AKL-CL Itinerary Help!

[drj898]

Hey everyone...I got a basic itinerary all set, but I'd absolutely LOVE some comments, questions, complaints, and/or suggestions!! In case you haven't read any of my previous threads on here, I'm surprising my girlfriend with a vacation to DW for her birthday in July. Her birthday is July 9th, but we're both busy so we're gonna be going Thurs, July 12th and leaving on Wed. July 18th. Oh..I'm also proposing. lol Anyways, here it comes:

Thursday 12th - Our flight (not booked yet) will arrive before noon. We will relax and explore Animal Kingdom Lodge and head to Downtown Disney, with dinner at Raglan Road at 5:00PM.


Friday 13th - We will spend the day at Hollywood Studios, with a Fantasmic dinner package at Mama Melrose (6:00PM with 9:00PM show).


Sat 14th - We will spend the day at Magic Kingdom with a character breakfast in the morning at Crystal Palace at 8:20AM, and then a birthday dinner for my girlfriend at California Grill at 5:55PM.


Sun 15th - Another day in Hollywood Studios, with lunch at 50's Primetime Cafe at 1:15PM, and dinner at Ohana in the Polynesian Resort at 8:20PM.


Mon 16th - We will spend a day in Epcot, and dinner in Tutto Italia for 5:45PM.


Tues 17th - Day in Animal Kingdom (park), beginning with Tusker House character breakfast, and then dinner back at the resort in Boma for 7:05PM.


Wed. 18th - After breakfast, we will be leaving, as my girlfriend has her first Summer class at her college at 3PM.


But! I have a couple of updates I just sorta came up with this morning....what if...

I schedule the Sunrise Safari for Sunday the 15th, and make THAT our day in AK. And leave the final full day, (The 17th), totally up to her. I'm going to tell her where we're going after my full-payment, 45-day mark on Memorial Day, and I'll ask her what she'd like to do and I'll make ADR's if necessary. I think it's a real shame if we don't take advantage of everything club level gives us access to and not do the sunrise safari, sunset safari, or both.

If I do that, should I cancel Ohana that night? Or keep it?

Oh also...I forgot to mention my plan to beat the heat and crowds. Don't worry! I've covered my bases!

The plan for every full day, is to have breakfast in order to make rope drop at each park Orrrr....already be IN PARK (Tusker House breakfast, Crystal Palace breakfast) to be there when that rope drops.

Then, spend 9am to like 1pm'ish either have lunch in-park, or back at AKL. Then not return to the park or to whereever we have dinner reservations until like 5pm. I'm anticipating 95 degrees with 95% humidity and 9/10 crowd levels. I want her to be happy and smiley! Not hot, stressed out, and feeling sick from the heat.

One last thing!!... I've heard from a lot of Disney veterans that it'd be a real tough thing and not very relaxing and romantic to run over to DTD the night we get there. And we might be better off to just relax inside AKL that night and take everything in, looking at the animals...maybe a drink or two in Victoria Falls...maybe dinner at Jiko/Sanaa/Boma....etc. Any thoughts?


Thanks so incredibly much, in advance!

 

[drj898]

Now that this site is resuming full functionality, I thought I'd bump this up a bit! lol

 

[drj898]

BIG CHANGES:

1) Sunrise Safari on Sunday, instead of a 2nd day at DHS. With that, I've cancelled the final full day (Tuesday) at Animal Kingdom, and moved it to that Sunday after the Sunrise Safari.

2) Boma is cancelled on Tuesday which would've been after our day in Animal Kingdom.

3) Lunch at 50's Primetime on Sunday is cancelled.

Right now, our last full day in DW is free and open. I'm going to leave it to my girlfriend. I'm going to show her maps and menus and let her make the call.

 

[akclayton]

I see you've switched from BWI to AKL.

I think doing the Sunrise Safari on Sunday and doing AK that day is a good decision. That will help give you that last full day to do anything that you still want to do or do again.

I think the first night, just take in the AKL as vets have pointed out. Eat at Boma and if you decide after that, that you want to go to DTD and walk around or maybe even catch a firework show at a park, then do that. If you do a firework show the first night, when it comes your day in that park, you can take advantage of smaller ride lines while the show is going on.

Good Luck, it will be here before you know it. You better make sure that you do a trip report after this trip. I've enjoyed reading your threads and seeing how your trip is coming along.

 

[drj898]

Thank you so much.

I'm anticipating us being hungry after our flight so I was going to just take advantage of the snacks and stuff in the Kilimanjaro Club lounge, and then have a nice big dinner @ Raglan Road in DTD.

But an early dinner at Boma and then hitting DTD if we feel up to it (if SHE feels up to it, I should say! lol), then we'll do that.


Thanks again!!


PS: I managed to get that AKL club level room for 6 nights, plus park hoppers for $2,800!! I'm SO psyched for it. I think she'll LOVE it.

 

[akclayton]

That's an awesome deal!!! Congrats.

 

[drj898]

I just booked Boma as an early (5pm) dinner instead of Raglan Road. I figured we'd have dinner early and then relax. OR..hit DTD at night. Totally do-able.

Questions: Jiko instead of Boma on our arrival dinner?

-- Jiko OR Boma instead of Ohana after our day at AK (sunrise safari that morning)??

-- Is Tutto Italia really nice? What would you suggest if you were spending the day/night in Epcot? We wanna see Illuminations up-front along the lake so I don't want to stray too far from the park.

Thanks again!

 

[megs1313]

I just booked Boma as an early (5pm) dinner instead of Raglan Road. I figured we'd have dinner early and then relax. OR..hit DTD at night. Totally do-able.

Questions: Jiko instead of Boma on our arrival dinner?

-- Jiko OR Boma instead of Ohana after our day at AK (sunrise safari that morning)??

-- Is Tutto Italia really nice? What would you suggest if you were spending the day/night in Epcot? We wanna see Illuminations up-front along the lake so I don't want to stray too far from the park.

Thanks again!

Why did you change from Raglan Road? The only reason I ask is that I helped plan a trip for my bro and his gf and they had such a fantastic time at raglan road that they went back again in that same trip. just curious what made you change your mind! We'll be staying at AKL CL this summer, too. If you're there the same time as us, please let us buy you a drink to celebrate your engagement! Best wishes!

 

[megs1313]

Also a couple comments:

the dinner at California Grill: Can you move that time later so that you can use the viewing deck to see the fireworks? They will be late in the evening because it's summer. That was seriously one of the best moments of our trip last year. SOOOO romantic! you could head back to AKL and snack in the CL lounge (have a wine), take a dip in the pool, etc. and then head over to CR for a late dinner with the fireworks viewing!

Epcot: I would recommend Les Chefs Des France.

 

[lumpy08]

Sounds great! Your plan on trying to beat the heat is what we do.

Photos: I would suggest pre-ordering photo pass. (do a search on DIS for photo pass). Basically, you have you photos taken at your resort or in the parks by photographers. The photographer gives you a card that they scan throughout your trip. When you return home you can edit, add borders etc to your photos and they send you a cd.

They also have a photo pass portrait session. However, the price has really increased over the years. I have done the portrait session at the Grand Floridan and the Poly. I liked the Poly better where our photos were on the beach and th castle was in the background. They also have it available at AK.

We celebrated our 15th anniversary and were given champagne or desserts at some of our dinners.

I would suggest giving her a journal while you are on your trip. I am sure you will have many magical moments and it will be something nice to look back on.

Good luck!

 

[Missyrose]

Here's what I would do:

See if you can get a Jiko ADR for arrival night, it would be the perfect setting to kick off your romantic trip.

Keep the 'Ohana reservation for the AK day, mainly because DBF and I LOVE 'Ohana . Seriously, it's our must-do ADR each trip. I would maybe see if you could push back your ADR until later. We had a 9:50 ADR, which was awesome because the fireworks crowds and families had departed, so our meal was much quieter and more romantic.

I would also make a late ADR at Boma for your last night. That way you get to close out your week at the gorgeous resort you're staying at and it will give you a chance to get organized and packed before you have to leave the next morning.

Hope this helps! Good luck with the proposal.