Help need on park days, touring plans for little ones - Sept. 6-12

Walt Disney World Touring Plans
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I’ve tried to figure all of this out, but it is our family’s first trip so I’m not sure how long things will take, what are
the good rides, what parks are best, etc. It’s overwhelming. Any
advice you can provide for our specific situation would be great.

I have a 4 year old daughter and 2 year old son. Both big Mickey
fans (not really into princesses, but DD might warm up to them). DD
loves sports and swimming, some thrills, but also gets scared at
probably every movie we have tried to watch (Frozen, Tangled, and Brave
included), so not sure what she will like or not. She’s over 40".
Maybe closer to 44" even. Both kids nap really well - typically 3 hrs
on a weekend day.

Here’s my tentative schedule and the FastPass+ that I booked last
night, along with scattered ADRs (I reserved well inside the 180 day
window, so not much to grab for hot items). There are certainly
conflicts that need to be resolved.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Even looking at the sample touring plans is overwhelming right now:

Sat. Sept 5 - Arrive at MCO at 7 pm. Hopefully at Polynesian around
8:30 pm (via the Magic Express). Likely not enough time to go to apark.

Sun. Sept. 6 - MK.
ADR - BOG at 8:15, Chef Mickey’s 12:45
FP+: 7DMT (10:30), PeterPan (11:45), Enchanted w/ Belle (1:10)
Question:
Wanted to start here because MK is best for kids. But should I switch
this day or the next to HS instead for Frozen Summer ending? Or park
hop to catch both?

Mon. Sept. 7 - EP
ADR - BOG at 8:15 (will drop if I stick with EP), Chef Mickey’s 12:15 (may drop)
FP+: Seas with Nemo (9:30), Turtle Talk (10:30), Soarin (12:15)

Tues. Sept. 8 - HS
ADR - Ohana (7:35 am)
FP+: Tower of Terror (10:25); TSMM (12:10); Star Tours (1:45)

Weds. Sept. 9 - MK
FP+: 7DMT (4 pm), Meet A&E (5:10), Buzz’s Spin (6:40)

Thurs. Sept. 10 - AK
ADR: Ohana (7:40 am)
FP+: K. Safari (9:45), Meet Pals (12); Kali RR (1)

Fri. Sept. 11 - MK
FP+: Splash Mtn (12), Tomorrow Speedway (1:40), 7DMT (2:55)

Sat. Sept. 12 - MK
Nothing planned. Guess I fell asleep last night before booking FP on that day.

Again, any advice would be great.

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Here are my 2 pennies:

I just took my 2 and 4 yo this past February. My advice would be to schedule a couple of non-park days into your plan. We were there for 4 full days and only did two park days. The kids had just as good of a time (if not more!) when we hung out at the pool and explored the resort(s) all day. It’s a LOT for even adults so I imagine that their little minds get overstimulated quite easily so I think you would be setting yourself up for major meltdowns if you don’t take a day off (or more!).
I also wouldn’t park hop with a 2 and 4 year old - that’s my personal opinion!

Something that helped me tremendously was creating 2 touring plans for our day at MK - one for the morning and one for the evening. I manually added all of the attractions from Adventureland and FrontierLand into a morning plan and knocked all of those out first. It helped to stay focused on the left half of the park in the morning. Most people seem to go right so those two lands were so quiet - we went on rides multiple times with no wait. Our TP was more of a guide to show us what we might be able to get done the first half of the day. Our evening MK TP consisted of all the attractions on the right side of the park - TomorrowLand and FantastyLand. Because my kids showed no signs of exhaustion, we actually knocked out a few rides from Fantasyland before we left for naps - so that freed up a lot of time in the evening - we were able to take our time getting back to the park and really stop to smell the roses. Which reminds me, work a few random bathroom breaks into your TP and select a slow walking speed! I think everything worked out so well for us because we weren’t pressuring ourselves to get to every single ride. We let the little ones take the lead and we did things at their pace - that’s what it’s about, afterall! It looks like you will be going to MK on a few different days - so maybe do certain parts of the park on each day to minimize the walking and scrambling through crowds to get to the next FP.

Also, you list BOG at 8:15 and Chef Mickey’s at 12:45 on your first MK day. I would suggest otherwise. Your kids (and you!) might be tired/overwhelmed after that morning’s activities and not be able to enjoy Chef Mickey’s as much as you should. I’d hate to force a Chef Mickey’s meal/interaction after a morning at MK and have it not be a fun experience. My kids normally have lunch and then nap around 1pm so I had planned to leave MK around that time - I think it was the adrenaline but they were in amazing moods and we didn’t even have to head back to the resort until much later in the afternoon. I’d stay in MK and enjoy rather than leave for Chef Mickey’s.
We went to Chef Mickey’s for a “late” (930am) breakfast on our “pool day” and it was fabulous. We got there after the park-goers had already ate and headed off to the park for the day so it was relatively quiet and the kids seemed to get extra time with the characters.

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(Sorry - that was a lot more than 2 cents! Haha. To sum it up - add more free time into your plans!)

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Sat. Sept 5 - Arrive at MCO at 7 pm. Hopefully at Polynesian around 8:30 pm (via the Magic Express). Likely not enough time to go to apark.

  • Yep - I agree. With 2 littles that young there’s no reason to waste a ticket on an hour or two. I’d use the time before bed time as settling in time and if you need to get some energy out, then explore the resort. Maybe even take a before bed swim.-

Sun. Sept. 6 - MK.ADR - BOG at 8:15, Chef Mickey’s 12:45FP+: 7DMT (10:30), PeterPan (11:45), Enchanted w/ Belle (1:10)Question: Wanted to start here because MK is best for kids. But should I switch this day or the next to HS instead for Frozen Summer ending? Or park hop to catch both?

  • I like to start with MK too. But if Frozen Summer is ending - then go to HS first. With a DD in the mix, this is probably a must see. I consider DHS a full day (maybe even a full day and a half park) so I’d forget about the PH and stick to DHS all day.
    As for the ADR and FPP - I doubt you can do Chef Mickey’s and get to Enchanted Tales w/ Belle. You need more time at lunch - at least 60 minutes.

Mon. Sept. 7 - EPADR - BOG at 8:15 (will drop if I stick with EP), Chef Mickey’s 12:15 (may drop)FP+: Seas with Nemo (9:30), Turtle Talk (10:30), Soarin (12:15)

  • can you switch all the 6th stuff to the 7th?

Tues. Sept. 8 - HSADR - Ohana (7:35 am)FP+: Tower of Terror (10:25); TSMM (12:10); Star Tours (1:45)

  • LOVE Ohana! If you do DHS on the 6th will you switch this day to MK?

Weds. Sept. 9 - MKFP+: 7DMT (4 pm), Meet A&E (5:10), Buzz’s Spin (6:40)

Thurs. Sept. 10 - AKADR: Ohana (7:40 am)FP+: K. Safari (9:45), Meet Pals (12); Kali RR (1)
You’re going to Ohana twice? Are there other ones you might want? I mean yes I love it but it seems like it might be fun to do other ones too.

Fri. Sept. 11 - MKFP+: Splash Mtn (12), Tomorrow Speedway (1:40), 7DMT (2:55)

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Exactly what I was looking for, actually. I was thinking that many of the days we would do mornings only (hence the multiple days at MK), to allow for naps and then pool time in the afternoon as down time. But maybe we should schedule full break days instead. Thanks for the input!

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FKHamer, thanks for the feedback and suggestions. I see that Frozen Summer ends Monday, so I technically could keep Sun. as MK, and switch Monday to DHS and Tuesday to Epcot. My DD isn’t a big Frozen nut, but it might be worth it to check this out. I guess there is a special A&E parade? Might be fun.

As for Ohana, wasn’t planning on going there twice, just wasn’t sure what day would work best so held on to both ADRs for now.

Thanks again.

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