99% Set in Stone Itinerary.....

[BoingBoingBaggie]

Right then - after finally telling our DD and making the last of our ADR's, we have all basically settled on our Itinerary for our forthcoming trip to WDW.

Wed - 12 Sep - Flight - followed by Downtown Disney (to get PalMickey!)
Thurs- 13 Sep - Magic Kingdom (I know it is supposed to be a busy day, but you cant take your first trip to WDW and not go to Magic Kingdom first!)
- ADR - Tony's Town Square for Dinner
Fri - 14 Sep - MGM - ADR - Hollywood + Vine for Lunch
Sat - 15 Sep - Animal Kingdom - ADR - Donald's Breakfastosaurus - VERY early morning + ADR - Boatwrights evening dinner
Sun - 16 Sep - Epcot - ADR - China (Nine Dragons) - Dinner
Mon - 17 Sep - REST/Water Park or Park? + ADR - MGM Sci-fi Theatre Dinner
Tue - 18 Sep - Universal Islands Of Adventure - City Walk evening meal
Wed - 19 Sep - Universal Studios - NASCAR cafe grill dinner
Thur - 20 Sep - Water Park - ADR Chef Mickey's dinner
Fri - 21 Sep - Magic Kingdom morning - MGM afternoon ADR Hollywood + Vine dinner
Sat - 22 Sep - Epcot - ADR - Rose & Crown dinner
Sun - 23 Sep - Rest or MGM morn - MK afternoon - ADR Crystal Palace late lunch
Mon - 24 Sep - Seaworld
Tue - 25 Sep - Universal Islands of Adventure
Wed - 26 Sep - Animal Kingdom - Boatwright's late evening
Thurs - 27 Sep - Universal Studios or Shopping (in other words - I go to the park with the DD whilst the DW goes shopping! )
Fri - 28 Sep - DD's Birthday - Magic Kindom all day - ADR Cinderella's Royal Table late morning - followed by MNSSHP!
Sat - 29 Sep - A Lie in!! followed by Epcot - ADR - Mexico - San Angel Inn dinner
Sun - 30 Sep - MGM - ADR - Mana Melrose early lunch + ADR - 50' Prime Time late dinner
Mon - 1 Oct - Water Park or rest or shopping - ADR - Planet Hollywood dinner
Tues - 2 Oct - Magic Kingdom - ADR - Liberty Tree dinner
Wed - 3 Oct - Downtown Disney and fly home unless I can find as job as a Bakery manager over there!

Well, there you go - it has changed many times but this one is now pretty much set in stone. Lots of character meals and some seriously nice menu's.

31 days to go and counting!!

 

[Miffy2003]

Gosh, that's a busy itinerary!

If it's any help to you, if when you arrive on the first night (I don't know what time you are due to arrive and if you have any children with you), people are too tired to go to DTD, if you are staying onsite at Disney they will almost certainly have Pal Mickeys for sale in the resort shop

Just in case you only fancy a swim and a bit of food when you get there - I know we have always had good intentions for doing something on our first night but those tend to go out of the window in favour of food, swim, drink, relax and then bed

 

[BoingBoingBaggie]

To be honest, the tohought process of going to DTD is that both DW and DD will sleep well on the plane, whereas I will not so I need to do something (If I sit down in the room after landing and relax I will fall fast asleep) and a bit of sightseeing to familairise ourselves with our surroundings seems the logical thing to do.

It is not the first time I will have had to stay awake for over 20 hours, but hopefully I can grab a few on the plane.

 

[tashasmum]

Hope you have a great trip. We always have a ride to DTD on the first night just to keep us awake that bit longer. I agree with you that the first full day and the last are always Mk for us as well.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Looks like a busy action packed plan, the only thing I would add is just be prepared to adapt and change when you get out there. Part of the reasons I never plan each day is that it would almost certainly differ to what we actually do, Joshua has a habit of not being keen on doing certain things sometimes!

 

[BoingBoingBaggie]

In a way I agree with your thoughts Johnny, but I felt that I had to book somewhere up to eat most nights incase they were full do to the free DDP - most of the meals are evening so we can always choose another park during the day or even cancel the meals

 

[Mrs Doubtfire]

Good plan - trouble is 3 weeks just seems to disappear!

 

[Miffy2003]

In a way I agree with your thoughts Johnny, but I felt that I had to book somewhere up to eat most nights incase they were full do to the free DDP - most of the meals are evening so we can always choose another park during the day or even cancel the meals

You are dead right BBB. When we did the (free) dining plan last year there were loads of disappointed guests that could not get into many of the WDW restaurants as they had not pre-booked.

I also agree with Johnny too though- the major downside we found was that we felt we were constantly going from one ADR to the next and it removed our spontaneity. I don't think this is a problem for a lot of people, it may just be us, but wer almost got to the point of wishing for a coupld of days with no ADRs (never thought you'd hear me saying that!)

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I understand what you mean BBB especially about the ADRs.

Guess our planning is always going to be different with Josh's autism needs, it's common for him not to want to go out after say 5pm especially after a busy day.
Part of the reason we like to stay in a villa or self catering accomodation is the chance to relax on holiday with that extra space and private pool, so if we stay in at least we can take things easy, watch him play in the pool etc
It's often difficult to find time for ourselves at home, so it's just nice to switch off a bit when on holiday - we do our fair share of the parks of course and like to travel around too, guess it's nice we all have different ideas though.

We have cancelled ADRs in the past simply because Josh wouldn't go in the restaurant.

3 week holiday's suit us as it just means we can do things at a leisurely pace.

 

[irongirlof12]

Your itinery sounds fab to me, mind you, I am a planning freak!

enjoy your trip

 

[Trev]

Busy itinery - all very well if everything goes to plan, but no provision for Murphy's Law!!
We are just back, and had a loose plan of what we wanted to do. However, on the outbound flight, my teenage son started complaining of toothache. The day after we arrived he was in the chair having root canal treatment after a rapidy arranged emergency appointment to try and alleviate his severe pain. $650 later he left the surgery. The next day he was still in pain so we stayed at the villa, and th efollowing day he was back in the dentists chair having his root canal re-opened as he was still in severe pain. This time the treatment worked and we expected to get back on track. Two days later he was down with a severe tummy bug - another day lost, and three days after that he kindly passed his 'bug' to me - another day lost.

All in all we lost about 6-full days of our 14 day holiday. No plan can accomodate that. Planning too much can lead to great disappointment if it doesn't all go to plan, so don't have your heart set on doing too much just in case!!!!

 

[bwoodhouse]

BoingBoingBaggie

We're also flying out on the 12th Sep with Virgin from Gatwick at 12:45 - are we on the same flight??!!

 

[BoingBoingBaggie]

BoingBoingBaggie

We're also flying out on the 12th Sep with Virgin from Gatwick at 12:45 - are we on the same flight??!!

Afraid not!

We are flying from Manchester!

 

[disneyholic family]

the timing of your trip is fantastic!!
we were there in september 2 years ago, and the parks were EMPTY...
well empty relative to what we're used to in July - it was great!!

so do you have room in your suitcase for a stowaway?????????

the only thing i would change in your itinerary is the two days each at IOA and Universal - we found that one day at each was enough for us. But of course, everyone is different.

Are the Nights of Joy when you're there? The Friday and Saturday of the Nights of Joy in the MK, the MK closes early to the general public (and then you have to have a special NoJ ticket to stay past 6 PM and you can't stay for the fireworks).
never mind - i checked - the Nights of Joy are on Sept. 7th and 8th this year, before you arrive.

 

[disneyholic family]

while i was checking out the schedule for the night of joy, i noticed that your first day in the MK is on an Extra Magic Hours day - those are usually exceptionally busy days (in any of the parks - the EMH days are their busiest days)...

just another thing to take into consideration...

by the way, do you actually plan on spending the ENTIRE day in the MK on your DD's birthday?
if it were me, i would go back to my hotel and rest in the middle of the day - especially since you'll be attending the halloween party that night...

 

[BoingBoingBaggie]

while i was checking out the schedule for the night of joy, i noticed that your first day in the MK is on an Extra Magic Hours day - those are usually exceptionally busy days (in any of the parks - the EMH days are their busiest days)...

just another thing to take into consideration...

by the way, do you actually plan on spending the ENTIRE day in the MK on your DD's birthday?
if it were me, i would go back to my hotel and rest in the middle of the day - especially since you'll be attending the halloween party that night...

Yep - I am aware that the first day in MK is a EMH day, but we left the choice upto our DD when she found out and she wants to see the Magic Kingdom first (first trip to WDW and who doesn't!) rather than swap with the Disney Studios that day.

Secondly, yes, we are planning a nice long afternoon break on her birthday so that she can stop up until midnight!

Also, I scheduled 2 days at the Universal parks so that we have the option of doing them again - they can always be changed for something else. Plans are always subject to change!