Does my plan seem good? Too busy?

[mommytoliandlu]

Hello! We are booked for a trip to AoA from Friday April 17th (flying down in the afternoon, arriving at night) through Sunday April 26th. 9 nights. Could you tell me if you think the plan I have set u seems like too much? Not sure if I have enough down time built in. We haven't been since 2013 and can really only afford to go every couple years, so it seems like we should try to experience as much Disney as we can without getting burnt out. It'll be myself, my husband, our 2 kids ages 4 (we'll have a stroller so if she needs to nap, no problem) and 9, and my mom.

Friday - fly in, check in, settle in, get to bed

Saturday - MK - get there for 9am RD. We have 4PM CRT adr and I'm not sure if we should just stay at the park til then and head back to AoA for the evening after dinner or if we should take a break around 1230 and head back to hotel for a bit before heading back to MK for 4PM dinner

Sunday - AK 8am RD - head back to AoA around 1230. Be at Epcot by 530 for Garden Grill adr, spend evening at Epcot

Monday - Universal

Tuesday - Relaxation day - Ohana at 1020, Sanaa for dinner at 5 (2 adr's in 1 day ok?)

Wednesday - MK 9am RD, 1145 Crystal Palace

Thursday - MK for 8am RD, 5PM dinner at 1900 Park Fare (Should we try to take a hotel break midday or
is it best to stay at MK all day, take monorail to GF for dinner, then head back to AoA for the night?)

Fri - Epcot - RD is at 9 & I'm not sure if we should keep Akershus 8am res or go with an 1130 via Napoli lunch

Sat - HS 8am RD - head straight to sign up for Jedi Training, H&V breakfast at 910, enjoy FPs

Sun - BOG lunch 1025, hang out at MK before heading back to AoA to get picked up by ME and taken to MCO

As you can see we have a few nights open where we can play it by ear and either hang at hotel if tired, or hit up a park if we'd like (I know my son would like to go to HS one evening bc he loves those rides)

Any thoughts? Does this schedule look good? We have FPs booked for all days except the night we fly in, the day we visit Universal. Thank you in advance for any input!

 

[mommytoliandlu]

Do you think I should switch Sanna to a lunch thing after AK? And then do Epcot/ Garden Grill on Tuesday instead (our relax day - sleep in, go to Ohana for late breakfast, back to AoA for swimming, then either stick to original plan of Sanaa, or do Garden Grill/ Epcot)?

 

[Itinkso]

I would keep Sanaa on your relaxation day. Head to AKL and Jambo House early to check out the resort and savanna viewing areas. Then, head to Kidani and Sanaa and ask for a window table when you check-in at the podium.

 

[ellie05]

I think you should try to change the time of your MK adrs. I don't think if you leave at 12:30 you will have enough time to rest and make it back for your adr. I would have ADRs around 2pm leave the park right after and come back for night time entretaiment.

 

[techtony]

We will be there from April 16th to 21st!!! Look for me - the short guy with a red beard!!! LOL

Mk Saturday - Can you change your 4pm ADR? assuming you eat before you go to MK, then have lunch around noon - 4pm seems like a very early dinner, but some folks eat early, others late - I like to eat around 6. We are planning on going back to the resort right after lunch and coming back for dinner. Some people can do that, others can't - just keep in mind your hunger level and how long the breaks really are considering transportation, walking, and actually taking off your shoes and relaxing.

 

[Madame]

^^. I agree with this. We stayed at AoA last Aug & I'd planned on midday breaks, but by the time we'd factored in waiting for the bus there & back, walking to the room, changing into swimsuits etc. we just didn't have enough time. Our breaks would have been an hour long (not worth the hassle). If you can't move CRT I'd just stay in the park.

 

[mshanson3121]

Saturday - MK - get there for 9am RD. We have 4PM CRT adr and I'm not sure if we should just stay at the park til then and head back to AoA for the evening after dinner or if we should take a break around 1230 and head back to hotel for a bit before heading back to MK for 4PM dinner I think this is something you'll decide the day of. Either would be fine. If you're feeling tired around noon then head back and take a break. If you're not, then just stay for your ADR.

Sunday - AK 8am RD - head back to AoA around 1230. Be at Epcot by 530 for Garden Grill adr, spend evening at Epcot Personally, I do not think you're allowing anywhere near enough time here. AK can be full day park by the time you have rides, the trails with animals, do the safari a couple times, the shows. I would just spend the full day here, then get over to Epcot for your ADR, especially since you have another day planned for Epcot.


Thursday - MK for 8am RD, 5PM dinner at 1900 Park Fare (Should we try to take a hotel break midday or
is it best to stay at MK all day, take monorail to GF for dinner, then head back to AoA for the night?) Again, either would work. I would play it by ear and see how you're feeling.

Fri - Epcot - RD is at 9 & I'm not sure if we should keep Akershus 8am res or go with an 1130 via Napoli lunch I would do Akershus for breakfast. You'll be in the park early, won't have to wait in line for RD, and will be able to get at the rides first thing.

My only other suggestion would be perhaps to move your rest day to Wednesday, so it's more in the middle of your trip. Right now you have 3 days then a rest, then 5 busy days.

 

[finedice]

Hi there - We are traveling during the same week as you, and staying across the lake at POP for the first half and CSR for the second half. Having looked at all the calendars, and having been there plenty of times, I think that everything is very doable. With all the RD mornings, you might want to increase the length of your midday breaks a bit.

We also do a ton of RD, but get spoiled and usually as the trip goes on, start to exit the AM park much earlier, have lunch, (maybe a beer for the grown-ups), swim, shower, eat again, and go back to a park when the crowds start to decline later on. I added some thoughts below:

Friday - fly in, check in, settle in, get to bed - (might want a quick bite at food court if in time for closing. The kiddos will be bouncing at arrival - even if overtired).

Saturday - MK - get there for 9am RD. We have 4PM CRT adr and I'm not sure if we should just stay at the park til then and head back to AoA for the evening after dinner or if we should take a break around 1230 and head back to hotel for a bit before heading back to MK for 4PM dinner
(I would try to move the ADR to a later time & take a longer break. Crowds will still be pretty peak when you finish dinner, and the park is open until 2am with EMH. You may not want to stay that late, but there can be a lot of magic when it gets really late at MK, like extended play time with characters in Fantasyland, and walk-on rides. On this day, we have a 6:35 reservation at Ohana. We plan to go to MK after, and wait for smaller crowds for any headliners while enjoying lesser attractions and shows when we first enter, and the much less crowded 2nd nighttime parade).

Sunday - AK 8am RD - head back to AoA around 1230. Be at Epcot by 530 for Garden Grill adr, spend evening at Epcot
(If you stay late in MK Saturday, maybe this is a good day to sleep a little later - you'll need to be up, showered, dressed, sunscreened, fed, and ready to head out by 7:00 if relying on the bus. I am also not a huge fan of entering EPCOT that late if I intend to do rides. However, it might be very different if you have FP+ booked for evening. I assume you used them for AK earlier. ~~ Since we plan to stay to MK closing the night before, and since we are doing waterparks on our trip, we will RD at one of those at 10 that morning, maybe mini golf, late big lunch, and then a few hours at DHS with FP+ and Fantasmic!).

Monday - Universal
(sounds Great - can't help you there - but its a big place for one day)

Tuesday - Relaxation day - Ohana at 1020, Sanaa for dinner at 5 (2 adr's in 1 day ok?)
(no problem if there are no park plans)

Wednesday - MK 9am RD, 1145 Crystal Palace
(should be least crowded day at MK! Consider a late day Hop to AK - crowds diminish there later on in the day more than any other place at WDW).

Thursday - MK for 8am RD, 5PM dinner at 1900 Park Fare (Should we try to take a hotel break midday or
is it best to stay at MK all day, take monorail to GF for dinner, then head back to AoA for the night?)
(Yes - take a break - you will be hitting a wall by this point in the trip! You have several character meals planned already. IMHO, the buffet is average at 1900, and there are plenty of Cinderella M&G ops in the parks. We are also RDing MK, but on EMH days it does get crazy by 11:00am - we will hop out to EPCOT on the monorail midday, and enjoy World Showcase, and F&G Festival food kiosks for eats that day).

Fri - Epcot - RD is at 9 & I'm not sure if we should keep Akershus 8am res or go with an 1130 via Napoli lunch
(Yes RD, but would go with the lunch. Again - getting tired and worn out by this point. You may miss on the first RD advantage with the ADR. The food court at AoA is pretty darned good I hear!)

Sat - HS 8am RD - head straight to sign up for Jedi Training, H&V breakfast at 910, enjoy FPs
(Good plan - although I find H&V to be my least favorite WDW buffet; Starring Rolls and Sunshine Seasons both have good CS breakfast which will save you time - Also, HS will likely not take you all day with EMH, and crowds will get large quickly. Consider hopping!).

Sun - BOG lunch 1025, hang out at MK before heading back to AoA to get picked up by ME and taken to MCO
(Great Plan!)

 

[finedice]

It isn't clear whether you have park hoppers or not. If you do, I would take better advantage of them. If you don't, how are you going to do AK and EPCOT on the same day?

 

[mommytoliandlu]

finedice - yes we do have park hoppers and thank you so much for the thoughtful, detailed response!

I appreciate all the responses - thank you for taking the time to comment! I will see what I can tweak - I know I tried seeing if there were later time slots for CRT and 1900 but there were not, but I will keep an eye out. The only reason we are doing H&V is for my 4 year old DD who loves Doc McStuffins, Sophia, etc Going to play around with it a bit more tonight but I know a lot of the 6pm dinner reservations are already gone.

 

[finedice]

finedice - yes we do have park hoppers and thank you so much for the thoughtful, detailed response!

As such - when you go to AM EMH, hop out earlier, and head to a most recommended park! AM EMH is great for a short time, but also provides for the busiest days in those parks as the morning rolls on...

 

[laughinplace199]

My thoughts in red...

Hello! We are booked for a trip to AoA from Friday April 17th (flying down in the afternoon, arriving at night) through Sunday April 26th. 9 nights. Could you tell me if you think the plan I have set u seems like too much? Not sure if I have enough down time built in. We haven't been since 2013 and can really only afford to go every couple years, so it seems like we should try to experience as much Disney as we can without getting burnt out. It'll be myself, my husband, our 2 kids ages 4 (we'll have a stroller so if she needs to nap, no problem) and 9, and my mom.

Friday - fly in, check in, settle in, get to bed

Saturday - MK - get there for 9am RD. We have 4PM CRT adr and I'm not sure if we should just stay at the park til then and head back to AoA for the evening after dinner or if we should take a break around 1230 and head back to hotel for a bit before heading back to MK for 4PM dinner If you're using WDW transportation, I don't think you'll really have time to leave MK, go back to the resort, and then get back to MK for a 4:00 ADR. If there are long waits for the buses, you could end up only have an hour or 90 min at your resort, which isn't really worth it. I'd stay at MK and leave MK at a reasonable time after dinner so that you're not too tired for your early morning the next day.

Sunday - AK 8am RD - head back to AoA around 1230. Be at Epcot by 530 for Garden Grill adr, spend evening at Epcot This is really not enough time for AK.

Monday - Universal

Tuesday - Relaxation day - Ohana at 1020, Sanaa for dinner at 5 (2 adr's in 1 day ok?)

Wednesday - MK 9am RD, 1145 Crystal Palace

Thursday - MK for 8am RD, 5PM dinner at 1900 Park Fare (Should we try to take a hotel break midday or
is it best to stay at MK all day, take monorail to GF for dinner, then head back to AoA for the night?) With the park opening at 8:00 and your ADR at 5:00, you'd probably be ok going back to the resort if you want to. But I'd try to move the ADR to 6:00 to give you more time for your mid-day break at the resort.

Fri - Epcot - RD is at 9 & I'm not sure if we should keep Akershus 8am res or go with an 1130 via Napoli lunch Both are good, so do whatever works best for your family.

Sat - HS 8am RD - head straight to sign up for Jedi Training, H&V breakfast at 910, enjoy FPs

Sun - BOG lunch 1025, hang out at MK before heading back to AoA to get picked up by ME and taken to MCO

As you can see we have a few nights open where we can play it by ear and either hang at hotel if tired, or hit up a park if we'd like (I know my son would like to go to HS one evening bc he loves those rides)

Any thoughts? Does this schedule look good? We have FPs booked for all days except the night we fly in, the day we visit Universal. Thank you in advance for any input!

My only other thought is that you have tons of MK time planned and very little AK time. I'd add a little more AK time if I were you. What time is ME picking you up? Maybe go to AK on your last day instead of another MK day?

 

[finedice]

My only other thought is that you have tons of MK time planned and very little AK time. I'd add a little more AK time if I were you. What time is ME picking you up? Maybe go to AK on your last day instead of another MK day?

I completely concur. I almost wrote that in my original response, but was getting bogged down by slow typing on the site. Even MK gets to be overkill when you spend too much time there. We do every park at least twice on a trip that long, but only for 2-5 hours each time normally...

We are flying home mid afternoon on the same day - and scheduled all our FPs at AK on check out day