I get to make our FP+ reservations tomorrow, but am completely lost/overwhelmed. Every time I create a TP, I think… no, I need to do “this” instead. So here are the details.
4 Travelers - 2 adults/13yo/6yo
Arrive MCO 4/5 @ 10am
Take DME to Contemporary
Dinner 1900 Park Fare 7pm 4/5
Breakfast BOG 8:30am 4/6
Breakfast Chef Mickey’s 9am 4/8
Flight leaves MCO at 8pm 4/8.
We have park hopper tickets for 4 days.
The 2 adults + 13yo will ride anything. The 6yo probably will too, but we have to work through ADHD + Sensory issues. The 13yo also has a rare skin disorder that causes painful blisters - so we can’t rush from place to place so it makes the most sense to tackle what we can in one area at a time to minimize walking.
We’ve never been to AK, and the 6yo has never been to EP. The last time she went to WDW she was 22 months old - so I’m sure all of this will be new for her anyway.
So…I’m at a complete loss on which parks to do which day and which FP+ to do as well. We are fine with hopping too.
My goal is to create a plan…that we can loosely follow. We are all pretty laid back so it’s not like we have to get to the “second largest ball of twine”. 
Definitely check out the touring plans that are “not a plan” - you’ll see what I mean when you see them, like this one https://touringplans.com/plans/71. For your 13yo, adjust the plan to reduce the amount of walking, that should group together more attractions in the same area.
I would ditch the hopper and get a 3-day base ticket to save some money AND prevent all the rushing from place to place. You will be able to spend the max time in three parks and enjoy all of each:
MK on Wed 4/6
Epcot on Thurs 4/7
Animal Kingdom on Fri 4/8
You probably wont get to the Contemporary until around noon. Take some time to unpack, look around, enjoy the pool, etc. Are your dining reservations set in stone? Maybe even get an earlier reservation at 1900 so you can head back to the Contemporary and relax, campfire, etc. and get ready for a full day at MK?
My kids are younger so I try to allow for as much free time as possible while still maximizing my time in parks, if that makes sense! I set my TPs to relaxed walking pace and also organize my line items so that I am going in a circular pattern instead of criss-crossing the parks.
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We have a big age gap with our kids too, and I have found that when we do a park for the very first time, it is fun and new for everyone, and we generally stick together (6 of us.) After having been to each park, we all have our likes and dislikes and we end up splitting up more,so as to divide and conquer individual interests according to age.
I agree that you don’t need to hop, as it can use up a lot of time and energy. But hopping might come in handy if you are taking a hotel break anyway, or if you want to see a particular nighttime show at a different park, or you want to take advantage of EMH at a park. I know my DSIL had 4 day park hoppers for an outstanding rate (from MWR - military) so even if they didn’t hop, she still had a great price compared to base tickets that she would have bought elsewhere. So it really comes down to the money, and your personal schedules.
If you have lots of time to plan this evening, you could use the Touring Plans already prepared in this site, and modify them. The first thing you is pick a park for the day , and the time you will get to the park. Next you should set the walk speed to very slow. Remove any things you are sure you do not want to do from the plan. Evaluate what is left.
Now click the very small box above the list of attractions for the day, that says Fasspass. This will tell the computer you would like to use Fasspass.
Hit evaluate again, and it will tell you what FP+s to try for. Try to get those for the times the computer suggests. If you cannot get them quite “right”, you can try another time or another attraction for the FP+s. When you have something you can work with, evaluate again. The computer will make some suggests, or tell you the plan is made.
Now the bad news: you have to do this for each day you are in the parks, and get it all done this evening! Then tomorrow you will know which FP+s to try for. Even more bad news: You may not get what you decided you wanted. You can try changing Fastpasses you got to better times or attractions on the Disney site.
When you settle on which FP+s you have, you go back to you touring Plans and put in the real information. This you do not have to do tomorrow. Touring Plans will use what you have to make the best possible plan for each of your days in the park. It may make more suggestions, or it may say you plan was successfully made. Save it and print it out.
Have a great trip. All of this sounds like so much work, but you will be so glad you did this when you are at WDW!
Thanks all! I sat down with 13yo and we made plans and figured out what FP we want! It took some time but I think we are happy with our plans!
Hope you got the fastpasses you wanted today.
I think we did…except Anna/Elsa at MK. I was on at midnight and there were none!
What I did was look at what my family wanted to ride or accomplish at each park, I had them each pick 3 rides. Once I had those done and based those on my FP I just enjoyed what else we got done! I normally looked at MAgic hours so we could spend more time in the park. If one park was open early we might do that then skip to another park.