In 1900 Lord Kelvin, a distinguished physicist, allegedly said, “There is nothing new to be discovered in physics now. All that remains is more and more precise measurement.” Five years later, Einstein published his paper on special relativity, and things just got worse and worse for the classical picture of physics thereafter.
A few days ago, I honestly thought my plan was done. I finally got round to figuring out my UOR days and added them to a schedule which had remained unchanged since Wild Africa Tourgate, when @OBNurseNH’s account of the WAT inspired me to add it to my trip causing a major rewriting of the plan.
Last night there was a similar earthquake. WDW announced longer opening hours at MK and AK, which opened up a tranche of FOP FPPs. I grabbed three of them. This had two effects. First I cancelled my Ultimate Nights of Adventure Tour because it became redundant. Second, I started thinking about extending my schedule to take advantage of the later hours.
This has caused me to feel so overwhelmed, I literally had to have a lie down just now.
Cancelling UNAT left a four hour gap in my AK schedule. All my FOPs were in slots at the end of the day. This meant my main AK day felt too long. The original plan was Boma breakfast – Wild Africa Tour – Ultimate Nights of Adventure Tour – home.
The main point of Boma was an excuse to see AKL as part of my tour of hotels, a role originally filled by Jiko, which had to be cancelled after WAT-gate. But breakfast at BOMA and a late FOP felt like burning the candle at both ends. Yet I was reluctant to give up on going to AKL.
I then realised I could move my dinner at Tiffins (scheduled for my AK half-day) to an early lunch on my full AK day – an 11.30am start, rather than a 10.45am one. Not a huge difference, but a difference nonetheless. This meant I had to move WAT to the later slot of 2.30pm. Which was fine as I had a hole to fill. It occurred to me that after WAT I could leave AK and head to AKL for dinner at Jiko, before returning to do Pandora, including my FOP FPP. I scheduled this to be as late as possible so that I could finish with Na’vi just before park close, and enjoy a relatively short line.
I wanted to have two bites at Dinosaur and Everest – the first bite being on my half-day at AK – so I squeezed these between lunch at the now later starting WAT.
So the full day is now Tiffins – Dinosaur – Everest – WAT – Jiko and exploring AKL – FOP – Na’vi. A long day – 11 hours – but a fair amount of sitting in air conditioned restaurants, at least one of which is pretty tranquil.
I then turned to my other two FOPs. I’d been a bit greedy in bagging three, but it’s such an awesome ride. Plus the two-day shutdown (in April?) got me scared. As I said, I’m very into having multiple opportunities to go on the A-list rides, just in case something breaks down.
The first of these FOPs was for my half-day at AK. The idea was to do late morning to late afternoon at UOR, then come back to AK in the early evening. Originally I pictured a lovely quiet dinner at Tiffins, followed by FPP Na’vi (because I’d been unable to get FPP FOP at 60 days) and regular line FOP. But I’d now moved Tiffins to lunch on the full AK day, and my FPPs had swapped over, yes for FOP and therefore no for Na’vi.
So I settled on Dinosaur – Everest – FOP – Satu’li – Na’vi, again timed so that Na’vi is just before park close. I did Satu’li twice last year and am very much looking forward to going again.
The difficulty with this new plan is it meant leaving UOR about two hours later than I had originally scheduled (because Satu’li is a much quicker meal than Tiffins, and because of the desire to do Na’vi at the new, later, park close). This meant my UOR Day One plan no longer made sense: it has a two hour hole in it now.
Meanwhile, there was my third FOP. The idea here was to spend a 95% full day at UOR, but stop off at AK on the way back to my house just to do FOP. I’d got the latest FPP they have: 9.30-10.30pm. Once again, I decided I’d time it to get a third bite at Na’vi, too.
So that’s three days ending an hour later than originally scheduled. But there’s more! Arrival day is MK day, and that has a late close now, too. The original plan was arrive at MCO – uber to house to drop off bags and change – uber to MK – BTMR – Splash – HEA dessert party – 7DMT – back to house. I have FPPs for all three rides.
The later close gave me two thoughts. First, if I was delayed at getting to MK by a late plane or long lines at immigration, I wouldn’t be too traumatised in missing BTMR and Splash because I can now do them after HEA. (And surely if my flight arrives at MCO at 2.30pm I can be in MK in time for the dessert party at, say, 8.30pm.)
But what if I do make it time for my original schedule. The temptation is to stay till close and get a couple of extra rides in after 7DMT.
So now I have a fourth day ending much later than planned. And one day starting a little later than planned (my full AK day now beginning with an 11.30am lunch rather than a 10.45am breakfast.)
The house I’m staying at is incredibly tranquil – and it has a pool and hot-tub. I don’t want to spend all my time at theme parks. So now I’m thinking of trimming my two UOR days by starting them a little later in the day.
I can play much of this by ear once I’m actually there. UOR is easy because I have Express Passes both days, and ADRs aren’t a thing. So timings are not critical. (Except I think I might try to get a reservation at Toothsomes for lunch on one of my days, and Mythos for dinner on the other one. If reservations are even necessary. Amusingly it seems like you can only book a month in advance, rather than 180 days!)
So I do now have a new version of the plan. But it has been emotionally draining. I remember reading that we all have a map in our heads of our lives and our place in them. Big life events – moving house, marriage, death, children etc – require this map to be ripped up and redrawn, and that’s why they’re so stressful. It’s not on the same scale, but I feel somewhat like this right now.
There is a sense in which my plans are maps – when I’m scheduling, I literally look at the park maps to make sure the plans are making geographic, as well as temporal, sense.
Well, that’s the end of today’s planning report!
) hour gaps into most of my park days. This accounts for unexpected delays, long lines at the bathroom, etc. It also gives me the freedom, if I am actually staying on schedule, to stop and ask myself "what do I want / need / feel like doing right at this moment that might not have been in my original plans?"
I’m sure you know your own eating habits better than I do!