Doubting my Plan...

[nat8199]

Basically, we are doing the exact same plan in terms of # of days in each park as we did last trip in 2013. The second AK wasn't planned, but the kids loved it so much we went back a second day. Even with the second day we didn't see Nemo, the gorillas, or the bird show.

Here are the days I have planned:

Sat Sept 19th - Epcot around 3pm, dinner at Napoli (flight lands 10am)
Sun 20th - MK (Fantasy Land), monorail to Epcot for early dinner (staying at YC)
Mon 21st - Epcot
Tues 22nd - MK (Adventure/Frontier Land), monorail to Epcot for early dinner
Wed 23rd - AK
Thurs 24th - AK
Friday 25th - MK (Future & whatever), monorail to Epcot for early dinner

I don't like having the AK days back to back, but makes the most sense by far in terms of crowd calendars. My kids aren't really into Disney Jr (we don't have cable) so I don't plan on taking them to HS.

I am just dissatisfied with the plan for some reason, and only have a few weeks until I make ADRs. We will be doing a lot of ADRs because those is our breaks and my kids love restaurants and food. And they wake up at 5-6am, so prepark ADRs help kill time until parks open.

 

[wisblue]

My first reaction would be to split up the DAK days.

That is a relatively low crowd time with resort crowd levels in the 2-3 range, so the difference between the recommended and not recommended parks may not be that great.

You have a lot of Epcot evenings early in the trip, so I would consider going to DAK instead on Monday to give the kids a look at a different park, especially if it's one of their favorites. If you find out that they don't like it that much this time, you might not even need a second day there. On a crowd level 4 day at DAK, which is what Touring Plans shows, you might be able to do pretty much everything you want to do there, including the trails and shows, in one day.

 

[eeyoresmom]

Hmmmm. I know what you mean about trying to work around crowd predictions but just not liking the way the schedule "feels" to you. Our next trip doesn't have us visiting MK until our third day which seems weird to me but we don't have park hoppers this trip so that's that. FWIW, I actually like your schedule for kids. You are easing them in with not over the top stimulating EPCOT, then you have a good mix of MK and AK in there.

 

[disnut1149]

It's usually hot in Sept. Would you consider taking just one day off to swim and relax at the resort? We always need a day to stay off our feet. Have a great trip!

 

[canadiandisneynut]

I think you will find at that time of year the crowds are decent. We travel in September and the crowds are decent. If it were me, I would move AK to Sunday and make Monday my first MK day, Epcot Tuesday. I would absolutely end on an MK day. I don't like Sat and Sun crowds at MK (although Im sure if you could compare it to peak times, they are nothing)
Are you on the meal plan?

 

[canadiandisneynut]

I agree with @wisblue , you can do AK in a day. Your kids may like the Frozen and Toy Story aspects of Hollywood Studios

 

[LadyRayado]

Not sure if this matters to you or not, but Friday the 25th is the opening day for Food and Wine at EPCOT. I'm guessing it will be very crowded that evening, at least I have been told so.

 

[nat8199]

Thanks! You guys are all saying the things I have running through my head... except about doing AK in one day. I really don't think that is possible with my crew. They are going to want to do absolutely everything there, from affection station to the trails to climbing on the dinosaur statue. Plus Flights of Wonder, Lion King, and Nemo.

Last year we would leave MK around 2-3 and head back for a quick swim, then dinner. That is loosely the plan this year, though hopefully my twins will like MK more this year as they HATED it last trip.

I have us hitting MK on the party days, since they should have lower crowds and we plan on leaving early anyways.

Switching Epcot and the 1st AK does sound tempting. I am off to look at the crowd calendars again.

 

[MrInfinity]

Sat Sept 19th - Epcot around 3pm, dinner at Napoli (flight lands 10am)
Sun 20th - MK (Fantasy Land), monorail to Epcot for early dinner (staying at YC)
Mon 21st - Epcot
Tues 22nd - MK (Adventure/Frontier Land), monorail to Epcot for early dinner
Wed 23rd - AK
Thurs 24th - AK
Friday 25th - MK (Future & whatever), monorail to Epcot for early dinner

I know what you mean about it bugging you. I would fix whatever is bugging you, or it will continue to bug you throughout the planning process. Mainly the back-to-back AK. If you are going to do AK twice, that's cool, but then I would have AK on your arrival or second day, and then again on your last or second to last day. Goal is to split them up, spread out those relaxing days among the other busy days. Crowd calendars take a distant second place to planning what works for your trip.

Since you're hopping around, I would change one of your "Epcot for early dinner" mornings to be HS. That way you could at least go there, ride a few things (TSMM) and move on to your dinner. Then to make up that missing MK time, I would take an evening after the AK and maybe go back to the MK.

Ideally, what I'd do, is I would put that 2nd AK day on your last day... then you have the flexibility to decide, halfway thru your trip, what you really want to do on that last day. You'll have been to the AK once. Still want to do more there? Leave it as is. Feel like you did it all? Switch your last day to MK (all day) or HS (morning) and MK (night).

 

[canadiandisneynut]

If your family will want to to everything at AK absolutely do it in two days. Some of those things we have never even gotten to

 

[nat8199]

So.. switching the Epcot and 1st AK day has them going from 3 level crowds for both parks to 4 level crowds for both parks. That makes me nervous in a controlling OCD way.

 

[eeyoresmom]

If you do rope drop I wouldn't worry about the difference in a 3 or 4. Rope Drop and use of FP will count for much more in terms of doing more in less time.