that day. We don’t want to rope drop that day, so if it’s not a realistic plan, we’ll just see other things at AK that day and hold on Flights of Passage until a later trip.

thanks for the planning help

s

 

[nomoretslt]

On your first morning at BLT, if you get there very early and can make it to MK by 8 am I would do the early entry and depending on who is with you (little ones? Teens? Just the 2 of you?) and walk as fast as you can to Tron or 7 Dwarfs. I dont know if you’ve done early entry at MK ever, but they let everyone thru the main turnstiles but for early entry head for the tomorrowland entrance. They will have CMs there to scan your band to make sure you qualify. They used to have another area closer to the castle where the walkway brings you to the left of Cosmic Rays. They may have changed that.
Important……when you check in at the guard gate for Contemporary/BLT they sometimes alert the check in desk that you’ve arrived. However if you don’t check in first, I’m not sure if your band will show you staying there yet. Maybe someone else can help with that question. If you have the extra time, just pull up to the lobby door driveway, one person can hop out and check in.
i Went to Storybook dining with my Adult daughter before Covid. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. The food then was very good and the evil queen was perfect. Can’t speak for recently tho.
im not a big Hollywood studios fan and only go if staying at BWV or RIV. Be careful about Star Wars day. Not sure of the date but I want to say May 4 (May the fourth be with you). It’s nuts that day.
Not sure what to tell you about MM vs Extended evening hours. Last years MM event at Epcot was nice. We checked in as early as allowed (as long as you have park reservation or park hopper you can check in a couple hours early and get your MM bands and scope out which booths you can use your snacks credits for. Last year the tiny print said Mexico, Italy and maybe Japans food kiosks were excluded. We were able to use those immediately. The booths do close at 9. But a few places do remain open. The thing with Epcot….Test Track will probably still be closed. I don’t do Guardians. And you can’t go around the countries between Norway and I want to say France or Morocco. so France, UK, Mexico, plus the front of Epcot. Although that doesn’t mean they will have the same plan this time.
That being said, I’ve done extended evening hours at MK….it was a very good experience, not very crowded. That was before Tron. It is a tough choice between the two. I‘m opting for MM as no bus is involved. The following week I can walk over to EEH at MK.
It’s a nice boat ride to MK from CC, but it’s a little slow, but is a good option if you do EEH.
can’t help with Avatar. I drive and park there really early and make a beeline for Avatar. You said you were sleeping in that morning…..but I think they have a 7:30 early opening that day. I’ve never done genie or LL.
sounds like great plans no matter what you end up choosing. And hoop de Doo is still good! Same show since our honeymoon in 1979.
sorry if you already knew all this stuff….If I recall correctly you mostly went to Disneyland and do t know how often you’ve been to WDW.
Have the best time!

 

[heathpack]

On your first morning at BLT, if you get there very early and can make it to MK by 8 am I would do the early entry and depending on who is with you (little ones? Teens? Just the 2 of you?) and walk as fast as you can to Tron or 7 Dwarfs. I dont know if you’ve done early entry at MK ever, but they let everyone thru the main turnstiles but for early entry head for the tomorrowland entrance. They will have CMs there to scan your band to make sure you qualify. They used to have another area closer to the castle where the walkway brings you to the left of Cosmic Rays. They may have changed that.
Important……when you check in at the guard gate for Contemporary/BLT they sometimes alert the check in desk that you’ve arrived. However if you don’t check in first, I’m not sure if your band will show you staying there yet. Maybe someone else can help with that question. If you have the extra time, just pull up to the lobby door driveway, one person can hop out and check in.
i Went to Storybook dining with my Adult daughter before Covid. We both thoroughly enjoyed it. The food then was very good and the evil queen was perfect. Can’t speak for recently tho.
im not a big Hollywood studios fan and only go if staying at BWV or RIV. Be careful about Star Wars day. Not sure of the date but I want to say May 4 (May the fourth be with you). It’s nuts that day.
Not sure what to tell you about MM vs Extended evening hours. Last years MM event at Epcot was nice. We checked in as early as allowed (as long as you have park reservation or park hopper you can check in a couple hours early and get your MM bands and scope out which booths you can use your snacks credits for. Last year the tiny print said Mexico, Italy and maybe Japans food kiosks were excluded. We were able to use those immediately. The booths do close at 9. But a few places do remain open. The thing with Epcot….Test Track will probably still be closed. I don’t do Guardians. And you can’t go around the countries between Norway and I want to say France or Morocco. so France, UK, Mexico, plus the front of Epcot. Although that doesn’t mean they will have the same plan this time.
That being said, I’ve done extended evening hours at MK….it was a very good experience, not very crowded. That was before Tron. It is a tough choice between the two. I‘m opting for MM as no bus is involved. The following week I can walk over to EEH at MK.
It’s a nice boat ride to MK from CC, but it’s a little slow, but is a good option if you do EEH.
can’t help with Avatar. I drive and park there really early and make a beeline for Avatar. You said you were sleeping in that morning…..but I think they have a 7:30 early opening that day. I’ve never done genie or LL.
sounds like great plans no matter what you end up choosing. And hoop de Doo is still good! Same show since our honeymoon in 1979.
sorry if you already knew all this stuff….If I recall correctly you mostly went to Disneyland and do t know how often you’ve been to WDW.
Have the best time!

I thought I could check into BLT online? My plan was to do that around 6am (which is when I could do so at DL). If I can’t check in online, we’d probably arrive the hotel around 7 or 7:30am to check in, park and walk over to MK. What time do we want to be at the turnstiles for MK for early entry?

I would like Guardians and the Festival Booths, and just walking around Epcot for old times sake. But Epcot is overall of lower appeal to use. It might be an option to check in for MM around 5pm, use our vouchers to visit festival booths (since we won’t be doing that on our first Epcot visit on account of Ohana) and then leave by 7:30pm to hit up MK EEH. This is not a terrible idea actually.

As far as knowing this stuff: we used to live on the east coast and in the 1990s and 2000’s probably went to WDW maybe 25 times. My cousin works for Disney so admission was free for us (now shes at Vero so we have to buy tickets). But then we moved to LA. The most recent 15 years we were Disneyland people. So we know the old stuff but not the new stuff.

 

[nomoretslt]

you do know about having to make park reservations? A real PITA, I always forget. Unless they have changed that.
Yes you can check in on line, but I personally don’t trust the system and the Magic Band. I always have them update our bands at the desk. Sometimes you can’t unlock the room door or open the pool gate. Very frustrating. Or maybe if the guard scans your band he can tell you if things look good and you can just park and go to MK. I usually like to get to the turnstiles by 8. They are usually open by then but they must open earlier than that because Main Street is crowded when we walk in. Your advantage is you won’t be waiting for a bus or ferry or monorail. We’ve been known to pick up the pace if the ferry is docking before we get to the front plaza.
im not sure what time we can check in early for MM and get the wristbands. I’m pretty sure Epcot closes regular time and I think 2 hours early is the usual. Although you could do a bit of Epcot then get your bands. Get your snacks and then head to MK. That is a good plan except the Mickey Bars aren’t usually made available until after regular park closing. update I just found my email from last years MM….The event didn’t officially start until 10 and you could check in at 7:00 at the front gate or back gate or between 5 and 7 in the breezeway by connections restaurant.

WDW has changed a lot but we’ve learned to go with the flow. I guess free fast pass will never return.

 

[heathpack]

between 5 and 7 in the breezeway by connections restaurant

Yes somewhere I came to understand that we can check in at 5pm