Advice on Monday Itinerary Please

[HvnzCaress]

I knew the day would come when I'd start bugging all of you WDW experts with my newbie questions and reviewing of my itinerary. Guess what? That day is here!! LOL

I'm trying to start get a plan down for our two week stay in the world for the end of August although it sure would be helpful if I actually had the park hours but I digress...

For now I just want to ask you about my (very rough draft) plans for Monday, August 18:

After having breakfast at our campsite we will be at Typhoon Lagoon for its 9:00 a.m. opening. We spend only about two hours getting a taste of the park before leaving to be at DQ for its 11:30 a.m. opening at DD.

We will have a late lunch/early dinner at the RFC around 3:30. After lunch mom (me) will return to Ft. Wilderness to be sure the dog gets to go out for a walk while Dad and the kids can choose to return to DQ or Typhoon Lagoon.

At 7:00 p.m. we will all go into PI (I want my DD14 to hear a set at the Jazz club since she plays in her school's jazz band and they might enjoy the first show at the Comedy Warehouse as well). Then we will take the kids out of PI probably around 9 and let them see a movie at AMC or go back to DQ till it closes while mom and dad go back into PI for awhile. We will all meet back up at around 11 to go back to our campground.

Does this all sound like too much for one day?

 

[Dana49]

My goodness! Monday seems to be just a little rushed. If you keep up that pace for 14-days, you'll be exhausted. Slow down a little and enjoy yourself. Why don't you extend the time at Typhoon Lagoon, return to Fort Wilderness in the early afternoon for a lunch break, and then head over to Disney Quest. You can enjoy a nice meal at the Rainforest Cafe later in the evening. Have a great time. Remember you're on vacation.

 

[cleo]

I agree about dividing the day in half, so to speak. Have your fill of Typhoon Lagoon, then head to Disney Quest. It's very easy to underestimate travel time from one park to the next, and I think you'll be using up an awful lot of time in transition. By the time you leave the water at Typhoon Lagoon, get changed, find your car (or wait for the bus), travel to Disney Quest, park, then walk into West Side, you're potentially looking at having used up an hour's time. Besides, you're going to have a real chore getting the kids out of the water park once they're there!

 

[DancingBear]

I agree with the above posters. Actually, my suggestion would be to plan a block of time for Typhoon Lagoon, then go back to FW to shower, rest and change, then head out for your Downtown Disney late afternoon/evening.

Note also that although PI opens at 7, the shows don't start until at least 8 (Comedy Warehouse) or 8:15 (first set at jazz club). You can go to Adventurer's Club earlier, although you might not get to see a "show" in the library there. My itinerary for PI would be: Go directly to Adventurer's Club. Head for the CW line by at least 7:40 for the 8 show (ask a CM how early you should get in line for this), then plan on catching the first half hour of the 9:30 Jazz club set and leave by 10. Or if the jazz is your biggest reason for going to PI, skip CW and catch the 8:15 set at the Jazz club.

Check the following site for showtimes at PI:

Steve Soares WDW Entertainment Site

 

[Eeyore2003]

I have done what you are saying as far as TL and DQ. I thought it worked out OK, although we took our van though, so we were in control of our transportation. Getting in and out driving wise is not bad because if you get there on opening at TL you can park up close, and DD is virtually empty at that time of day, so there you can park close too. We only stayed at DQ until about 1 to 2. After that we went back to the resort and did nothing until we ventured out in the evening for "whatever". Maybe even just a nice meal. We had my 80 y/o MIL with us that time and she kind of "wilted" in the August heat and busy morning and needed a long break.

THAT BEING SAID~~~We've only had 5 days to be there at a time. If I had two weeks, I would take a day for each of these, relax at TL for the day, and for the DQ day, that might be the day I let everyone sleep in or plan a character breakfast and be at DQ upon opening, stay there as long as I want and then just "mosey" around DD shopping, then take our afternoon break and venture out for the night again. ALSO, our last two trips, as far as "kids" go, we've only had our younger son and he was a teen-ager, I'm sure if we had several kids and younger, we would want to do more at DQ and let them have a relaxing day at TL.

 

[HvnzCaress]

Thanks everyone for your replies. I have taken a deep breath now and have started reconsidering things a bit.

You're points are all well taken and I have decided it isn't worth going into Typhoon Lagoon for only two hours and trying to get back out to go to DQ at its opening. I think I might switch DQ to Wednesday and use it as a sleep in day. Do you think doing three (Sun, Mon, Tue) worth of EMH are too much? Here is a quick outline of my thoughts now:

1) Saturday night - Spectro magic and Fits at MK

2) Sunday EMH at Mk. Afternoon at Epcot (no Illuminations). Night swimming at resort and maybe EWP.

3) Monday EMH at AK. Late afternoon break and swim at resort. Evening ?

4) Tuesday EMH at MGM. Late afternoon break and swim at resort. E-ride night at MK.

5) Wednesday DQ at 11:30 a.m. Dinner at RFC at 3:30 p.m. Late afternoon swim at resort. Evening shopping at BW and Illuminations Cruise (thanks tink)

hmm...this get us to Thursday (Cast member night) or the weekend (Fri & Sat) before mom and dad get some time at PI but its important to me that we all do DQ together the first time.

::goes off for more reconsidering::::

 

[house_of_princesses]

I'm laughing at myself while reading the opening post...

Why is this woman sending her family to Dairy Queen so often???

I REALLY need my nap!

 

[HvnzCaress]

I'm laughing at myself while reading the opening post...

LMAO....Well its hot in August!!!!

 

[Miscrapper]

Eyeore what kind of passes do you have? If you have Ultimate Park Hoppers you might want to consider going to Blizzard Beach after leaving Animal Kingdom. It is very hot in August (we broiled in September!) and while the waterpark can be high action it can also be relaxing if you swim, do lazy river, get wet and sit on lounge chair! BB is right by AK and since you have own vehicle it might be a good break that day. Definitely plan a day at TL though - we loved it!

 

[HvnzCaress]

We do have ultimare park hoppers and intend to do both the water parks and especially BB. If one of the water parks has to go it will most likely be TL. We are also doing Discovery Cove and swimming with dolphins. I guess thats why I was trying to be sure TL got squeezed in on the first rough draft.

 

[Paris]

Wow, here I go, about to throw a wrench into your system by disagreeing with the other posters and agreeing with your original Monday plan.

Assuming that Typhoon Lagoon opens at 9am by mid-to-late August (it opens at 10am during the non-peak periods -- this is borderline), your original plan was fine.

You have the passes to do it and let's say this, Typhoon Lagoon and DisneyQuest have one thing in common -- the best time to be there is during the first two hours of operation or the last two hours of operation.

If you're in the campground that probably means you have a ride, which is significant because Typhoon Lagoon and DisneyQuest are literally right next to one another. You can be out of Typhoon Lagoon and have your pick of Downtown Disney West Side parking spaces right in front of DQ in 2-3 minutes. As long as you are able to dry up and/or change before you leave Typhoon Lagoon you will have two hours to hit the shark reef snorkeling without waiting and your choice of slides. After 11, unless you're a glutton for punishment Typhoon Lagoon is best served for floating around castaway creek, hitting the wave pool or just laying out.

But, opinions are like noses -- mine smells.

 

[HvnzCaress]

hehehe Paris.....

Yes we do have our own car and I believe we will definitely be using it on our DD/DQ day as I will need to go back to walk the dog at some point. I'm not so sure a mid-day break back at the resort is really essential this day. Isn't DQ indoors out of the sun and air conditioned. If we go back to the campground we won't have that luxury cause we are tenting! Our midday breaks will probably consist of time in the pool cause it will be so darn hot in August. Then again TL is one big giant park of pools!

:::goes off again to reconsider things::::

 

[cpl100]

This thread has brought up two DQ questions for me...

1. What are the hours?

2. Can you leave DQ for a while and return again by getting your hand stamped or some such thing? (same day, of course)

Thanks.

 

[HvnzCaress]

CPL I do believe that the opening time of DQ is 11:30 a.m. until 11:00 p.m. during the week and until 12:00 p.m. on the weekends.

I have also read in other posts that you can get a hand stamp and return to DQ the same day.

 

[Paris]

Yep, it's a midnight close on Fridays and Saturdays and 11pm the rest of the week. I had always avoided DQ on Saturday nights, figuring it would be wall-to-wall with local teens and weekend tourists but we headed out there as a last resort last month (even though it was the Saturday after Easter and the parks were generally busy, they were all closing down pretty early).

It was great. We'll be back for a longer stay in two weeks and we will DEFINITELY be hitting DQ quite a bit as the June hours at the parks aren't as long as they used to be in past summers.

Oh, I almost forgot one piece of advice for HvnzCaress, why are you going to Rainforest Cafe? Wait. That didn't sound quite right. I actually spent a lot of time at that location (during the media event of its opening back in 1997 or so). It's cool and all but it's at the other end of Downtown Disney. If you're going to park by DQ it'll be a long walk both ways. Not that there's anything wrong with a little bit of a walk to work off the Rasta Pasta and the chocolate volcano but you will see a Rainforest Cafe with the exact same menu at Animal Kingdom and you will be walking past a lot of good restaurants just to get there like Wolfgang Puck's, Bongos, Fulton's and Portobello.

Besides, if you're at Disney Quest and you had breakfast early enough to be at Typhoon Lagoon at 9am can you really hold out for that 3:30 late lunch-early dinner? If I were you I'd just have lunch right there at DQ. It has the best counter service of ANY park or resort on Disney property. Well, that's because Cheesecake Factory runs the 4th and 5th floor eateries there. There's also cozy booths with Internet Cafe access so you can always kill time surfing the web too.

 

[caitycaity]

i agree about the food at dq. when we have dq admission included on our tickets, sometimes we will go to dq just to eat.

and if you like chocolate mousse -- they have a really good one there!!!