4-day weekend Itinerary–Suggestions?

[gravel72]

Below is my itinerary for a 4- day weekend in September, tell me what you think.

Keep in mind, I am traveling with my wide and our 2 ½ year old daughter, so certain rides and certain restaurants are just our of the question. This is the first time for our daughter

Thursday -
Arrive at All-Star Sports around 3-4pm.
Walk around Boardwalk and shop
Eat at Spoodles
Catch a little Thursday night College Football at the ESPN Club
(My wife is a huge football fan, so I can get away with this one)
Find some dessert and shop at Boardwalk & Downtown Disney

Friday -
Early entry into Animal Kingdom
Rush straight to Kilimanjaro Safari, then explore the rest of the park
Lunch at Rainforest Café (Early as possible)
Nap, Rest, etc
Epcot
Have early dinner in Morocco
Rest of Epcot until closing, stay for Illuminations

Saturday -
Magic Kingdom (arrive at gates at 8am)
Rush straight to Dumbo and Fantasy Land
Gradually spread out as time allows
Lunch - Ride a Boat to Wilderness Lodge and eat at Whispering Canyon
Nap, Rest, etc.
MGM Studios (She's a big fan of Playhouse Disney)
Casual dinner (pizza, burgers, fries, etc.) somewhere at MGM
Finish off the evening with anything we may have missed - Probably Magic Kingdom

Sunday
Breakfast Buffet - Before hitting the road

-gravel72

 

[gigi1313]

sounds like a great trip for a first-timer 2.5yo! it seems you realize you will not be able to do everything, but just hit the highlights, you are good to go... the only thing i noticed is that you don't have any character meals planned... you might want to change your early rainforest lunch to a late donald's breakfastasauras at the animal kingdom... we did it and loved it! (oh, so did the kids!)

ENJOY!!

 

[gravel72]

Thanks,

Yes, I know that we can’t do everything. Plus if we try to rush and cram everything in, it just makes it miserable for everyone.

That is a habit I have with WDW. This will be a learning experience for me. I’ll have to slow down and enjoy even the little moments. If she wants to stop and look at a bird in the bushes, then we will stop. No matter what our Fast Pass says.

I haven't heard about Donald's Breakfastasauras. I'll check into it.
Frankly, I am not sure if she is ready for the characters yet.

I thought Rainforest Café sounded good, because us adults could actually finish a meal, while she is busy staring at everything.

 

[gravel72]

Anything else you would recommend as a MUST for a 3 year old ?

- John

 

[gigi1313]

jftr, my 3yo (at the time) was scared to death of rfc and we could not stay...

let's see... 3yo must-do's... fantasyland and all that it entails... toontown... mickey's philharmagic...

 

[megrod74]

jftr, my 3yo (at the time) was scared to death of rfc and we could not stay...

I was also going to point out that children are sometimes frightened by the 'thunderstorm' inside the Rainforest Cafe, so if this is something that might bother your DD, you might want to change lunch plans. Otherwise, have fun!

 

[swilphil]

Thursday sounds like the perfect plan, but I would skip Downtown Disney and spend sometime swimming and exploring the resort. If you can swing it take the boat from the Boardwalk to Beaches N' Cream for dessert. Your daughter will think the boat is a ride!

I would switch your Friday and Saturday itineraries. I've always heard to avoid MK on Saturday because that's when lots of locals go and many travelers are starting their vacation that day. You will probably find less people at MK on Friday and it's usually the park that you have to worry about. Our family is one of those that MUST do MK first to feel like we're at WDW.

So I would do:
Friday--MK. Lunch at Whispering Canyon if you get all of MK done before your hungry, otherwise grab a quick counter service meal at Cosmic Ray's or Columbia Harbor House. You could do Whispering Canyon that night and then go back to MK if there's more to do or go ahead and hop over to MGM as you originally planned after your MK morning. You may want to go back to MK if you want to do the Spectro parade and/or fireworks.

Saturday-MGM in the a.m., break, and Epcot in the PM. Maybe monorail between MK and Epcot to catch things in MK that you may have missed.

In two days it would be very difficult to do all 4 parks plus take afternoon breaks, which is a must with a toddler. I don't know what the park hours when you will be there in Sept. We found doing 3 parks a day to be exhausting when the park hours were 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. It sounds like your original plan only gave you from 9 a.m to 12 or 1 p.m. at MK if you are going to take the boat to WL for lunch. You can give yourself a little more time in MK if you make an 8:05 a.m. PS at Crystal Palace for a character breakfast. We liked it much better than Donald's at AK. We actually found very little at AK that our toddlers could do. We've been there twice, and both times wished we had skipped it, especially when we only had 3 days in the park.Good luck!

 

[gravel72]

Thanks for the help. That’s exactly what I was looking for.

The only reason I had AK on Friday is because I read somewhere that it is open early on Fridays. But your right doing MK on Saturday sounds like a nightmare.

There are not many things at AK that I think she will enjoy either. But part of that is selfish reason. Us adults want to see go on the safari again. We did that last time (Pre-Child) and we loved. My wife is a huge animal lover, so I don’t think I could skip that if I wanted to.

I think I will skip Downtown Disney, that’s a good idea. We can’t do it all.

So you can get in MK early if you have a PS? So do they check your name at the gate ?

How did you toddler(s) enjoy MGM & Epcot ?

 

[swilphil]

My toddlers loved the shows at MGM--Disney Playhouse, Beauty and the Beast and Muppets. Their favorite thing at the 2 to 3 age probably was the Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area. We stayed in there a long time. At Epcot they probably enjoyed World Showcase more than Future World, especially the Kidcot stations. Great for coloring. There are also a few areas where they can just run around: the miniature train village in Germany, the hedge maze in front of the bandstand in UK, and the courtyard areas in America and Italy. We did the boat ride in Norway, but skipped the film. Actually we skipped ALL the films. There were some fun interactive things to do, like the drums in Africa.

In July, they didn't ask us for our name or confirmation number at MK for our Crystal Palace PS, but I still had the # just in case. We just told them we had a PS, they asked where, and then they showed us what gate to go to. My 2 year old was in absolute heaven with the Winnie the Pooh characters. I think it was his favorite thing from the whole trip. Looking over and seeing him hugging Pooh as we were leaving is something I will never forget.

Maybe on Friday you can do MK at opening, head to AK in the afternoon for the Safari (I'd also recommend the Boneyard play area), and then return to MK that night.

 

[Planogirl]

Funny, our son loved Downtown Disney but didn't care much for the Boardwalk. I like them both.

Our son was smitten with Spaceship Earth at that age. He also really enjoyed the Mexico pavilion. The characters approached him gently at MK and after that he practically chased them. The characters are very good at determining that a child is scared and how best to approach them if at all.

 

[gravel72]

Sherri [swilphil],

I think you hit it right on the head with Epcot. That sounds a lot like my daughter too. I can see her enjoying Honey I Shrunk the Kids play area and the KidCot stations a lot.

I can also see her having more fun at the World Showcase, then Future World. Plus my wife will enjoy that a lot more too, because that gives her a chance to shop and browse.

So far she’s been terrified of the characters at local events (Non-Disney). So I’m not sure how she will like them at WDW. But it really doesn’t matter, if she doesn’t like them we will move on. It’s no big deal, there’s plenty more to see.


- gravel72