Anyone else having issues planning park strategies for 2016??

[GillianP1301]

Plus throw in the dangling carrot of a an early closing on Sept 2nd at MK that has triggered the "will there be an early MNSSHP" question and my plans are really in flux. It's a good thing I enjoy changing things around a million and one times while I'm waiting for my departure day.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

Yes. We're going the first week of May and I was really hoping Frozen Ever after would be open because my girls would love it, but since our Epcot day is May 2, if the rumored May 1 opening happened it would cause a lot of chaos to our plans. That's not happening now in all likelihood which is disappointing but probably for the best. If the M&G moved at the same time it would throw that into disarray for us too.

I was also hoping we could do RoL at AK, but I think we're just going to give up on that. We are doing Fantasmic for the first time so we have a night time show we've never seen before and the crazy crowds RoL is likely to have aren't appealing to me. This will likely not be our last trip so for sanity sake, we are just keeping our Chef Mickey ADRs for that night and calling it good.

 

[behappyJules]

New character meal at H&V in HS

What is this? Is this related to the Minnie seasonal dine dinner or are they changing the Disney Junior characters for Breakfast? We have an ADR for breakfast in August. Will this effect us?

 

[jsbowl16]

What is this? Is this related to the Minnie seasonal dine dinner or are they changing the Disney Junior characters for Breakfast? We have an ADR for breakfast in August. Will this effect us?

It is the Minnie Seasonal Dine Dinner. We usually do Mama Melrose for the Fantasmic package dinner but this year we are going to try it with Minnie's Seasonal Dine.

 

[behappyJules]

Thanks! I thought I was missing something.

 

[PrincessRileysMom]

YES! It's making me NUTS. Especially not knowing what's the deal with Rivers of Light and the night safari. I know I have a long time til August but still! Got ADRs to make next week! I'm also anxious to hear how the FP tiers will change at Epcot with Frozen Ever After. Will there be an FP the meet & greet as well? What about Soarin'? I am hopping the parks like a maniac. I'm almost annoyed AK now has a reason to be there at night ha ha. Planning was a lot simpler before that! Not to mention SW fireworks.

 

[michelepa]

Actually in 2014 it started Sept 1 and that is why everyone had high hopes last year. Easywdw has a longer explanation on the inconsistency.

Yes i know we went last year end of August and were caught up in this frenzy on DIS regarding MNSSHP based on same scenerio with park calendar indicating all these dates that MK was closing at 7 and why else would that be other than the party.

2014 Labor Day was Sept 1st and the party was held thereafter

Last year Labor Day was Sept 7thand the party began again after Labor Day just as it did in 2014.

This year Labor Day is Sept 5th and that's why I said there won't be a party Sept 2nd because they are historically held after Labor Day.

My friend who is a Disney travel agent tried to quell my party excitement last year telling me not til after Labor Day but I still held out hope.

This year we're going the same time and I am not going to buy into the DIS speculation again and am planning accordingly.

 

[momof2n2]

Yes. We will be doing WDW parks 5/8-5/13.

I have ADR's I'm happy with, but also have some back-ups reserved in case things DO open in time (Frozen Ever After).

I'd rather things NOT be open, than open-but-we-missed-them. My love of WDW diminished greatly in 2013 w/inception of FP+. This is our last trip for a lot of years.

 

[dsdeleon]

Yes i know we went last year end of August and were caught up in this frenzy on DIS regarding MNSSHP based on same scenerio with park calendar indicating all these dates that MK was closing at 7 and why else would that be other than the party.

2014 Labor Day was Sept 1st and the party was held thereafter

Last year Labor Day was Sept 7thand the party began again after Labor Day just as it did in 2014.

This year Labor Day is Sept 5th and that's why I said there won't be a party Sept 2nd because they are historically held after Labor Day.

My friend who is a Disney travel agent tried to quell my party excitement last year telling me not til after Labor Day but I still held out hope.

This year we're going the same time and I am not going to buy into the DIS speculation again and am planning accordingly.

Ahhh, OK you have already been bitten on this. All very good points, thanks for the detailed reporting.

 

[tlmadden73]

It definitely is a "flux" year. I wonder how many repeat visitors will choose to skip this year (or at least the first half of this year) opting to wait until at least Frozen, Rivers of Light and Soaring open up.

But for you , what about just doing it like the good old days? Pack up the family ... go to Disney World .. wake up and go to the parks and "wing it!" with some highlights in mind. If those things are open when you are there .. then GO to them. If not, there are still plenty of things to do, see and eat.

I guess I don't see the issue, I like to have a few things in mind per day, but have plenty of room to be flexible (I've learned if you plan too much you just get disapponited because you "miss" some things (due to inevitable delays) or you are stressed are you feel constantly rushed getting from one thing to another).

 

[dsdeleon]

I just want to chat about the winging it possibility. I wish!! I am going to wing it when I head to Uni after the disney week. I am certainly not up at night thinking about the opening of King Kong Skull Island. It's gonna open,I am going to walk up to it and enjoy it.

With Disney I am locked into the elusive BOG dinner ADR, the 7DMT FP+s, a private tour and then treasuring these scarce resources. It's exhausting but not our fault.

 

[Pmlocke]

Wow, I guess I am one of the lucky ones when I read all of these posts. I too have traveled with children and grandchildren and understand the problems associated with traveling with your little ones. In the last seven years my wife and I, we are both in our 60's, finally said no to the family travel plans and we go down every year, just the two of us. These have been the best vacations we have ever had. We do not plan any part of the day other than to have our dining reservations picked out 180 days prior to arriving. I like knowing I can get into 1900 Park Fare and have a nice meal with the sisters. We have no FP's for any part of our trip. We get up in the morning when our eyes open. No alarm clocks for us, we're on vacation. We have a nice breakfast and at breakfast we decide what park we are first going to visit. We do two parks a day. The evening park is determined by the dining option. When we get to the park we casualy walk thru the park and enjoy the sights, sounds and activities. We experience the wonders of a child first meeting a character, the squeals of delight coming from the rides, the sheer awesomeness of the architecture of each park. If a ride wait time is more than 15 minutes we keep on walking. I understand you can't do that with children who have their heart set on the ride. What I am trying to convey is this, Disney gets better when you get older. I always tell my friends that WDW was built for seniors, not the kids. So keep your head up and always remember-there will be a time when you can go to experience the Magic at a slower and more enjoyable pace. In just 6 long days my wife and I begin this years travels to our Happiest Place on Earth.

 

[maryj11]

We will be going in June and I have changed my ADR's a couple of times trying to decide what to do. My AK day is not even planned, I have no idea what to do with it. They did extend AK closing to 8:00pm but I wish I knew what time the Rivers of Light and the night safari were going to be.

 

[OFF2NVRLAND]

I feel the same way. We only have 1 Epcot day planned with no park hoppers. I wish I knew what to expect with the frozen ride, Epcot fastpass tiers, and if the meet and greet with A&E will be in Epcot or MK. I hope A&E are still in MK. It would make things easier because we are spending so much time in MK. I know they have other princesses to put back in fairytale hall, but I wish there was more than one A&E meet and greet. Our check in is 14 weeks away. Fingers crossed some announcements will be made soon.

 

[jsbowl16]

It definitely is a "flux" year. I wonder how many repeat visitors will choose to skip this year (or at least the first half of this year) opting to wait until at least Frozen, Rivers of Light and Soaring open up.

But for you , what about just doing it like the good old days? Pack up the family ... go to Disney World .. wake up and go to the parks and "wing it!" with some highlights in mind. If those things are open when you are there .. then GO to them. If not, there are still plenty of things to do, see and eat.

I guess I don't see the issue, I like to have a few things in mind per day, but have plenty of room to be flexible (I've learned if you plan too much you just get disapponited because you "miss" some things (due to inevitable delays) or you are stressed are you feel constantly rushed getting from one thing to another).

If we could go anytime of the year other than the summer (wife is a teacher) and we were not traveling with our four year old, I think we could just wing it. We currently show up at rope drop each day and do what we can in the morning including a few M&G's in each park then we do our ADR and fast passes at night after returning from a rest/swim in the afternoon. We look at it as less time in line equals a much happier four year old in the summer heat so we try to plan as much as we can ahead of time. Every change means that plans keep changing. As another poster suggested, before we had children we would spend all day at the park and wing it and we will likely do that again one day but most people at the park are bringing along children and usually more planning equals less tantrums.

To each his own I guess!

 

[nilla]

Our ADRs are already set, but our FP+ date is still a few months away (we go in June). The only potential change to ADRs that we would consider making I made the other day - changing the time of our Boatwright's ADR to an earlier time, due to AK's extended hours. It probably would have been tougher if we had to change a CRT or BOG ADR, but we wouldn't do those on an AK day anyway (we don't Hop).

I'll make FPs based on what's available. If new things come up between then and our trip, I'll make the changes.

I'm curious, but not really too concerned about it.

 

[tlmadden73]

If we could go anytime of the year other than the summer (wife is a teacher) and we were not traveling with our four year old, I think we could just wing it. We currently show up at rope drop each day and do what we can in the morning including a few M&G's in each park then we do our ADR and fast passes at night after returning from a rest/swim in the afternoon. We look at it as less time in line equals a much happier four year old in the summer heat so we try to plan as much as we can ahead of time. Every change means that plans keep changing. As another poster suggested, before we had children we would spend all day at the park and wing it and we will likely do that again one day but most people at the park are bringing along children and usually more planning equals less tantrums.

To each his own I guess!

Understood. I guess I don't mean totally "wing" it with zero plan .. but just have alternatives to change at the last minute if things aren't there anymore.

I look at it opposite though. When I went with my 3 year old .. I tried to be as flexible as possible to minimize tantrums. Heh. I didn't want to get stressed out getting to keep him to a schedule.

Either way .. I think FP+ gives us the best of both worlds (despite the complaints of the system). Schedulers can schedule their rides and their day 60 days in advance .. and those who like flexiblitity can still utilize them (you are given an hour window .. you can schedule all your fast passes in the morning or evening .. thus letting you be flexible for the other half of the day) .. etc.

ADRs are where there is little flexibility and why I try and limit it to only 1 a day (if that).

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

If we could go anytime of the year other than the summer (wife is a teacher) and we were not traveling with our four year old, I think we could just wing it. We currently show up at rope drop each day and do what we can in the morning including a few M&G's in each park then we do our ADR and fast passes at night after returning from a rest/swim in the afternoon. We look at it as less time in line equals a much happier four year old in the summer heat so we try to plan as much as we can ahead of time. Every change means that plans keep changing. As another poster suggested, before we had children we would spend all day at the park and wing it and we will likely do that again one day but most people at the park are bringing along children and usually more planning equals less tantrums.

To each his own I guess!

This is how we approached things when the kids were younger. For DS, it made all the difference in the world to take a midday break and ensure he got a nap and some A/C. He wouldn't nap reliably in the stroller and in the heat. Being "rigid" about this aspect of our schedule (RD, midday break), we felt we had the energy and mood to allow flexibility during the rest of the day (outside of ADRs).

To be honest, now I think it's DH who gets cranky if we don't have a midday break!!

I've always felt like having a plan for the key things (that now includes FP+) allows us to get a TON done, at a pace that works for us, and allows flexibility around those things and later in our trip. For our longer trips, by part-way through we've hit so many of our must-do's, that the rest of the trip IS more flexible. Works for us, BUT is challenging when there is so much in flux. I'm still trying...

 

[TechRavingMad]

How is the best way to keep up to date with changes and announcements?

 

[KT0191]

I am having major problems. I'm going 9/5-9/12 and the September calendar is just all out of whack.