Anna & Elsa M&G & touring plan - looking for advice

[DIS_AWC]

We are going to be in WDW from 9/1-9/6. Our last day in the parks is Saturday 9/5 and we'll be in Magic Kingdom that day (our second visit to MK over the course of the trip). We were originally planning to spend just the morning there, stay for the parade, then head back to the resort (WL) for packing and preparing to leave the next day. However, getting the dreaded A&E FP has thrown a monkey wrench into that plan. :/

We have two daughters (5.5 and almost 3), and it's pretty much essential that we meet these dang princesses, otherwise I would just say F-it.

As I waited for my FP booking window to open up, I watched each of the days of our trip turn from green to red on the DIBB site. Argh! By midnight on my booking day, the *only* times left available for the A&E FP during our entire trip were on Saturday after 7:00 pm. I grabbed the earliest one - from 7:10-8:10 - and I will be stalking the site to see if I can grab any earlier time, even if it's just for my older daughter and one adult in our party. But, I'm assuming that won't happen, and our FP time is set at 7 pm on our last day in the parks.

So now I'm trying to think through our plan for the last day and I'd love advice on what experienced folks would personally do. This is our first trip and it's been such a helpful eye-opener getting advice from people who have *actually* been there before.

Plan A: most ambitious
Pre-park breakfast at BOG (we'd all really love to keep this)
Relaxed morning touring Fontier- and Adventurelands (we're doing just FL on our other MK day)
Lunch at the Plaza at 1:25
FP for 3:00 parade (got the FP so we'd be close to exit)
Back to WL for rest
Back to MK for A&E (FP 7:10-8:10)
QS dinner in the park
Stay for Electrical Parade and possibly Wishes if everyone can rally that late

Plan B: more realistic, but we lose the pre-open BOG breakfast
Relaxed morning at WL, QS breakfast, pool time (plus packing, etc)
Head to MK for 1:25 lunch at Plaza
Parade at 3
Tour Frontierland and Adventureland (only ride we *have* to go on is Splash Mtn)
A&E FP arrive at 7:05
Back to resort
*in addition to dropping the breakfast, cons to this plan also include the hotter temps and larger crowds in the afternoon that we would normally want to avoid

Plan C: drop the FP for A&E (The horror!)
Pre-open breakfast at BOG
Try to beat the hordes to the standby line at A&E (ugh)
Then head to Frontier/Adventureland as planned
Plaza lunch at 1:25
Parade at 3
Back to resort for the afternoon, no pm in park

I'm sorry this is long-winded. I would appreciate anyone's feedback on what they personally would do if they were in this position... two adults in their 30s, two adults in the their 60s, two kids under 6. We're all morning people generally so Plan B goes against our "get-up-and-go!" nature. I'm trying not to overplan any of our days in the parks, knowing the fickle nature of little kids (plus the heat/weather), but since meeting A&E is THE most important thing on this trip for both of my girls, I feel like I have to have some kind of a plan in place...

 

[Eastern]

I would not rearrange my whole (optimal) day in order to meet A&E. I would downplay A&E to the girls, and talk about other fun things that will be happening.

I would look many times a day for another time slot for A&E. Your Plan A looks fine if you play it by ear. If everyone is tired at the end of the day, just skip the parade and/or Wishes.

With little kids you have to be flexible and not overly ambitious. You will have more fun with less things on your schedule.

 

[DJ_Big_Daddy]

If meeting them is a huge priority for the girls, I'd stick with plan A. I don't think your kids will be tired by then (it IS Disney World, after all), and you get the fun morning plus they get to meet the princesses.
I didn't realize they moved them from Epcot over to MK - that makes meeting them a lot easier. I think I waited in line for two hours in 2013.

Have fun, and good luck!

 

[disneygals10]

I'd stick with Plan A. Have fun!!!

 

[brooke789]

If you have a preopening BOG breakfast why not go straight from there to A&E without FP+?

 

[JimmyBean42]

If you have a preopening BOG breakfast why not go straight from there to A&E without FP+?

I like this idea by @brooke789. Try to go first thing to A&E without the FP+ because you may be able to get a 30 min or less wait time at rope drop. Finish your breakfast and when you get out you'll be standing right near the area for the Carousel and Princess Fairy Tale Hall. Heck you might even be on of the first 12 in line. Then if you do get that, change your FP+ to something else the kids wanted. Otherwise I'd stick with Plan A. Sure it may be a bit exhausting but it is your last day. Defintely don't ditch that A&E FP+, that is like gold now. Plus we had a similar situation last year and let me tell you, just seeing my DD's response to A&E would have made the trip for me.

 

[DIS_AWC]

If you have a preopening BOG breakfast why not go straight from there to A&E without FP+?

That's plan C.

We may keep the FP we have and still try to get to the A&E line right after the BOG breakfast. My main concern is that with it being a holiday weekend and still technically summer, MK may change the schedule to open at 8 and then our breakfast would be meaningless for getting a jump on crowds (and we would still want to keep it for the experience). And obviously we may still end up in a long line waiting standby if we don't time the breakfast perfectly with whenever they let the RD crowd in. I do think my kids would probably be at their most patient for waiting in a line first thing in the morning, but they could maybe do like 30 minutes max. The constant 60-120 minute waits I've seen on the wait time app are scary, so I'd feel better having the FP. I'm going to just keep checking to try and grab one for earlier in the day, or on our other MK park day.

 

[VeeHam]

I'd do plan C if the park opens at 9. Switch to plan A if it opens at 8. I brought bubbles and small coloring books to distract the kids while waiting in line. If they become too impatient they could also look at your phones for a few minutes if you aren't against it. My girls were 3 and 6 when we first went and they behaved in line even if it was long because they were so excited to meet whomever we were meeting.

 

[Karin1984]

I don't really get why you need to stay for Wishes and the evening parade. As the next day is your departing day, with 2 young children I would drop this for sure.

How long would your rest be at WL? Trying to calculate it: Before the parade has passed the fp spot it'll be 3:45 I believe. Half an hour to the Resort, and half an hour back incl. walking to and from room etc. So I guess about 2 hours of rest?

I think I would try to get an earlier lunch and have dinner before A&E. Between the parade and dinner i would do no rides only shows like philharmagic, carousel of progress, hall of presidents etc. And go to the Resort after the meet and greet

 

[DIS_AWC]

I don't really get why you need to stay for Wishes and the evening parade. As the next day is your departing day, with 2 young children I would drop this for sure.

How long would your rest be at WL? Trying to calculate it: Before the parade has passed the fp spot it'll be 3:45 I believe. Half an hour to the Resort, and half an hour back incl. walking to and from room etc. So I guess about 2 hours of rest?

I think I would try to get an earlier lunch and have dinner before A&E. Between the parade and dinner i would do no rides only shows like philharmagic, carousel of progress, hall of presidents etc. And go to the Resort after the meet and greet

Of course we don't *need* to stay for the evening entertainment. My younger daughter usually naps around 1:00, so on our other park days we are planning to be back at the resort by then. But with the parade falling when it does in the afternoon, we'll be pushing nap time that day until after the parade. With a nap later in the day (and with my older daughter likely tired enough to take a nap too if we're back at the resort), we figure we'd be able to get them to a later bedtime, especially when we wouldn't need to get up super early the next day (flight is around 1, magical express pick up will be around 10).

The adults all assumed we would have to sacrifice seeing all fireworks and evening shows on this trip since the kids are in bed by 8, but if we already have to be back at the park for the 7 pm FP timeslot, I thought maybe we could push through and stay for the night entertainment, at least the electrical parade at 9. Obviously if the kids (or adults, LOL) are exhausted from a long day, we'd skip it. And we'd only attempt it if we went back to the resort for rest and then went back for the FP time, since there is NO way we'd all make it straight through the whole day from breakfast to fireworks. I admire anyone who can do that!

 

[Karin1984]

Understood! Other question, as this is your second MK day, will you be seeing the parade on the first day as well (if yes, with or without FP)? Maybe skip it on the second day and have a longer break. Unless of course the parade is a must.

 

[karasmom]

I would do plan A.

Take the break and then let the girls enjoy Disney at "night"! Too me... its even more magical with all the lights on etc

You can start packing most if it even the night before (dirty clothes etc) so it wont be that much after you return that night

 

[DIS_AWC]

Understood! Other question, as this is your second MK day, will you be seeing the parade on the first day as well (if yes, with or without FP)? Maybe skip it on the second day and have a longer break. Unless of course the parade is a must.

Our first MK day is our very first day of the trip (we arrive around 5 pm, so not doing anything on arrival day). The plan for that day is to do RD so we can see the welcome show, then spend the entire morning in Fantasy Land meeting characters and riding what the girls want to ride (we have FPs for meeting Ariel, meeting Cinderella/Rapunzel, and riding Peter Pan, all before noon), have a QS lunch around 11 somewhere like Columbia Harbor House, then leave the park around 12:30/1 pm. We have a dinner reservation at 5:30 at Chef Mickey's that night, so we don't want to overload the girls on the first day and definitely want to schedule rest time in. The parade is something we all really want to see though, so it might make more sense to try and push through to the parade time on the first day rather than the last day when we're all tired out. Then we could have a bigger rest in the afternoon on the second day.

Of course I'm prepared for all of my pre-trip planning to be thrown out the window once we get there! My girls may surprise us and have boundless energy to stay in the parks and experience all the magic they can.

 

[DJ_Big_Daddy]

Something that may seem obvious, but my wife and I didn't figure it out until our second day in during our first trip ...

Considering you have little ones, waiting in line to meet characters can be a bit taxing on them. What we would do is they (my wife and DD) got in line for one with a 30 minute wait, I got in line for one with a 45 minute wait. As soon as they were done, they would come over, have a 10 minute wait, and we would knock out two essentially for the time of one.
Do a few rides/attractions, then rinse and repeat.
Granted, it means you stand in line by yourself for 30+ minutes, but a small sacrifice to maximize enjoyment for the little ones.

 

[SleepingUgly]

You're lucky you got a FP+ at all! We're probably going to have to do standby for A&E for our trip that same week. My FP+ window opens up tonight and already, all days for our six-day trip are gone except our last day and we have to leave MK by 1:30 pm to make our flight that evevning. My daughter's birthday is Sept. 9 so I was hoping to include A&E on that day. Looks like we'll be in the standby line as that is her ONE birthday wish, to meet the almighty Elsa herself. I'll be packing the Grey Goose so I can keep myself entertained in that line ...

 

[DIS_AWC]

You're lucky you got a FP+ at all! We're probably going to have to do standby for A&E for our trip that same week. My FP+ window opens up tonight and already, all days for our six-day trip are gone except our last day and we have to leave MK by 1:30 pm to make our flight that evevning. My daughter's birthday is Sept. 9 so I was hoping to include A&E on that day. Looks like we'll be in the standby line as that is her ONE birthday wish, to meet the almighty Elsa herself. I'll be packing the Grey Goose so I can keep myself entertained in that line ...

Ugh, I'm sorry! It's the worst feeling seeing all of your days book up while you wait for your window to open! I really hope you are able to get one tonight. I have seen some switching from red to green and back again for the open days in September over the past week, so definitely keep checking if you aren't able to get one right when your window opens. Fingers crossed for you!