I am planning an 8 Day/7 Night trip to WDW. 5 Guests. DW, DS5, MIL, AIL, and myself. We have rented 2 studios at the Poly via rented DVC points. We do not plan to rent a car. Our flight arrives at MCO at 10:38 AM. We will then take DME. When we leave our flight departs at 2:35 PM. We will also use DME to return to the airport. We will be renting a stroller for DS5. AIL has arthritis and cannot walk without crutches. We will be renting an ECV. We are planning on getting a 7 Day ticket(undecided on PH). We will also be purchasing MM. We just passed our 180 day mark and made ADR’s. Here is our itinerary, I would love some input if we are planning something that doesn’t make sense.
1/24-Arrive/head to Epcot
1/25-MK
1/26-HS, Lunch at Mama Melrose w/Fantasmic seating
1/27-Epcot
1/28-AK
1/29-HS
1/30-MK, Dinner at Liberty Tree
1/31-Breakfast at Ohana, Depart
My wife and I would like an evening to ourselves while DS4 hangs out with MIL and AIL. Debating between a dinearound the monorail resorts or doing WS at Epcot.
Just to check what time have you booked breakfast for at Ohara?
Assuming you’re from the US, your DME pick up time will be 11:35 and you need to be there by 11:20, with your bags etc. So if breakfast is at 10:30, you have a problem. If it’s no later than 10:00 then you’ll be fine!
You really don’t want to be worrying about finishing breakfast when DS5 wants to join the parade or hug Stich for the last time.
For the date night, I’d go to Epcot and finish up at Jellyrolls. But there are some nice restaurants / lounges on the monorail loop too.
Currently our Ohana reservation is at 9:30 AM. I am/will be trying to adjust it to as early as possible.
My biggest issue with doing Epcot is that the park closes at 8 and if we finished up the evening at one of the Epcot resorts we would then have to take a bus to MK or uber to Poly, neither of which is as romantic as riding the Monorail home IMO.
Or, do Epcot and then head over to WL for drinks. Then a nice romantic boat ride home - do a complete tour of Bay Lake on a launch and then disembark at the Contemporary and take the monorail.
Of course, you could just skip Epcot. How about Hoop de Doo? We love that and if you’re not doing it with the whole group, do it together. Then drinks at WL, Contemp, Poly, GF … (not necessarily all, just pointing out the possibilities).
I will assume that you have intentionally arranged one day AK and two days HS. My family would prefer it the other way round, but this is a personal choice. However, if you do end up getting the PH, I would balance the two parks at 1.5 days each (but I love AK).
Yes that is by design. Last trip(first) we spent 2 full days at AK and only a half day at HS we left feeling like we saw a lot of AK and feeling like we missed a lot of HS. This was before TSL opened. We loved AK aswell but one park had to get cut short and AK was the one we felt we experienced the best last time.
I completely agree with this. For me, DHS is a one-day park, and unless you are planning long mid-day breaks, I think you will run out of things to do by halfway through your second day (unless you plan on doing ALL the shows and re-rides on attractions). Also, outside of TSL, the only rides are ToT, RnRC, and ST - these have height, intensity, motion aspects that might not be appropriate for the younger and older members of your party
To me, AK or HS is six to one, half dozen to the other when it comes to a second day. Both have shows that can be added in. AK is slightly MORE a single day park compared to HS’ half-day park feel at the moment. AK has Lion King and Nemo shows, plus EE and DInosaur ride, apart from FOP, and the Safari ride. But in general, AK isn’t as much “our thing”. In general, we like HS better (EE the exception…the best coaster on all of Disney property).
Anyhow, I like your plan in general. Picking HS twice, however, gives options for resort time and Disney Springs time, which is for us a must. I don’t think you need PHs.