My company decided to close for the week in between Christmas and New Years. In an uncharacteristically spontaneous move, I booked us plane tickets to Orlando that day... my husband and I, our three boys (6, 3, and an infant), and (*gulp*) my in-laws.
A week or two later (and after lots of reading on these boards) I reserved us two rooms at the Caribbean Beach Resort with the dining plan. Since then, I've been reading and making ADRs and reading some more. Could you experts help me make this trip awesome for us? It's our first family vacation, our first trip to Disney, and I want it to be special despite sharing it with 18 milion other holiday travelers.
Our schedule, for now:
Arrive Monday Dec 29, 7PM - we will eat and go to bed
Tues Dec 30- Magic Kingdom! The kids are early risers, so we plan to take advantage of EMH. I have to figure out a good game plan, as well as master the use of fastpasses and infant swaps. In the afternoon, we have a 1PM ADR for the Crystal Palace character lunch. I thought we might need to take a break after a crazy morning. Dinner is flexible since I dont know where we'll be... probably TS somewhere.
Wed Dec 31 - the plan right now is to avoid the parks like the plague. We might need some rest time after MK, and the kids will have a blast at the pool and doing other things at the resort. We might go to downtown disney for arcade fun/dinner (TS at wolfgang puck express, T-Rex for dinner, if we can!), but we have a backup ADR for Shutters at the resort. Since it seems like nothing special, I hope to be cancelling that one.
Thurs Jan 1 - Animal Kingdom. Donald's Safari Breakfast at 8ish to get into the park early. I also have a Yak & Yeti reservation at 5, but I'm wondering if that will be worth it, since they have TS too? We could just do the TS and be happy.
Fri Jan 2 - Hollywood studios with EMH. 12ish reservation for 50's Prime Time (my ILs will love it). I read that we can take a boat from Hollywood Studios to the Boardwalk Inn, so I made a Spoodles ADR at 6:30. That will be a long day, but I'm hoping the park won't be as crazy as the MK.
Sat Jan 3 - the day is open*. see below. ADR at Ohana's for dinner.
Sun Jan 4 - day is open*. see below. Chef Mickey's for dinner for our last night.
Mon Jan 5 - leave in AM.
* weekend plans are open. At this point, we only purchased 3 days of park tickets with our package. We are thinking that we could leave the weekend open and then make plans as the week goes on. Options are Sea World, another day at MK, a water park (if they're open), or just playing at the resort. We could let the kids help us decide where to go.
Questions:
1. Do you think I'm making the best plans with regard to the holiday crowds? I know it's going to be crowded, but I'm hoping to minimize the mayhem if at all possible.
2. What do you think of our dining choices? Too much, too little, just right?
3. How the heck do we get to Sea World from WDW, without a rental car?
4. What special things am I missing? We are skipping Epcot due to the age of the kids, since I fear that they would be bored/overwhelmed.
5. Do you think MK will be less crowded on Sun the 4th? We assume that a lot of people will be leaving that day (for kids to get back in school) so we could add that as a second day, if the crowds will be lighter. Is that a good assumption, or do a lot of people do what I did, and keep their kids out of school for an extra day?
thanks for any tips, thoughts, or suggestions. My kids are going to be so excited, and I want to make sure they have the best vacation of their lives.
~fiasco
A week or two later (and after lots of reading on these boards) I reserved us two rooms at the Caribbean Beach Resort with the dining plan. Since then, I've been reading and making ADRs and reading some more. Could you experts help me make this trip awesome for us? It's our first family vacation, our first trip to Disney, and I want it to be special despite sharing it with 18 milion other holiday travelers.
Our schedule, for now:
Arrive Monday Dec 29, 7PM - we will eat and go to bed
Tues Dec 30- Magic Kingdom! The kids are early risers, so we plan to take advantage of EMH. I have to figure out a good game plan, as well as master the use of fastpasses and infant swaps. In the afternoon, we have a 1PM ADR for the Crystal Palace character lunch. I thought we might need to take a break after a crazy morning. Dinner is flexible since I dont know where we'll be... probably TS somewhere.
Wed Dec 31 - the plan right now is to avoid the parks like the plague. We might need some rest time after MK, and the kids will have a blast at the pool and doing other things at the resort. We might go to downtown disney for arcade fun/dinner (TS at wolfgang puck express, T-Rex for dinner, if we can!), but we have a backup ADR for Shutters at the resort. Since it seems like nothing special, I hope to be cancelling that one.
Thurs Jan 1 - Animal Kingdom. Donald's Safari Breakfast at 8ish to get into the park early. I also have a Yak & Yeti reservation at 5, but I'm wondering if that will be worth it, since they have TS too? We could just do the TS and be happy.
Fri Jan 2 - Hollywood studios with EMH. 12ish reservation for 50's Prime Time (my ILs will love it). I read that we can take a boat from Hollywood Studios to the Boardwalk Inn, so I made a Spoodles ADR at 6:30. That will be a long day, but I'm hoping the park won't be as crazy as the MK.
Sat Jan 3 - the day is open*. see below. ADR at Ohana's for dinner.
Sun Jan 4 - day is open*. see below. Chef Mickey's for dinner for our last night.
Mon Jan 5 - leave in AM.
* weekend plans are open. At this point, we only purchased 3 days of park tickets with our package. We are thinking that we could leave the weekend open and then make plans as the week goes on. Options are Sea World, another day at MK, a water park (if they're open), or just playing at the resort. We could let the kids help us decide where to go.
Questions:
1. Do you think I'm making the best plans with regard to the holiday crowds? I know it's going to be crowded, but I'm hoping to minimize the mayhem if at all possible.
2. What do you think of our dining choices? Too much, too little, just right?
3. How the heck do we get to Sea World from WDW, without a rental car?
4. What special things am I missing? We are skipping Epcot due to the age of the kids, since I fear that they would be bored/overwhelmed.
5. Do you think MK will be less crowded on Sun the 4th? We assume that a lot of people will be leaving that day (for kids to get back in school) so we could add that as a second day, if the crowds will be lighter. Is that a good assumption, or do a lot of people do what I did, and keep their kids out of school for an extra day?
thanks for any tips, thoughts, or suggestions. My kids are going to be so excited, and I want to make sure they have the best vacation of their lives.
~fiasco
