We will be travelling this July for our first family trip to Disney. My wife has never been and I was last there in 1991 - so a lot has changed. We are a family of 5 with kids 9, 7 and 6. We are staying off resort in Windsor Hills and have 8 day park hoppers.
The daily plan as of now is to eat breakfast at the townhouse, rope drop most days, bring snacks, PB&J into the parks, and take mid day breaks for 3-4 hours.
We have scheduled a table service dinner for each of our evenings - this is our splurge for the trip. We love to eat and we are using our savings from discounted Canadian tickets and a great deal on accommodation to allow us to enjoy some Disney dining. (Thank-you to the posters in my previous dining post back in January who got me started with great suggestions).
Below is our agenda for the week. I developed this using the crowd tracker and avoiding EMH etc. as recommended. At this point I would like to avoid moving days completely (due to the ADRs) but need some help filling in some gaps.
7/6-7/7 - Travelling to Disney from Ontario
7/8 - Rest day - explore resort, groceries, Disney Springs to pick-up tickets and explore
7/9 - Magic Kingdom - Dinner - Liberty Tree Tavern
7/10 - Epcot - (FW focus) - Dinner - Akershus - Leaving before Illuminations
7/11 - Animal Kingdom - Dinner - Tusker House ROL
7/12 - Hollywood Studios - Dinner - Mama Melrose - Fantasmic
7/13 - Magic Kingdom - Dinner - Crystal Palace
7/14 - Open Day - Help - see below
7/15 - Epcot - Touring starting in afternoon (World Showcase focus + things they want to experience a second time) - Dinner - Biergarten - staying for Illuminations.
7/16 - Magic Kingdom - Dinner - Be Our Guest
7/17 - Start the trek home
Where I am looking for help is on our open day - we curently have nothing scheduled. We are okay with a more laid back day (I think we’ll need it), however this happens to also be our sons 6th birthday. We can’t be “at” Disney and not go into a park on his birthday (although we will make sure he wears the button all week).
I had two ideas for this day. First, going back to HS and do Jedi Training that day so we aren’t playing with our first HS day touring plan to include this unpredictable attraction. I was also considering the Star Wars Desert Party. I am not confident from what I have read that we can do Star Wars and Fantasmic on HS Day one. The only draw back with this plan is that I wonder about entertaining everyone in HS for a second full day, even if we take a longer break - which we might need. Our son likes Star Wars, has seen the movies, but is still young to REALLY like it as his father does
The second consideration was the Pirates and Pals cruise that evening. I have heard only great reviews of this, but I am concerned that this might not be as good with the new night show at MK. Many bloggers and pod casters are predicting less mortar count on the fireworks vs the projections in the park, obviously we won’t know until the middle of May, but I wonder if this will take away from this adventure.
Do you think we will need another dip into AK for part of a day to make sure we capture it all with the expected increased crowds and opening of Pandora?
I am open to other suggestions for this extra day as well as adding some extra magic to our entire week and a bit in Orlando.
I appreciate your suggestions to enhance our trip.