Critique my MK plans

[adear11]

We're leaving on April 4 headed to WDW for 9 Days. We're planning on having 3 MK days during this trip. This is the first trip for my DD(7) and DS(4).

I'd like for everyone's thoughts on my plans for the first two days (I'm still working on day 3, but it will mostly be redoing things we liked on the first 2 days and hitting anything we may have missed). These days also aren't back to back. We'll be going to Epcot between the first MK day (4/5) and the second (4/7). Then the third day will be the day before we leave (4/11).

Updated 4/14 - MK Day 1 - 4/5

1. 8:10am CRT breakfast
2. Peter Pan's Flight
3. Winnie the Pooh
   
4. Meet Ariel
5. Journey of the Little Mermaid
   
6. Mine Train with FP+ (9:40 - 10:40)
   
7. Barnstormer
8. Dumbo
9. Meet Donald, Goofy, Daisey, and Minnie at Storybook Circus
   
10. Enchanted Tales with Belle with FP+ (11:40 - 12:40)
11. Prince Charming Regal Carrousel
12. Lunch at Pinocchio Village Haus
13. Break (should be around 1:00 by this point) - perusing the shops and maybe taking boat over to WL to relax and explore a bit.
14. Return to MK by 4:00
15. 4:30 appointment for DD at BBB in Castle.

Everything below this is contingent upon how long BBB takes except Anna and Elsa

1. Meet Tinker Bell at Town Square
2. Meet Mickey at Town Square
3. Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
4. PeopleMover
5. Mickey's PhilharMagic
6. Meet Anna and Elsa with FP+(6:50 - 7:50)
7. Eat dinner, then vacate the park prior to Wishes (We'll see wishes on last day).

Updated 4/14 - MK Day 2 - 4/7

1. See Welcome Show
2. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
3. Splash Mountain
   
4. Haunted Mansion
   
5. Jungle Cruise
6. Pirates of the Caribbean
7. Tom Sawyer Island
   
8. Lunch at Columbia Harbor House
9. Enchanted Tiki Room
   
10. Country Bear Jamboree
11. Buzz Light Year with FP+ (12:20 - 1:20)
12. Space Mountain with FP+ (1:20 - 2:20) DW and DD only. DS isn't tall enough for this. Will do rider swap
13. Tomorrowland Speedway with FP+ (1:20-2:20) Me and DS while DW and DD ride Space Mountain
14. Meet Cinderella and Rapunzel with FP + (2:20 - 3:20)
15. See Festival of Fantasy Parade from Frontier land
16. Big Thunder Mountain one more time since we're in Frontierland (maybe)
17. Leave MK for resort to rest and change for 7:15 Raglan Road ADR

 

[wdw&sonny]

Looks very ambitious with 2 young children. As long as you don't expect to accomplish all, you have a good outline.
Peter Pan on first day may be crowded by time you get there after CRT breakfast. Be prepared to instead abort and go there first thing on day 2 or 3.
Getting all that done by 1pm is questionable. If you leave MK at 1p, with a car, you will be back to your resort at 2p. You will have 1 hr before you will need to leave to get back to MK by 4p.
On day 2, I would move HM, BTMRR and Splash ahead of POTC and JC. Leave Tiki Room and CBJ for after lunch.

 

[adear11]

i agree day 1 is pretty ambitious. That's one of the reasons for having 3 MK days. If we need to skip something on the first day we have plenty of other opportunities to rearrange.

I'm not firm on leaving for the resort during the break. I thought it might be a bit tight. We can just relax, peruse the shops instead of leaving during this break.

I had put JC and POTC first because I was thinking we'd come in and go up through adventureland, then to Frontierland, and then over to liberty square. You think it would be better to start in liberty square and then work through Frontierland and then down to adventureland?

 

[LMDisneygirl]

Another option if you need a break from the MK but don't want to take the time to go to the Beach club is take the monorail and check out one of the monorail resorts, or take the boat to the Wilderness Lodge and back. We love the little boat ride, and we also love the ambience in the WL!

Has your DS4 been around characters? The first time we took our kids the youngest was 3. He spent his whole trip saying, "I don't like the customers (characters)". We did find a trick on the next trip to get him more comfortable. Hopefully yours will love them from the start!!

I know you didn't ask for all this general advice. Sorry. BUT.... (she continues)....we noticed that when the boys were little they'd complain that they were hot, tired, etc. and we'd think they needed to go sit somewhere, but then we'd find a playground or water feature in a park and they'd be jumping all around and happy as can be!

Have a blast! It's such a fun age to take them. Though we've found them all to be great ages, for different reasons each time!

 

[Malibustyle23]

Have you been before? Do you care if you miss Wishes completely? With three days at MK, I wouldn't leave Wishes until the last day. Anything could happen (weather, oversleep during a nap at the room, adr runs late, etc) to make you miss it with no chance to see it. Wishes is Disney for me so I'd be upset if I completely missed it.

Eta: never mind I see you've been before. But still I wouldn't want to miss it.

 

[disneymayz]

While you are passing Little Mermaid to meet Ariel, I would just stop then to ride. Will save you from having to go back. Why watch parade from Frontier land? Looks like you are trying to get it all done in these 2 days. Take your time, let the kids and the adults take it all in rather than rush rush the whole time. Stop and have ice cream stop and take some pictures (this can be your "break")

 

[adear11]

Another option if you need a break from the MK but don't want to take the time to go to the Beach club is take the monorail and check out one of the monorail resorts, or take the boat to the Wilderness Lodge and back. We love the little boat ride, and we also love the ambience in the WL!

That's an excellent idea. I had not thought about that.

Has your DS4 been around characters? The first time we took our kids the youngest was 3. He spent his whole trip saying, "I don't like the customers (characters)". We did find a trick on the next trip to get him more comfortable. Hopefully yours will love them from the start!!

He has not been around Disney characters before, but he has been around other character types (Storm troopers and other Star Wars characters), and he's generally not scared of things like that.

Have you been before? Do you care if you miss Wishes completely? With three days at MK, I wouldn't leave Wishes until the last day. Anything could happen (weather, oversleep during a nap at the room, adr runs late, etc) to make you miss it with no chance to see it. Wishes is Disney for me so I'd be upset if I completely missed it.

We are actually going to see Wishes on our arrival day. We are doing the Pirates and Pals Fireworks cruise. We may decide to stay for Wishes, on the first MK day. We'll just play that by ear. Wishes isn't until 10 that nights, so we'll have to see how everyone is feeling at that point.

 

[adear11]

While you are passing Little Mermaid to meet Ariel, I would just stop then to ride. Will save you from having to go back. Why watch parade from Frontier land? Looks like you are trying to get it all done in these 2 days. Take your time, let the kids and the adults take it all in rather than rush rush the whole time. Stop and have ice cream stop and take some pictures (this can be your "break")

THIS. This right here! This is what I'm struggling with the most. I've felt like I'm trying to cram in to much in fear of missing something. I was going to see the parade from Frontier land because I've seen it recommended on these boards as being a bit less crowded that trying to see it on Main Street or around the castle.

I think I really need to spend some time paring this back a bit and try to build in some more time to take it slow.

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

When we have done BBB - it took almost 2 hours. They were so behind - we were taken 40 minutes after our appointment. The rest of that day will probably be a wash - but it is good that you have 2 other days to make it up. If you don't watch Wishes the first day and your kids are still up to it - you can do Tomorrowland then. We always have luck in Tomorrowland during Wishes.

Have fun and enjoy!

 

[disneymayz]

THIS. This right here! This is what I'm struggling with the most. I've felt like I'm trying to cram in to much in fear of missing something. I was going to see the parade from Frontier land because I've seen it recommended on these boards as being a bit less crowded that trying to see it on Main Street or around the castle.

I think I really need to spend some time paring this back a bit and try to build in some more time to take it slow.

It's funny what kids want to do. My currently 9yo DS loves doing Sorcerer Mickey which isn't even a ride. Both my kids love swimming at the resort. I have friends that will spend days without going to a park because that is what they like doing. My point is, by going slow and enjoying the time together having fun, will vary depending on the kid/adult. If you miss Jungle Cruise it will not be the end of the world. If you get that kids a mickey ice cream and they get chocolate all over their face, that will be a memory for a lifetime. Some of my greatest memories are from when my 13/9 yo were 2-4 yo.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

Did you check out the Crowd Calendars to make sure these were "good days" to visit the MK?

You asked, so please don't take this the wrong way. The first thing that hit me on your Day 1 is that you're going to be using precious park time in a restaurant and waiting for characters, when your kids are likely going to be wanting to go on rides! Personally, we'd be getting there at rope drop (on a "recommended" crowd day) and making use of the hour or two we have with relatively low crowds. We can eat somewhere later, when we need a bit of a break, and see characters later, too. (We usually get a grocery delivery and have a light breakfast in the room as we're getting ready.) Also leave room in your planning for some variation. It's vacation, after all, and you have three MK days, which is great. You should have plenty of time to do what you want to do, but also time to smell the roses a bit. If something comes up while you're walking along, go for it.

 

[adear11]

Did you check out the Crowd Calendars to make sure these were "good days" to visit the MK?

You asked, so please don't take this the wrong way. The first thing that hit me on your Day 1 is that you're going to be using precious park time in a restaurant and waiting for characters, when your kids are likely going to be wanting to go on rides! Personally, we'd be getting there at rope drop (on a "recommended" crowd day) and making use of the hour or two we have with relatively low crowds. We can eat somewhere later, when we need a bit of a break, and see characters later, too. (We usually get a grocery delivery and have a light breakfast in the room as we're getting ready.) Also leave room in your planning for some variation. It's vacation, after all, and you have three MK days, which is great. You should have plenty of time to do what you want to do, but also time to smell the roses a bit. If something comes up while you're walking along, go for it.

I did look at a crowd calendar (Josh's at EasyWDW). MK is the most recommended on both 4/5 and 4/7.

I do understand your point about being at CRT on the first morning. However, my DD (and DW if truth be told) really, really wants to eat in Cinderella's castle. It wasn't real high on the list of things I wanted to do (because of the expense and eating up that precious, low crowd time), however they really want to do it so...

 

[KathyNY76]

You need to get Pooh in right after PP. Waits build quickly there. And if you can't get on PP by 9/9:05am, you are going to wait a while there. I'd do this on day 1:
CRT
PP (skip if after 9am and do at RD on day 3)
Pooh
Ariel
Little Mermaid
7DMT (FP+)
Barnstormer
Dumbo
Meet the characters
Belle (FP+)
Carousel
Lunch
I bet you'll be done with it all by 12:30 easy. You can move the last 3 items around depending on hungry kids, FP windows, etc. And if you dumped the Sideshow character M&G, you could get out even sooner for a break.

Day 2 you should definitely start back at BTMRR. There will be no waits and if the kids love it you'll be able to easily re-ride. Check out Josh's plan that starts at BTMRR (day 2 of the 2 day plan I think) and follow that - it covers everything you are looking for that morning.

 

[adear11]

Ok, so I've updated both days based on comments.

Day 2 you should definitely start back at BTMRR. There will be no waits and if the kids love it you'll be able to easily re-ride. Check out Josh's plan that starts at BTMRR (day 2 of the 2 day plan I think) and follow that - it covers everything you are looking for that morning.

I'm using a combination of a couple of his plans. Day 1 follows his Character Centric 2 day plan. The second day is a combination of his the second day of the Character Centric plan and the second day of the two day plan you mention.

I've plugged the second day into touring plans and evaluated it, and according to them, the longest wait for Day 2 is at Jungle Cruise at 10:15 (26 minutes). All of the other times are 15 minutes or less.

 

[pa. dad]

Hi- have fun.
What are you doing the other days that you won't be at the MK or epcot?

One comment I have- my kids are older now but we never left a park for a break when they were younger. Reason- they never ever took a nap during any of the other days all year so we weren't going to get them to take a nap while they were at disney world. I know all the experts tell you to leave the parks but I think that depends on the personalities of your children and their habits.
Instead of leaving the park, we would have a relaxing sit down lunch, see some shows and/or movies in the air conditioning, let the kids go the playground which in the case of the MK is Tom sawyer island. Also have a popsicle or some fudge or popcorn is another kids favorite. Also, as we pushed a little in the mornings as we wanted to get in a good number of attractions, we'd blow by the gift shops so later in the afternoon is a good time to check out the gift shops a little.
I bet you'll be surprised that the kids don't like this attraction so much or that they do like this one.