Fitting in a waterpark and Disney Springs into park schedule

[ChurroNS]

Hello!

We will be going to Disney World from February 1st to 10th for our first trip, and we are currently in the process of deciding which days to go to which parks. We have about 8 full days in Florida, two of which will be spent at Universal and Cape Canaveral, so really we only have 6 days in the parks! We would like to visit all four as well as Blizzard Beach and Disney Springs. As of now, this is our plan...

Thursday: Fly in late and spend one night at the Comfort Suites near Orlando airport
Friday: Arrive early (if we can get everyone to wake up!!) at the Port Orleans Riverside to do an early check-in, then head to Epcot for the day
Saturday: Go to Magic Kingdom, taking advantage of EMH.
Sunday: Here is where we are a little unsure. We want to try to fit in Blizzard Beach and Hollywood Studios in the same day, perhaps visiting the waterpark in the morning and HS in the afternoon and evening to see Fantasmic. But in that case would we be rushed in HS, or is the park doable in half a day considering it only has 4 rides right now?
Monday: Animal Kingdom with EMH
Tuesday: Epcot again with evening EMH
Wednesday: Universal Studios and IOA
Thursday: Cape Canaveral, mostly to see the Kennedy Space Centre
Friday: Last day! Magic Kingdom with EMH and potentially Disney Springs.
Saturday: Fly out early (6:00 am!)

Mostly, we are concerned about where to fit in Disney Springs and Blizzard Beach. We are also worried that one day will not be enough time for both Universal and IOA, but hopefully with express pass and low season wait times we will plough through most of it haha! Personally, I would forgo the Space Centre but there are many members of our party that would appreciate a break from parks! Any advice on our plan would be greatly appreciated

 

[BigredNole]

I would skip BB. It is not that great of a waterpark. Just my opinion though. We had high hopes this Summer. We got there, did the slides we wanted (and not too thrilled) and done by 11:30. We looked at each other, thought about it, and there was nothing really there to do. We couldn't see spending another hour there as lines got to be 30-60 minutes and not really worth the wait.

 

[hakepb]

In February, there’s no guarantee that it will be warm on a specific day. (It could be cloudy with highs in the 60’s)

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Yeah, I’d say your chances of tolerable weather for BB are in the 50/50 range. You may be OK, but get a cold front that comes through on your day and you’ll be very chilly. The park does close if temps are too low.

Mind if I ask the age ranges in your group?

 

[ChurroNS]

Yeah, I’d say your chances of tolerable weather for BB are in the 50/50 range. You may be OK, but get a cold front that comes through on your day and you’ll be very chilly. The park does close if temps are too low.

Mind if I ask the age ranges in your group?

Our kids are both teens (ages 13 and 17) and my husband and I are in our early 50s. My sister-in-law will also be tagging along as well for parts of the trip.

 

[ChurroNS]

In February, there’s no guarantee that it will be warm on a specific day. (It could be cloudy with highs in the 60’s)

Coming from the cold winters of Eastern Canada, that temp would actually seem warm to us haha!

 

[ChurroNS]

I would skip BB. It is not that great of a waterpark. Just my opinion though. We had high hopes this Summer. We got there, did the slides we wanted (and not too thrilled) and done by 11:30. We looked at each other, thought about it, and there was nothing really there to do. We couldn't see spending another hour there as lines got to be 30-60 minutes and not really worth the wait.

Wow, 30-60 min is long for waterslides! Hopefully wait times would be a little lower in the winter season.

 

[Hopefully]

I think that you are trying to do WAY too much. I would focus only on Disney Theme Parks Attractions.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

I love BB, FWIW. I can spend all day there. Waits in Feb are not going to be 30-60 mins. Maybe the two big ones (names escaping me) could get up there, but on the whole the park is going to be about the best crowds you can possibly expect. I’ve been in late Feb on a 75 degree day and it was AWESOME. No waits at all.

I also think your plan is a little busy, but I guess doable given the ages and you’re coming from far away... might as well try to do it all!

Have fun!

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Hello!

We will be going to Disney World from February 1st to 10th for our first trip, and we are currently in the process of deciding which days to go to which parks. We have about 8 full days in Florida, two of which will be spent at Universal and Cape Canaveral, so really we only have 6 days in the parks! We would like to visit all four as well as Blizzard Beach and Disney Springs. As of now, this is our plan...

Thursday: Fly in late and spend one night at the Comfort Suites near Orlando airport
Friday: Arrive early (if we can get everyone to wake up!!) at the Port Orleans Riverside to do an early check-in, then head to Epcot for the day
Saturday: Go to Magic Kingdom, taking advantage of EMH.
Sunday: Here is where we are a little unsure. We want to try to fit in Blizzard Beach and Hollywood Studios in the same day, perhaps visiting the waterpark in the morning and HS in the afternoon and evening to see Fantasmic. But in that case would we be rushed in HS, or is the park doable in half a day considering it only has 4 rides right now?
Monday: Animal Kingdom with EMH
Tuesday: Epcot again with evening EMH
Wednesday: Universal Studios and IOA
Thursday: Cape Canaveral, mostly to see the Kennedy Space Centre
Friday: Last day! Magic Kingdom with EMH and potentially Disney Springs.
Saturday: Fly out early (6:00 am!)

Mostly, we are concerned about where to fit in Disney Springs and Blizzard Beach. We are also worried that one day will not be enough time for both Universal and IOA, but hopefully with express pass and low season wait times we will plough through most of it haha! Personally, I would forgo the Space Centre but there are many members of our party that would appreciate a break from parks! Any advice on our plan would be greatly appreciated

I think your plan is doable. My biggest concern is all the EMH you plan on doing. I think doing evening EMH at EP followed by a full day at US and IOA is a lot. Also Cape Canaveral followed by MK EMH. To me, that's a lot and I would want to try to get some sleep somewhere in there!

Your DHS day is very similar to what we are doing. We are going in December, so we are going to do a monorail resort tour in the morning and will get to DHS early afternoon (around 3 pm) to ride the 2 rides we like, see Jingle Bam and do the Star Wars party. That's plenty DHS for us! I would recommend planning on BB and DHS that day (you could plan your FP+ for late afternoon). I wouldn't buy your water park tickets until you get there and you know the weather will be ok. If the day ends up being too cold, you could ditch BB and either go to DHS earlier in the day or even spend the morning in DS and then head to DHS.

An MK/DS day is totally doable. The nice thing is you can go to DS on a whim, so if you decide you would rather spend your time in MK, you can simply stay and not go to DS!

 

[cgattis]

I would totally skip the waterpark this trip, for time constraints as well as weather. Save that for a future trip where you've done the parks a couple of times and want a slower day in between.

Also, IMO you will enjoy KSC. Make sure to see the Atlantis exhibit--very well done.

 

[Southernmiss]

DH DD15 and I did Disney Springs on Thursday (US Thanksgiving). We were there by about 9 a.m. and done by 2 p.m. Including a quick lunch at Wolf Gang Puck's quick service. They humored me while I did some Christmas Shopping. So for your party, it might be a half day activity.

 

[ChurroNS]

Thank you for all the quick replies! We will most likely wait until we get there to decide about BB. One more question... would DHS take up a whole day to do, or just half a day, since there are only four rides.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Thank you for all the quick replies! We will most likely wait until we get there to decide about BB. One more question... would DHS take up a whole day to do, or just half a day, since there are only four rides.

If you only want to do rides and aren't interested in the shows or character meet and greets, it could definitely be a half day.

 

[GADisneyDad14]

Thank you for all the quick replies! We will most likely wait until we get there to decide about BB. One more question... would DHS take up a whole day to do, or just half a day, since there are only four rides.

You’ll get different opinions. I consider HS currently close to a zero day park (kidding, kind of), so I’m more in the half day camp. But you can certainly find ways to make it more of a full day if you want to do everything, see the shows, hit a restaurant, do any of the nighttime stuff (fireworks or Fantasmic), etc.

 

[Ds4angels]

My guys love Star Tours, so they could spend an hour or so just trying to get different configurations of the ride. Plus there are a lot of interactive SW things to do there as well. So for us it's almost a full day.
DS, we weren't really impressed with, just an outdoor mall with Disney Theming (MHO)
We were there last February and on Sunday night it was 49 degrees, we are from PA, so it was chilly, but not bad in the parks. While they kids did the heated pool a couple times, it was very cold once we got out of the water.

 

[Upatnoon]

Hello!

We will be going to Disney World from February 1st to 10th for our first trip, and we are currently in the process of deciding which days to go to which parks. We have about 8 full days in Florida, two of which will be spent at Universal and Cape Canaveral, so really we only have 6 days in the parks! We would like to visit all four as well as Blizzard Beach and Disney Springs. As of now, this is our plan...

Thursday: Fly in late and spend one night at the Comfort Suites near Orlando airport
Friday: Arrive early (if we can get everyone to wake up!!) at the Port Orleans Riverside to do an early check-in, then head to Epcot for the day
Saturday: Go to Magic Kingdom, taking advantage of EMH.
Sunday: Here is where we are a little unsure. We want to try to fit in Blizzard Beach and Hollywood Studios in the same day, perhaps visiting the waterpark in the morning and HS in the afternoon and evening to see Fantasmic. But in that case would we be rushed in HS, or is the park doable in half a day considering it only has 4 rides right now?
Monday: Animal Kingdom with EMH
Tuesday: Epcot again with evening EMH
Wednesday: Universal Studios and IOA
Thursday: Cape Canaveral, mostly to see the Kennedy Space Centre
Friday: Last day! Magic Kingdom with EMH and potentially Disney Springs.
Saturday: Fly out early (6:00 am!)

Mostly, we are concerned about where to fit in Disney Springs and Blizzard Beach. We are also worried that one day will not be enough time for both Universal and IOA, but hopefully with express pass and low season wait times we will plough through most of it haha! Personally, I would forgo the Space Centre but there are many members of our party that would appreciate a break from parks! Any advice on our plan would be greatly appreciated

For your first trip, I would suggest just doing Disney and skipping Universal and Kennedy. This will allow you to enjoy Disney more without rushing and give yourself some time for relaxation and not feel like you are running from ride-to-ride, checking off attractions.

For your next trip, you could do a trip to Universal and Kennedy and skip Disney.

 

[nacho113]

Coming from the cold winters of Eastern Canada, that temp would actually seem warm to us haha!

We usually take our mid winter break from Manitoba in February but the temps would have to be in the 80's before I'd want to be at a waterpark.
I'll do a pool if the temps are in the 70's but it's different when you are in the water up to your neck and swimming, compared to getting wet and splashed and being in and out of the water.
Even went paddling in the ocean at Daytona Beach when it was in the 60's one February, but we were wearing hoodies

 

[nacho113]

Hello!

We will be going to Disney World from February 1st to 10th for our first trip, and we are currently in the process of deciding which days to go to which parks. We have about 8 full days in Florida, two of which will be spent at Universal and Cape Canaveral, so really we only have 6 days in the parks! We would like to visit all four as well as Blizzard Beach and Disney Springs. As of now, this is our plan...

Thursday: Fly in late and spend one night at the Comfort Suites near Orlando airport
Friday: Arrive early (if we can get everyone to wake up!!) at the Port Orleans Riverside to do an early check-in, then head to Epcot for the day
Saturday: Go to Magic Kingdom, taking advantage of EMH.
Sunday: Here is where we are a little unsure. We want to try to fit in Blizzard Beach and Hollywood Studios in the same day, perhaps visiting the waterpark in the morning and HS in the afternoon and evening to see Fantasmic. But in that case would we be rushed in HS, or is the park doable in half a day considering it only has 4 rides right now?
Monday: Animal Kingdom with EMH
Tuesday: Epcot again with evening EMH
Wednesday: Universal Studios and IOA
Thursday: Cape Canaveral, mostly to see the Kennedy Space Centre
Friday: Last day! Magic Kingdom with EMH and potentially Disney Springs.
Saturday: Fly out early (6:00 am!)

Mostly, we are concerned about where to fit in Disney Springs and Blizzard Beach. We are also worried that one day will not be enough time for both Universal and IOA, but hopefully with express pass and low season wait times we will plough through most of it haha! Personally, I would forgo the Space Centre but there are many members of our party that would appreciate a break from parks! Any advice on our plan would be greatly appreciated

If you have any Harry Potter fans in the group, you best allow at least 2 or 3 days for the Universal Parks.

Being your first trip, I think I'd focus on just one set of parks, either Disney OR Universal and you will want to allow some downtime between park days (this might be a good time to plan a waterpark day or a shopping/Disney Springs day between park days).
You don't want to come back from your vacation "needing a vacation from the vacation" ...just sayin'

 

[AliceAnn]

I heard some great advice on THE DIS once .. take all your plans and reduce by 50% .. And you may want to research the different opinions on Extra Magic Hours.