Mom with FOMO + 18 mo old + Dis-hating Dad = WTH do I do?

Walt Disney World
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Hi Liners. I know y’all can a) identify with my need to plan and b) help me figure this the eff out.

What: UO/WDW/LL combined trip. 6 day non hoppers, no UO tix yet, LL for DS and DH
When: Feb 28-Mar 8
Where: Feb 28-Mar 3 offsite, Mar 3-8 poly studio villa, also have a throwaway room for UO express
Who: Me, lover of anything magical, including HP. Extrovert, Big Kid
DH aka Grumpy/Doc/Sleepy/Bashful, a crowd-averse introvert, cardiologist, so his idea of a vacation is no phone calls saying patient x is dying. Works crazy hours. Would rather stay home.
DS6, first world trip at 2.5 (awesome thanks to TP), UO in 2018. Over 48” and will ride most anything.
DS1.5, first trip! alternates napping on the go with no issue and being an angel… with making everyone miserable until she gets Her Sleep in Her Space, Thank You Very Much.

Musts:

Me: Harry Potter, Pandora (first time!), fireworks from inside MK, onsite stay, HDD, parade, dis springs (never been), a peek at Wilderness Lodge… see what I mean by FOMO?
DH: IOA, AK, rest, SpaM, SplM
DS: Jurassic World, TSL, SWGE, pool time
DD: Harmony Barbershop first haircut, play areas, characters, snacks

Priorities:

Magic, convenience, flexibility, value for money, deliciousness

Other Stuff to Know:

We can make use of rider switch to get extra FP+.
We all get up painfully early, even on vacay. DD bedtime is 630ish, DS 8.
I love Epcot but eliminated bkz time + construction; sadly, most of the EMH during our trip are EP.
in the past, I’ve been a park commando. With kids, HAAAAA. If we are in a park 4 hours without a meltdown, I’ll consider it a win.
Originally I had a bunch of ADRs. But I’m worried it’s too much. I vacillate between, “We don’t need a rest day if we are in the parks only half days!” and ‘This is insane, you need to eliminate a park day entirely!”

Y’all ready??? Plan in next post.

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Plans so far:

Feb 29 – Direct SW to MCO, lunch on the plane, noon arrival, get rental thru Avis Preferred so no waiting in line, hit dis springs for a couple hours of exploring OR gatorland (will let DS and DH choose), check in offsite, get instacart delivery and pizza, relax.

Mar 1 - Sitter for DD arrives early, head to Royal Pacific to check into dummy room and get exp pass, walk to UO. DS and I are huge HP fans and DH loves universal. Hoping to eat at Toothsome. Since we will have express and early entry, do what we want when we want.

Mar 2 – Will we need this as a second day for UO? I ask because: a) it’s cheaper to buy 1 day passes w/ express pass than to book a dummy room and get 2 day PTP. B) I don’t want to waste a day. If we DON’T go back to UO, we could: a) make this an HS partial day but won’t have onsite FP (our tickets start 2/29) b) do HDD, which I have always wanted to do but am hesitating because SOMETHING has to give.

Mar 3 – This is our poly check in day. KTP+TP crowds say MK = yellow, 7, EMM. HS = yel, 7. AK green, 5. MK EMM, which seems like it makes sense until you realize it’s only 15m more than EMH which we are already getting? Consider also that our room might not be ready til 4pm. Originally we were going with AK, but then MMRR was announced 3/4.

We could do HS, but then our sitter would have to stay in our offsite spot with DD (which we actually have for the rest of the week… long story) and then we’d have to leave the world, pick her up, get all her stuff, and come back to poly instead of just going to poly (offsite is close-ish to AK).

We could do AK, but my priority is FOP/Pandora and there’s no way we’ll get FP+ on day 60.

We could do MK, EMM til our room is ready, but that requires coming earllllly from offsite (will mono be running?) and potentially going until 4p, AND potentially violates my value for money principle :blush:

Mar 4 – No HS bkz MMRR. Crowds are: MK red, 7, PM EMH. AK 5, yellow.

I guess this makes the most sense as AK? Or just morning MK leaving by noon and use the afternoon for resting? But will we get FOP FP+ at 60+1 even?

Mar 5 – Crowds, MK green+5, AK green+6, AKAH, HS yellow+4.

The obvious choice seems to be MK afternoon, right? Parade+fireworks, with DD and DH at DD bedtime leaving for me and DS to do a dessert party. Get into park around 2, grab a spot at Pecos bill to view the parade (or book a Tony’s lunch pkg and come earlier?), then tour til FW. But will need to feed DD dinner somewhere in there…

Mar 6 – Crowds, MK red+6, AM EMH, MKAK; AK yel+6, HS green+4.

Here’s that “already paid for” value-for-money EMH that is luring me into spending the am at MK this day instead of 3/3 or 4. But this also could be an HS day and good for grabbing SDD FP+. It’s also the day I’m most likely to get an FOP FP+

Mar 7 - our last day. DH and DS will go to Legoland. I will NOT lol, so DD and I will either go back to MK or walk around world showcase or Minnie Van to dis springs. we leave late am 3/8.

I need to figure this out at least enough to:

  1. make dining reservations, especially Hoop de do and dessert party, and decide if dining plan makes sense (poly ressies are 3/3-7, 3/7-8, so some potential value there)
  2. get sitters for the right days (HS, potentially PM fireworks)
  3. book FPs on the right days
  4. reserve Harmony Barber Shop

HELP ME, LINERS!!!

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I find it a little ironic that you are trying to get everything in for UO and WDW despite your husband wanting to stay home, but when there is one thing he wants to do, you won’t go! :wink:

Anyhow, You are trying to squeeze in a lot for a few days. Fortunately, crowds are lightish during this time period, although not as light as if you went at the start of February. Still, considering your husband’s desire to want to relax, you might want to split up from time to time, or just try to keep to a few key things planned, and allow time just to stop and smell the roses, so to speak.

Your question about a second day? I’d say two days is ideal for UO. If you try to do it all in one day, it will feel rushed and probably not the relaxing feeling your DH is hoping for. I’d do the two days so that you can take it easy with less pressure, despite the added cost.

For Mar. 3, personally I’d do MK. Less pressure, it gives you the magic of Disney first thing (I don’t know why, but the other parks just don’t have the same magic feeling as a first day arrival!), and crowd levels are listed as a 5 on the UT crowd calendar, with MK being an ideal choice. I wouldn’t do EMM, again, to avoid the need to rush, despite the advantages it brings. Plus, MK and Poly are on the loop, so it is just kind of cool to being to monorail there/back on first day.

UT puts AK on Mar 4 as the worst choice, with CL overall at 6, so I’m not sure I’d pick it. But if you live with potentially NOT doing FOP, then it might actually be a good choice, and hope for the best on FOP.

I think I’d put AK on Mar. 6 instead, personally. For reasons I won’t get into, the EMH generally speaking only give a false sense of advantage, but really, overall, any benefit is negligible at best. (There are statistical analyses done on this to support this.) So, I wouldn’t use EMH to sway your choice of park too much. Anyhow, putting AK on Mar. 6 gives you 60+3, so increases chances of FOP.

That leaves deciding what to do May 4 and 5. You aren’t listing Epcot at all. Any other reason than construction? EP is our second favorite park, and often takes two days. It also has opportunities to relax (for DH) in WS, etc. There is still so much to do despite construction, particularly if you focus more on WS than FW.

Just some of my initial thoughts.

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OK first, DH ONLY wants to go to LL because it’s him and DH solo… bonding time. Me not going with is a bonus for him, they love their time together. He is doing this 100% for the kids. For my 30th bday, I did a weekend at UO for WWoHP… with my brother, not DH. :slight_smile:

Since we are really only doing half days because of DD, I was thinking we didn’t have time for EP. We need a half day for HS and another half day for MK. I love Epcot and I know DH and DS would actually love Soarin and Test Track and DD would love FEA. I worried that adding in one more place to go (and thus forcing a full day at MK) would just make things tougher.

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Ultimately you know your family better than I do…I can only suggest based on what I would do in your situation.

I think half days at MK and HS mean you really will only be able to do a few things. I understand the concern about DD, although I’d toy with the idea of going in morning, then going back to Poly for a nap, and then coming back again in evening. Still eats into the time, but gives a chance to rest during the busiest time of the day, etc.

Anyhow, I think the important thing is that you shouldn’t plan around EMH…rather, if you end up in a park with EMH, make sure you use them…but choosing a day with EMH probably is no benefit over picking a day without them. I’d just remove that from consideration entirely. It just complicates things, in my mind.

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Yes, the half day thing is a mess, especially because DD naps right now from 11-1, the least convenient time ever from a park standpoint LOL. Thanks for the EMH tip, taking that out simplifies things quite a bit!!

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One parental suggestion I would have concerning naps is to try to spend the next couple months training DD to be able to be more flexible with naps. In our case, we actually made a conscious effort to teach our kids to sleep in a variety of situations/locations so that if we were ever out and about, they could handle it. You might try setting up a pack’n’play, for example, in a different room of your house for her to nap ever few days, or try shifting naptime back an hour or two, etc. You want your child to be flexible BEFORE you go…then, when you are there you don’t have to worry about it too much.

At 1.5 yo, our kids would have slept pretty much anywhere. :slight_smile:

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Can they do Legoland on the 2nd? I would not do 2 days at universal. You’re already only using 4 of 6 days of Disney tickets in the current plan ( not good $$ sense). Also saves you from leaving Disney property once you get there.

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definitely thought about legoland on the 2nd, BUT the spring break crowds start to arrive that weekend so we had moved LL to the weekend to avoid increased crowds in the world. the 6 day ticket is part of the longgggg saga of even getting to the point of having our current set up. our first iteration of this trip was 7 nights at royal pacific with only one disney day, if that tells you anything… looking back i could’ve done that much better, but alas, nonrefundable.

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re naps, we have been working on car naps and skipped naps with better success. but to nap, she needs to be left alone (this works in the car by just ignoring her and turning off the dvd player)… so when we are in a new place and i try to put her down alone in an unfamiliar location, she gets scared. if i’m holding her, she wants to play, not sleep, no matter how tired. i honestly think she will be okay with stroller naps. she did once fall asleep in great wolf lodge just being held, but i think the humid, hot air and constant din of screaming kids lulled her into it LOL. fwiw, we tried to take DS back to AOA to nap in our 2015 trip, and out of the whole week i think he actually slept one day.

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The difference is crowds will be much higher for EMH than EMM. Whether it’s worth it or not is a personal decision, but the difference between 60 mins of EMH and 75 mins of EMM is not just the 15 minutes. Also, note that fewer attractions are open for EMM only than EMH. I think the big difference between the two is that the lines for 7DMT and PPF will be much shorter for EMM so if you want multiple rides on those before the park opens to everyone, EMM may be worth it.

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Depends what you want to do. I have spent 3 full park days at UO, but I think you could do the highlights in 1 day with express pass and early entry.

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60+3 is still tough for a FP for SDD or FOP. FOP more likely but neither a sure thing.

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Maybe so but by not putting HS or AK on that day you’re severely reducing your chance for a FOP FPP at a good time( ie morning is what you want right?). I’d let getting a FOP FPP be the driver for determining days.

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This is your best option for potentially getting a FP for SDD or FOP (with FOP more likely than SDD). I would plan on AK this day instead of Legoland. Can you move Legoland to a different day?

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would be tough to do without taking UO down to one day or trying to fit all of MK in one day

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I definitely would not cut MK down from 2 days to 1 day. Your 1.5 year old will likely have the most fun at MK. My son was at WDW when he was 13 months old and when he was 23 months old and MK was by far his favorite park at both ages. There is so much there for the little ones to enjoy.

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exactly. I really wish DS didn’t want to go to LL. Alas.

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So based on y’all’s amazing feedback so far:

Mar 1-2: UO days
Mar 3: MK am, with or without EMM
Mar 4: Legoland for DS and DH, either WS or Springs or exploring mono resorts for DD and me
Mar 5: MK, at least pm, perhaps am and pm with break depending on what we get done Mar 3
Mar 6: HS
Mar 7: AK using EMH, though I won’t get to see pandora at night.

I guess I could switch Mar 4 and 7 if some FOP FP+s open up?

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This looks better to me. I’d consider going to Epcot with DD on March 4. She may like Character Spot (meet Mickey, Minnie, Goofy), Nemo and the tanks and the Living Seas, and FEA.

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