Good morning! I’m looking for advice on my Day One - Epcot touring plan for May 12 (Sunday). I am traveling with my husband, daughters (almost 3 and 5), and parents. We are on the Deluxe DDP and are staying at a monorail resort. Thanks in advance for any insight!
Garden Grill ADR 8 am PPO breakfast
RD Soarin’ while girls RD Livin with the Land with my parents
See Baymax and Joy and Sadness
Nemo ride
Seas Pavilion
Figment
10 FP Mission: Space while girls FP character spot with my parents (go at end of FP window)
11 FP Spaceship Earth
Gran Fiesta Tour
Meet Anna and Elsa
12 FP for Frozen
12:30 ADR Biergarten
Tour the World Showcase or break at hotel
6:40 ADR for Akershus
Frozen Ever After dessert party / Illuminations (my girls are really into Frozen)
If we get to do the world showcase we will try to meet princesses and do pick a pearl in Japan.
I think it looks good! You might need to do Figment after your Mission Space FP, depending on how long you spend at the Seas. My one main concern is that this is a lot of food for 1 day. I wouldn’t be able to do those 3 big meals in 1 day and a dessert party.
I agree. I’d drop either the lunch or Dinner ADR. Also I’d do the Meet Anna and Elsa before Gran Fiesta Tour - they’re close enough, and if the meet and greet takes longer, you can skip Gran Fiesta and go right to your FEA Fastpass.
I see how this day is going to be too much food- especially because we will miss out on Flower & Garden snack booths! My stepdad is German and my husband speaks German/ has lived in Germany— hence the Biergarten reservation. Of course Akershus is for the princesses, but we do have an ADR at Cinderella’s castle for lunch later in the week. Are they similar enough experiences that I could drop Akershus? I don’t necessarily mind not being hungry for dinner if the girls have a great time.
I’ve done both and I think the Castle is a better experience and better food. If you are already doing CRT, personally I would drop Akershus and just have a snack credit at the booths if you get hungry while waiting for the dessert party. I know others like the food at Akershus, but we did not enjoy it.
We did CRT and Akershus both for breakfast, and I liked Akershus a lot more. CRT was a one and done for me, but I could see going back to Akershus. I liked the interactions more, and the little princess parade they do around the restaurant, plus I liked having some buffet options. Plus, I think Akershus was only one credit vs. CRT’s two. But…if it might be the only time you’re visiting while the girls are young, then maybe it would be a good time to eat in the castle
This is the ultimate princess trip, but we likely will come back in December (staying offsite though with family). We have a BBB appointment before CRT so I really want to keep that for my 5-year-old!
That’s really a crazy amount of food. 4 buffets in one day! I’d try to do Biergarten at night and skip akershus. Walking around in the heat after eating a lunch buffet doesn’t sound fun to me.
Ohhh that does sound good! We did BBB on a different day than our CRT meal, but we did 1900 Park Fare for dinner and it was awesome! That was our “princess day”
Another option would be to drop Garden Grill for PPO-Akershus breakfast and then Biergarten for dinner. We would RD Frozen Ever After, getting FP for Soarin’, and otherwise rearrange the day accordingly. Buuuut I’ve heard such good things about the character interactions at Garden Grill and it seems like a better spot to be in for getting a lot of touring done in the morning. Does anyone have experience RDing Frozen and still getting other attractions done in the morning? Thoughts about Garden Grill vs. Akershus?
We didn’t do the breakfast, but we rope-dropped Frozen last April, and then made tracks to Spaceship Earth from there, and from that point slowed down the pace and toured the rest of Future World. Plus, you get to go on Frozen again as part of the Dessert Party after Illuminations, if your kids are still awake
Unless you have already been before, or you are going back to Epcot, I’d suggest searching for a 4th FP for test track for anyone who wants to do it as soon as you tap in for Frozen. It’s worth the back track to FW from WS. If you score the fp, then whoever goes to TT can come back to WS and meet back up with the group. Make it count even more, and request the front seats - the back seats have way less leg room.
I would do SE before MS or you are back tracking. We did Soarin, LWTL, Figment, Nemo, Turtle talk by around 10ish as we had no waits, I think you’d be fine with a 10am FPP for SE. It does sound like lots of food but you have the credits to use and you’ll enjoy the sitting down. I think your kids will be fast asleep in their strollers by the dessert party and you might regret spending the extra money as there are plenty of good places to see Illuminations.
We’ve had 2 great PPO experiences at Garden Grill. Our November reservation was 8:15 and they were able to take us right away. We had plenty of time to see all the characters and eat our fill and still be first in line for Soarin’.
Our Akershus experience was dinner and it was fine. We preferred the CRT experience.
