First trip in March, looking for feedback on itinerary please!

Walt Disney World
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We are planning our FIRST EVER Disney trip March 23-28, and I’m hoping all of you experienced Disney people can take a look at our itinerary and offer feedback, also I have a few questions at the end, sorry for the long post. We will have 4 in our group: myself, DH, DS 15, DD 5

We are staying at Wilderness Lodge in a room with bunkbeds.

Here is our itinerary:

Saturday: arrive at MCO at 10:00am, take DME to Wilderness Lodge, drop off our carry-on and get changed into warm weather clothes (we are coming from Michigan, where it will likely still be snowing).

Head to MK plan to watch the parade at 3pm, having dinner at Crystal Palace at 5:15pm, I anticipate we will all be tired and go back to the hotel shortly after dinner. Plan to get FP for Peter Pan, Seven Dwarfs ride and Jungle Cruise. I plan to start the week out with easy, kid friendly rides and work our way up in intensity over the week - I’m afraid if we go on anything too fast or high the first day, I won’t get the 5 year old on anything for the rest of the week.

What is the earliest FP you would book for this day?

Sunday: Epcot: Character Breakfast at Akershus at 9:15am, plan to get FP for Soarin’. My son and husband would like to do TT, Spaceship Earth and the Green Mission Space. I plan to take my daughter to Frozen ever After, the aquarium area, turtle talk and the Imagination Pavilion while we wait for them. Go back to the hotel and possibly return in the evening for Illuminations depending on energy levels.

Monday: Hollywood Studios: Plan to arrive in the AM, but I don’t know if everyone will be ready to go for rope drop. Plan to get fast-passes for: Slinky Dog Dash and Star Tours (plan to do rider switch for the 5 yo). We are also interested in: Toy story Mania, Indiana Jones Stunt Show, Muppet-vision, possibly meet Chewbacca and do one of these shows: Beauty and the Beast, Frozen Sing along or Voyage of the Little Mermaid. We have lunch at Sci-Fi at 2pm. Plan to head back to the hotel shortly after lunch… Entertaining the idea of returning for the Star Wars Galactic Spectacular, but not sure.

Tuesday: Animal Kingdom: We have dinner reservations for Tusker House at 6:15pm, haven’t decided if we will take the morning off, or head to the park in the morning and return later for dinner - any thoughts you have on this are appreciated. We would like to get FP for FOP, Dinosaur (rider switch with 5 yo), and the Safari. would like to see Lion King, and Finding Nemo.

Wednesday: MK: Breakfast at BOG at 9:15am FP for Enchanted tales with Belle, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain. Would also like to try Splash Mountain and/or Pirates of the Caribbean. Check out the Muppets: Great Moments in American History. Head back to the hotel to rest, Dinner at Park Fare at 5:40pm, back to MK for a few rides and watch the fireworks.

Thursday: Our flight leaves at 2pm, wondering if we will have time to go to one of the parks for a few hours in the morning.

We have booked a bunch of character meals so we won’t spend our time in the parks waiting to meet characters.

How much time should I give us for TS meals? This is our first trip and I’m worried we will be exhausted, so I thought a good method would be to try book our FP’s around the times of our meals, so if we are tired we can do our three FP’s and a meal and head back to the room. Of course I actually have no idea what I’m doing, just trying to guess what would be a good method, I appreciate any and all suggestions. Thank you!

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Looks pretty good and you are not too overscheduled! I’d recommend getting FPP for your 15 year old for Everest (Dinosaur is a pretty terrible ride IMO!) at Animal Kingdom. Will he also not want to go on Tower of Terror and Rockin Roller Coaster? I’d say maybe split up so he can do those (and maybe skip the Little Mermaid show if you need to pick something to skip … pretty forgettable).

You could go to MK on the day you leave but it’s a lot of stress for maybe a couple of hours of park time and probably not possible or worth a ticket if you are taking Disney transportation. My suggestion would be to do a nice breakfast that morning somewhere, maybe Whispering Canyon or Ohana.

The last MK day is where I would change up the meals, don’t do a 9:15 BOG breakfast, you are getting up early then wasting prime park time. Try to get that earlier (what’s known as a PPO pre park opening or do a lunch) … are you on the dining plan? (If not, look up the prices of a BOG breakfast!!) And how are you going to get to 1900 Park Fare, to me that seems to be kind of a pain from WL because you’d have to take 2 forms of Disney transporation (or take a Lyft). I’d budget about 75 minutes for meals once you arrive but don’t forget to budget in transportation time as Disney transportation is not as fast as if you were just driving your own car somewhere.

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OK, I was wondering about that last day, I’ll see what we can do for breakfast, or maybe I’ll just let the kids swim for a bit in the morning.

Yes, we have the standard dining plan. I hadn’t thought about the logistics of getting from WL to PP for dinner… Maybe it’s not a good use of our time. I thought DD would love to see the Beast’s castle, but now that I have seen that the beast is only at dinner, maybe I should cancel breakfast at BOG and try to get a dinner reservation there instead. Does this seem like a better idea?

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Well dinner is 2 dining credits so that depends how much you have to meet the Beast. Wouldn’t be worth it to me personally. I’d aim for a lunch in the Be our Guest castle (does your daughter already know the Beast meets there at dinner – if not just don’t tell her and I promise you won’t be missing that much – I have an 8 year old who’s been on many trips and we’ve never done the meeting the Beast thing, lunch in the castle is pretty good though … and a very good use of a quick service!) I’d rather try to get an early reservation at the new character meal at WL … it’s only 1 dining credit AND it’s at your hotel… set up an ADR alert on touring plans, you will likely get it with a party of 4. Getting to 1900 PF wouldn’t be something I’d choose but getting there won’t be that bad and it’s at least close to MK so it’s not a bad plan just wanted you to be aware of transportation.

This goes against other advice, but I might not even take a break on your Epcot day if that is your one chance to see it. The weather should be great in March and you need to go through world showcase! It would be a shame to miss most of it. Flower and Garden is going on then and is absolutely beautiful. You can use your snack credits at all of the food booths they will have set up there. Take a break from walking and watch the American Adventure show if you need to sit down.

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Our flight left at 2pm the day we left. I did not feel like we had time to go to a park. Instead, I scheduled a character breakfast and that worked out perfect!

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I wouldn’t do any 9-10am breakfasts as that’s the best time to hit the rides, either 8am before the park opens, or after 10:30am. I like the plan of keeping most evenings flexible. You should be OK seeing the fireworks as DS5 can sleep in the buggy.

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Thank you so much for your responses. Hmmm, I wasn’t planning on using 2 dining credits for BOG, I’ll talk to the family to see what they want to do for dinner that night. Thank you for all of the insights, it really helps!

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This is a good idea, I will look into this for us too, thanks!

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So, maybe I should look into changing our Akershus breakfast? I will see if I can set up the ADR alert that Duffybear suggested… thank you for your advice!

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Yes I’d definitely change your breakfasts at BOG and Akershus

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Yeah–looks like you have a good start to your trip. We will be there then too (our dates are 22-30).

I recommend you ask more specific questions or give people one day at a time for review but looking over your plans I can comment on a few things (in random order :laughing:) .

From landing to resort its usually best to give yourself 2 hours and then another hour to get to first attraction. Last week, my flight landed a few minutes before 11, we rode DME, checked bags at bell services at WL, ate lunch at Geyser Point at the bar, took the boat to MK, and used our FPP for HM by 230 just as an idea. I’d probably start FPP at 1, 2, and 3 with the earliest one being the easiest to get/modify of the three.

SDD may be hard to get FPP on 60+2 but that’s a long time from now so hard to say for sure. And I vote for Frozen Sing along for HS (jokes, songs, and snow!) although BATB is really good too.

On departure day, DME will pick you up approx. 3 hours before flight and you will need to be there before then, including transit from park you’d probably need to leave park by 12-1230. You’d have all morning at a park if you got up, packed, and checked your luggage at hotel early. We like to do a leisurely character meal at the end of our trip for brunch/breakfast (we did CM once and this time will be 1900 PF) and then head to airport. Less stress but squeezing in another park day could be fun too.

FWIW, I have four kids at trip time will range from 8-17 and we usually have lots of energy on days 1-2 and then start getting tired on day 3. It’s day 4 that is hard even if we pace ourselves the earlier days. But with 4 park days, you may be able to power through :slight_smile:

I usually budget 90 min for character meals, 75 for table service, and 45 for QS. Not sure if that is realistic but it’s what I do.

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Thank you for this reply! How long would you say it takes to get from WL to Epcot? I’m trying to figure out our Akershus breakfast, but I don’t know how early I will be able to get everyone moving… we have to be up at 4:30am the day before to make our flight.

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We really like to do dinner away from MK with the resorts so easily accessible. If you choose to skip 1900 PF for breakfast, dinner could be a good opportunity to do a nice dinner at one of the monorail resorts. Lots of options with and without characters. Would give you a way to visit the other nearby resorts without transportation hassles too.

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Assuming you will use the buses? I would allow at least an hour (maybe even 1.5) from your room to Akershus. You have to walk from room to bus, wait for bus, ride bus, bag check, tapstyles, and then it’s a nice haul (10-15 min) from the entrance to Norway. Everything may go perfectly, and it could take 45 minutes, or you may get held up by bus or security or whatever and it takes longer. Probably not what you wanted to hear.

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OK thank you, this helps. We may make use of Lyft or a Minnie van this day :slight_smile:

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You could try to make Epcot RD that day and do FEA before Akershus. Later in the day it will likely be long line without a FP. Or try to switch to PPO breakfast.

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