I’m feeling a little delicate this morning, so please me gentle with me!
I have spent so long planning our Orlando trip. I have put huge amounts of thought into every aspect of it. I’ve put together the attached schedule, which I’m very proud of, but my travelling companion is getting fed up with my planning and thinks I’m nuts.
My process was this . . .
I listed all the rides and attractions at the four Disney parks and then ranked them from “I have to do/see this” to “Meh”. I booked FPPs for the top three/six in each park (we have two days in each). I looked at dining options, and booked ADRs for each park. I looked at show times and scheduled those. I looked at extras like dessert parties and dining packages – though expensive, anything that can reduce the stress is worth it to me.
I then plotted the first draft of the schedule on maps of the parks so that I could see if they made sense. I didn’t want to be endlessly criss-crossing parks in hot, humid weather.
Finally, I divided each day into 15 minute increments so that I could add in walking-time between rides and so on. I also figured out when we’d need to get up, whether we’d need a big breakfast (because our ADR was late) or a light one (because we’d be eating earlier). I even made sure we had gentle rides after meals – no big lunch followed by Star Tours!
The whole thing was a huge logistical exercise, which resulted in many FPP and ADR changes.
I think I’m pretty much done. There are some long days but I think the schedule is less busy than it looks. Every “walk to” slot is 15 minutes, but in practice some of those walks are going to be a lot shorter. Every ride slot is 30 minutes – presumably some will be much shorter, even taking queuing into account. Meals are allocated between 90 minutes and two hours. There are lots of opportunities to sit down in air-conditioned spaces that are protected from the rain. I’ve even included suggestions for hotels we can escape to for a break. Day 5 could potentially be a complete day off, or a half-day.
The colouring is: red = FPP or reserved seating, pink = ADR/dessert party, orange = shows, blue = travelling. Rides on white or grey backgrounds are targets to aim for but we have no FPP for them.
(The Universal days have no real planning. We have a VIP tour on one of them, and Express Passes for the others.)
This schedule literally has every ride on my “must do” list and every restaurant and show I wanted to do. So I’m very happy with it. We’re lucky to have Epcot Food and Wine and MNSSHP.
My feeling is that having a plan reduces stress – it means once we’re there we’ll know where we’re going. I’ve aimed to minimise queuing times by having FPPs and reserved seating. (I don’t want to be defending a fireworks viewing slot for an hour, when I hot and tired!)
So (if you’re still with me!) . . . Does this plan look nuts to you? Are there any obvious mistakes? Is it unrealistic?
Be kind! My travelling companion seems to think the whole thing is massive overkill.
PS Shout out to @AuntB_luvsDisney without whom much of this wouldn’t even have been possible.