Calling all fellow excessive planners...help me with my August itinerary please??

[beattyfamily]

Fellow obsessive planners help! I would love itinerary help for my first August & first summer trip.

Here’s the scoop:

It will be me, my 2 DD’s ages 5 & 8 (no daddy this trip). It is our 5th trip but our first in the summer. We are going the last full week in August (Aug 21 – Aug 27). I invited my sister and my 4-year-old niece. It is their FRIST Disney trip ever and might be their only trip.

We are splitting our stay with 3 nights at the BWV and then 3 nights at the Cont Tower.

Our favorite park is MK so I was thinking of going Sun, Tues and Thurs. We like doing EMH at MK. Our first day (arrive at hotel around 11:00a) is a Saturday, which park? MGM? MGM is our second favorite park. Epcot is our third favorite and AK is our least favorite.

Should we try and see Spectromagic Saturday night? I’ve never seen it. We will be getting up early to get the most out of the parks. We want to do Fantasmic with the dinner package; what night would you pick...I'm leaning toward Monday? I’m afraid Saturday night Fantasmic would be crowded. We don’t want to wait long to go to MK so I was thinking we’d go Sunday (EMH). We want to eat at Chef Mickey’s when staying at the Cont so maybe Tuesday night? We want a CRT breakfast (hopefully Sun, if not maybe Tues or Thurs) and if not then a PSB on Epcot day. We would like to do a Crystal Palace lunch or dinner later in the week. The last week in August, the parks start closing earlier so can we really head back to a park at night?

Can you plan my itinerary? Should we have late lunches or early dinners in the park before we leave? What would you do based on my info given? I’m having a really hard time I think because it’s new territory for me -- August, and also because it’s my sister and niece’s first trip ever and I want it to be great for them! They will be on a tight budget so only maybe 4 sit down meals…

Here’s an itinerary I’ve been working on:

Saturday: (BWV) MGM day?? Spectromagic at night (or Fantasmic?) I’m afraid Fantasmic will be crowded on a Saturday night.
Sunday: (BWV) MK day (EMH), hopefully CRT for breakfast (first choice) Dinner??
Monday: (BWV) Epcot day?? PSB for breakfast (if I don’t get CRT) possible night for Fantasmic as well (thinking this might be the best night for Fantasmic?).
Tuesday: (Cont) MK day (CRT – 2nd choice) Chef Mickey’s for dinner
Wednesday: (Cont) AK day, possible night for Fantasmic or DTD
Thursday: (Cont) MK day (EMH) (CRT 3rd choice) CP dinner or another possible night for Fantasmic.
Friday: (leaving Disney at 2:30p) what would you do this day?? MK or MGM??

Any advice about my itinerary or tips about August are GREATLY appreciated. I've never had this hard a time before. The stress of my sister coming and it being August is driving me crazy!!
Please help!

 

[Disney Fool]

Well, first thing, don't try to do too much in one day in August. It will be HOT and HUMID. You've got the right idea about hitting MK early and leaving. Make sure you are all drinking enough water during the day, and please, even more important than planning your itinerary, make sure your kids are wearing sunhats. That said, don't worry about Fantasmic being crowded. It's always crowded! If you're doing the dinner package, you'll be brought in to a seating area reserved for you. I wouldn't do Fantasmic the night before an early morning, though. Save it for a night when you don't have to get up early. Another thing: since you're splitting your stay, why not just do the MK during the 3 days you're at the Contemporary, and do MGM, and Epcot when you're at the BWV? Much easier to get around and you won't lose valuable travel time. As for AK, only do it in the morning in August, then leave and go swimming.

 

[beattyfamily]

Great tips! Thank you!

I don't think my DD or my sister's will want to wait till we're staying at the Cont to see MK! Just not going to happen.

I'm still thinking I should do Fanasmic on a different night other than Saturday so we can see Spectomagic if we want to.

Thanks agian!

 

[goofy4tink]

You arrive on our departure day!!! Okay. It's hot/humid. Don't rush around like crazy ladies!!

Do not try to see Spectro on Sat night!! It's a zoo. You are better off, imho, at Fantasmic and MGM. You can walk back to BWV after. Sure, do MK on Sunday for EE. That's what we do. I would try for a different night to see Spectro. Any night is better than Sat. Fantasmic is crowded during the summer, might be a little less so when you are there tho. But you are still better off at Fantasmic than Spectro on Sat. Enough of that, you get my point.

AK is a terrific 1/2 day park, especially during the summer. It gets really hot there. That might be a good day to visit DD and DQ.

I would try to split up the days and go for 2 parks a day. With a rest in the middle. That worked for us last summer. Do your 'must do's' in the morning, because it may rain. Well, it will rain every day. But usually it is just a quickie. But it was horrendous last year and put a huge damper on our evening plans.

Try for CRT for each day. Also PSB, same thing. When/if you get CRT, you can cancel the PSB. Also what we did. We like late lunches better than early dinners. It's a little cheaper and it's nice to get out of the heat/humidity in the afternoon. We try to eat around 4ish. THen you can just grab a quick snack in the evening.

Most important, besides drinking lots of water, sunscreen, wearing a hat and sunglasses, and mid-day rests.....stop, smell the roses, enjoy your trip and your family!!! Don't obsess over every little thing. Sit down now and have everyone make a list of their top things to see/do. Then everyone will be happy. Plan to spend some time with just your dd's. Your sister can have some time with just her dd that way too. Don't forget that you will all be 'making memories!!' Have fun and enjoy each other.

 

[beattyfamily]

Originally posted by goofy4tink
Do not try to see Spectro on Sat night!! It's a zoo. You are better off, imho, at Fantasmic and MGM. You can walk back to BWV after. Sure, do MK on Sunday for EE. That's what we do. I would try for a different night to see Spectro. Any night is better than Sat. Fantasmic is crowded during the summer, might be a little less so when you are there tho. But you are still better off at Fantasmic than Spectro on Sat. Enough of that, you get my point.

Thank you so much! I appreciate all your thoughts and tips!

I will try to relax and it is my 5th trip but it's my sis's first and that's what is stressing me out!! I aim to please, you know.

Anyway, the main reason I was thinking of seeing Spectro that Saturday is because I'm used to off season when Saturday was the ONLY night to see it. Do you believe Spectro will be offered other nights of my trip besides Saturday??

Also, I was thinking of doing two parks a day with the mid-day break because of heat but I thought that the only park open at night the end of August would be Epcot? I thought the hours that last week of August decrease quite a bit.

Thanks again!!!

 

[goofy4tink]

Yep, the hours do decrease the same week-end you get there. If Spectro is only shown on that Sat night, then go for it. Hey, it's vacation, right? I would go further into the park to find a spot to watch. Maybe in Frontierland. It might be a little less congested.

I think MGM is pretty consistent with their hours also. Usually they stay up and running until around 9 I think. It's MK that starts shutting down by 7. Drives me nuts. We can hope that the park hours are out in June, so we can fine tune our plans. I'm hoping for just one or two E-nights during my stay.

Since you've been so often, you know the drill. If I had given it some thought or better yet, realized just who I was responding to (as opposed to a real newbie) I would have realized you knew what you were doing!! Duh! One little piece of advice tho....don't try to take ownership of your sister/niece's good time. Do what you can, share what you love and leave it at that. I did the planning for a group trip just once. Never again. I was always worrying whether or not everyone was having a good time. Now...I hesitate to even give restuarant referrals. I don't want anyone coming home and saying..."You said it was a great place and it really wasn't that great." Ah well.

 

[Micca]

Hot and tired is a given at this time of year. What you can control is hunger. With kids those ages, I would go for the early meal options. If they get hungry between meals there are one or two places to get a snack This will avoid the hot/tired/hungry trifecta If you can work in naps, that's one less element to deal with

 

[Selket]

We were there that time of year (a week earlier) last year and did fine with everything. EMH at the MK is a good idea. I don't know if doing the CRT breakfast is good for that Sunday that you want to do EMH however.

One thing I didn't plan for was all the rain we got - which really cut into our swimming time. My kids HAD to go swimming every day and many times the afternoon showers were so bad they closed the pool for several hours. We ended up staying at the hotel most of one day just to get in some pool time. We often came back in the afternoon, had lunch, and by the time we got to the pool and was in for a bit it came up a storm that lasted hours and hours.

Have fun!