Opinions please - does this sound doable?

[immalemon]

We fly in late on the 14th. We are staying at a hotel by the airport that first night, so I do not think we will be able to make EE on the 15th. We get to the hotel by the airport around 2 am. So we will probably not be leaving the hotel untill 8 or 9 to get to the Disney hotel, and even then, by the time we get back to the airport to take the shuttle to our hotel, it will probably be around noon on the 15th that we get all that taken care of. This is what we have so far....tell me if this sounds ok.

15th--after check in (around noon) have lunch at beaches and cream (since it is right there) possible do some swimming and head over to MGM for the rest of the evening.

Firday, 16th - AK is EE, so AK in the morning, untill about noon, then do about 4 hours at MK and then head over to pollys for our 5:15 Spirit of Aloha PS. After that, head down to downtown disney to do some shopping and then go back to the hotel to get some sleep

Saturday, 17th - All day at MK, with a break/nap in the middle of the day if needed.

How does that sound?

Thanks for all of your help

 

[ciera123]

It sounds like you have it well planned out and I think it's very doable!! Have a great time!!

 

[Deb & Bill]

You have a very long day planned for Friday. If it were me, I'd skip the Luau at the Polynesian and eat at the MK instead. Then head over to DTD and do some shopping. If you have any kids with you, they will be bored with the luau.

What shuttle are you taking? A towncar service or Mears? A towncar will get you to WDW much more quickly and more directly. Then you can check into your hotel and start to take advantage of the day more quickly. You never know, your room may be ready when you check in.

 

[immalemon]

I went ahead and cancelled the Spirit of Aloha show so we could have more time in the parks. We are actually taking the Disney shuttle from the airport to the resort. According to Disney they are there to take us whenever we get there, we just have to go to the Disney cruise line area at the airport and we take off. We will see though. LOL. Either way, we are paying over $100 for a towncar to take us from the resort to the Port, so I am fine taking the shuttle from the airport to the hotel.

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

You might want to re-think spending all day Saturday at the MK - it's one of their busiest days, especially if, as it appears, you are going in April. AK isn't usually as crowded on Saturdays, and MK normally isn't as crowded on Fridays, so you might want to make some minor adjustments. Or not. Only you know how your family feels about crowds! I'm sure you'll have fun no matter what you decide and your plan is certainly "doable" as is.

 

[swilphil]

I agree with the other poster that you should avoid MK on Saturday at all costs. It sounds like you are staying at BC/YC or another Epcot area resort, so I would try to make at least a short trip to Epcot and maybe spend more time at MGM. I would do MK on Friday. If you make a PS for breakfast, you can get into the park up to an hour early. It's like having your own little EE. The busses start running an hour before the park opens, and they're pretty good about holding your PS at least for 15 min. Make sure you bring a print out of your PS or your conf. #.

When we were only in the parks for 3 days, we took a short trip to AK. My son wanted to leave after two hours. You may want to skip that park all together since you don't have much time. Before or after a dip in the pool, you can go to MGM or Epcot to eat and maybe just walk around WS.

Make sure to plan your DTD trip, if it's a must, when the parks are closed. I imagine that will be the evening of the 15th.

Have fun!

 

[immalemon]

I can definately switch the days around and go all day on friday now that I cancelled that PS for Spirit of Aloha. I have tried for two months now getting PS's in the park, and everything is booked. I will try again when we get there for late cancellations, but Im not keeping my hopes up. Thanks for all your advise. Im not planning to go there and try to see everything. I know I cant, so I am not going to try. We just want to go and have a taste for it first. I wish we could stay longer, but unfortunately we cant this time. We are leaving on the cruise Sunday morning. We will be back for 2 weeks the Beginning of next December, so I will plan to try to do everything then. So I should go to Epcot huh? I am trying to figure out what to spend little time on, if any and Animal Kingdom is not one to sacrafice. My daughter and mother will both love that park. We were only going to do it on Friday because it is and EE day for AK an be out of there by noon, but I guess it doesnt matter if MK is best done on Friday, we will switch it.

Thanks, Amanda

 

[donaldbuzz&minnie]

Just thought of something else. You really don't have to give up on MK on Saturday entirely - just go later in the day. MK will be open until 10 pm! You should be able to hit the highlights at AK by the the early afternoon on Saturday, even without early entry, if you are there when it opens. (Head straight for the Safari, and get a fastpass before you board in case you want to go twicel)

Then go back to your hotel to rest or take a swim in the middle of the day, and head out to the MK in the late afternoon/early evening refreshed and ready to go again. Many people with droopy kids are leaving MK around that time, although in April I'm not sure you will notice much of a lull in the action. But at least your family would have had a bit of a break, which makes swimming through any level of crowds a lot more "doable."

If your kids are old enough to stay up late, the MK can be the most fun in the evening - very magical. While the crowds are watching the parade and fireworks, just head to your favorite attractions. The lines should be manageable, and it can be really beautiful to see the fireworks going off in the distance as you come down Splash Mountain or round the curves on Big Thunder.

If you get to MK at opening time on Friday, and stay there until it starts to get really crowded (usually around lunchtime), you'll have had a chance to experience the daytime MK at the best possible crowd level. Then take a break when you've had enough of MK, and head to another park for the afternoon and evening. (I'd vote for Epcot because they're open late and the World Showcase is best seen at night. Also the crowds at Future World tend to thin out for a bit in the late afternoon.)

Spend Saturday evening at MK, and you have gotten the best of both the daytime and nightime MK experience in the easiet way possible, while still leaving plenty of time for the other parks. Since you'd be going to MGM on Thursday, you should be able to get in all 4 parks this way, without feeling short-changed or too frazzled. A bonus is that you could see some of the Fireworks at MK (all of it if you wanted to spend the time), and Illuminations, and Fantasmic on this trip, if that would be of interest to you. Just remember that you would have to eat into some of your MGM time to stake out seats at Fantasmic on Thursday evening. (But you could use that time to eat a relaxed counter-service dinner in the ampitheater (sp?) if you wanted.

As far as PS's are concerned, don't worry if you can't eat at the restaurants this time around. It's fun walking to the various counter-service restaurants in the World Showcase at Epcot at night (we love the fish and chips at the UK!), and if you wanted to get a kind of sit-down meal on Saturday, you could go to Ft Wilderness for an early buffet dinner,which people love, before you go into the parks, and then take the boat from there to the MK. Or you could try to get a PS at Kona at the Polynesian, and then monorail to MK. (And if you are looking for a nice lunch at AK, both Tusker House and our favorite, Flame Tree, are both fun.) Have a great time!