Itinerary Feedback - First trip with small kids

Hi Liners! We are planning our first trip with kids for May 12-18. DH and I visited about 5 years ago. We have DD who will be just shy of 3 and DS who will be 15 months. DD is already excited to visit Mickey’s House! I cannot wait to see the joy on their sweet faces. Our goal for this trip is to see the attractions that would most interest the kiddos and to have some relaxing family time. Would love to get your feedback on our rough itinerary. We are typically up early and kids take a ~2-hour afternoon nap.

We have booked a split stay – BC for 3 nights then GF for 3 nights.

Sunday May 12 (Mother’s Day)

  • Plane lands 9:30. MDE to hotel (Noon?).
    • Aim for Amazon Prime Now Delivery for Noon?
  • Hope to be able to check in at hotel and freshen up.
  • Go to MK to catch 3pm parade
    • Better to take bus or through Epcot to monorail?
      • With double stroller.
      • I’m still on the fence about adding Park Hopper.
    • Assuming we are just entering MK, where to stand for parade.
  • Dinner ADR for BOG 6:15 (Unsure on this – might not feel like a sit down meal)
  • Dole Whip
  • FP: Aiming for PP, Meet Mickey & Minnie, Enchanted Tales with Belle
  • Fireworks depending on how kids are holding up

Monday May 13 (Epcot)

  • PPO ADR at GG (8:15)
  • Character Spot (Is this where Ralph and Venelope are?)
  • FEA & Meet Elsa & Anna
  • Seas Nemo & Turtle Talk
  • Spaceship Earth
  • Beauty & Beast sing along
  • Grab lunch in France to take back to room for ~4 hour break
  • Evening walk around world showcase watch street performers. Snacks for dinner. Via Napoli Pizza for kids. Mexico boat ride.
  • FP: Aiming for FEA
  • Illuminations (watch from Canada?)
  • Walk back to BC (Possibly stroll around boardwalk/ice cream)

Tuesday May 14 (HS)

  • Does RD’ing make sense if we are not trying to get on any of the big rides? I would prefer to be there early but seems like most of the shows and character meets do not start until 10 or later.
  • Not into Starwars
  • TP puts us in TSL early in the AM – I think I would prefer to see it in the evening all lit up?
  • Ferry back to BC for mid-day break
  • Break/Nap/Pool time
  • Dinner ADR at Minnie’s Seasonal/Hollywood & Vine
    • Is it worth booking the Fantasmic package (What is the additional cost?)
  • Character Palooza
  • FP: Aiming for TSM

Wednesday May 15 (AK) Checking out BC / Checking in GF

  • I’m stumped on if it makes sense to go early and take a mid-day break at GF (Hoping our room is ready) or if we should do a late arrival and stay through evening.
  • I have multiple ADR’s for Tuskar House for PPO Breakfast, brunch, lunch depending on above
  • Must Do’s: Safari (possibly multiple rides), See Pandora at night, Boneyard, Gorilla trail, Tree Awakening
  • Which show – Lion King or Nemo? DD likes both movies
  • FOP – DH and I would like to experience with Rider Swap if we get FP
  • FP: Aiming for Safari, FOP

Thursday May 16 (MK) – DH Birthday

  • PPO ADR
    • CRT For DH and DD only (8:05)
    • PPO ADR BOG For me and DS (8:00)
  • Would like to get in park early enough for PhotoPass pics in front of castle with as few people as possible). What time should we get there?
  • Planning to spend morning in MK
  • Ride old time cars on Main Street
  • FP: Aiming for ? 7DMT for DH
  • Afternoon – possibly Pool or Blizzard Beach or Disney Springs (DH would like The Void)
  • Dinner ADR at Ohana
  • Plan to watch electrical parade and fireworks from Poly beach (Possibly a campfire or Luau night?)

Friday May 17 (MK)

  • MK EMH Morning
  • Long mid-day break at GF
  • Would like to spend last evening in the park, fireworks, etc.
  • FP: Aiming for ?

Saturday May 18 (Departure Day)

  • ADR Chef Mickey (7:30)
  • Flight is at Noon – what time will we need to be on MDE?

Magic Kingdom: Would love advise on how to split our time at MK and what FP’s to aim for.

I can’t answer all your questions, but here’s what I can help with.

Parade - stand in Frontierland or Liberty Square. The parade passes that way first, so you can be off to your next attraction and it’s less crowded there. And great first night fp choices!

Character spot - yes, there are two sides. One is Mickey/Minnie/Goofy and the other is rotating characters. Joy/Sadness and Baymax are also there. Not sure how they split the queue lines between these characters.

RD at HS - Yes! We Rded HS and rode Aliens 3 times and then did TSM. It was a ton of fun! It’s kinda nice that everybody is doing something else. Then we did 1 fp before our showtime.

Back to answer a few more questions:
Lion King has acrobatics, a fire dancer, and is more like a production of the songs. Nemo is an actual play that goes through the story. I loved both of them and so did DS2, so it’s hard to pick a favorite.

PPO breakfast - I believe the earliest they let anyone in is 7:45, but I don’t know when the photo pass photographers start.

For FP choosing, I would put all your MK must dos into TP and see which wait times are highest. It’s hard to say what you should pick without a list of the ones you want to do. DH and I don’t do roller coasters, so we did ETWB, Pooh, Buzz, Mickey Town Square, Splash Mt, and Small World. (PPF was closed)

Thank you so much this is very helpful! Its been a bit difficult to plan since we aren’t focused on the headliner attractions.

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I definitely get that. Feel free to share your MK list and I can help with FP. We skipped most of the headliners too and I think it actually makes FP choices easier because you have fewer options.

You will need to be at your resort for DME pickup approx. 3 hours before your flight. You will get a door hanger with your DME info the night before for exact time but it will be in the range of 845 to 915 for a noon flight so I would think that a 730 breakfast at Chef Mickey’s would be difficult to pull off as the meal and characters could take 90 minutes and then you have to transport back from CR to GF, which even though monorail could take 30 minutes. I wouldn’t even be comfortable with a 7 am breakfast if DME is at 9, too stressful for me especially with littles. You could always take Minnie van to airport if you don’t mind the $$$.

Oh this is good to know, that would be too stressful. I was already thinking we might be over the character meals by then - I think we will save Chef Mickey for next time!

With little ones (3.5 y/o daughter and 13 month old son so very similar to yours), here is what we did for FP+ for 2.5 days at MK. It worked out very well.

Day 1

Meet Mickey
Meet Tink
Dumbo

Day 2
ETWB
Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Meet Cinderella/Elena

Day 3
PPF
Meet Tiana/Rapunzel
Tomorrowland Speedway

For your last day, I think you may have a timing issue, but see what others say. I think the DME bus picks up from the resort about 3 hours before the flight. At lunch, from arriving to leaving Chef Mickey’s took us about 1 hour 45 minutes. We arrived 5 minutes early to our reservation, but weren’t seated for about 25 minutes. And then you will need to get from Chef Mickey’s to GF which will take some time.

Sounds like you will have a great laid-back trip. Some random things to add to what’s already been said:

  1. I would think twice about staying for night-time shows/fireworks and then doing RD in the morning. Unless you think they’ll go to sleep for the night in strollers and you guys can stay late without it being a problem getting up in the morning.
  2. I’d recommend FPs to meet princesses in MK. Could also use FP for riding Little Mermaid.
  3. I’d re-arrange Epcot so you’re not running back and forth between future world and the world showcase. It’s not that quick. Sounds like you can do most everything in future world that you want with FPs. How about meeting lots of characters first, then turtle talk, then a FP for nemo, then FP spaceship earth before heading to the world showcase. or save the spaceship earth FP for after your break on the way back in.
  4. For HS, RD could be a good idea if you want to ride AS2 or meet lots of characters (many start at 9 or 9:30, so I’d arrive at 9). Otherwise no. and think about whether you want RD every day or want to sleep later sometimes. You could even have a flexible plan where your FPs are after rest time and then if you feel like RD that day, you have a list of what to do.
  5. For AK, I think RD only matters if you want Navi. For your 3rd FP, if you don’t want any rollercoasters (which your kids are too little for), then meet Mickey & Minnie. In MK, Mickey meets alone, In Epcot, they are in the same room, but you meet one at a time. At AK, you can get a picture with both together.

I thought Mickey and Minnie are together now at Magic Kingdom?

Usually (I can’t say always) there are SDFPs available for Under the Sea so I wouldn’t use an advance booking FP on that ride. Also, as rides go, the Stand-By line is relatively short for Under the Sea. Many of the character meet and greets are much harder for SD FP and Stand-By.