Leaving in 22 days and I am tired of messing with my plans!! I keep fussing over them. I’m just going to say their finalized and be done with them.
Here’s our final itinerary:
1/30 - Arrive at MCO @ 7pm, travel to the Poly
1/31 - 1900 PF breakfast @ 9:30, HS 1-8
2/1 - AK 8-4, AP dinner @ 5:30
2/2 - Brunch @ CM, Arrive at EP mid-afternoon, WS, FEA, Illuminations
2/3 - MK 8-3 (if tired, leave after 11:30 CP lunch), HDDR 4:15
2/4 - TSL EMM, break 11-3, HS 3-8 (skip returning to HS if we need extra rest)
2/5 - O’hana breakfast (currently @ 9. Trying to push it back to 10); AK 2-8 (if we need more rest we don’t need to get there until our 5 pm dinner)
2/6 - GG @ 8, EP 8-3, kids done, adults V&A dinner @ 6:30
2/7 - BOG @ 1:30, FPs for longer duration rides, dessert party, DAH 8-11
2/8 - MK in time to catch our FP for ETwB (FP window is 10-11), BBB @ 11, CRT @ 1, parade, off to the airport to head home
Thought? Thanks for all of your tips and advice in planning this trip. I treasure your help!!
Seems like a good plan! It’s a nice long trip, so you aren’t rushed or really over-scheduled on any day. And it looks like you built in some flexibility in case things go awry, which they always do at some point. Stop fretting and have fun! LoL
I know from experience that after putting so much work into it, you want it to be perfect. Realize that it won’t be perfect but it will still be great. You will be more tired/irritated/hot/stuffed than you think at certain times. Its’ best to change plans on the fly than have everyone miserable. I think something people underestimate is how long it takes to travel within the world. It’s a big place and you have to allow plenty of time especially if you are using Disney transportation. Being rushed for reservations is an added stressor you don’t need. Fingers crossed that the monorail is working well for you. It’s awesome to have that option.
The burnout is real! I remember it so clearly still even though our last WDW trip was almost 3 yrs ago & on our last day I told my family, “We are most definitely coming back, but I need a 6 month break from looking anything WDW planning related & then we can talk”.
As for on the ground, all our time in WDW was well-spent (even the hour in the Mission:Space playground at the exit because it was A) Hot, B) The most favorite attraction for my little ones at Epcot and C) We were near the end of our trip & it gave me time as the planner to sit with the plans & figure out what do we have left to do that we absolutely didn’t want to miss).
Having all the plans in the world meant we had flexibility to pivot when we needed to & still get all the really top must-do’s done. I cannot stress that enough. Even though there was SO much that I felt I needed more time to do, I didn’t leave with any regrets, at all. Your family will most likely never know what they missed & if it’s important enough to come back to see, you’ll find a way to come back.
As for your plans specifically, I think you’ve very smartly planned in a lot of downtime that I neglected to (partly because I really didn’t understand just how tiring it would be & how little rest we would get following our usual touring style of DLR to hit as much park time as possible).
Your trip is actually the same length as ours was and we also did our park days as HS/AK to begin (but then did MK/EP on 3 & 4) and then did our last 4 exactly as you have HS/AK/EP/MK to build up to a perfect ending. I really liked how that order worked for us & you have it very similar so I think you will love it.
I also love that you have a low-key arrival day & will be doing MK up until you need to head out to the airport. We switched that up & on our arrival day (mostly bc we got to Orlando so early in the morning) we went straight to HS. On our final leaving day, we just had a chill day before going to the airport. We had brunch at 1900 PF & visited both Poly & took the ferry over to MK to get back to our resort as our last thing. You’ll be on that boat ride from MK to Poly to get to the airport so I hope you find it as blissful a goodbye/last look as we did!
Great job & go knock 'em dead (in ~20 days)! And in the meantime, savor the plans you’ve got!
This is encouraging!! Overall, despite still not feeling like you ‘did it all’, would you say this length of trip was long enough/not too long??
In addition to my planning fatigue, I have had all of these doubting thoughts over the last several days. Maybe its normal…but I keep thinking “9 days at Disney?!? What am I thinking??? Its too long! We’re missing too much normal life! The kids are missing too much school!!”
I would have loved another 2 days, but with the flight pricing & school/work schedules 9 days was what we were able to swing. But bottom line we needed more rest than what I had planned for but when I looked at your plan my first thought was “Wow, I need to take notes bc those breaks/time for rest are what I missed last time” And with the rest that you need, you can really, truly 100% enjoy those 9 days with all the World has to offer