Can someone please advise me re: weeklong plan?

[mrsincredible3]

I'll try to keep this brief. Going to WDW over spring break (not easter) with DS6 and DS 15 months. PLanning to nap baby in the stroller and not return to the hotel for breaks. Enjoying our resort (AKL) on arrival and departure days, this is our first trip with kids (and as adults). Can someone please advise me on which is the best plan? We have seven full days, and plan on doing NO nighttime entertainment, basically hit the parks as close to rope drop as possible and return to the hotel for dinner or just after dinner in the park. Doing HS on our first full day because that is what DS6 is most excited for! Aiming for 2 park days followed by a resort day.

Plan 1:
HS
Epcot
Resort day
MK
Resort Day
MK
AK (opens at 8am, plan to stay till around 2pm, then swim at hotel)

Plan 2
HS
Resort day
MK
EP
Resort day
MK
AK (again, AK opens at 8, stay till 2, then swim)

Plan 3
HS
Resort day
AK
MK
resort day
MK
Epcot


In each scenario all parks are green by the Easywdw calendar, and none utilize the EMH), no park hopping. I imagine our MK days will be totally exhausting, but really i think they all will be tiring, especially for the baby! they will all be full (park open to about 5pm) days except for AK, which i think we can do in like 2/3 of a day. I realize this is just personal preference, but is there any reason why one plan would work better or worse? Should we do MK on days after we've had a resort day so we're better rested? By the end of the week (last day) should we do a pretty full epcot day, or try to make an 8am AK opening and swim in the afternoon. Someone please pick a plan for me!!! My head is swimming and i make FP+ selections soon! Thank you for any input!

 

[wdwloverz]

Of the 3 I would most definitely pick the first. The reason why is that I wouldn't want a resort day on my second full day at WDW, I think you will enjoy the resort day much more after 2 full park days. Otherwise you may just feel antsy to be in a park rather than enjoying the break.
I also think the first plan has the best flow, MK then a resort day to reflect on what you want to revisit, what you missed, etc., then back to Mk again.

 

[bababear_50]

Plan 1:
HS
Epcot
Resort day
MK
Resort Day
MK
AK (opens at 8am, plan to stay till around 2pm, then swim at hotel)

Hi
I think plan #1 above is great!
Slowly building your stamina towards a full day in MK and allowing a resort day between the two Magic Kingdom days is great.
Have fun planning and have a great Holiday.

(Best wishes with booking your FP+--I just finished rearranging mine.)
(I'm also headed to AKL soon,,remember to check the daily activities and evening movies by the pool schedule.)
Hugs Mel

 

[cheesemouse]

Ditto what the previous poster mentioned. I would go with plan 1. Your resort day will be more "needed" after 2 park days rather than 1.

 

[Hopefully]

Of the 3 I would do # 1 as well. I agree, I wouldn't plan a resort day for day 2.
I think the most important thing for your family is to try to go by the signals your little ones send to you. They may NEED a mid day break and some nap time in the room.
I went with my Grandkids when they were 3 & 5. The 5 yo wasn't napping at home, but slept in WDW. We took a mid day break, slept, swam for an hour and then went back to the park for dinner and to see a bit of the evening. It worked wonderfully.
But you know your children best. Do what is best for them. Rather than 2 full resort days you might consider 2 short park days, using the morning of one of you resort days as a short day.
Whatever you decide, have a wonderful trip

 

[nfceagles]

This is personal preference, but I think a more relaxing trip would involve going to a park everyday, but making them shorter days. It will cost you park tickets for the additional 2 days, but the extra days are so cheap after you've already bought the first 5. The upside is you'd get an additional 6 FPs for those two days making it even easier to get through your priorities and still having plenty of pool/nap time back at the resort. For example, spread MK over 3 shorter days. You'll get 9 total MK FPs instead of 6 making it really easy to see everything. You could also spread Epcot or one of the others over two shorter days and have 6 FPs for that park instead of 3. Using pre-scheduled FPs you could even mix a sleep-in morning into your schedule. I just think the extra cost of those two park days is cheap and it will make your days all the more manageable with little ones. Plus, when my kids were little whole days at the resort got to be challenging. They loved swimming, but outside that it was a bit of work to keep the entertained.

 

[FreeThinker]

What about more 1/2 days and going to parks everyday? If you did that, you could go at RD, stay until around lunch time, then go back to the resort for a nap/swim, and then a nice dinner before bed. We prefer just 5-6 hours in a park per day, and just maybe one rest day per week.

Take it easy and go with the flow of your kids. You may be surprised at how well they hold up! Our first trip my youngest was 12 months, and I was very nervous. It was great! We got a lot more done than I thought we would!

 

[bababear_50]

A lesson learned from taking my grand-daughter to AKL last time was
she is such a "resort swim girl"
she kept asking to stay at the resort
A few of the things we did:we usually stay at Jambo House
Arcade
Pool
Marshmallows by the pool
Cookie baking at Boma
Medallion rubbings
Night Vision animal search
Animal "hunt"(just a game I made up).
Visit over to Kidani Pool and gift shop
resort days at AKL is full of fun things to do.

 

[mrsincredible3]

What about more 1/2 days and going to parks everyday? If you did that, you could go at RD, stay until around lunch time, then go back to the resort for a nap/swim, and then a nice dinner before bed. We prefer just 5-6 hours in a park per day, and just maybe one rest day per week.

Take it easy and go with the flow of your kids. You may be surprised at how well they hold up! Our first trip my youngest was 12 months, and I was very nervous. It was great! We got a lot more done than I thought we would!

Good suggestion. I had originally considered one full resort day and two half days but my five year old was adamant he have two days at the resort. He could swim happily all day every day . I considered three partial days at MK but decided the extra travel time by disney transportation for the third partial day may not save us that much time in line waiting. Going to a park in the afternoon won't be good for the baby, and I don't think we can manage getting up and out every single morning. Hence why we settled on five full park days and two relaxing resort days. I'll reconsider though. As a sidenote I have BOG and CRT reservations for our MK days and doing two shorter days means giving up one of those.

 

[mrsincredible3]

Of the 3 I would most definitely pick the first. The reason why is that I wouldn't want a resort day on my second full day at WDW, I think you will enjoy the resort day much more after 2 full park days. Otherwise you may just feel antsy to be in a park rather than enjoying the break.
I also think the first plan has the best flow, MK then a resort day to reflect on what you want to revisit, what you missed, etc., then back to Mk again.

This was what I had finally decided in and then dh was questioning how tired well be after a long day at HS (need to sign up ds for JTA). I thought if we do epcot the day after, knowing well take a "see what we see" approach and getting there when we get there we'd be ok. Not planning to do everything there. But rethinking everything now and second guessing.