Feedback on itinerary, please!

[krazystain]

Hello!

I am new to posting to this board, but this will be my third WDW trip that I have planned in the past 12 months and I'd love to hear some feedback as we will be getting the DxDDP for the first time and I'm hoping we're making good choices! Since we're going during the free dining promotion, reservations are a bit difficult to switch around at this point, but I figure things will open up at the 45 day mark if needed. We will be travelling with me, DH, DS (4), DD (6mos), and my mom and we will be staying at the Beach Club (our first stay at a Deluxe!). We haven't spent much time at Epcot before, so we're looking forward to being within walking distance to a park - especially having two kids who will be using the stroller (as I suspect my preschooler will wear himself out during the trip!). We would like to avoid bus transportation as much as possible-- strollers and kid stuff just makes the buses stressful! Since we have been to WDW recently, we will be heavy on the experiences -- DS LOVES meeting the characters at meals -- and will hit some main rides with our FP. I know that the DxDDP involves a lot of time at restaurants, but if we combine with character meet and greets, it saves a lot of time in long lines in the park. Plus, with a lot of buffets, we can limit our total calorie consumption without being too wasteful! We will have 60 TS credits between the 4 of us)

Here is our trip itinerary as it stands right now (but they're always a work in progress, eh?!)

Nov 9 - arrive at 12pm, dinner at La Hacienda at 7:45, hopefully able to see IllumiNations from the restaurant
(4 Cr)

Nov 10 - Garden Grill breakfast at 8:25am
monorail to MK for the morning
Chef Mickey's lunch at 1:30pm
Yachtsman Steakhouse @ 7:30pm (DS will share a meal with us, saving 2 TS Cr)
(14 Cr)

Nov 11 - Cape May breakfast @ 9:10
morning at resort pool
afternoon at Epcot --lunch at F&W using the million snack credits we will likely still have at this point...!
monorail to Contemporary Resort
California Grill at 9:20pm to see Wishes (DS will share a meal, saving 2 TS Cr)
(10 Cr)

Nov 12 - Hollywood and Vine breakfast at 9:35
morning at HS, afternoon at resort/Epcot/F&W
Tutto Italia @ 8:25 (Is this a better choice than Teppan Edo or Via Napoli??)
(8 Cr)

Nov 13 - Crystal Palace at 9:25 (tried to get pre-opening ADR, but not available!)
CRT 1:15pm
afternoon at resort after CRT
Coral Reef at 8:05 (Same question -- I think my DS will like the aquarium, but is this a better choice than Teppan Edo or somewhere else in Epcot that we've missed?)
(16 Cr)

Nov 14 - Akershus breakfast @ 9:35
check out of room and spend afternoon at hotel
Cape May clambake @ 5:00
depart for airport at 7:30pm
(8 Cr)

Thanks in advance for any help/comments/advice!

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

Do you want to go to the parks and enjoy the rides and attractions? Instead of big breakfasts everyday at 9:00ish, I would hit the parks and enjoy the least crowded time of the day (rope drop until around 11am). Your plan sounds like a lot of eating. Your little ones might get tired of constantly being in restaurants. With little ones it is often better to have less planned so you can go with the flow. I am sure you will have a wonderful time no matter what though

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

Honestly it sounds like way too many late nights for a 4 year old and way too much food. The baby can nap on the fly and adjust but I know my even 9 year old couldn't make all those late dinners nor would they want to sit that many times. I would go with the regular dining plan with little ones or at the least do a breakfast and early dinner and cut out some lunches. Good luck!

 

[MissDisneyDora]

I would mimic what My2CrazyGirls said, this is a very food heavy touring plan. If that's the aspect that your family enjoys most than stick to it...you've done well to get a lot of these reservations! However I would consider moving some to dinner etc. Also there's quite a bit of park hopping as well, I can only speak from experience and say that with a 5 year old I've pretty much given up on Park Hopping as it really wears her out. My strategy has always been to hit the parks in the morning, do as much as possible and then retire earlier in the day.

x
Dora

 

[baldy6060]

We like food. We had the regular dining plan last year. It was way too much food. Even for my teenage son! You'll be missing out on a lot of park experiences and you won't enjoy the food as much because you won't be hungry. Especially when you have 2 buffets in one day or when you're eating so much food and then you have a nice meal that you don't even want anymore. And your kids may be too cranky to let you enjoy the meal.

 

[kidsfirsttrip]

We like food. We had the regular dining plan last year. It was way too much food. Even for my teenage son! You'll be missing out on a lot of park experiences and you won't enjoy the food as much because you won't be hungry. Especially when you have 2 buffets in one day or when you're eating so much food and then you have a nice meal that you don't even want anymore. And your kids may be too cranky to let you enjoy the meal.

Agree with this did reg dining plan and way too much food. I can even imagine the ddxp.

 

[Madteaparty001]

I would like to echo everyone else here, it really is just way to much food, especially for kids. My DH and I did DxDDP for our honeymoon, I was uncomfortably full the entire vacation, my DH who has a crazy fast metabolism was 'pleasantly full', and we still had TS credits left over (that's after eating at CRT and 2 signatures)! If you have a buffet for breakfast you'll probably be full or sustained by snacks until dinner. If you have a buffet for dinner you probably won't be that hungry at breakfast. Kids are unpredictable, they could not be hungry at half of your meals and when you leave the restaurant they'll want a snack! That means either using snack credits you hadn't planned on or having to use a valuable TS credit at a QS location.

I honestly felt like half our vacation was spent trying to get to a reservation, and if you're using Disney buses you won't be guaranteed even making it in time. I think you would be best going to a regular dinning plan, cancel a few meals, and use the savings to order the extras the deluxe plan would have given you. This way your kids won't get overwhelmed from the constant forced sitting still and you won't be pulling your hair out because your not getting your money's worth in food.

 

[Madteaparty001]

I just wanted to add that if you're really worried about your kids meeting characters there are other ways to meet them with out standing in long lines. Mickey's not so scary Halloween party has dance parties with the characters, they dance with the crowd and won't sign autographs but may stop for a quick impromptu photo. There's the Pirate and Pals Fireworks crew with Mr. Smee and Hook (I believe you meet peter pan before hand as well). You can also use your fast passes for meet and greets. Also if you have a Disney chase visa card (can be credit or debit) there's an exclusive character meet and greet in Epcot where they'll give you a free picture to take with you.

 

[krazystain]

Thanks so much for all of your replies! I agree, we have a lot of reservations planned, but I have found in the past that it is nice to have some structure to the day, otherwise decisions end up taking all of our free time!

As for the amount of food-- it may be wasteful, but I anticipate eating very little at the buffets and going more for the experiences-- ie dancing at Hollywood and vine, moving restaurant at garden grill, characters at the other restaurants. The amount we paid to upgrade to the dxddp was minimal (as we are going during free dining), and for me, there is a big value with a) planning ahead and b) no out of pocket expenses at the restaurants (besides tips). I'm hoping to time our fast passes so that we can still get to the attractions we want even though we'll be spending some morning hours in the restaurants.

As for the late nights, I am a bit concerned about that, but I'm hoping that my 4 year old naps during the day. We don't have a set routine at home, so I think that will help as well. I think I'm more worried about my DH getting worn out!! Truthfully, if it becomes too much, then we can always abandon the more in-demand reservations and eat earlier in the day/skip fireworks. When we went in February, DS made it to the fireworks as long as he had a nap in the afternoon- lucky for us, he's a pretty flexible kid!

Thanks for the info about the chase character meet and greet- I had forgotten about that! I'll definitely look into the pirate cruise as well. (We did mnsshp last year-- truthfully, it was super crowded, only saw two characters, and, besides the amazing parade, we were not impressed given the cost of admission. I've heard great things about it, so maybe we just hit it on an off night.

I am definitely a bit of an ocd planner, so I put a lot of value in having a set plan in place. Luckily my family tolerates it since they don't have to research and make decisions!