There are mech e programs that are more “hands on” than others. You may want to search those out. And some of those schools have the tech degrees to fall back on if mech e doesn’t work out for you. There was an old thread on CC that may be of interest: Looking for Hands-on Mechanical Engineering Program
My recommendation would be to apply for mech e since that’s the harder admit and then switch out if it’s not right for you.