Disney 1st Timer: Please Critique My Itinerary

[LoganMom]

Hi-planning a very last minute trip to Disney where we'll have 3 full park days. Trip is about 10 days away. Staying at Yacht Club and not planning to park hop. Was hoping to have some afternoon pool time at the hotel on 1 or 2 of our park days. Kids are elementary age. (I know the trip should be longer but that's not a possibility.)

Current plan:

Day 1 - Magic Kingdom
Day 2 - Epcot (to take advantage of 8 am opening that day)
Day 3 - Animal Kingdom.

Questions for you:
(1) Do I need a dinner reservation for Magic Kingdom or are the quick service options there OK? I was able to get one at Skipper Canteen for Day 1 but it doesn't look too exciting--would the quick service dinner options at Magic Kingdom be OK?

(2) Same question for Animal Kingdom. I have a Yak & Yeti reservation for Day 3, but that park doesn't seem to have that many attractions so we might want to just leave the park around 3 and hang out at the hotel the rest of Day 3 and I don't want to be charged a no show fee. Should we just wing it?

(3) Somehow I was able to get a Be our guest 8:30 am breakfast reservation on Day 2, which is not an early park open day for MK. Should I switch our plans around to take advantage of that? If I do, then we'll miss out on the early open day for Epcot. And I think kids will be excited go to Magic Kingdom on Day 1 so I'm reluctant to switch everything around. Plus I'd have to redo and rethink all of the fastpass stuff that I already picked - although it does seem like there are still plenty of options.

(4) On Day 3 of the trip, Magic Kingdom opens at 8 am. Should we skip Animal Kingdom and go back for a second day of Magic Kingdom instead? We probably will not go for a 2nd Disney trip for a while - maybe 3 years at the earliest.

 

[elaine amj]

Keep trying for BOG on Day 1 (either pre park open breakfast or a QS lunch). sign up for the touring plans reservation finder to help u look. Do a bit of googling as the link to sign up for a free account is not easy to find.

With your limited park time, I would stick to QS in MK.

QS options are reasonable
- Tex Mex (with unlimited toppings bar) at Pecos Bill
- your typical theme park food at Cosmic Rays (and u can see Sonny Eclipse sing there)
- different eats at Columbia Harbor House including veggie options, salmon, tuna sandwiches, and lobster rolls (and regular stuff like chicken nuggets)
- flatbreads at Pinnochios (with a nice view of Its a Small World)
Unless u consider a meal with Pooh and Friends at Crystal Palace.

Any chance of an early Cape May Cafe character breakfast with Mickey and friends on your check out day?

If u want to fit in pool time, consider RD - 1/2pm, afternoon break and swim, then 4/5pm back to the parks for the evening. Depends on how old your kids are and how long they can hold out though. Still, 3 early mornings isn't too bad.

AK is pretty amazing for kids. Maybe consider hoppers so u can do morning MK and evening AK? Alternatively, plan on AK for now and when u are there, if they are begging to go back to MK, do a last minute switch (and just snag whatever FP u can get on that day).

 

[MommaBerd]

If this was my first trip and I were going for only 3 days, I would not make ANY table service reservations. They can eat up too much of your park touring time. Those three parks have good quick service options (DHS is another story ); YnY also offers quick service.

It's difficult for any of us to say if you should skip AK and do a repeat at MK. Why don't you just play it by ear? You may not have had time to see all you wanted to the first day.

One additional comment is that I wouldn't make my decision to go to a certain park based on its opening time. Pick the parks you want to see most! Maybe it is EPCOT anyway, but maybe you'd rather do 2 MK and one AK? The nice thing about AK is that you can probably see *most* everything in one day, if you have a good plan. I think it would be tough to see everything at EPCOT in one day.

Whatever you decide, I hope you have a great trip!

 

[Disneylover99]

I would skip TS at MK and AK and just try to get a BOG lunch on day 1, your MK day.

If you can't get a BOG lunch, we like CHH. At AK we like the YaknYeti counter service but many others love Flame Tree.

I wouldn't switch days around. Have fun!

 

[codylamb18]

We thought the same thing about Animal Kingdom being small and not a lot of attractions. We were very surprised and the amount of shows/rides. If you have younger kids they will love the animals. I had to pull my fiance away from animal viewing areas because we wanted to see/do everything. You will have lots to do in this park trust me. For your first visit try to go to parks without extra magic hours because these parks will be less crowded. This worked well for us. The only exception was when magic kingdom closed at 2am for resort guests. We loved it the park was dead after 12am.

 

[LoganMom]

thank you all for the advice! very very helpful!!

 

[ratfam]

The Stormalong Bay pool at the Yacht Club is amazing and it would be easy for you to fit in some time on your Epcot day, since Epcot is such a short walk from Yacht Club you won't lose much time in transit. Epcot also has great counter service options, so particularly when staying at Epcot it would be a shame to give up the convenience and opportunity of a day there, unless with the spring break crowds you don't think that you will be able to see everything your kids want at MK. If you want two MK days then I would take a look at the relative options of Epcot and AK for your kids and their interests. You could save AK for your next trip a few years out when Pandora will have opened (and your kids may have seen the Avatar movie) and do two MK days and one Epcot/pool day taking advantage of your Yacht Club location. If your kids enjoy animals and stage shows then AK would be a great day but you will find that it takes longer than you expect if you want to see all of the shows and do the animal walk areas. You will have a busy but great few days, and if you stick with all three parks then I would stick to your plan for Epcot in the middle since that would be the easiest day to take a midday break. If you end up finishing early at AK you could either go back to resort and then in the evening walk over the Boardwalk (it is fun at night because they will periodically have street magicians and similar performers out and it is a pleasant walk around the lake area) or you could go to Disney Springs where there are a lot of quick service options. We have done Yak & Yeti and it is fine but nothing special so with your limited timing I would suggest it isn't worth it.

 

[GlassAct]

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