14 Day Disney Vacation

[ExcitedForWDW]

Hi everyone,

Super excited for our first WDW trip in October. There will be 4 of us (2 adults, 2 kids 7 & 9) and we will be staying at a Disney Resort.
I was planning on booking our park and resort days as follows. Wondering if this is a good strategy for:

1. the order to see the parks
2. the total # days at each park
3. How busy these particular parks would be on those days

We are on the fence regarding the number of dinner reservations we should make.
We like flexibility but are planning at the very least to book Ohana, cinderellas castle and california grill.

Day	Park	Dinner
Saturday	Arrive
Sunday	MK
Monday	Hollywood studios
Tuesday	Resort Day	Disney Springs
Wed	Epcot
Thurs	AK
Fri	Hollywood studios
Sat	Resort Day	Ohana
Sun	epcot
Mon	MK	cinderellas castle
Tues	Resort Day	California Grill
wed	AK
thurs	Hollywood studios
fri	MK
sat	Leave

Thanks in advance for any feedback!

 

[ExcitedForWDW]

BUMP

 

[scrappinginontario]

I think it would be easier to provide feedback if there were dates provided. To be of assistance we really need to see what's happening the dates you wish to go to each park.

 

[kes601]

BUMP

To be perfectly honest when we do trips that are this long (every summer) nothing goes according to what we have planned. We change our park passes frequently while on site, we end up eating where we didn't plan, etc.

Also, which resort are you staying at? Some have dining on site or nearby that would sway options.

 

[ExcitedForWDW]

To be perfectly honest when we do trips that are this long (every summer) nothing goes according to what we have planned. We change our park passes frequently while on site, we end up eating where we didn't plan, etc.

Also, which resort are you staying at? Some have dining on site or nearby that would sway options.

That is a good point, thanks. We are staying at Riverside resort so disney springs is just a boat ride away. Maybe we'll wing most dinners and stick with just a few notable ones. When you say you change your park passes, do you do the park hopper? Wondering if it is worth it considering we are going to each park at least 2 times during our stay.
Thank you

 

[kes601]

We have APs so we do have park hopper but even if you don’t you can change which park you are going to at any time before entering a park on that day. Parks almost never book fully anymore.

You definitely have lots of good options at Disney Springs. The only one you typically can’t get same day reservations at is Chef Art Smiths, so if it is one you would want them book it at your 60 day mark. The others you can usually get the same day.

 

[Jangles]

Starting and ending as MK is a great plan and the castle is what Disney is about. Maybe use Open Table to book the DS restaurants that are on there as it gives you flexibility when changing/cancelling. Don’t forget to factor in evening park visits for the fireworks.

Have fun planning. As it is your first visit you may find Touring Plans useful. It’s cheap and they have lots of planning tools, suggest how to tour the parks etc., and it’s much better to have a plan than be overwhelmed when you arrive at the parks.

 

[ExcitedForWDW]

We have APs so we do have park hopper but even if you don’t you can change which park you are going to at any time before entering a park on that day. Parks almost never book fully anymore.

You definitely have lots of good options at Disney Springs. The only one you typically can’t get same day reservations at is Chef Art Smiths, so if it is one you would want them book it at your 60 day mark. The others you can usually get the same day.

Thank you for the helpful advice!

 

[ExcitedForWDW]

Starting and ending as MK is a great plan and the castle is what Disney is about. Maybe use Open Table to book the DS restaurants that are on there as it gives you flexibility when changing/cancelling. Don’t forget to factor in evening park visits for the fireworks.

Have fun planning. As it is your first visit you may find Touring Plans useful. It’s cheap and they have lots of planning tools, suggest how to tour the parks etc., and it’s much better to have a plan than be overwhelmed when you arrive at the parks.

Thank you. I didn't realize you could use open table to book reservations. Is this the better option vs. booking through disney? Also, do you have a link to the touring plans you mentioned?
thank you again

 

[MattH2O]

Hi, Im not sure the boards let you include links?? But if you search for touringplans on google it should be easy to find.

It has some useful planning tools to get round the park efficiently. It gave us a good baseline plan for each day at the park which we then adapted depending on how the day was panning out.

it also tells you which days are busiest.

looking at your plan - you have no water parks - is that deliberate?

Re park hopping, we rarely have a day where we do not visit more than one park. Depends what your looking forward to most i guess.

 

[Jangles]

Thank you. I didn't realize you could use open table to book reservations. Is this the better option vs. booking through disney? Also, do you have a link to the touring plans you mentioned?
thank you again

Open table doesn’t have the park restaurants, but it does have the Disney Springs ones. Booking usually opens quite early, so it’s worth planning in advance. Open Table allows you to cancel prior to the booking without penalty.
Search Buena Vista Florida and they should come up. You can book now up to 12 November.
Also, US food portions are huge, and unlike the U.K. you can order each course separately, so for example, sometimes we may order individual starters, enjoy those, and then order a main course to share.

I know that you are staying at FQ and have the option of the boat to DS, but another nice route is bus from parks to SS resort and then there is a little walkway from there.
Did you find the website for TouringPlans?

 

[ExcitedForWDW]

Open table doesn’t have the park restaurants, but it does have the Disney Springs ones. Booking usually opens quite early, so it’s worth planning in advance. Open Table allows you to cancel prior to the booking without penalty.
Search Buena Vista Florida and they should come up. You can book now up to 12 November.
Also, US food portions are huge, and unlike the U.K. you can order each course separately, so for example, sometimes we may order individual starters, enjoy those, and then order a main course to share.

I know that you are staying at FQ and have the option of the boat to DS, but another nice route is bus from parks to SS resort and then there is a little walkway from there.
Did you find the website for TouringPlans?

Great info! Thank you Jangles. Yes i found the touringplans website and will research it. Looks like a great concept.

 

[kes601]

Great info! Thank you Jangles. Yes i found the touringplans website and will research it. Looks like a great concept.

Just to tack onto the OpenTable bit. I believe that Chef Art Smith's and the Landry restaurants (T-Rex and Rainforest) are the only 3 DS restaurants that aren't on OpenTable. It's possible there are a couple of more but those are the only ones that I am aware of.