Am I crazy?

[fuzzlekins]

I'm planning our itinerary for our 8 1/2 day trip in Feb. I'm one of those people that tries to squeeze every last drop of fun out of a vacation. I do, however, want to remain sane and get adequate sleep to keep going. We are travelling with our 5 yr old daughter, but she's generally a trooper. And we've never left a park before closing in the past. Having said that, is this itinerary too much?

- Two 9-6 days at SeaWorld
- One 9-6 (closing assumption) day at Universal IOA
- 6 1/2 days at the Disney parks (open to close)
- Planning to be out til between 9:30 and 10:30 each night
- Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
- 3 character meals
- Ctr svc meals (mainly breakfasts) at 5 different resorts
- Possible Pirates & Pals Fireworks cruise or carriage ride one night

Can it be done?

 

[safroim]

I'm sure it could be done, but it doesn't sound enjoyable, to me at least. I would drop one day at Sea World and one and half days at WDW and not plan/reserve every breakfast and dinner. That would leave you one and half days to build some flexibility into your plan and allow for some down time, swimming at the resort or whatever. Over-scheduling and over-planning can suck the life out of your vacation. Otherwise it sounds awesome, your DD is gong to have a blast!

 

[frankieeyre]

I agree with dropping one day at Sea World! You only need one day to get it all done! Sea World plan their shows so that you could fit all of them in in one day! I think as long as you aren't going too crazy at the parks then all the rest will be fine!! Enjoy!!!

 

[mom2rtk]

It can be done. But your feet are going to hate you.

 

[Indio]

I'm planning our itinerary for our 8 1/2 day trip in Feb.
- Two 9-6 days at SeaWorld
- One 9-6 (closing assumption) day at Universal IOA
- 6 1/2 days at the Disney parks (open to close)

Can it be done?

You say you're planning an 8 1/2 day trip, but you've got 9 1/2 days for park days....are you going for 8 or 9 days?

I think this is going to be too hard on you and a lot of traveling - will you have a car?

 

[Seeker615]

If you are going to Universal I would do 2 days. One for the Studios and one for IOA. Like a previous poster said one day at Seaworld is good.

I also agree for a little downtime in your vacation. We always pick one day and do prety much nothing! Swim, sleep in relax at the pools....etc...

 

[OhioStateBuckeye]

I am going to say no, since you said you have an 8 and a half day trip and you have 9 and a half days planned out

 

[disnut8]

We are travelling with our 5 yr old daughter, but she's generally a trooper.

Personally, I think it's asking a lot of a five year old to get up early and stay out late every night. But you know your daughter. We had our five year old granddson with us and he just slept until he woke up (usually around 8), we let him take his time getting ready, and usually were entering a park by 10-10:30. He did have a couple of late nights but it didn't bother him because he could sleep in the next day. The one day he did get up early (his first day, he was excited), he had to have a time out in the parks. Just please don't put your needs before your daugther's. If she gets tired, she will need to rest.

 

[Belleofthehouse]

MY FAMILY WOULD KILL ME WITH THAT PLAN! Anything can be done, but that doesn't mean you Should do it.

Universal and Seaworld would be a great trip all by themselves. I would do one day outside Disney, but hold off on the rest for another vacation.

I have three boys (16-11) and they would not go to the parks from 9:30 to close. Try to factor in some quiet/relaxing time...it is vacation!

 

[dislaney]

It can be done, but my family would kill me if we tried to do all that!

 

[athenagwis]

I have to agree it sounds like a lot!! when we went to WDW for the first time, I thought we would be able to be in the parks all day long, but after 3 days, we were ready to drop. If you work in some mid-day breaks at WDW and then come back to spend the night, you might be better off. Remember it's a vacation!! Even though it would be nice to see everything, you won't be able to no matter how long you spend in the park, and if you push yourself that hard you certainly won't enjoy it. At the very least I would cut WDW down to 5.5 days and have a full day of rest between Seaworld/Universal & WDW .....

Rachel

 

[chartle]

- Ctr svc meals (mainly breakfasts) at 5 different resorts


Can it be done?

I'm all for tour until you drop but this is the only "odd" part of your plan.

Not sure where you are staying and what 5 resorts you plan to visit and how you plan to get there? Going to a resort thats not within walking distance, or on the monorail line for MK, of a park or your resort is going to take a lot of time.

Now if you are somehow touring the resorts thats another issue, but I wouldn't go too far out of the way to eat CS at a resort.

 

[luvmy2babies]

YIKES! And what is your touring style on these long days? Are you taking it slow with a lot of breaks or going non-stop? My crew goes nowhere fast. Still, I might do that for 3 days, but not 9. For me adding more days should mean there’s some down time.

I will give you two examples. These were our last two trips to Orlando.

October 2011: My daughter’s fall break, dd is 8, ds is 21 months

Wednesday: 5:15pm flight from NC to Orlando, cab to hotel, dinner, bed
Thursday: 9am to 5pm at Sea World
Friday: 9am to 7pm at Sea World
Saturday: 9am to 9pm at MK
Sunday: 2pm flight from Orlando to NC

That is 30 theme park hours in 3 days, but we took our time, took lots of breaks, repeated whatever we wanted, and spent over half a day in Happy Harbor, which is why we did 2 days at Sea World, where most people would only do 1. No one was over tired or worn out. My dd did have some difficulty the first day because it was 68 degrees at home and 84 our first day in Florida, but that lasted about an hour.

Now, let's take a look at trip #2

June 2012: My daughter’s out of school for summer and we are taking our long awaited 9 night trip to WDW. My daughter is 9. My son is 2.5.

Thursday: 8am flight from NC to Orlando, DME to ASMo, lunch, nap, MK from 4pm to 10:15pm

Friday: 9:30 breakfast at resort, Epcot from 10:30 to 5pm, then character dinner inside Epcot, back at resort by 8.

Saturday: 8:30 character breakfast, then MK from 9:30 to 3pm parade, back to resort, 30 minutes on resort playground, then rest

Sunday: 8:30 for rope drop, MK from 9am to 12:30, lunch in MK, back to resort. MK from 3:30 to 8:45 (BBB at 4pm, photos, rides, CRT at 6:40, Town Square Theater for some extra Princess time)

Monday: 8:30 character breakfast at Epcot, then Epcot from 9:30 to 2:30, then back to resort, pool time, dinner in the room

Tuesday: Rest day (breakfast in the room, resting and playing with toys), MK from 3:30 to 5, dinner at Ohana. Had the option to return to MK, but went back to the pool instead.

Wednesday: AM EMH at AK to 1pm, then back to resort for pool time, dinner at resort

Thursday: DHS from opening to 6pm (the plan was to leave after the afternoon parade, but my children had way more fun in the Honey I Shrunk the Kids playground than I expected

Friday: AK from 10am to 3pm, back to resort to change, then Chef Mickey’s at 6pm

Saturday: 9:30am breakfast at resort, resort arcade, DME departure at noon, flight home

On a longer trip IMHO, there is just no need to have all of those long days, especially with a small child. I realize you might not be able to have pool time, but I still think at least a few "half days" would be good. It is important to get time off your feet and get enough rest. Don't under estimate the time it will take to get settled after getting back to the room at night. The body and the mind has to come down from way more stimulation than it normally gets in a typical day.

 

[fuzzlekins]

It can be done. But your feet are going to hate you.

LOL! I'm not actually worried about my feet. Our first trip we spent 10 days there and did parks every day from open to close. It was fine but we didn't schedule any "extras" and we didn't go to multiple resorts for dining. We just ate as cheaply as possible and got back to the attractions. We're kind of hardcore like that.

 

[fuzzlekins]

I'm planning our itinerary for our 8 1/2 day trip in Feb.
- Two 9-6 days at SeaWorld
- One 9-6 (closing assumption) day at Universal IOA
- 6 1/2 days at the Disney parks (open to close)

Can it be done?

You say you're planning an 8 1/2 day trip, but you've got 9 1/2 days for park days....are you going for 8 or 9 days?

I think this is going to be too hard on you and a lot of traveling - will you have a car?

We're driving so we will have a car. We'll hit the ground running on a Friday morning (We'll make the loooong drive on Thurs and probably stay around St. Augustine so the Fri portion of the drive won't be bad.) heading to SeaWorld. Since they close early, we'll head to the Disney resort right after and have a ctr svc dinner at our resort. Spend the rest of that evening touring our resort. We'll leave the following Saturday. That last Saturday will be AK since it closes the earliest, then dinner at 1900 Park Fare, then we hit the road for the first leg of our drive. So we'll have 9 days except that Sat is really a half day. One of the days I planned on day 2 of SeaWorld then to MK for the evening. We could drop a day of SeaWorld if it really can be done by 6pm, but we've never been there so no clue on that. And we got the 2nd day tickets free so I hate to waste them, but if we're tired, that would be an easy schedule edit. Are the various resorts too far apart to go to for breakfasts? I was thinking AoA (where we're planning to stay), Saratoga Springs, Polynesian, Contemporary (dinner after SW), and Animal Kingdom Lodge. We've never set foot in any Disney resort previously so I'm trying to squeeze in some quick resort tours this time since I've heard they're all spectacular to see.

 

[fuzzlekins]

If you are going to Universal I would do 2 days. One for the Studios and one for IOA. Like a previous poster said one day at Seaworld is good.

I also agree for a little downtime in your vacation. We always pick one day and do prety much nothing! Swim, sleep in relax at the pools....etc...

We're only doing 1 day at Universal b/c we've been to Universal twice before. Our DD prefers IOA (and I do too) so we're only hitting that one. We were just there for a day this Feb and I was inclined to scrap it for this trip, but hubby and DD really want to go back to Harry Potter (I read her the first book since our last trip so now she's into Harry). I'm also assuming that it will not be warm enough to swim in Feb (it wasn't this year).

 

[fuzzlekins]

Just please don't put your needs before your daugther's. If she gets tired, she will need to rest.

Oh I definitely agree with that. She's a lot like me. This trip is ALL for her. Hubby and I would rather go to Europe or something but that's not happening! LOL We always take a stroller so she can chill or nap if she wants to. We usually let her sleep until around 8 since she can get ready the quickest. On our 10-day marathon park tour in 2010 she did GREAT. She just passed out about 30 seconds after getting into her carseat each night. She had a BLAST though. Same thing this last Feb. She didn't even take any naps. She's a diehard theme parker. That said, I'm definitely heeding all the words of wisdom here and I'll continue to massage my itinerary b/c I don't want anyone keeling over mid-trip.

 

[gator girl]

The resorts are fun to see, but some of them are tedious to get to/from. You have to take multi-step transportation each time, which eats time from your day. Poly & CR aren't bad for breakfasts since you can ride the bus from your resort to MK & then hop a monorail.

However, Saratoga Springs & AKL are going to be a pain. You have to transfer buses at a park to get there, and in the morning sometimes that system isn't up and running on a regular schedule yet. Honestly? I'd drop Saratoga Springs and take a taxi to AKL. I've never heard of a single person who made a special trip to SS for a meal - that's an unusual choice.

One day at Universal is probably OK if your kids are too small for the big roller coasters. And you're going to have time to do everything at Sea World about 3 times each. That's why they give the 2nd day away... because no one would spend another vacation day there redoing stuff instead of moving on to a new park, otherwise.

 

[KellyNY]

It definitely can be done but I am glad not to be part of your group, way too much.

 

[Tiffany507s]

I'm planning our itinerary for our 8 1/2 day trip in Feb. I'm one of those people that tries to squeeze every last drop of fun out of a vacation. I do, however, want to remain sane and get adequate sleep to keep going. We are travelling with our 5 yr old daughter, but she's generally a trooper. And we've never left a park before closing in the past. Having said that, is this itinerary too much?

- Two 9-6 days at SeaWorld
- One 9-6 (closing assumption) day at Universal IOA
- 6 1/2 days at the Disney parks (open to close)
- Planning to be out til between 9:30 and 10:30 each night
- Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique
- 3 character meals
- Ctr svc meals (mainly breakfasts) at 5 different resorts
- Possible Pirates & Pals Fireworks cruise or carriage ride one night

Can it be done?

I know a PP already said this but I'm not sure if you caught it...you have 9 1/2 days planned. It was probably just a typo but wanted to make sure. Also I don't get the 2 days at SeaWorld...unless you just really love it there.