Which Plan is Better? Please Help!

Walt Disney World
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Did you see that it’s a 2-week plan? I have 1 HS day, 2 EP, 2 AK, and 3 MK in all the plans. One day is not “planned” and it will be our second day at either AK or EP. I’ll make three FPP for it and maybe an ADR for Rainforest Cafe for dessert, but it will be very laid back since one set of grandparents is leaving and another arriving that day.

Thanks for the advice on the breakfast with princesses. I had thought it might be a really fun way to start the trip! But I can see how it might be very strange to them, too. I’m a little scared to do MK first and afraid they’ll be bummed at not going back for a week after that first day. But with MVMCP going on it limits our options some for that first week.

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Yep! I saw it was two weeks. For the day that is not planned: I would probably schedule for MK (That would be 1 EP, 4 MK, 2 AK and 1 HS, right?). However (and here is the big but): by that point, you will know exactly what they like (and what they did not like). If they really want to go back to Epcot, that would be a good day to go back. For little ones, there are not many rides, but I know some kids who love to visit all the countries (and meet the various princesses around the world). There probably won’t be too many FP left, but if after the first day at Epcot they keep saying they want to go back, that would be a good way around it.

FYI: I was able to book FPP for FT, Spaceship Earth and Mission Space the day before we went to Epcot (and we went to Epcot on the F and W Marathon Sunday, so it was pretty busy!).

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So you don’t think that 4 MK days is too much? I’m not sure I want to deal with crowds on that Saturday…we won’t be able to get there early since grandparents will be heading out that day, plus we’ll be doing MK the next day with low crowds and then again later that week. That’d be MK 3 times in 5 days. Seems like overkill to me. Not to you?

I think my kids are going to like Epcot. We live overseas and travel a lot so they’re pretty interested in stuff like that. And I think that I would feel stressed out trying to “do” EP in just one day. I want two days! I kinda meant I’m not really going to make a die-hard TP for that Saturday, other than the three FPP, and we’ll try to get things with lines done the first day so that this day is more of “wandering” time with a few rides/shows sprinkled in. We’ll do whatever we want to or didn’t get to the first time we did that park.

The only thing I don’t like about plan 4 is that AK has EMH one of our days there, which we can’t use. But maybe everyone will be in Pandora and we can go elsewhere? DH and I can also go back to AK after we take everyone else home and enjoy Pandora at night and FoP right at park close if we can’t get FPP for it. We could go and close down the park even if everyone else is done…no plans for the next day except to get my mom to the airport and to go to T-Rex (don’t want to eat there but my Dino-loving kid will love it. So dessert seems like a good compromise!).

Pretty much I’m an indecisive person and can’t decide which of these orders is best, if it matters! I feel like I’ve tried all combinations that hit the requirements (see all four night shows [or at least make a plan that makes seeing them possible without us hating our vacation], end in MK on the 12th for DD’s birthday, and MK on December 9th) and give us an off day or a very late start after a late night. I personally think Plan 2 might be fine, even with two back-to-back AK days…that would help us avoid a CL10 or EMH for AK the next week. Plus I might have an easier time convincing everyone we were good to leave, since we’d be back the next day. The only thing I don’t like about Plan 2 is that it doesn’t take advantage of that CL1(!!!) in HS the first week. I’m sure that will change, but there’s got to be a reason it’s predicted to be so low. I feel like low crowds in HS would help us get the park “done” in a day, versus the CL6 the next week. But I don’t mind pushing it to the next week, either, since I’m 100% sure we’re only doing 1 day there.

Gosh, this is super long. All my thoughts, lol. So many decisions to make! And this is why I SO want the input of people who do this more often than me! I don’t want to be that person dragging their kids from sunup to sundown when we’re all tired and miserable. But it’s so easy to look at it all on paper and think, “oh, that’s totally doable…”. I want people to tell me things like this:

and this:

because it helps me know that if they can’t do it with kids 10 and 14, can I really expect my 4, 6, and 8 to do it? Probably not.

So thank you for the input, everyone! @OBNurseNH I look forward to hearing your thoughts when you can! I hope you have a wonderful night shift and help lots of mamas bring beautiful babies into the world! :wink:

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The one thing I found on our first trip was I underestimated how stimulating the parks are and how worn out we would be after 4-5 hours. At that point on most days we need a sit down meal, resort hop for a change of scenery and a sit down or quick serve meal or an afternoon break back at our resort. So for us the HS day would be too long. We plan on our HS days to do Bon Voyage brunch one day and Beaches & Cream lunch the other via boat (we like the relaxing feel of the boat). But YMMV.

I think I like your plan 4 the best.

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YES! My son and husband are early risers. 6:30 is normal for them. At Disney I was waking everyone up screaming, we’re late, hurry up, move it, forget about your teeth! :joy:

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FWIW, as a fellow overseas resident who travels a lot, I will share that my son (age 7) was pretty underwhelmed by World Showcase. He’s been to half of the countries featured there and wasn’t that impressed because he’d seen the “real” thing before. We spent 1 1/2 days in Epcot last year, but I’m only planning for one day this summer. Yes, I’ll miss out a bit, but for us it seems better to spend the time on experiences that he doesn’t have as often.

(That said, with sufficient gelato and funnel cake breaks, he’s able to manage just fine).

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I’ll add that my kids love Epcot and always have once they could roam freely-maybe age 4. Their fave is AK, then Epcot, then MK, and then HS. I think if you have 2 Epcot days, you can take your time and enjoy all the extras–the performers, the exit pavilions in FW, the shops, the kidcot stops. If you only have 1 day, I think we would just skim through all the stuff, hit the main attractions, and miss the charm of Epcot. Agent P is fun to explore a pavilion with a purpose too for the 5 and up crowd.

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We have 3 girls and have been to Disney twice. The first trip the girls were 6,4 and 1 and the second trip they were 9,7, and 4. On both trips we did Epcot first and the girls all loved it and still say it’s their favorite park. I feel like they would have liked it less if we had started with Magic Kingdom.

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Here’s a suggestion for your son.

Challenge him to find out what places are being represented in each Pavillion.

  • what 4 towns are used in “Norway”?
  • what’s wrong with “Italy” ( have him stand with his back to the lagoon)?
  • which centuries are represented in the U.K. Pavillion, what’s the castle?
  • find the flaws in the Morocco Pavillion, why are they there? Where’s the prayer room?
  • what emperor is represented in the China carvings on the buildings?
  • what is missing from Germany? What river is shown on the mural?

Etc

It should keep him busy. OK! he may be a little young but it could spark an interest beyond just the shops. Or get him to draw each type of lamp-post around the lagoon (each nation plus the outpost and FW has it’s own). And I love that all this is the hidden detail that you can discover.

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I like idea to draw the lamp posts! Will definitely try this on the next trip. Thanks! We’ll also do Agent P’s, which I’m sure he will love.

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This is good to know! Disney is not the real world…:laughing:

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Does putting a sit-down meal into a long day break it up enough? I can’t imagine doing a, for example, 8 am open to 10 pm close. But 9-8 with a sit down meal in there might be doable, especially with a day off afterward. I can put that BV breakfast in that HS day instead of in the Epcot day.

I love the idea of taking afternoon breaks most days. Just with us being offsite I feel like it might take more time and energy (walking to the car) to get back to our resort and back to the park than if we just stay in the park and chill, take it slow, sit down for 30 minutes twice and have ice cream, etc. I think I’ll make sure to have a sit down meal on our HS day and we’ll leave the park for one of our EP and MK days. I seem to have more flexibility in my AK days for some reason and since ROL is so early I think I can make AK work without us having to leave…we can do a later start there one day.

Thank you for the input.

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Funny enough my kids haven’t been to any of the countries in WS (well, except the US and 4 hours in England to visit with a friend in the airport). They’ve been to Finland but not Norway. Spain but not France. Etcetera. I still think they’ll like it…maybe not two full days’ worth, but enough to get to wander around some, look for details, meet princesses, etc. Agent P also sounds fun.

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These are awesome suggestions! I’ll have to keep them in mind in case my kiddos get bored!

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Our best days seem to be the ones with the afternoon break. But on the days we can’t do that going to a resort for a break and change of scenery works pretty well for us to break up the day. I don’t think we could go from rope drop to close though, but that’s just us.

DD loves the kidcot stations (and wilderness explorers in AK).

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