EMH or Hotel Brunch

[Punchy]

We're going to DLP for two nights, three days from May 14-16, staying at Newport Bay, woot woot! We're WDW veterans but this is our first trip to DLP. We are two adults and a theme park savvy 10-year-old.

We have the standard half-board as part of the spring deal. This includes breakfast buffet at our hotel.

My understanding is that you have to book a time slot when you check in. I assume the earliest (7:30am) time slot is usually the first to go? How likely are we to get it?

I was thinking of booking the last time slot (10:30am) so we could attend EMH, ride a few popular rides while it's still early, then hoof it back to Newport Bay for a late brunch. This way we can skip lunch and use the Half-Board for our dinner.

But will this thwart our chances of getting on the rides we want without long waits? We are not purchasing fast pass, just using our old paper FP WDW strategy (EMH, grab a FP for a popular ride, get into queues early).

 

[A Small World]

You do have to book a time slot but if you dont get the early time you can try and go in anyhow. they will usually let you in as long as there isnt a queue of people with that time.
Ive done EMH and gone back to Disneyland Hotel for breakfast but not sure I would do it for Newport Bay. By the time you get out of the park and back, eat breakfast and then head back to the park you are talking about over an hour out of park time. Would your 10 yr old be happy about leaving the park?
You could possibly do that on the 3rd day when you are checking out. You could have everything packed ready, leave it in the room and head back at 10.30 for breakfast and to check out (Im sure check out is 11)

The dates you are going shouldnt be too busy as I dont think there are any holidays at that time so you should be fine to get the FP and do the rides you want in 3 days

 

[Karin1984]

Yes, the spring holidays are over by then and there are no national holidays, so Thursday/Friday will be the days you will see the most. I am not 100% sure but I think earliest breakfast is at 7. I agree with PP that it's something to consider on your check out day, although I would go at 10.

Keep in mind that during EMH the FP machines are normally not open. They open at park opening, and they go in order. So if you get your FP at 10, the first slot will be 10:30 - 11:00, which doesn't work with the plan for breakfast at 10:30.

Also most FP rides are open during EMH, only Indiana Jones is not. Many of the headliners can be done in the first hours of the park.