One park day...what to do?

[Immadismom]

We just found out yesterday that we will be in Disney from 6/20 - 6/24 for the AAU Nationals volleyball tournament with my daughter. We will fly in late (11:40 arrival) on the 19th, and will be staying at POP Century. DD does not have any games on 6/20, so we are planning to do one park that day, most likely Magic Kingdom. DH and DD (my stepdaughter) have never been to Disney. Myself and my DD were last there for 5 days in 2009 for her 7th birthday.

So, what should we plan to do? My thoughts are, not a lot of planning, accept that we will not even come close to seeing even 1/2 of what is there, and enjoy what we do see and get to do. Our girls are 15 & 17, so they’re not super disappointed if we miss certain things. They’re just excited to get to go...it’s Disney!!

On the other 4 days we are there, DD will play 1/2 days, either a morning wave or an afternoon/evening wave. I’m not sure when we will get the schedule, which makes it really hard to plan. But on days she plays in the morning & we have the afternoon/evening free that we’ll do some pool time, visit Disney Springs, mini golf, maybe visit the Boardwalk. I’m sure we can find plenty to do without doing a park.

I never imagined we would be making a Disney trip this year!

 

[tobikaye]

I would have everyone go through the attractions/shows/parades/fireworks and have each person come up with their top 3-5 things they would like to do and rank them so you know which is most important. I would expect some overlap in what each person picks so hopefully your list of main wants is about 10-15 things. Then, I would plan to be there at least 15-20 minutes before the park opens. If it was me, I would plan my first 3 FP+ with the first starting time being about 1-1.5 hours after the park opens, unless I could get a hard to get attractions(*) during that 1-1.5 hours, and then back to back for the next 2. This way, as soon as you tap in for the FP #3, you can start looking for FP #4.

If you are not able to get one of your must attractions that are one of the Hard to Get FP+, I would arrive at MK about 15-30 minutes before the park officially opens and then head to one of these at rope drop.

*Attractions I consider Hard to Get FP+ for the times I want:

• 7DMT
• Space Mountain
• Peter Pan
• Big Thunder
• Splash

Something to remember about FP on MDE. If multiple people have access, they can all look at the same time and you will see different availability. My cousin and I would both look at the same time and keep updating to get better times. We once moved a ToT for 4 pm all the way up to 11:15 am, when it was already 11:00 am. We did that move with only about 5 minutes of working MDE while taking a snack break.

 

[EarsNtears]

We also will be there for nationals our are 6/16-6/20 . We planned to stay for extra time after nationals are complete. Except for your first day, you will have little-to-no advance notice for playing times. I would suggest viewing last years results to get an idea of the scheduling. It seems like a pool play thing. You can expect to be there on the first 3 days for about 7+ hrs.

As far as activities on tournament days including registration day....we are here for volleyball not much else. Your club/team might be different, but in my DD’s club they have rules against going to parks, Disney Springs or anything that could tire the player out(Florida heat in June can tire a person out fast). Coaches have been known to bench players for breaking these rules. Our more advanced teams even had a practice and scrimmage on registration day.

 

[Ensusieasm]

We just found out yesterday that we will be in Disney from 6/20 - 6/24 for the AAU Nationals volleyball tournament with my daughter. We will fly in late (11:40 arrival) on the 19th, and will be staying at POP Century. DD does not have any games on 6/20, so we are planning to do one park that day, most likely Magic Kingdom. DH and DD (my stepdaughter) have never been to Disney. Myself and my DD were last there for 5 days in 2009 for her 7th birthday.

So, what should we plan to do? My thoughts are, not a lot of planning, accept that we will not even come close to seeing even 1/2 of what is there, and enjoy what we do see and get to do. Our girls are 15 & 17, so they’re not super disappointed if we miss certain things. They’re just excited to get to go...it’s Disney!!

On the other 4 days we are there, DD will play 1/2 days, either a morning wave or an afternoon/evening wave. I’m not sure when we will get the schedule, which makes it really hard to plan. But on days she plays in the morning & we have the afternoon/evening free that we’ll do some pool time, visit Disney Springs, mini golf, maybe visit the Boardwalk. I’m sure we can find plenty to do without doing a park.

I never imagined we would be making a Disney trip this year!

Get a one day park hopper ticket and go for it! First up, get fastPass+ for Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom. If you can’t get a fast pass, keep trying, or get to Animal Kingdom an hour and 15 minutes before scheduled park opening to walk on FoP. You’ll be off FoP right about the time the park was scheduled to open, at this time FoP will likely have a 3 hour wait, but rides in other areas of the park will have very short wait times. By early afternoon you can hop to another park. Magic Kingdom would be my choice. Be sure and stay for the Happily Ever After fireworks. Have fun!

 

[Immadismom]

We anticipate long play days, which is why we added the day before to our trip. If we have no down time, we’re ok with that. But her coach has already emailed that they will do one team dinner at Disney Springs, so we will visit there one day for sure. We’ll play the rest by ear.

 

[RajunCajun]

I personally would do MK only. You're going to land at 11:40. More than likely someone is checking a bag and if you're taking the DME, I'd bank on you getting to your room around 1:30 am give or take an honest margin of 20 minutes. Get some rest and do MK. Don't try to rope drop this and then hop somewhere else. Pace yourselves especially having competition the next few days after. Be sure to start looking for FP's right when that window opens. Also don't rule out an after nap if you have extra magic hours at MK that day. Have fun!

 

[piratepride]

Fass Pass the Mountains for SDMR and go from there. Have a fun day!!!!

 

[Immadismom]

I personally would do MK only. You're going to land at 11:40. More than likely someone is checking a bag and if you're taking the DME, I'd bank on you getting to your room around 1:30 am give or take an honest margin of 20 minutes. Get some rest and do MK. Don't try to rope drop this and then hop somewhere else. Pace yourselves especially having competition the next few days after. Be sure to start looking for FP's right when that window opens. Also don't rule out an after nap if you have extra magic hours at MK that day. Have fun!

I’m definitely planning to skip rope drop. I’m thinking we’ll arrive between 10-11, at best. And, no hopping for us.

I have talked DH into letting DD and I get two-day passes, so she and I can have an additional park day. Yay!! He will take his daughter to games on our 2nd Park day. Now, to decide which other park to go to!?!? Right now, DD is leaning toward Anumal Kingdom. I guess we’ll play day #2 by ear.