Strategy for MK on arrival day?

[RollTideinMD]

Hi everyone!

Currently devising a plan of action for our trip in February. This is my first trip and I am tackling this as a single mom of two kids.

We land at MCO ~8:50am (which I know is always at risk of changing) and plan on taking DME to Pop. Once we get checked in, I'd like to head straight to MK. I am having trouble figuring out how I am going to manage FP+ for this half day in MK.

From what I have read DME travel times can vary and I would like to allow plenty of time to get settled and to the park before booking Fastpasses.

Part of me thinks that it would be wise to book 3 FP+ in the late afternoon, but have no real idea of what time to think to book these. Thoughts?

The only thing planned that night is 7:00pm ADR at CRT.

 

[FastPass Dad]

I would allow 3.5-4 hours to get to the resort, get sorted out and get to MK. Keep in mind that your room isn't guaranteed to be ready until 3 so make sure you pack a carry on with your essentials for the day as you probably won't have your luggage or a room as soon as you arrive. Also plan on checking your carry-on bags with the bell hop since you don't want to be carrying them around MK all night.

 

[kniquy]

Part of me thinks that it would be wise to book 3 FP+ in the late afternoon, but have no real idea of what time to think to book these. Thoughts?

With a possible 8:50am Arrival You would likely be at the resort, checked in with luggage dropped at bell servies (if your room is not ready) by 11:00am. You could eat something at the resort and then hop on a bus to MK. You could safely book FP for 2:00, 3:00 and 4:00. Plotting out the whole trip take a bit of planning. If you give more information on # of park days then you could just tackle 1/2 of MK on your first day and the other half on another day - this is ideal but isn't always possible. Do yourself a favor and go on easy WDW on that website print out maps for each park - this will help with planning your days so that you are not booking FP or planning ARD's which will have you running all over the park. You can use the maps to visually create a flow of your day - so with doing CRT you could stick to fantasy land and tomorrow land- getting a FP for 7DMT is a must - stand by lines are usually long.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

With a possible 8:50am Arrival You would likely be at the resort, checked in with luggage dropped at bell servies (if your room is not ready) by 11:00am. You could eat something at the resort and then hop on a bus to MK. You could safely book FP for 2:00, 3:00 and 4:00. Plotting out the whole trip take a bit of planning. If you give more information on # of park days then you could just tackle 1/2 of MK on your first day and the other half on another day - this is ideal but isn't always possible. Do yourself a favor and go on easy WDW on that website print out maps for each park - this will help with planning your days so that you are not booking FP or planning ARD's which will have you running all over the park. You can use the maps to visually create a flow of your day - so with doing CRT you could stick to fantasy land and tomorrow land- getting a FP for 7DMT is a must - stand by lines are usually long.

I completely agree with this. In an ideal world, you will get to Pop around 10:30 am - 11:00 am. Your room may or may not be ready. If your room isn't ready, I would drop your carry-ons at bell service and get something to eat in the food court. We've made the mistake a few times of not eating a meal after arrival and simply hitting the ground running and that doesn't end well! At that point, it will probably be around noon and you can catch the bus to MK, putting you there around 12:45 pm - 1:00 pm. Making FP+ at 2 pm, 3 pm and 4 pm is probably a safe bet and, if you find you are there earlier, you can always do things that don't really require a FP+ like Philharmagic, Monsters Inc., Peoplemover, the carousel, etc. Just a word of caution, you don't say where you are flying from, but the last time we landed at MCO around 9 am (leaving NYC around 6:30 am), but DS hit a wall of exhaustion around 3-4 pm and we had to go back to the resort where he ended up falling asleep. I just wanted to throw that out there as you have CRT booked for that evening and you may want to think about how your kids will make it through your first day in WDW.

 

[gharter]

I would book the FPs at 3,4,5. That gives you more flexibility if the plane is late, MDE takes more time, etc. Agree with eating at Pop food court. Once you get to MK, sitting down to eat will be the last thing the kids want to do. And if its your first trip, you will want to spend time just looking around instead of rushing straight to a ride.
FP suggestions 7DMT, Peter Pan are always busy. Jungle Cruise is another good one for FP as it loads slowly. Don't forget that you can get another FP after the 1st 3 are used, and then another one ofter each additional one is used. They can save you a lot of time.
Do your research. There is a lot there and can be overwhelming if you don't go in prepared.
Have fun!

 

[Bete]

Don't know the ages of your kids, but you may even want a small nap before going to the park if your room is ready. Then, you can stay until closing.

7DMT can have long waits even with fastpass so you may want to do that as stand by after you have dinner or pick it up as a 4 th fastpass if you are lucky. Or try to do it first as your advance fastpass; so, you don't screw up your dinner reservation.

There will be plenty of opportunity to do stand by before your meal. So, if everything works quickly for you and you get to the park early, do stand by first followed by your fastpasses before dinner.

 

[SaintsManiac]

Hi everyone!

Currently devising a plan of action for our trip in February. This is my first trip and I am tackling this as a single mom of two kids.

We land at MCO ~8:50am (which I know is always at risk of changing) and plan on taking DME to Pop. Once we get checked in, I'd like to head straight to MK. I am having trouble figuring out how I am going to manage FP+ for this half day in MK.

From what I have read DME travel times can vary and I would like to allow plenty of time to get settled and to the park before booking Fastpasses.

Part of me thinks that it would be wise to book 3 FP+ in the late afternoon, but have no real idea of what time to think to book these. Thoughts?

The only thing planned that night is 7:00pm ADR at CRT.

I would book FPS at 3,4 and 5.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

We landed at 8:25 am and started our FP+ for 1-2 pm. We had DME luck and were at our resort at 9:30, ate in the food court and were at MK by 12 pm. We slowly walked down Main Street, took pics in front of the castle rode Pirates stand by and then started our FP+. We grabbed additional FP all night. We had dinner at 4 pm at BOG and HEA dessert party at 7:30 pm. We were running on pure adrenaline and stayed until closing. It was a magical first day. It was just DD12 and myself and she's a trooper and has always been my night owl kid so I knew a long full day would be fine.

Since you have small children, which always makes things take longer, I would start my FP for 2-3 pm.

 

[kiramay]

Our room is never available when we arrive early, so we usually change in the bathrooms. I give us 3 hours from landing to park, unless we eat at the resort first. So in your case, landing around 9 am, I’d probably book my first FP 12:30-1:30. Then 1:30, and 2:30. That leaves time to try to get more. We usually skip the night time stuff the first day and go to bed early. It’s a long first day.

 

[goav2000]

First day of first trip. How exciting!!!
There's so much to take in as you enter the park, see the castle, etc. You're going to need to stop for a few photos in front of the castle.
So...I wouldn't try to pack too much in. I would schedule the FP+ for later afternoon like you suggest. Aim for 3-4/4-5/5-6.
NOTE: If you leave bags at bell services and stay at MK until Happily Ever After, it's quite a drag getting your bags back at 11:00 p.m. I speak from experience and we didn't have two little ones with us. We were at POP during a non-busy season and the bag service was a wreck.

Hope you have a fantastic trip!

 

[scrappinginontario]

Hi everyone!

Currently devising a plan of action for our trip in February. This is my first trip and I am tackling this as a single mom of two kids.

We land at MCO ~8:50am (which I know is always at risk of changing) and plan on taking DME to Pop. Once we get checked in, I'd like to head straight to MK. I am having trouble figuring out how I am going to manage FP+ for this half day in MK.

From what I have read DME travel times can vary and I would like to allow plenty of time to get settled and to the park before booking Fastpasses.

Part of me thinks that it would be wise to book 3 FP+ in the late afternoon, but have no real idea of what time to think to book these. Thoughts?

The only thing planned that night is 7:00pm ADR at CRT.

I agree with those suggesting booking FP's 3:00 and later.

We have a somewhat similar arrival time as you do. Personally what I would reconsider/try to re-book your 7:00pm supper reservation.

The reason I'm saying this is that if your flight arrives at 8:50am, what is your departure time? 6am? 7am? Allowing for 2 hours at the airport prior to arrival you're probably arriving at the airport between 4 and 5am which means you're getting up at ???

We are in this same situation in a couple of weeks so I was very careful on arrival date not to book a dining reservation any later than 5pm. Allowing 90 minutes to eat then 60+ minutes (conservatively) to get back to Pop, with a 7pm supper reservation you're looking at getting into your room at Pop (quite possibly for the first time) at 9:30pm, having been up since a crazy-early hour.

Just my thoughts that you are welcome to toss out. I'm only mentioning it because I also had a 7pm supper reservation booked for my 9yo and I on arrival day and once I counted backwards I realized it would start our Disney vacay with too long a day for us to function well for the days that followed. I checked the reservations often and was able to secure an earlier supper for us.