Hi all! Our family of four is headed to WDW the first week of April. 5yo and 2yo are thrill seekers but the younger one still naps so I want to make sure I build in enough time for rest every day. We are staying in the Cars Suite at AoA and will rent a car since that seems more convenient with the stroller. Any advice on any of these? I tweaked based on the FPs and ADRs I was able to get. I have not signed up for a dining plan but it looks like that will be best for us based on our ADRs.
Day 1: Flight lands at 1:15pm. Only thing planned is Ohana at 6:50pm. I was wondering if we should cancel Ohana and hit MK just to stare around Main Street instead.
Hi there - DH and I are WDW vets and we just took DS2 for the first time in Nov. A few things to consider:
Day 1 - Great way to start the trip. Make sure everyone’s well-rested to start the next day.
Day 2 - Doesn’t look like you have child swap built into your plan (for ToT or ST). That will definitely add a little time. You can reconfigure that in the TP, no problem.
Day 3 - If you’re not doing TT, you should be OK not eating too much your prime morning touring time with Garden Grill…however, you need to figure in child swap with Soarin, which, based on my experience last Nov., was our second-longest child swap scenario (let the TP software give you the exact estimate, but it took us about 45 minutes to cycle both DH and I through Soarin at about that same time in the morning as your TP notes). Same note for MS:O, which was the longest child-swap for us. Not a long line at all…just seemed to take a while with all of the safety checks (about one hour for us to both do the ride). And with little ones, try to squeeze in Gran Fiesta a little earlier in the evening, just so you’re not trying to beat the we-don’t-want-to-watch-Illuminations or we’ve-got-to-get-to-Illuminations crowds.
Day 4: Same note on child swap for TT. Great estimate for midday break!
Day 5: Same child swap need for Space. Also, could this day be a break day? Or late start, especially with the dessert party? That’s four straight days of RD, and a little tough on even adults.
Hello. We are there the same time and have some overlap. We will be at HS on 4/2, Epcot 4/4, and at MK doing the garden dessert party on 4/5. I have only made it through 4/2 of your plans, here are my suggestions:
I assume you are going to sign up for Jedi Training first thing? You need to have your child with you when you do that. Also, you have a FPP for Disney Junior at 9:20, but aren’t watching it until 12:10? I would change that FPP to something else, or change the time. With 2 and 5 year olds, I would plan on leaving after lunch for a break. Try to get in one of the first few shows of Jedi Training so it is out of the way. Return after a break and see Indy before the Star Wars party. We have been many times this week, and sometimes it is really hot after lunch. I would go swim and rest, it will make for a much better evening at the Star Wars party.
Some more thoughts:
Day 3: Even though you have an 8:35am breakfast, all pre-rope drop breakfasts are allowed in before opening. Be at the main gates by 7:45am and you will be let in. Head straight to the restaurant and they will seat you early. We just did this 2 weeks ago, although our ADR was at 8am. Our server told us to leave the restaurant by 8:40 and head straight to Soarin. We did, even stopped at the bathroom and still got on without a wait. This will keep you from the long boring wait you currently have on your plan. The line for Soarin is very…bland would be putting it nicely. This will also allow you to get to Figment on time, as currently your plan is not using the FPP since you would arrive late for it. You probably don’t even need that FPP, but might as well use them if you have them.
Next, you may not want to go into World Showcase to play Agent P, and then return right back to Future World for Character spot. Epcot is very large, I would save Agent P for after your break.
Day 4: Same thought on Agent P and then leaving the park. Better to stay in Future World and play Agent P after your break.
Day 5: I would try to stay in one land at a time- Jungle Cruise and then Haunted Mansion, then back to Magic Carpets seems odd to me. Then you are headed to Barnstormer, which is all the way in the back of New Fantasyland. You all are going to be tired after your first hour with all this walking! I would do Jungle Cruise, then Magic Carpets, then Haunted Mansion. From there…head to Fantasyland and do Carousel, etc but do them in some sequential order, like not doing Barnstormer until around the time you do Dumbo since they are next to each other. I really don’t like the pre-made plans because of this- they will have you all over the park in a crazy order, to save 20 minutes off your entire day. It’s not worth it, and you will be frustrated dealing with all the people in the walkways (especially in Fantasyland, there is a reason in my family we only go there early in the morning and late at night. It will be crazy crowded most of the day with strollers everywhere you can see). Just a thought…try making your own plan (copy the one you made, rename it and put things into a reasonable order while looking at the map, and hit evaluate, not optimize). You original will be safe if you like it better.
Day 6: I like to allow a little more time for character meals as sometimes you are waiting for the characters. You may be done in an hour, but give your plan 75-90 minutes to include a bathroom break after. Otherwise, plan looks good.
Thank you everyone! I really appreciate the feedback. I didn’t realize I forgot the child swap option. I also think you guys make a great point about doing RD four consecutive days in a row. Hopefully I can still find some FPs for the attractions we want!
@Wahoohokie, you can only sign up for Jedi training once inside the park, correct? I will make sure to do that first thing then. As far as the FPP goes, you are right. The TP ignored it and suggested a different time when I optimized the plan. I will play around again with each day since I do want to avoid criss crossing the parks daily. My DH will kill me.
Do you guys know if an hour is enough time to leave AoA and get to turnstiles for RD?
ETA: I don’t plan on doing RD for our second day at EP. However, D5 wakes up by 6:30am no matter how late he stayed up the night before. We’ll see what we can do. I know we can always have the toddler sleep in the stroller if necessary, lol.
1 hour is a good amount of time to expect from door to door pretty much anywhere on Disney property if you are staying at AOA. I have stayed next door to POP.
ETA - POP and AOA are connected. Some people like the take whichever bus arrives first and then just walk over. I have done it. It’s not a bad walk, and is actually quite pretty at the bridge.
One hour is good, but 1.5 hours (that’s the time you leave your room) will set you up even better. I’m the type that likes to be at the very front, so take or leave that advice.
This is all helpful, so thank you again. This is my first time as a parent going to WDW and actually planning, so it’s a very different type of trip than someone just following along.
Does anyone have opinions on Ohana breakfast vs dinner? I see we can do a breakfast at 11:30am the day we plan on flying out. If we do that, I can cancel the dinner the day of our arrival and take a sweet tour at MK early evening without any pressure. Thoughts?
Haven’t done breakfast, but probably wouldn’t, as we aren’t “character people” , and Disney breakfasts across the board aren’t our thing. Just don’t see the quality meeting the price.
However, Ohana for dinner exceeded my expectations. I did not expect to enjoy the food as much as I did, being kind of a foodie, but man. The wings and pot stickers were worth the price of admission. Also, you can order a Lapu Lapu, which makes any meal great.
Oh I didn’t even think about that, thank you! We already have two character breakfasts scheduled on this trip so I am fine without this extra one. I was trying to change up the schedule a bit in case we wanted to go to MK or EP the night we arrive.
Personally I would go to MK that first day just to soak it all up, something that isn’t easy for me to do first thing in the morning when the rides are calling and the lines are only getting longer. We have done both breakfast and dinner at Ohana. While dinner was definitely good, I think going to MK on arrival day and then eating the last day before you leave sounds like a better plan. I would make 3 FPP’s, after those just stroll and see everything. This will take all the pressure off your other MK mornings so you can go-go-go instead. Also, your current plans don’t have you at MK until 5 days into your trip. That is a long time to avoid going to “Disney” as MK is Disney to most small children. Ohana is okay, but nothing compared to the Magic Kingdom! Plenty of ADR’s still available in MK that night, I have changed mine around quite a bit. Even Crystal Palace is available at 6pm…Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, and Tigger are there, which your kids might love.
Based on your responses, I moved our Ohana dinner on our first day to a late breakfast our last day. I did bookTony’s Town Square at 6:25pm on arrival night just in case we wanted to go there. I may reconsider since I like the FPPs I was able to catch: Winnie the Pooh at 5:10, It’s a Small World at 6:10 and Dumbo at 7:10.
Would you cancel Star Wars dessert party since we are doing early breakfast at Garden Grill the next morning? My older son is an early riser no matter what he does the night before, so he might be ready to go by 7am no matter what. The younger one can always sleep it off in the stroller, lol.
Do you guys think renting a car will be more convenient with mid day breaks vs using the Express bus and Uber at the parks? We have a big stroller too, which is a pain to fold up but I like it better for WDW over the umbrella stroller.
Are you flying down with a car seat for your DS2? If so, I would recommend renting a car. We were so glad we did with our DS1. We also brought our full sized stroller (which we were very glad about) and it was able to live in the trunk of the car for the whole trip instead of in our hotel room. I think renting car seats is awfully expensive and I question their quality, so if you don’t have one, then perhaps go with Uber family.
Yes, we’re flying down with a convertible car seat and a booster for DS5. How much time should I allocate to get to the turnstiles for our pre-RD breakfast at Garden Grill? 1hr for an 8:35am booking?
One hour is absolutely PLENTY if you are driving. Honestly, if I were you, I would think only 30 minutes would be needed or 45 at the absolute maximum. It is only a 15 minute drive from AoA to Epcot. If you are arriving that early you will not need to take a parking tram so maybe it will take you another 10 minutes to park and walk up to the entrance.
I just wanted to thank you guys again for the tips! We didn’t follow most of the TPs I planned out but they were a great outline on what to do on the fly. I realized that despite my early risers, two rope drop days in a row is the MAX my crew can handle at any given week. They all cried foul by day four of the parks despite taking afternoon breaks every day. DH LOVED his experience at Disney this time around that he was more than happy to upgrade all of out tickets to APs. We spend almost two weeks at my ILs’ house in Kissimmee over the holidays and have tried to avoid WDW but looks like we will be heading back to enjoy some holiday spirit this time. I’m so excited!
Without TP, we would have truly been lost in the spring break crowds on our trip. I knew exactly what to expect and how to adjust when we were running late or decided to park hop. I even scored us 7 FPs in one day, including the PP ride we missed a few days before. So, so happy about all of this. TP is a wonderful resource. Thanks again!
, and Disney breakfasts across the board aren’t our thing. Just don’t see the quality meeting the price.