My family and I are headed to Walt Disney World for the week between XMas and New Year's.
We have been to WDW often, but not for 6 years. (We have also been to Disneyland within the last year.)
Given the insane crowds we're likely to experience at that time, I am looking for thoughts from the WDW experts here on:
- How to maximize Lightning Lane at WDW when it's super-crowded
- Whether big rides may already be "sold out" on Lightning Lane even if I try to book 7 days in advance -- we'll be arriving on December 28, so others will have a headstart on us in booking LL
- We are going to Epic Universe (first time there) for one day....do we need to bite the bullet and pay the insane prices for Express Passes
- Thoughts on newer restaurants (or especially dessert or snack places) that are worth tying
All info appreciated!! Thanks very much!!
I had an Orlando Trip earlier this month, and here is what I can tell you:
* Individual Lightning Lane Passes will almost certainly NOT be available the day of your visit. You need to look for the them the moment they go on sale for your day, and still no guarantee you get one. Just keep looking though as they do occasionally pop up momentarily due to cancellations.
* Tier 1 attractions on the Multi-Lightning Lane are pretty much in the same boat as the Individual Passes. You need to get them the moment they become available, and prepare yourself for disappointment. You may not get one, or maybe you get one and the ride goes down for the rest of the day (Test Track is notorious for that). The only ones that are available to grab during the day of your visit are the Tier 2 attractions that you probably didn’t even need. All that said, I think the Multi-Passes are a huge waste of money, that are most likely going to leave you frustrated and feeling ripped off. You’re much better off focusing on the Individual Passes.
* Do NOT try to get on Harry Potter BoM at the end of the night, as they now close that line several hours before park closing (you’ll probably notice a sandwich sign stating so within the Harry Potter land). Rope dropping isn’t a great strategy either, because sometimes it doesn’t open on time. Best bet is to hit the single rider line, but know that line moves in spurts. You can and probably will go 20+ minutes without moving and then all of sudden 50+ people get let in at once. So don’t abandon it because of non-movement, and expect to wait close to an hour.
* You won’t get everything done at Epic Universe without Express Passes, but do you really need to do everything ? You’ll have no issue getting on the 2 best rides there (Monsters Unchained & Stardust Racers) and you can get in to both shows if you want to. Potter is going to take up an hour+ of your day regardless. It’s really the other attractions (Werewolf, Isle of Berk rides, and Mine Cart Madness) that you need to make a decision on how important they are to do. I personally wouldn’t blow the money on Express passes for those.
* With Epic Universe, how productive your first hour is, will set the stage for the rest of the day. I knocked out Stardust Racers, Werewolf and Monsters Unchained all in Hour 1 during my day. The rest of the day, you just gotta deal with whatever the lines are and consider using single rider lines if you care more about the ride than the queue/pre-show. Eat at off-peak times, and don’t forget about the shows both are very high quality. Have a strategy !
For the holiday week, Lightning Lane for top rides will likely sell out fast, so book those first. At Epic Universe, Express Pass is almost a must, and don’t miss desserts at BoardWalk Bakery or Gideon’s Bakehouse. Pips NYT
Went to Epic Universe solo for a single day while I was down in Orlando for Infocomm. Unfortunately, Express is something you have to do to enjoy all the attractions in a single day. It was $300 when I was there.
Ministry of Magic is hit or miss. Sometimes down all day. Makes zero sense the one ride everyone wants to go on literally out of commission for entire days. A lot of people demand refunds (and rightfully so).
If you're not staying at a Universal hotel, then the general consensus of opinion is you need an express pass to do everything, for a single day visit.
The queue line of BoM is OK, but not worth 2hrs+ of waiting. I thought the ride itself was very good, but not as good as Monsters Unchained.
Stardust is good, but not great. Nighttime rides are the way to go
I ate at the Atlantic and thought it was very good. The Mac and cheese bread cone in Isle of Berk failed to impress though.
My favorite thing was the Toothless photo op. The wait times can be horrendous, so be warned.
The 2 shows are also v good.
Just be prepared for the parks being really busy, and you'll be ok
This is a pretty broad question, but my personal opinion is that LL/ILL is a waste of money. It really comes down to what your priorities are and your tolerance for waiting in lines and what attractions/parks you want to experience each day. While WDW can be extremely busy during the holidays, MK tends to be more crowded than the other parks (but also has a lot more attractions though one of the biggest, BTMRR is closed right now), so that would probably be the one park where LL might give you some value in terms of saving time for the cost. Other than that, you can purchase ILLs when you're in the park if lines are really bad for the top attractions. To maximize LL - MP, I would probably make sure to reserve times for the lowest capacity attractions in advance (if available), which include 7DMT, Peter Pan, Tomorrowland Speedway, Pooh, and Jungle Cruise. Once you've run through your preserved LLs, I would then just grab the next best attraction that pops up in the menu as you scroll. It will be a lot of staring at your phone (highly recommend having a backup battery if you're going to do this), but that's the best way to go. Also, you can also refresh the LL list when you're in the park to replace attractions you have already reserved if better ones pop up.
I don't think there's enough data on Epic to determine whether Express is really worth it yet. Obviously if you think this might be the ONLY time you ever visit, it might be worth the expense to make sure you get to see everything. However, given that there aren't an overwhelming number of attractions in the park, you can probably get to almost everything without Express if you are willing to spend the entire day in the park (30 minutes before rope drop to getting into an attraction line shortly before closing time). There are differing opinions to whether you should do BotM at rope drop or wait until the end of the day, but that seems to be the one thing that can really swing how much time you have to explore the new park.
The new Beak and Barrell at MK has been getting rave reviews, so that might be worth checking out if you can score a reservation. Space 220 is the other "new" restaurant since 2019, but aside from the "elevator" experience, the actual restaurant has been getting more and more negative reviews while increasing prices. Similarly, Rodeo Roundup at DHS seems like it is more style over substance, and has been getting mostly mediocre reviews in a park that already had a mediocre collection of restaurants, so that should tell you something about the park's newest restaurant.