Need advice on my trip daily plans! Leaving in 30 days!

Walt Disney World
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Hello! This is our second trip to the world, but that was 5 years ago. I am a planner, and have great touring plans and schedules - I’m really excited! For background, we are staying at AKL for 7 nights, have a dining plan, park hoppers, and we have already decided that we are willing to Lyft for any rides that we might need due to tight schedules.

We have 6 park days:
Day 1 - Epcot
Day 2 - MK (PPO BOG reservation! Also 1900 Park Fair at 5:30pm)
Day 3 - AK (AM EMH) planning to be done with this park by 3 or 4 and either do a long break and go back to tour Pandora at night OR just go back and get to bed early.)
Day 4 - MK (EMM booked for AM, Family Magic Tour at 10am, also a MNSSHP night - we are NOT going)
Day 5 - HS (AM EMH - Jedi Training is a big “must do” for both my kids)
Day 6 - AK (We also booked Disney After Hours for this night in MK!)

Our kids are 8 (DS) and 10 (DD), and my DS is fine with less sleep, but my DD turns into Ursula when she’s overly tired. We have a few early mornings that we must do, and I am a stickler for getting to RD as that’s the best way to see lots of stuff in each park. I do have breaks scheduled, but I don’t know that DD will be able to nap.

My question really centers on Day 4. I have two Ohana ADRs currently. One at about 4:15 and one at 6:30. If we go earlier, we would power through MK and dinner, then either head back to the hotel for a relaxing evening, OR we hit another park? (Epcot has evening EMH and I think touring the world showcase at night would be awesome). Or we could leave MK early (2pm or so), head back to the hotel for a break, then Ohana at 6:30 and again either head to Epcot or go back to the hotel. Ideally if we want to PH to Epcot we would do the earlier ADR, right? But I am wondering how to break up the day.

Part of me wants to keep both reservations and just pay the stupid penalty so we can have the flexibility to decide that day (how tired everyone is at that point). I am trying to remember that since we have the After Hours reservations on our last night, we should be able to hit up almost all the rides and attractions we really want to see, and leaving MK early on Day 4 wouldn’t sting so much. I also feel like dropping the unused ADR earlier allows another family a chance to plan for dinner there, and don’t want to be an ADR hog!!

Why oh why didn’t I book this trip for like, 12 days?!

Basically, am I being too ambitious to try to get everything done? My kids have done 12-14 hour days at our state fair (the MN State Fair is a BIG deal) but they don’t do that 6 days in a row…

Thanks for any advice or options I haven’t considered!

Jenny

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That is a lot of early mornings! As much as I like BOG, I think that might one early morning too many. Maybe stay late at Epcot on the first day, then start a little later on day 2? With EMM, Family Magic Tour and Disney after Hours, I think you will be able to do everything twice at MK without too many problems.

Also, HS has been opening really early. If you want to be there for EMH for Jedi registration, people usually says you need to be there 30minutes before EMH. I am not sure how people would feel about that if they stayed at Epcot until 11pm the night before.

For Day 4: I would keep the late Ohana ADR. Go to MK at EMM, do rides until tired, back to the hotel, then Ohana, then back to the hotel.

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MissbellCA - I appreciate the input. I need to remember that if the park closes at 11pm, we likely won’t be to the hotel until at least midnight! Dropping BOG feels rough… but I think I need to consider it. I’m torn between “doing it all!!!” and “enjoying the moment!” I’m such a planner but many of my favorite memories from the last trip were just spontaneous fun things we did. Thanks again!

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I agree! I totally have FOMO. Six days sound totally reasonable though, but it is still hard (or impossible to do everything.

Maybe you can try to find BOG lunch? I really like BOG, so I can totally understand not wanting to drop it. I have not done Park Fare, so I don’t really have insight, but BOG dinner would allow you to meet the Beast in the castle, eat slowly in MK and enjoy the park at night? BOG dinner is now a set 3-course menu (which makes it very expensive) but might be fun.

Good luck! Whatever you decide it will be fun!

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Ohana is notorious for seating people late. I would personally split the difference and try to find another ADR for roughly 5:00 and drop the other 2. Use the reservation finder - it’s awesome! And, then I would probably call it a night so you can be ready for AM EMH HS.

Because you’d still have FOMO. I also have this affliction. You should see my 10 night plan. It’s meticulously color-coded and everything. And yet I still feel FOMO tremendously. I’m 90 days out and the spreadsheet is giving me headaches.

I’ve never done PPO BOG. Other than using the DDP QS credits, what is the goal? Just to eat? - Skip it. 7DMT? - I’d probably still skip it in favor of an extra hour of sleep for DD the Ursula spawn. hehe
My kid doesn’t nap either. I can relate. Rest is crucial for a good family vacation.

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The advantage of PPO is twofold: One, you don’t waste precious park hours for eating, and two, you are already in the park before rope drop! The one at BOG sometimes includes the ability to ride 7DMT early, but we are there on an EMM day so they are pretty strict. (Which is fine, because we are doing EMM and 7DMT on a different day.)

Glad to hear it doesn’t get better with longer trips, probably just more complicated! My travel agent loves me because I have spreadsheets upon spreadsheets! The best part is, besides the ADRs and FPP, last time we only used the plans for the first two hours or so and then just roamed around the parks! Planning just helps me work through stuff in my head, a list of “must see” attractions, so we don’t forget about something, I suppose?

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With it being EMM day, I don’t think you’ll be getting enough of an advantage for 7DMT. Personally, I would just eat the the resort food court, or in the room like I usually do.

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We did BOG on an EMM day recently and still felt it was a reasonable investment. We had never eaten at BOG so that was worth the price of admission. A good, albeit somewhat pricey breakfast, and we got on 7DMT fairly quickly - not as quickly as a non-EMM day of course, but I think we were off by 9:10 to 9:15 or so and thus able to head to Tomorrowland to get on some other rides quickly.

For us, I don’t regret doing it as we got to experience BOG for the first time, got a quick ride on 7DMT without a FP and still were able to hit some other rides early. If you’ve eaten at BOG a lot, the equation may change somewhat for you…

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Ok I had to look up what FOMO means and now I know that is completely me always! Even before Disney came into my life and became all consuming. I really do feel I have an affliction!
That being said I am admittedly not really the voice of reason, but I would have a really tough time dropping a BOG PPO. I could be consoled though if I could modify it into a lunch. Especially since you have EMM booked and DAH. I would jump at the chance for either of those but alas they are not offered in Dec when we are going.

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I don’t see that you really need the park hoppers unless you are going back to Epcot on day 4 or 5. The DAH event already acts as a ticket. Also, you shouldn’t have to pay the penalty at Ohana as long as you modify one of the reservations and then cancel it. They really aren’t trying to get people to pay a penalty, they just don’t want a large % of people just not showing up because they didn’t feel like it or forgot.

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I added park hoppers so we could get the free dining. And it’s nice to have options!

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Ah, that makes sense and it is nice to have options … we’ve always done the park hoppers too after the first big trip. I’m jealous of doing EMM AND DAH – sounds awesome!

You will definitely need the breaks with a relatively busy schedule just to have some downtime and preserve sanity, the Florida August heat/humidity will likely be a shock to your family especially coming from MN. I’m in TX and it still wipes me out.

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Surprisingly it gets pretty hot here in MN, like 90’s with high humidity, but that’s only for about 10 days total all year! I think FL heat wipes anyone out, it’s brutal in August. The DAH came out after the EMM so I thought about cancelling EMM, but then figured… naw. We only go every 5 years or so, so I feel like it’s okay to splurge a little to make the the most of it. But then, of course, the FOMO sets in with all the stuff we AREN’T doing. Sigh… oh well. In the end it’s about our family having a blast and spending time together in a magical place, not about riding every ride and doing everything. Maybe I should get that printed on my magic band to remind me…

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I wouldn’t drop anything until she finds the reservation time she likes. The reservation finder is great but I have been using it unsuccessfully for about 3 weeks now to get an Ohana reservation between 5:00-6:00pm for what sounds like the same day she is going for. I have only had two pings in that time, responded immediately to both, and missed both. Ohana is a notoriously hard reservation to get. I have a dinner reservation for 4pm and I have been trying unsuccessfully to get it modified to anything later.

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If this is for Sept 3 and you decide to cancel one, let me know, I would love to get one of those slots. Thanks

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My reservations are for Tues 8/28, actually! I was just going to ping you and offer one to you!! Sorry!

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No problem! I appreciate your willingness to help me out.

As far as your times go, if it were me, I would keep the 6:30 and ditch the 4:15. My two DD’s 3 and 5 are on central time so eating dinner at 4:15pm would be too early for us. My understanding is that you can be a few minutes early for a dining reservation(but you might still have to wait for your time). I would keep the 6:30 and show up 20 minutes early and see if they will go ahead and put you on the list to be seated. Then again I’m no Disney Pro like others in this thread, I’m still a newb myself.

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I have been leaning toward that 6:30 reservation more and more myself. Especially since the consensus is to either break and nap (so the later time would allow for that) or push through but go back to the hotel directly after to relax and get to bed at a decent hour. My kids really want to see Pandora all lit up at night, so we could head over there after dinner and just bum around there, and maybe go on an evening safari before heading to the hotel.

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That sounds like a great plan! I have had luck getting a FPP for a night safari on the same day before! I would just check the app during naptime/break to find one for a later time slot.

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'Ohana will check you in up to 30 minutes before your reservation. Which means that if tables are turning slowly, you should still be seated “on time”.

I’ve done 'Ohana twice this year, and was told very precisely, when I tried to check in 35 minutes ahead once, that you can only check in 30 minutes before. Next time I was there nearly precisely for checkin.

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