Which park, which day?

[WanderlustNZ]

Firstly forgive me for another one of these ‘where should I go when’ questions, but just when I think everything I have planned looks good, I read a piece of information that throws another spanner in the works, so to speak. The latest spanner is that I’ve just read that it’s hard to get Flight of Passage Fastpasses at 60 days/arrival day and it’s better to schedule AK for later in the trip.

My definite plans are:
Staying at the Wilderness Lodge the week before Xmas. We arrive Wednesday morning (I’d say the earliest we will get into a park that day would be about 10am) and leave Saturday morning. On the Thursday we are going to MK and I’m happy with this day’s plans.

The Wed 19th and Fri 21st is where I’m getting stuck.

OPTION 1
My tentative plans currently involve:
Wed: Arrive, check in and drop bags, AK until close.
Fri: Epcot from opening until about 4/5ish. DS for dinner, the Xmas tree walk and the Void in the evening.

OPTION 2
After reading about FOP Fastpasses, I am wondering if I should swap the two days around.
Wed: Epcot from about 10am - 4/5ish then DS
Fri: AK from opening until close.
It will mean even less time in EPCOT (probably only about 6 hours), but we are going to Epcot for the Christmas stuff more than the rides anyway. I am worried about Friday being busier than Wednesday as we are going to AK for the rides.

OPTION 3:
Either of the above options, but doing DS before Epcot. ie DS from about 10-1ish and then Epcot from about 2-close. We’re take it or leave it on Illuminations, and mainly want to see the daytime Xmas performances, eat snacks around the world, and perhaps ride the new Frozen ride which wasn’t there when we were last there.

OPTION 4:
Any option above, but go to HS instead of either Epcot or AK. We can only do 3 parks this trip and I think this is the one I want to eliminate, but I also go through moments of wondering if this is the right choice.

If you’ve read all this - thank you. I’m sitting on multiple ADRs at present trying to decide which ones to cancel.
Any advice appreciated.

 

[glassslippergirl]

I’m no expert, but I don’t think 2 days is going to make much difference in getting or not getting a FP for FoP. I think the “book later in your trip strategy” really helps those with longer trips. If your first day at AK is what works best for you, then try for FPs up front and keep trying if you don’t get them right away.

 

[WanderlustNZ]

I’m no expert, but I don’t think 2 days is going to make much difference in getting or not getting a FP for FoP. I think the “book later in your trip strategy” really helps those with longer trips. If your first day at AK is what works best for you, then try for FPs up front and keep trying if you don’t get them right away.

You could be right, and I’d love to know people’s experiences if that is the case.

I found an old thread from February which said that people were generally successful from 60+4, but perhaps 60+2 is still too close.
To be honest, if we can’t get onto FOP without standing in a massive queue, I might substitute AK with HS.