Asking for help from you Disney veterans. We have a good bit of flexibility and so I’ve come up with some different plans for our 2-week trip, kind of to allow for ADRs I can/can’t get, FPP, etc. The only things that are set in stone are the last day in MK and Dec 9th also in MK. We will have DH and myself, our three girls (4, 6, and 8), and various grandparents throughout the trip. Would you mind taking a look at these three plans and telling me what you think of them? Which you would choose, which you think is the better option, major pitfalls you see, etc.
I like different things about each of them: not leaving HS for a meal so having a full day in the park (and less of a chance of feeling like we wished for another day there), not having our second AK day be that CL10 Saturday, etc.
Anyways, I’m rambling. Some input from those of you who have done Disney recently or who have good ideas as to just HOW exhausted the grandparents (not to mention the rest of us) will be after days like this would be very helpful. Thanks!
However, you have youarriving at MK by 8:30 for a 9am start. Are you aware that Main St opens to everyone at 8am on a 9am park opening day? Everyone then gathers at the Hub to watch the opening show and for rope drop.
Nothing wrong with arriving at 8:30, but wanted to make sure you knew the opening show isn’t at the station at the main gate anymore.
Yes, I do know that the opening show is in the Hub these days. Those 8:30 start days are all party days so I assume the crowds will be a bit thinner, and I mean through the gate at 8:30, not arriving at the gate. Thanks for all help!
HI think I prefer plan 3. But I would change parts to plan 1
starting at MK is a must in my book!
parks all split (I didn’t like plan 2 with 2 back to back AK days, though it started with MK).
Bon Voyage breakfast will give you a nice break in the middle of DHS. But with 3 girls, I would think there’s more to do in DHS than you will have time for. Will they want to see shows? If so, you’ll have trouble fitting them in if you also try and see all the Star Wars stuff. Even without the break, and BV would be a long break.
which is why I would still do BV breakfast in the middle of the Epcot day!
and have the H&V lunch followed by a show to break up the DHS day.
I think rushing from AK to see EWP and Holiday wishes is too much. Do that on a non park day, combine it with maybe dinner at 1900 with Cinderella etc.
I assume the one extra park day is a choose depending on people’s favourites.
Plan one has an awful lots of rope drop to park close days. That sounds exhausting for the 4 and 6 year old (actually even 8 year old too maybe). I think your mix of starting later or ending earlier in the other plans is going to feel better. You have such a long trip that you don’t really need to be exhausted from opening and closing the park in the same day without a midday break.
You have plenty of time. I would plan 2 days in every park, 3 in MK.
Split Epcot down the middle: half of FW (The Land, Seas, Imagination) and Canada, UK, France, Morocco and Japan on one day, then rest of FW (TT, Mission Space, SSE) and Mexico, Norway, China, Italy, Germany and US on the other.
Do two days at DHS - to be able to get FPs for 2 out of 3 TSL rides, some of the shows on each day. Don’t forget stuff like the March of the First Order too.
@Nicky_S yes, I think the girls will want to see the shows in HS. But we can skip all SW stuff. DH and his brother may go do those things while the rest of us do a show or two, but the girls won’t care about SW stuff. I meant to take out the EWP and Holiday Wishes on that AK day and forgot. I think we’ll probably do it on our very last day, which is an off/pack/swim day. And we only have 8-day tickets, so 2 EP, 2 AK, 1 HS, and 3 MK. I don’t think we can do another park day.
@SMo I think all plans have 3 open-close days, and none of them are next to each other. Our last day we’ll go back for a nap but I’m not sure we will on the other days, especially not the HS day. We’re offsite and I’m not sure that getting back to the car and to our place and back again will save anyone any energy than if we just take it easy inside the park. Thoughts here?
Note 1, applicable to all plans: things take much longer to get to and do than you imagine they will. For example the idea that you are going grocery shopping at 10, swimming at 11, and monorail/resort/etc at noon is a solid no-way. Keep this in mind when tweaking things. On that particular day I would plan to be groceries OR swimming and then monorail closer to 1.
Have you considered how to work some down time into these looooooooooong days? We cannot manage to go RD to close (me, DH, kids 14 and 10) - we prefer a late start to close or a rope drop to dinner. Or if we do want both ends of the day we plan 3-4 hrs of down time in the middle part of the day. Some folks can go, go, go, and you do have days off sprinkled in there nicely. But for us it’s way too long a day. I think Plan 2 is the most forgiving plan in that way, and I favor it for that reason.
FOF Parade 2? They do move it to 2 sometimes, just be sure it’s not really at 3 (it’s “normal” time)
In my plans, MK is Cinderella blue, EP is purple, AK is green, and HS is red
I think in November they have it scheduled at 2. Maybe that was for MVMCP days, they have it an hour earlier? I remember thinking I didn’t know it was at 2. We skipped it last time, bc it June it was just too hot, we were in the pool by then but I think it was 3:00.
You know your kids (and your own) stamina best but staying off site (so mid-day break not really very workable), I would pick either rope drop or the evening fireworks. I would not do both in the same day. That’s the case even if it means picking just one or two parks to do the evening show in. My family at least would otherwise just be too exhausted & cranky by the fireworks to actually enjoy it anyway.
Also, i’d do a grocery delivery instead of schlepping to the store yourself. Safeway was priced quite reasonably & had decent delivery windows. That would let you pool that day still & relax more.
@OBNurseNH that first day is just doing those things, not at those specific times! We have a whole day to get ready for the week, to do some swimming, shopping, etc. I do want to get us over to WDW for a little bit just to get the kids excited but it is supposed to be a fairly chill day and to allow us to recover from the 10-hour drive the day before.
Do you have any suggestions for midday breaks that don’t involve leaving the park? I know that at least on our HS day we’ll be there all day. There are lots of shows, though, so I don’t really see this day as being a problem. Thoughts? Our long MK day I fully intend on leaving and making my 4-year old nap, probably the 6-year old, too.
I will work on it and try to move some of those RD days where we want to do the evening shows to a later start. I guess that in my mind we’re going to be going slow (old legs and little legs and no stroller unless we decide we need it, but my kids regularly walk 3-4 miles at a time and did 8 miles on a travel day two weeks ago…) so the day won’t be as bad as if we were trying to cram everything in that we possibly could into that day. Am I wrong here? I haven’t done WDW in a very long time and I was a lot younger the last time…
I’ll fidget with the plan some and be back. Thanks for the feedback!
I think that we’ll be ok for a long AK day if we plan to leave right after ROL. I’m not sure if I put in there to RD or not, but if I did I also put a TH brunch in there, I think. That should help, right? And our HS day will be an all-day ordeal since we’re only doing it the one day. I have either a later start the next day or a day off.
One thing to note is that my kids don’t sleep in. They might sleep until 8. But usually they’re up at at 'em, no matter what time they go to bed. The grandparents might feel differently but I kinda feel like if my kids are going to be up at 6:30 or 7 then we may as well head to a park. Am I crazy for thinking this? The whole “sleep in and then stay up later that night” just doesn’t work for us yet.
But one time I thought we broke my son, then 8, when we had to wake him up at 1030 so we wouldn’t miss breakfast! This is a kid who was always up by 6-630. Everything is different in WDW But mainly I think what you’re saying makes sense.
So, this is ENTIRELY subjective, but here what I think.
AK is the most free park; by that I mean: you can walk around and look at animals with minimal/no wait (Gorilla Trails, the other one in Asia). The Dinosaur playground is super fun for little one. Walking around the Tree of Life is also super fun. If your children like animals/going to the zoo, two days at AK will be the best. MK is awesome, but a lot of it is about waiting, and then waiting some more. AK will have them moving and be more active. More freeplay. And I think two days at AK will be great for that.
Also, I don’t personally know your kids, but I feel that if they are starting at WDW for the first time, starting with a sit-down breakfast with princesses and then going to Epcot might feel weird to them. I don’t know if the 4-year old will get what’s going on. However, going to MK first, then breakfast with the princesses and going to Epcot might help with the flow.
I gotta figure out how to do that!
