Here's my park strategy. Am I trying to do too much?

[nightowlky]

Ok, I'm planning my first multi-day stay at WDW and first ever on-site. I've learned so much already in the week or so I've been researching up here and elsewhere that I never would have thought to consider and still trying to figure out how to handle the big dinners/breakfasts and what best days to hit what parks.

Here's what I have planned out so far:


See modified itinerary further down....Post 10 I think


July 29
Evening arrival at POFQ and head over to Typhoon Lagoon (has EMH that evening...nice way to relax after a long drive)
DTD probably

July 30
EMH morning at Epcot (and hopefully a bit of a late check-out from POFQ)
Check out from POFQ and drop luggage off at YC
Water park (BB or TL)
Dinner
EMH evening at MK

July 31
EMH morning at MGM
Evening at MK (Crystal Palace Dinner maybe?)

Aug 1
Morning at AK
Head for water park during hot afternoon hours
Dinner
DTD perhaps

Aug 2
EMH morning at AK (to see animals eating and such)
Lunch perhaps around the YC
Water park for a couple of hours
EMH evening MGM (Fantasmic - 2nd show)

Aug 3
Breakfast at Chef Mickey's (hopefully can still get ADR)
EMH morning at MK
Afternoon break to CR pool
Evening at MK

Aug 4
EMH morning at Epcot
Late character breakfast at Poly or GF
Checkout (WAAAH!!)
DTD shopping, perhaps?

Start driving home. (Bigger WAAAAAHHH!!)



I'm open to suggestions/modifications.

Esp. looking for advice re: character meals.

 

[tjmouse]

1. If you haven't made your dining reservations yet, get on it like tomorrow morning. You might have a tough time getting those character meals. I think Crystal Palace and Chef Mickey's are good choices, but if you can't get those, try Garden Grill at Epcot and how about Cape May at the Beach Club??

2. You said afternoon break at CR pool. If you aren't staying there or aren't a DVC member, you can't swim there. Maybe you are a DVC member, but I can't tell by your post.

3. You have a lot of water park time. If you are staying at the Yacht Club, you have one of the best pools on Disney property. If you bought the premium ticket with the extras, I can see why you would want to use them at the water parks, but if you didn't, don't waste your money. Use the pool at YC.

4. Everything else looks good. Taking advantage of the morning and evening EMH's is smart during the hottest months. Good job!

5. Make sure you take the boat to DTD from POFQ your first night. It's a very nice ride.

I hope this helps - please don't take offense to any of my suggestions, just trying to make your trip a magical one.

 

[nightowlky]

Hmm...good point re: the water parks. I was going to do the Premium ticket (MYW + Park Hopper + Water Parks and more) for the parks and also for the DisneyQuest (might do that the 1st day we get there and maybe again on the last Fri. (still considering staying one more night for Fri. night but being off-site..just a place to crash and relax after the last day at the parks and then head home on Sat. morning)

As for the CR, yeah, staying there the last two nights (Wed/Thur nights)

I'll get on the ADRs tomorrow morning. I was just trying to figure out what days to hit what parks and such and this whole trip expanded from just a 2-3 day value resort stay to an entire week on-site and adding on the character dinners (never really thought of those before a couple days ago).

Thanks for the info. I think hanging at the YC might be a way to go. Be more relaxing instead of always being somewhere.

 

[lexmelinda]

Hmmm, looks like a lot of EMH mornings and evenings. You don't say how old your kids are but on our last trip our girls were 10 & 6 and we were unable to burn the candle at both ends. We did late nights backed up to early mornings and there was a lot of resistance after a couple of days...no one wanted to get up in the morning! My plan was foiled and I was totally married to the plan! I guess my advice would be not to get to set on the itinerary and take a few afternoons and mornings just to rest, especially after late nights, and just have fun!

 

[aengus]

good plan, but you can have POFQ ship your luggage to YC for you. dont lose anytime doing that yourself! Go check in at YC after spending your morning at epcot.

 

[Gabe's Mom]

Your plan does look very ...ambitious. I would worry abotu all those late nights and early mornings. I'd hate for you to end up not loving your first real trip to Disney because you overdid it
Maybe reconsider all the waterparks. It looks like you would be putting a lot of time into tranport. I agree with the idea of spending those afternoons at your resort. Hey, you may even decide to take a nap instead of swimming one of those days
Whatever you decide, don't be afraid to adjust during the trip for what you see to be best. Good Luck and have fun

 

[nightowlky]

Thanks for the feedback.

My daughters are 11 and 19 (well, she'll be 19 next month) so the walking and hours won't be too rough on them. And, with the EMH evenings, I doubt we'll be staying there too late. Mostly just to catch later fireworks shows or get a couple of rides in after normal park closing hours and just hanging around for the ambience.

I'm thinking we'll not do the waterparks so much and save the trouble of getting to them and packing stuff over there. We have a decent waterpark here at Ky Kingdom and I can go there anytime w/my Six Flags season pass.

And then I'll let the resorts handle the luggage, then, on days we're switching.


I know ADRs are needed for character meals but what about other TS dining (esp. for dinner). Can you get an ADR to plan for dinner at a regular resort or DTD restaurant?

 

[tjmouse]

You are going at a time when almost all the resorts are booked solid. If even 1/2 of those people on are the dining plan, you will definately need ADR's. I was at Epcot at the end of April. It was more empty than I had ever seen it. We had a 7:00 ADR for Biergarten. They were turning people away with no ADR's. One lady commented that she had already tried San Angel and Alfredo's. I would make some ADR's. Most places at the Boardwalk don't take reservations, so you can always try there especially when you are staying at the Yacht Club, but not sure which are on the dining plan if you are doing it.

 

[NJOYURLIFE]

I agree with the others about the water parks. I didn't notice what type of pass you were getting, but also each time you do a water park, you use a day of that option off your ticket even if you are only there a couple of hours. I do think it is usually cost effective to add the Pluses to a ticket, but I would only use them if I could make a day of it. The resort pools are great for those mid day breaks.

We are not used to doing the parks commando style so I feel a little funny commenting on your schedule overall. But here is my point of view. I do know it would exhaust me and before we got annual passes, we would always try to schedule a down day somewhere in the middle to catch our breaths. Once we got the annual passes, we don't think twice about only heading to a park for an hour or two on a given day.

Some specific comments on each day:
July 29th - I would ditch Typhoon Lagoon and take advantage of the resort pool. The boat to DD would be great

July 30th - How can you do EMH at Epcot and get a late checkout from POFQ? I don't think that would work because it would be very tight. I think it would be hard to head to Epcot and then get back in time to check out.

July 31st looks good

August 1 - I would probably consider this my non theme park day. I would try to schedule one of those character breakfasts for late morning and maybe visit the water park today if I I really really wanted to get a water park in.

August 2 - I would probably eat lunch at AK and stay the day here because it is a big park space wise. This park usually closes late afternoon, so it sometimes doesn't make sense to leave early. This would still give you time to take a break before heading to MGM

August 3 - In order to get a character meal in before EMH at MK you need to schedule it pretty early unless you schedule the meal for a late seating and go to the park and then leave. I don't have any experience with doing that, but I think it may be a little tough. ALso, you will be at MGM late the night before.

August 4th - I think going from Epcot to the Poly or GF may be tough. I would probably eliminate this character meal and just focus on relaxing at Epcot and leaving from there and then hitting DD if you need to. Why relax at DD when you can relax at Epcot?

These are just some of my thoughts. Like I said, we are not commando park people, so my suggestions could be way off, please don't take any offense on my comments.

I am sure you'll have a great visit! Is this a one time trip or will there possibly be more in the future? That would also affect my planning. I know it is so hard to not try to get everything in. But I do know I hate hearing from people that going to Disney is NOT a vacation because it is so exhausting. I think people make their Disney vacation exhausting because they try to do too much.

 

[nightowlky]

Thanks for all the input. It's been invaluable!!

Here's a modified itinerary (btw, we'll not be on the DDP)


July 29
Evening arrival at POFQ
Dinner at DTD

July 30
EMH morning at Epcot
Check-in at YC
Evening at MK (Dinner at Crystal Palace...Confirmed 7:30pm)

July 31
EMH morning at MGM
EMH Evening at AK (Pizzafari/Flame Tree for dinner?)

Aug 1
Sleep in
Spoodles for Breakfast?
Figure out which rides we want to hit again and head there for some FastPass
Dinner around YC/BC/Boardwalk area
Epcot for the late evening and catch Illuminations

Aug 2
EMH morning at AK (to see animals eating and such, late lunch at Rainforest Cafe)
Check-in at Contemporary
EMH evening MGM (Dinner at 50s Prime time then Fantasmic - 2nd show)

Aug 3
Breakfast at Chef Mickey's (Confirmed - 7am)
EMH morning at MK
Afternoon break to CR pool
Evening at MK

Aug 4
Breakfast at Ohana (Confirmed - 7:30am)
Epcot for a few hours
Checkout (WAAAH!!)
DTD shopping, perhaps?

Start driving home. (Bigger WAAAAAHHH!!)

Or not...might do a Priceline bid for one more night to relax and take in atmosphere one more evening.

 

[cannp123165]

It sounds great to me!!!

 

[mattsdragon]

Sounds fine, have fun at EPCOT on my birthday.

 

[nightowlky]

We'll dedicate Mission: Space to ya!

 

[nightowlky]

Ok, based on suggestions (VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!) I've adjusted and loosened up the schedule some:

July 29
Evening arrival at POFQ
Dinner at DTD

July 30
EMH morning at Epcot
Check-in at YC
Evening at MGM
Dinner at 50s Prime Time (Confirmed 6:35pm)
Fantasmic

July 31
EMH morning at MGM
Lunch around YC and a long nap
EMH Evening at AK
Dinner at Pizzafari?

Aug 1
Sleep in
Spoodles for Breakfast (Confirmed 9am)
Figure out which rides we want to hit again and head there for some FastPass
Dinner around YC/BC/Boardwalk area
Hang out at YC to catch Illuminations from afar

Aug 2
EMH morning at AK (to see animals eating and such)
Late lunch at Rainforest Cafe?
Check-in at Contemporary
Evening at MK
Dinner at Crystal Palace (Confirmed 7:30pm)
Catch Spectromagic and hang around for Wishes and Kiss Goodnight

Aug 3
EMH morning at MK
Afternoon break to CR pool
Evening at Epcot
Dinner at Akershus ?

Aug 4
Breakfast at Chef Mickey's (Confirmed - 8:10am)
MK for a few hours
Checkout (WAAAH!!)
DTD shopping, perhaps?


And, actually, the way it's looking it's just going to be me and my DD11. My oldest daughter is working now and will be getting ready for going back to school so it's looking like she won't be able to go. Oh well, I'll take her w/me next year when we hit California

 

[jmhkd]

Just wondering why you are choosing not to use the dining plan? Almost everyday you are eating at a table service that is on DDP.

 

[nightowlky]

I don't have the option, I believe, of purchasing the DDP the way my resort stay was obtained (rented points from a gracious DISer) and I still have several meals not confirmed (will play a couple by ear) that I don't know if they'd be part of the DDP list.

 

[rlovew]

If you are moving from resort to resort the dining plan is not a good option because you have to keep buying 1 day tickets. I think it looks good and if you want to do more once you are there you always can. I would suggest Flame Tree instead of Pizzafari at AK. My DH and I do many of the evenings and mornings and sleep midday when it is hot and crowded.

 

[lexmelinda]

Looks great! Good job!

 

[nightowlky]

Meeting more and more approval. Guess I'm on the right track.


As for Flame Tree over Pizzafari, well, sounds great for me but my DD is not a fan of BBQ. I figure she'd enjoy Pizzafari more and, after all, it's about the kids, right?

 

[nightowlky]

If you are moving from resort to resort the dining plan is not a good option because you have to keep buying 1 day tickets. I think it looks good and if you want to do more once you are there you always can. I would suggest Flame Tree instead of Pizzafari at AK. My DH and I do many of the evenings and mornings and sleep midday when it is hot and crowded.

Well, I just made some more reservations (modified schedule below) and the woman at WDW mentioned DVC guests are still eligible for the Dining Plan so I'm going to call the DVC # tomorrow and see if I can (even given the resort-hopping).

July 29
Evening arrival at POFQ
Dinner at Fulton Crab House (Confirmed - 8:00pm)

July 30
EMH morning at Epcot
Check-in at YC
Evening at MGM
Dinner at 50s Prime Time (Confirmed - 6:35pm)
Fantasmic

July 31
EMH morning at MGM
EMH Evening at AK
Dinner at Pizzafari?

Aug 1
Sleep in
Spoodles for Breakfast (Confirmed - 9am)
Figure out which rides we want to hit again and head there for some FastPass
Dinner at Cape May (Confirmed - 7:30pm)
Epcot for the late evening and catch Illuminations

Aug 2
EMH morning at AK (to see animals eating and such)
Late lunch at Rainforest Cafe?
Check-in at Contemporary
Evening at MK
Dinner at Crystal Palace (Confirmed - 7:30pm)
Catch Spectromagic and hang around for Wishes and Kiss Goodnight

Aug 3
EMH morning at MK
Afternoon break to CR pool
Evening at Epcot
Dinner at Akershus (Confirmed - 6:25pm)

Aug 4
Breakfast at Chef Mickey's (Confirmed - 8:10am)
MK for a few hours
DTD shopping, perhaps?