Multi Gen Trip - Thoughts on Overall Plan

Hello to all! I am currently planning my family’s second trip to WDW. Our first was this past February over MLK Weekend and we LOVED it. So much fun but way too short! We stayed 4 nights at AKL, so we had 3 extremely full park days (on our MK day we were in the park from 7:45 am until almost 10 pm) and hit two half days at AK on each of our travel days. Needless to say, we were exhausted when we got home. I’ve convinced DH to let us go back again next year for 9 nights!!! I am super pumped and super hopeful that this length of stay will allow us to see a ton and yet have downtime as well. My travel party will consist of myself, DH, DD8, DS6, DD4, DD2, as well as my parents (both in their mid-60s and very active).

Our 180 mark is still a couple of months away but I would like some input on my plan as it currently stands. I am the type of person that needs a fair amount of time to process and make changes. My personality is also one that LOVES to spend 16 hours in a park and I don’t like being told I can’t do everything (I scheduled 3 ADRs a day on our last trip despite reading numerous articles that said it’d be too much food and too much time) but I am trying to make this trip a more reasonable one for my family. While they all really enjoyed our trip last time and our littles napped in the park…they were just worn out. My oldest threw up once we got back to the hotel on our MK night…I think from exhaustion…which made me feel awful and I don’t want that to happen again.

So, here’s my current, basic itinerary…

1/30/19 - Arrive at MCO early afternoon. DME to the Poly. Spend the rest of the evening exploring, swimming if possible and grabbing dinner at Kona Cafe
1/31 - Late breakfast at 1900 PF, H/S by 1
2/1 - RD AK, Lunch @ Y&Y, Afternoon break, back to see ROL in the evening
2/2 - PPO ADR @ H&V, H/S all day w/ a 3-4 hour break in the afternoon
2/3 - RD MK - Tomorrow Land, Brunch @ CM, Adventureland, Dinner @ HDDR (early show)
2/4 - Late Breakfast @ O’hana, Epcot by 1, Dinner @ Akershus
2/5 - PPO ADR @ Crystal Palace, Frontierland, Adventureland, Liberty Square, Afternoon break, HEA Dessert Party (also debating on if I should try a book BOG for dinner or if the Dessert Party will be plenty of food…)
2/6 - PPO ADR @ Garden Grill, Epcot until early afternoon, back to the hotel for the day for the kids, V&A dinner for the adults
2/7 - PPO ADR @ BOG, Fantasyland, BBB + CRT, Afternoon break, CG for dinner
2/8 - PPO ADR @ Tusker House, AK until lunch, DME to MCO and home to Dallas

Of course all of this is very tenative until ADRs are locked in, but…thoughts on initial plan? Hopefully the above makes a tiny bit of sense and I didn’t just spit out a ton of nonsensical garbage. Any advice y’all could offer would be so appreciated.

I like that you put in so many mid-day breaks. It’s easier to do that when you’re there for 9 days.

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Thank you! I am really trying…we had such a hard time actually taking a break last time because it seemed like it took so long to actually get out of the park and back to AKL, get the rest we needed and then back into the park in the evening!

I think the dessert party will be A LOT of food. And it also takes a lot of time. Maybe just planned on some QS? I love Columbia Harbor House, personnaly, but there are a lot of other places.

I was thinking it might be overboard to do both. We ate at Liberty Tree Tavern last time and its my understanding that they have similar food, is that right? We enjoyed LTT last time!

Columbia Harbor House was more lobster rolls, burgers, fried shrimps, chicken fingers, fries. Like a MA fast foodie-place? My lobster was really good though. Like I want to get one again.

Oh, ok. Yummmmm…my kids would totally balk at those but whatever kids! That sounds amazing.

Straight from the DW page: Kids can enjoy macaroni and cheese, chicken nuggets and more.

There was also salmon and clam chowder for the grownups. And there is a second floor, with AC, where it is super calm. It was a great break from the parks without getting outside.

Awesome. Thank you for that. My youngest didn’t have her own dining plan last time (and won’t this time either) and she basically lived on bread and her siblings’ leftover mac the entire trip. Lol.

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Great plan. I’m also thinking of trying to do BOG dinner before the HEA dessert party because I WANT to do both and we only have so much time. I’m probably going to switch the party to the after party that was just announced. I figure it’ll put a little more time between dinner and all of the desserts. Maybe that’s an option for you too if your family can handle the later night and/or the little ones will sleep in the stroller.

Chef Mickey lunch and the early HDDR seems like a lot of food close together. Otherwise, I think your plan for long breaks and several half park days sounds great!

BOG will be a fixed price menu for dinner starting somewhere this summer, so it will be appetizer, main course and dessert, which I feel that on top of HEA, is a lot of food!

I agree but I want to make it work. In the end I’ll probably drop the BOG ADR. Given the amount of food, price and the fact that it would cut into our break time, it’s probably best to skip it. But I’m going to wait to see the reviews of the new fixed price menu before deciding.

Yes! That’s my issue also we did a BOG dinner last time but ALL the kids crashed. Literally, slept across chairs at our table and I’m sad they missed out on the dinner atmosphere. Especially my DD4. She fell asleep in the stroller on the walk up after we checked in and she LOVES Belle.

I’m planning on CM 10:30-11ish. And the. HDDR at 6:15. I don’t think they offer the 4ish show in February but I could be wrong. Think that will be spaced out enough?

Sounds like you’ve got a well thought out plan. You’ll find that staying at the Poly really helps with transportation time to MK and Epcot. The boat was a great way to travel between the hotel, MK and FW.

If HDDR is at 6:15 then it should work well!

I was just studying how to get back and forth between HDDR and the Poly and the boat option sounds so nice! Glad to hear you had a good experience with it!!

I think that if it were up to my husband we would always stay at Poly because of the boat. I have to be the frugal one and remind him of the cost.

We took the boat to MK for rope drop twice and pretty much had it all to ourselves. Walking to the TTC to get the monorail to Epcot was also really nice.

That’s so good to hear! Do you have a building recommendation as far as easy access to TTC?? It seems all of the closest buildings are DVC buildings and I don’t understand fully what that means. Are they reserved solely for DVC members?

Just a quick review, I’ll keep thinking. You’ve got 4 days of PPO reservations on your last 4 days. You’ve got later evenings in a few of those. Is that doable for your group?

I am a tad concerned about that. Although the Epcot day will only be later for the adults. Kids will likely be in our room w/ a fairy godmother. And we could do that for our night at CG if necessary.

I’m also just kind of expecting ONE of our kids to wake up early most days as all 6 of us will be sharing a room. Most days at home at least one tiny person is up before 7 AM.