6 day Vacation in July

Walt Disney World
1

I am planning a 6 day WDW stay in July…thefirst full week AFTER the 4th. The trip is for 2 adults and three boys, 14, 11, and 7. We took our first WDW trip 2 years ago in February and had the best family trip ever, but I was a newbie and didn’t plan anything. I want to be sure and be prepared this time! We are staying club level and plan to purchase the extra FPPs for every day except our last. I would love to have any and all suggestions for changes that we should make…especially with the ADRs. Our itinerary is as follows:

Sunday
Plane arrives at 11:00am

Touring Plan:
Eat @ Columbia Harbour House
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train FPP 1:00
Mickey’s PhilharMagic
The Barnstormer
Space Mountain FPP 2:00
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
Tomorrowland Speedway
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad FPP 3:00
Splash Mountain FPP 4:00
Jungle Cruise

Leave Magic Kingdom around 4:00pm

Go back to resort to check in, then go to Animal Kingdom
Dinner at Yak & Yeti @ 6:00

			Expedition Everest* 				FPP 7:00		
			Kilimanjaro Safari*  				FPP 8:00

Monday
Sleep in a bit, eat breakfast at Resort, then go to Hollywood Studios–between 9:00am and 10:00am

Touring Plan:
Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster FPP 10:00
The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror FPP 11:00
Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway FPP 12:00
Eat @ Woody’s Lunch Box
Toy Story Mania! FPP 1:00
Alien Swirling Saucers
Slinky Dog Dash FPP 2:00
Leave Hollywood Studios around 2:30pm

Go back to resort for a rest, then go to Epcot
Test Track FPP 5:00

Dinner at Le Cellier @ 6:00

		Soarn’
		Mission Space
		Spaceship Earth

Tuesday
Animal Kingdom Wild Africa Trek @ 8:00am

Touring Plan:
Wild Africa Trek
Kali River Rapids FPP 11:00
Expedition Everest FPP 12:00
Primeval Whirl
DINOSAUR FPP 1:00
Na’vi River Journey FPP 2:00
Avatar Flight of Passage FPP 3:00
Festival of the Lion King FPP 4:00

Leave Animal Kingdom around 4:30pm

Go back to resort for rest and dinner
Dinner at ‘Ohana @ 7:00

Wednesday–assuming EMH until 1:00am
Go to Magic Kingdom for breakfast
Be Our Guest @ 8:00

Touring Plain:
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin
Space Mountain FPP 9:00
Tomorrowland PeopleMover
Dumbo the Flying Elephant
The Barnstormer
Pirates of the Caribbean
Jungle Cruise FPP 11:00
Walt Disney’s Enchanted Tiki Room
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad FPP 12:00
Splash Mountain FPP 1:00
Swim and rest at Resort in the middle of the day
Dinner at Cinderella’s Castle @ 7:00
The Haunted Mansion FPP 8:00
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train FPP 9:00
Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress
Astro Orbiter
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
The Magic Carpets of Aladdin
Peter Pan’s Flight

Thursday
Sleep in a bit, eat breakfast at Resort, then got to Epcot

Touring Plan:
Living of the Land
Soarin’ FPP 11:00
Canada Pavilion
Test Track FPP 12:00
Gran Fiesta Tour
Mexico Pavilion
Frozen Ever After FPP 1:00
Norway Pavilion
Reflections of China
China Pavilion
Germany Pavilion
Italy Pavilion
America Pavilion
Japan Pavilion
Morocco Pavilion
France Pavilion
United Kingdom Pavilion
Agent P’s World Showcase
Mission: SPACE Orange
Leave Epcot around 5:00

Swim, rest, and eat at Resort

End the day at Hollywood Studios

Touring Plan:
Rockin’ Roller Coaster FPP 8:00
The Twilight Zone Tower of Tour FPP 9:00
Star Tours: The Adventure Continues
Muppet*Vision 3D
Slinky Dog FPP 10:00
Fantasmic!?
Friday
Back up, eat breakfast, and check out, then head to Animal Kingdom

Touring Plan:
Maharajah Jungle Trek
Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail
Avatar Flight of Passage FPP 11:00
DINOSAUR FPP 12:00
Expedition Everest FPP 1:00

Leave Animal Kingdom around 2:00

2

What resort are you staying at? Are you flying in & then using MDE? Or driving? Much of my feedback would vary based on those items - some of your rest is pretty short if you have to travel via bus, but if staying at an Epcot resort is likely perfect.

Here are my off the cuff reactions:

  • On arrival day you’re rushing to the parks to eat QS at Columbia Harbor House - while CHH is one of the better QS meals in MK, it is also going to be crowded and generally isn’t as good as the QS at most resorts. I’d think hard about just eating at whatever resort you’re at if flying and coming in MDE, or dining at a monorail resort if driving directly to MK. Captain Cook’s at Poly probably gets the highest marks, but all are good options.
  • Day 1 - you say leaving around 4 but Splash FPP at 4 followed by Jungle Cruise - you’re probably leaving around 5 best case - Splash is a very long ride & Jungle tends to get long lines.
  • Day 1 - No idea how the club FPP work - can you split across parks like this? Seems you’re using 1 at MK and then 2 at AK.
  • Day 2 - I presume tiers do not apply to Club FPP? Or you can at least “buy” a 2nd tier 1. If so, no issues.
  • Day 2 - leaving around 2:30 might be ambitious depending on how the lines for AS2 are by next summer. Depending on where you’re staying, that rest might be too short - if an Epcot resort it’s probably OK though.
  • Day 3 - short rest depending on where you’re staying.
  • Day 4 - 3 hours to rest eat & Swim isn’t a lot if you have travel time - if at an Epcot resort, you’re probably OK though.
3

We are flying in and will either use the Disney transportation or Uber…we haven’t decided. We weren’t rushing to get to CHH, I just thought that we would be hungry when we first arrived. I never thought about just eating at the resort. We are staying at the Polynesian Resort. I hadn’t looked into QS there yet. That seems to be a much better option!

Club FPP can be split between parks and can be used on any tier. I believe the only restriction is that you may not have more than one FPP per attraction.

My times are based on my personalized touring plans. I didn’t know if those times will be close or if we should plan more time. How much time is usually allotted for mid-day breaks?

4

I would definitely just eat at Captain Cook’s at the Poly upon arrival then. There will be no lines, at least comparatively, and better choices than at MK. The cupcake options are divine.

In general I think minimum transportation times are in the 30 minute range and can easily push an hour. So for example on Monday leaving HS around 2:30, if you catch the bus just right will be in around 30 minutes to the Poly - wait 15 minutes for the bus and you’re at 45. Back to Epcot will be 30 if you catch the monorail at TTC, but wait 20 for it to arrive and you’re at 50 minutes. So that 2.5 hour break is likely 1.5 hours best case and easily could be sub an hour worst case.

Staying at the Poly you can be to/from MK very quickly though so that would be the one where 15 minutes may be right depending.

I think general rule of thumb is give an hour each way for transportation - so if you want a 2 hour actual break, you need around a 4 hour gap in your timeline to make it happen.

The heat is oppressive in July. We did well touring early, breaking and then going late though, but that break was fairly important to us. One day we did an early morning at AK, breakfast around 10:30 and then ate at 4 at Beaches & Cream and that let us do a full night shift somewhere else. Other times we did 7PM ADRs at various places and that didn’t leave us enough time to do anything major after the meal - next time I’ll probably work for more balance on those days…