Yes, indeed! Remember that no matter how detailed your plan, it is, once you arrive, merely a suggestion. You are not married to it. If, as a group, once you get here decide to do things differently, throw away the plan! 
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I should mention that I took my 9,7,5 in December for a 7-day and we never did a full resort day. We did 3 of the nighttime spectaculars (DS9 actually did all 4) and we “slept in” for a 10:00 FP twice. All other days (5) were RD with one EMH RD. So, my kids were definitely troopers and were definitely mostly ready to go in the morning and didn’t get down until 10:00pm-11:00pm most nights. BUT, knowing what I know now, I think I would have preferred to have a little more rest time. The “go, go, go” of being in the parks and doing everything and fighting crowds was not that enjoyable by the end of things and we all passed out on the Tragical Express from exhaustion.
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And that’s when your REAL vacation starts! 
It is a running joke that we always come home from vacation needing a vacation.
I should say that for our May 2020 trip, we ARE planning a couple rest days. Although, in our case, it isn’t so much about getting days to relax as much as days we are trying to stay away from the weekend crowds. We’ll do parks on Monday through Friday, take two days off, and then do two more park days. (Although, we MIGHT pop into a park on Sunday…haven’t decided yet.)
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Personally I would choose option 2. I would look at which night shows you would be okay missing if the kids get tired early. Trying to get multiple kids up after a late night could be hard. If yours are anything like mine half the naps we expected to have got cut in half because mine wasn’t tired midday because of the excitement. We still went to the resort to rest but it was usually just hanging in the room while DH napped
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You have gotten some great advice, but I will throw mine in anyway. On our last trip to WDW, our kids were 10, 7 and 4. We were going pretty much from open to close, except for one day where we started our day at 10. We didn’t do any extra hours and we went in January/February, so the parks weren’t open super late. We never had a resort day in 7 days. Two kids and dad went back to the room one afternoon because one child got sick, but other than that, we never even went back to the room during the day. And the kids never melted down or had any issues. When we started getting a bit weary, we had a relaxing sit down dinner or got on a longer, slow-moving ride. It worked well for us, but that’s how our kids were for that trip. Now, this past year at Universal, dad and one child insisted on sleeping in one day and that was fine, too. The rest of us headed out early. I think you need to plan to some extent, but be able to play it by ear as well.
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My DD needed a stroller until age 7 (almost 8). I’d be prepared for a stroller for both the DS4 and DD7. Having 2 singles will provide more flexibility in case you split your party up.
Letting in the kids vote in my family would have caused a war. By not pre-booking your fast passes, you are also at the mercy of whatever is available. That’s ok if that’s your touring style. Maybe the vote should be based on what fast passes are available the night before. This way, they know what they’re up against and don’t expect the impossible ( 4 hr wait for FOP for example!).
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We did 8 straight park days with a 5, 7, and 10yo. But we only did 1 rope drop. We prioritized evening stuff (we did a DAH, and wanted to see all the fireworks/evening shows, plus DH prefers to sleep in). We did one afternoon at the resort pool.
I don’t think late nights + rope drops are practical. Pick one. 2 rest days wouldn’t really make up for late nights + early mornings for my family. I’d pick late nights (since fireworks/evening stuff is a priority) and 1 rest day.
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Overall, I vote for option 2. With a 7 and 4 year old in the mix, I think that all those RD and late nights will be too much for just 1 rest day. The midday breaks are great and help get the kids through to the end of the night show, but the IME the kids don’t always sleep well / at all. One of the main things that I wish I had avoided last time was cramming in too much and exhausting everyone. Despite having lots of midday breaks planned in, on a number of days grandma and the kids (3 and 5 at the time) got too tired to enjoy things in the evenings.
On the day(s) you sleep in and have a restful morning, I wouldn’t schedule a midday break.
Date night is important! On option #2, on Wednesday I’d bump up the park time to 1 pm, make it a short jaunt around the park to do a few FP plus whatever else fits in, and then get back early for a date night.
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I would personally avoid a non-park day because then you lose a day of FPPs. I would pair typhoon lagoon with a park, unless you feel that would be too tiring a day. Also, I only let my kids stay up late (past normal bedtime) if we can sleep in the next morning. but I also cut out the afternoon rest because my kids refused to rest on schedule So if your kids really will rest in the afternoon, then hopefully it’ll work out ok. Maybe have a plan B in your pocket in case the first few days don’t work out well?
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We did RD 2days in a row for EPCOT and MK then rest day and RD universal. On our MK day we went back to the resort from 12-4:30 then back to the park until close…it was pretty tiring for my 10 year old. By our universal day I felt like she was just humoring me!!! Next time I would do Epcot on arrival day and rest the next day. The upside was we seemed ahead of the crowds each day. She is a kid that still sleeps 9-11 hours every night! It just depends on your kid!
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I would choose option two but because my kids are early risers I’d also only plan on one nighttime show and H2O glow.
We have a 10 and 8 year old and are planning short park days every day rather than full days off.
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I would say chooose option one with the understanding that you can adjust on the fly as needed. We need our MK time and a day and a half is not enough. I had planned rd each day of our 7day/ 8 night trip. As it happened, part of us made 6 of the 7. It was actually my wife who needed the extra sleep in the morning so she slept in one morning with our older daughter (17) while daughter (8) and I hit ropedrop at Epcot for the second visit to that park. Another morning my wife wasn’t feeling well and I let everyone sleep in. But too much to do at the parks to take a rest day. And we don’t get back often (7years since last trip) so we want to see as much as possible. I don’t regret a busy schedule at all. But the actual trip will look different than your plan but that’s okay. There will be many times where you will be so happy with all you accomplished because of your plan.
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Thank you, everyone. Very helpful feedback.
It’s funny, but this forum really does help… and I really do listen to your advice. You guys spoke up and I changed a lot of our plans based on your feedback.
Ultimately, I took in most of what people said and went with a hybrid version of Option #2. Here is the (as of now) final version:
If you care, you can find the full Google Sheet here.
The main weakness of this plan is that it only gives us a day and 3/4ish at MK.
Otherwise it delivers other things are really important to our family. (Some of these things have been outright stated by our kids, others I have learned the hard way by driving them too hard in the past.)
-Plenty (hopefully!) of time to rest, swim, and enjoy Fort Wilderness.
-A day and a half to enjoy Epcot during Flower and Garden Festival, including two different afternoon/evenings exploring World Showcase.
-We can keep the H2O Glow evening at Typhoon Lagoon.
-Only 3 Rope Drops mornings planned, otherwise we can sleep in till 8:30 or even later some mornings.
-A chance to experience every nighttime spectacular, which for multiple different reasons we’re never caught a single one.
-Also, per @Beth33’s advice, we can still put the kids down one evening and go grab drinks at Trader Sam’s.
Of course, a Touring Plan is never done till it’s actually done, so I’m still soliciting advice and feedback from the community.
Thank you everybody! Literally no one else in my life cares about these details the way you all do.
-Jonathan
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Looks like fun! Enjoy!
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Are you skipping Jungle Cruise? This is a fave for my DD8.
I find I don’t need an official “rest” on my HS day. There is plenty of sitting down at the shows. Are you intentionally skipping Tower of Terror and the Rock-n-Roller Coaster? Indiana Jones doesn’t “need” a FPP.
Nice! Is there a reason you didn’t RD your one day at AK but did RD your first of 2 at Epcot? Any park I only spend 1 day in, I always RD and stay open to close without break (but I’m also not a frequent visitor, so…)
As of now. I’m not really a fan of it. (gasp… I know it seems odd).
Yes. I can’t get anyone in my family interested in going with me. (I may hit the single rider line at RnRC later in the day.) Last time my daughters had us leaving out the chicken exit at ToT. I talked them into RnRC as a consolation prize, but after that, they swore off ever doing that again. If you’re curious, you can find that story and ride pic here: McIntosh Family 1st Trip: A Tale - #299 by JonMcIntosh
I’m sure you don’t, but there’s not much else for us to spend a FP on at HS… AND we’ve never done Indiana Jones before, so I want to make sure we get a good seat.
Thanks for the feedback on our plans, @SillySamsMom
Honestly, Rope Drop is going to be hard for us. I think I can make it happen the first two days and really need to make sure it happens on our HS day, but other than that, any chance to sleep later will be welcome for our family.
Since we have a FP+ for FoP, I’m avoiding RD at AK altogether. Also, it’s the furthest park from Ft. Wilderness, so instead of doing a midday break, I’m planning a later arrival and a really slow pace through the park (I set walking speed to the absolutely slowest, with plenty of breaks for meals and icecream.)
Also, @SillySamsMom, since you said that your HS day you rarely need a rest, I may make this our plan for our Studios day as well… I’ll see how my 4 year old feels and see if he actually needs a nap that day.
Thanks for the feedback, y’all.
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