Thoughts on my Itinerary please

[me23xx]

Hi all,
I wondered if you could have a look at my itinerary as i am due to make my reservations in 2 weeks, any help advice would be greatly appreciated.


Day 1 : arrive at 2:30 - magical express to Caribbean beach hotel
Visit downtown disney/lounge on beach
Shutters @ Caribbean beach

Day 2: Magic Kingdom
check out and leave luggage at hotel
Arrive for early magic hours
Lunch at BOG restaurant
Leave at tea time, back to caribbean beach and taxi to offsite hotel

Day 3: Animal Kingdom
RESERVATION: Lunch at Tusker House

Day 4: Epcot AM/ Hollywood studios
RESERVATION: Prepaid DINNER at Planet Hollywood

Day 5: Blizzard Beach AM/ Magic Kingdom PM
RESERVATION: PrePaid DINNER at Cinderellas Royal Table

Day 6: Universal studios
Late lunch/Early Dinner: The Three broomsticks

Day 7: Universal studios
RESERVATION: PrePaid DINNER at Hard Rock Café

Day 8: Epcot
RESERVATION: Nine Dragons

Day 9 : Hollywood Studios/ Magic Kingdom
RESERVATION: Plaza resturant

Day 10: Typhoon Lagoon

Day 11: Animal Kingdom/ Epcot
RESERVATION: Rainforest Café

Day 12: Magic Kingdom
RESERVATION: Be our guest

Day 13: Free to chose anything

Day 14: Free to chose anything
Taxi from offsite hotel to POP Century hotel

Day 15: AM - Downtown disney, Magical express home



This is our first time and MUCH AWAITED holiday to DISNEYWORLD so please give honest opinions on my selections.

Thank you

 

[pcoleman]

WOW. Sounds like loads of fun. I would recommend having some down time maybe in middle of stay. Why the 3 hotels. I assume the first night on site so you get your tickets and go back so you have magical express? Seems like a lot of time moving from place to place. All parks, both water parks and universal just seems like a lot to fit in a two week time span. I do hope you have a wonderful time.

 

[wdwloverz]

I think your plans look good!
I see where you can have a break in the afternoon on many days which is a must when you are touring day after day. DO take that afternoon break whenever possible!
We love experiencing several resorts during one trip, but ideally I wont do less than two or better yet 3 nights per resort. But if you are just doing the one night at the beginning & end for ME, I get it.
Do get on line early for your BOG lunch, have a light breakfast and get on line by 10:30, depending on crowds, this should have you eating by 11:30 at the latest. Try the Masters West wing and when it thunders watch the Masters portrait over the fireplace!!

 

[me23xx]

Hiya, yeah we are staying on site on arrival/departure for a couple of reasons, firstly magical express and because we will be able to have a few last minute hours on departure day I think maybe day 6 being a rest day and shifting everything else down so rest day middle and end would be a good idea, thanks

 

[cosmicdaisy]

I definitely love the convenience of Magical Express, but I've actually found my ME departure to be earlier than I would've left to go to the airport if I was driving on my own. How are you getting to the parks on your days you are staying offsite?

 

[shan23877]

The only thing I would suggest changing is the arrival night dinner plans. There are so many great options at DTD-I'd have dinner there rather than at Shutters/CBR.

Have a great trip!

 

[me23xx]

We are only 1 mile away and it's walkable so we will either walk or take the free shuttle from the hotel,

Can't afford to stay at disney throughout as to stay in a value resort is over $1500 more (

 

[me23xx]

Hi Shan, I did think about that however because we will be travelling for 14 hours to get there, when we arrive it will be 10 at night our time (3 there)

I though shutters because we don't have to book so if we can't stay awake, it doesn't matter

Are there nice places to eat at DTD that don't require a reservation??

Thanks for all suggestions so far )

 

[laughinplace199]

We are only 1 mile away and it's walkable so we will either walk or take the free shuttle from the hotel,

Can't afford to stay at disney throughout as to stay in a value resort is over $1500 more (

Are you saying you can walk to the parks? I'm not sure if you realize how huge WDW is and that it's not set up for walking between parks.

Also, if your offsite hotel has a shuttle, be sure to note the times it runs. BIL & SIL once stayed offsite at a hotel with a shuttle, but it didn't run very often. If they missed it, they'd have to wait hours for the next one or take a cab. They stay onsite now.

 

[twinboysmom]

Hi Shan, I did think about that however because we will be travelling for 14 hours to get there, when we arrive it will be 10 at night our time (3 there)

I though shutters because we don't have to book so if we can't stay awake, it doesn't matter

Are there nice places to eat at DTD that don't require a reservation??

Thanks for all suggestions so far )

I woukd probably keep the Shutters plans. You will be tired and Josh at easywdw.com just posted a very favorable review from Shutters today. He has never let me down. I would also plan your park days around his crowd calanders if you can. When you say you are staying offsite 1 mile away and can just walk, walk where exactly?

 

[laughinplace199]

My thoughts in red:

Hi all,
I wondered if you could have a look at my itinerary as i am due to make my reservations in 2 weeks, any help advice would be greatly appreciated.


Day 1 : arrive at 2:30 - magical express to Caribbean beach hotel
Visit downtown disney/lounge on beach
Shutters @ Caribbean beach

I think Shutters is a good choice if you're tired from a long day of travel.

Day 2: Magic Kingdom
check out and leave luggage at hotel
Arrive for early magic hours
Lunch at BOG restaurant
Leave at tea time, back to caribbean beach and taxi to offsite hotel

Day 3: Animal Kingdom
RESERVATION: Lunch at Tusker House

Day 4: Epcot AM/ Hollywood studios
RESERVATION: Prepaid DINNER at Planet Hollywood

Just checking, but you know that Planet Hollywood is not at Hollywood Studios, right?

Day 5: Blizzard Beach AM/ Magic Kingdom PM
RESERVATION: PrePaid DINNER at Cinderellas Royal Table

Day 6: Universal studios
Late lunch/Early Dinner: The Three broomsticks

Day 7: Universal studios
RESERVATION: PrePaid DINNER at Hard Rock Café

Day 8: Epcot
RESERVATION: Nine Dragons

Day 9 : Hollywood Studios/ Magic Kingdom
RESERVATION: Plaza resturant

Day 10: Typhoon Lagoon

Day 11: Animal Kingdom/ Epcot
RESERVATION: Rainforest Café

Day 12: Magic Kingdom
RESERVATION: Be our guest

Day 13: Free to chose anything

Day 14: Free to chose anything
Taxi from offsite hotel to POP Century hotel

Day 15: AM - Downtown disney, Magical express home



This is our first time and MUCH AWAITED holiday to DISNEYWORLD so please give honest opinions on my selections.

Thank you

You have a lot of days split between 2 Disney parks. Since you have many days to visit (and even some free days), it might make sense to plan for whole days in each park and then you wouldn't need to pay for the park hopper option.

 

[mjkacmom]

Are you saying you can walk to the parks? I'm not sure if you realize how huge WDW is and that it's not set up for walking between parks.

Also, if your offsite hotel has a shuttle, be sure to note the times it runs. BIL & SIL once stayed offsite at a hotel with a shuttle, but it didn't run very often. If they missed it, they'd have to wait hours for the next one or take a cab. They stay onsite now.

I've never heard of anywhere one could stay where they could walk to the parks (except the handful of onsite properties). The parks themselves are miles from each other. I think the OP got some bad information.

 

[Missyrose]

OP, I would look into renting a car. It makes getting from offsite to the parks much easier. Start looking at the rental car site, but know that prices will drop significantly once you get within a few weeks/months of your trip.

I would also recommend you pick one of the other restaurants at DTD instead of Planet Hollywood. The other restaurants have much better food.

 

[Alesia]

We are only 1 mile away and it's walkable so we will either walk or take the free shuttle from the hotel,

Can't afford to stay at disney throughout as to stay in a value resort is over $1500 more (

You cannot walk to WDW. Walking along the roads on WDW property is not allowed.

 

[bkb91]

As they said you can't walk to disney. Your offsite hotel may be 1 mile from disney property line, but the parks are miles from the property line and miles from each other.

Offsite shuttles can be a challenge, often they only go once a day and come back for pick up once a day. Then they only go to 1 or 2 parks at that. They often drop off after open and pick up before or at close, so seeing any fireworks etc is out.

 

[me23xx]

Sorry, I wasn't clear in what I wrote, We were told we could walk on footpaths to downtown disney, we would then take disney transport to the park, this is invade of missing one of the many shuttles, we really don't have a choice but to stay offsite!! :-(

I did not know planet Hollywood wasn't at Hollywood studios no.... Thank you SO much for letting me know that I will change my plans

 

[me23xx]

Btw, it's a disney good neighbour hotel there about 10 shuttles there and back each day

 

[wdwloverz]

Sorry, I wasn't clear in what I wrote, We were told we could walk on footpaths to downtown disney, we would then take disney transport to the park, this is invade of missing one of the many shuttles, we really don't have a choice but to stay offsite!! :-(

I did not know planet Hollywood wasn't at Hollywood studios no.... Thank you SO much for letting me know that I will change my plans

You are at Hollywood studios this day and had said you have a PREPAID dinner at Planet Hollywood. The only thing that would make sense to be prepaid is a dinner for the Fantasmic package. If this is the case I think you mean The Hollywood Brown Derby, which is in fact at Hollywood studios.

 

[Missyrose]

Sorry, I wasn't clear in what I wrote, We were told we could walk on footpaths to downtown disney, we would then take disney transport to the park, this is invade of missing one of the many shuttles, we really don't have a choice but to stay offsite!! :-( I did not know planet Hollywood wasn't at Hollywood studios no.... Thank you SO much for letting me know that I will change my plans

The buses from DTD won't go to the parks, they only go to Disney resorts. So to get to a park you'll have to take a bus to a Disney resort and then get on another bus/ferry/monorail to the park. You're talking about an hour or more each way. Plus, those buses don't start running until later in the morning, so you couldn't get to the parks until hours after they open. You really need to look into a rental car, staying offsite is almost impossible without one.

 

[wdwloverz]

The buses from DTD won't go to the parks, they only go to Disney resorts. So to get to a park you'll have to take a bus to a Disney resort and then get on another bus/ferry/monorail to the park. You're talking about an hour or more each way. Plus, those buses don't start running until later in the morning, so you couldn't get to the parks until hours after they open. You really need to look into a rental car, staying offsite is almost impossible without one.

They are at a Disney good neighbor hotel with 10+ shuttles per day, while not ideal they should be fine.