Feedback on Itinerary!

[AquaGlitter]

Hello everyone, this is the second time I post an itinerary plan. My last was a long time ago and oh so much has changed, including travel dates! Trying my best with acronyms but I'm a bit new so please bare with me!

Would love some feedback. And this point we are pretty happy with our ADRs and will have limited opportunity to change park reservations so I'm mostly looking for if anything stands out as seriously problematic or impossible. Or if you have any recommendations based on what we're doing. I'll post some relevant questions with each day in italics. Mostly looking to get even more pumped for this trip. We just paid our full amount today!

Some background 'cause it's cute I swear!

Who: Myself and my fiancé (is DF a thing? haha). We are from Canada and early thirties. He gave me this trip as my thirtieth birthday gift in June. It was a complete surprise. I had mentioned having a fantasy of going for my thirtieth but knew it was impossible with the pandemic. He threw me a surprise Disney-themed birthday party with my best friends. Then gifted me a vintage Minnie sweater, some Minnie ears with my name on them, and then some fake tickets he printed as the big reveal that we would go spring 22. I am a very lucky girl! We haven't been since we were children and we prob won't come back 'till we have our own! So this is a once(ish) in a lifetime trip for us. We are going all out.

When: April 23-May 2 2022 (31 days!!!)
Originally we had planned for Feb but we changed our dates because of Rona. Looking back as we would have been there during the princess marathon and a US holiday (can't remember which I think presidents day?) so I am kinda glad we have new dates. We also ended up with an extra day because of Canadian deals!

Where/What:
Port Orleans Riverside. Originally had booked Coronado Springs but because of our change of plans ended up with POR.
7 day park tickets with Genie + (bought in advance in fear of price increase). No park hoppers

Sat April 23, Day 1: Arrival
Flight arrives around 3:20, planning to only bring carry on (which extra bag to check on our way back for souvenirs)
ADR: Boathouse: 6:15PM AND 8:00PM
We prefer 6:15 because don't want to get to bed too late. Can you make it? I was thinking at worse we can go directly to the boathouse from the airport if absolutely needed since we'll only have small carry-on. But would of course prefer to check in and take boat from POR. I'm checking daily to see if I can snag something around 7:00PM.

Sunday April 24, Day 2: MK
Morning: Book G+ for SplashM or BTMR, Book ILL for 7DMT
Might go for early rope drop if we got to bed early enough/are feeling good. If not get there for a little before our first G+
Afternoon: if we rope dropped and are tired we might go back to hotel (is this doable?)
ADR: Liberty Tree Tavern 7:15PM (I have a really nice memory of going here with my family when I wanted as a kid so will be a fun first restaurant)
Evening: Try to get some rides in during fireworks, PPF and JC will be priority if we haven't managed to do them at rope drop or with Genie+

Monday April 25, Day 3: Epcot
Morning: Book G+ for Test Track, Book ILL for Remi
Sleep in a bit, wake up naturally, get there for around 10ish
Afternoon: get some rides in
ADR: La Hacienda de San Angel 7:30PM (maybe watch fireworks from here? How easy is it for this to happen?)
Snacks/other food: festival booths!

Tuesday April 26, Day 4: HS
Morning: Book G+ for SDD, Book ILL for ROTR
Sleep in. Come in for around the time of our G+ reservation or late morning (whichever comes first). Try to get a wronto wrap.
ADR: Oga's at 2:15PM
Afternoon: Try to do as many rides as possible between G+ and standby without waiting too long in lines
Evening: Same as afternoon, rides!
Snacks/other food: Woody's Lunch box?, ABC Commissary? See how we feel kinda thing, nothing I'm dying to do, snack and food recs are welcome

Wednesday April 27, Day 5: Universal
No real plans. We are getting comped tickets so we will just go do what we can and enjoy, probably mostly focusing on Harry Potter world. For one day I don't want to stress about having to do every ride type of thing, especially since it is more likely that we could go back to Universal than Disney.

Thursday April 28, Day 6: Off Day
Chill at the pool and resort
ADR: Ohana's at 7:15PM
If we are feeling up to it go to Polynesian a bit early and try to get on walk-up list for Trader Joe's....unlikely...I want this to be a chill day!

Friday April 29, Day 7: MK
Morning: Book G+ for whatever priority ride is based on other day, prob won't book any LL+ unless we really wanna do 7DMT again
probably a later morning
ADR: Skipper Canteen 4:50PM (have this for now but might drop if we feel we have too many dinner reservations)
Afternoon + Evening: Rides, focusing on whatever we missed on our first day, again hoping to get some done in the evening during fireworks
Snacks/other food: ??? need some inspiration here

Saturday April 30, Day 8: HS
Morning: Book G+ for whatever priority ride is based on other day, maybe an LL+ for ROTR if we missed it or if we wanna do it again
Rope drop or late morning, depends on how much we need to do/when our genie+ is for
Afternoon: If we rope dropped maybe go back to resort?
ADR: Topolinos Terrace at 8:15PM (hoping to take skyliner) watch fireworks!
Snacks/other food: maybe try to get on the Hollywood brown derby lounge walk up list??? need some inspiration here

Sunday May 1, Day 9: Epcot
Morning: Book G+ for Frozen (depending on first day), Book ILL for Remi if we want to do it again (prob not)
Sleep in a bit, wake up naturally, get there for around 10ish
Afternoon: get some rides in
ADR: Space 220 Lounge at 2:00PM AND 5:40PM (will drop one) only really going to come here for drinks and maybe a light snack
Evening: Try to get to resort/bed not too later for early day at AK
Snacks/other food: festival booths!, hopefully croque glace from l'artisans des glaces at some point

Monday May 2, Day 10: Animal Kingdom
Morning: Book G+ for Navi (or Kilimanjaro?), Book ILL for FOP
Rope drop/early
Afternoon: get some rides in
ADR: California Grill at 7:35PM (hoping to snag something a little later)
Snacks/other food: hamburger pods at satuli canteen! something from pongu pongu! Maybe try to get on the nomad lounge list?
How realistic is it for us to get basically every ride done here, considering we have genie+ and considering our California Grill reservation (still trying to see if I can snag one for Saturday April 30th when we will be at MK)

Tuesday May 3, Day 11: Departure
ADR: Chef Art Smiths Homecomin' at 11:30 AM
Flight departs around 5:30PM

Thanks for reading through my plan!

 

[GBRforWDW]

Sounds like a lot of exciting plans!

For arrival day dinner, as long as you don't have a flight delay, you should be in your hotel about 90-120 minutes after landing, so your early plan should work, but you also can't control the plane being on time.

I'd probably recommend looking at Jungle Cruise as your first LL on your first MK day. Peter pan, splash and big thunder will all be available later in the day, but JC is typically gone by 2 hours after park opening.

Also, you can definitely plan to take a resort break, most people do. It's exhausting to be in the park all day. I would plan on roughly 4 hours from the time you Decide to leave the park until you're back in, just in case buses take longer to get to you. That also Depends on how long you want to stay at your hotel.

For your AK day, there's not a lot of rides, but there's still a lot you can do. Lots of walking, especially if you go down either of the animal walking trails. For first LL, I'd do Na'vi, that usually goes fastest. Hopefully you can get FoP and Na'vi for about the same time. It's easier to manage your time if they are.

Have a great trip, can't wait to hear how it goes!

 

[AquaGlitter]

Sounds like a lot of exciting plans!

For arrival day dinner, as long as you don't have a flight delay, you should be in your hotel about 90-120 minutes after landing, so your early plan should work, but you also can't control the plane being on time.

I'd probably recommend looking at Jungle Cruise as your first LL on your first MK day. Peter pan, splash and big thunder will all be available later in the day, but JC is typically gone by 2 hours after park opening.

Also, you can definitely plan to take a resort break, most people do. It's exhausting to be in the park all day. I would plan on roughly 4 hours from the time you Decide to leave the park until you're back in, just in case buses take longer to get to you. That also Depends on how long you want to stay at your hotel.

For your AK day, there's not a lot of rides, but there's still a lot you can do. Lots of walking, especially if you go down either of the animal walking trails. For first LL, I'd do Na'vi, that usually goes fastest. Hopefully you can get FoP and Na'vi for about the same time. It's easier to manage your time if they are.

Have a great trip, can't wait to hear how it goes!

These are some really helpful tips! Thank you! I am SO EXCITED!

 

[Westerner]

Saturday seems to have the best G+ and $ILL availability at DHS, so you might want to make rides your focus that day.

 

[AquaGlitter]

Saturday seems to have the best G+ and $ILL availability at DHS, so you might want to make rides your focus that day.

This is actually really good to know and something I had no idea about. Thank you. I’m most worried about getting stuff done at DHS.

(Your comment also made me notice that I had skipped a day of the week and so my last three dates were on the wrong day of the week, woops! Edited it)

 

[RoseGold]

Since you are staying on site, I would think about prioritizing the rope drop. It can really help the rest of your whole schedule. For months, the parks have been opening earlier than actually announced. This is tough from POR, because you are reliant on the buses. You might think about taking an early Lyft on a day that you really need the rope drop to be successful.

With Everest down, AK is sparse on rides. I don't think you need G+ in AK. But I also think Navi is a ride that adults could just skip. Since you're ILL for FOP, and Everest is closed, that just leaves a line (or rope drop) for Kilimanjaro. The other things, the bird show, the Lion King show, will be no problem with lines. The problem with the California grill reservation is that you don't get to see Pandora at night, which I think is the coolest thing in AK. I might skip Skipper Canteen and swap AK to that day.

 

[AquaGlitter]

Since you are staying on site, I would think about prioritizing the rope drop. It can really help the rest of your whole schedule. For months, the parks have been opening earlier than actually announced. This is tough from POR, because you are reliant on the buses. You might think about taking an early Lyft on a day that you really need the rope drop to be successful.

With Everest down, AK is sparse on rides. I don't think you need G+ in AK. But I also think Navi is a ride that adults could just skip. Since you're ILL for FOP, and Everest is closed, that just leaves a line (or rope drop) for Kilimanjaro. The other things, the bird show, the Lion King show, will be no problem with lines. The problem with the California grill reservation is that you don't get to see Pandora at night, which I think is the coolest thing in AK. I might skip Skipper Canteen and swap AK to that day.

Great advice! Thanks so much.
Missing Pandora at night makes me sad! We actually had it in the order you suggested originally, but switched it because on May 3rd magic kingdom is closing early (4:30 PM I think) so May 2 and May 4th is predicted to be super crazy busy at MK. So I switched MK and Animal Kingdom because it was the easiest considering our other dinner reservations. I am hoping to get a California Grill res on the 29...but not counting on it!

 

[RoseGold]

You can absolutely go to DS with luggage. People do it all the time. You have to go through security. I've done it at Jaleo, which is a very nice restaurant. There was plenty of room for my overhead rolling bag between the tables. You technically aren't supposed to have bags on the bus to the resort, but I've done and seen it plenty. I would imagine the POR boat is similar. They've seen worse than some overhead bags. This saves you a lot of time between getting another form of transportation and checking in and lets you make your 6:15, which I think is far better. You could be stuck waiting for a POR boat and waste an hour doing this.

Map out where the Uber pickup is at DS. It's on the way far end, and you need to allocate time to get all the way over there on the last morning. MCO is a mess of an airport. I like to squeak onto planes generally, but not there.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Looks great, but I personally don't like whole days off. I get bored by lunch time. I would do two half-days off rather than a single full day off.

I also think you're going to have a bit of a rude awakening with G+ availability, since it seems like you're sleeping in almost every day. Genie+ and rope drop work they best when they're combined with one another.

 

[AquaGlitter]

You can absolutely go to DS with luggage. People do it all the time. You have to go through security. I've done it at Jaleo, which is a very nice restaurant. There was plenty of room for my overhead rolling bag between the tables. You technically aren't supposed to have bags on the bus to the resort, but I've done and seen it plenty. I would imagine the POR boat is similar. They've seen worse than some overhead bags. This saves you a lot of time between getting another form of transportation and checking in and lets you make your 6:15, which I think is far better. You could be stuck waiting for a POR boat and waste an hour doing this.

Map out where the Uber pickup is at DS. It's on the way far end, and you need to allocate time to get all the way over there on the last morning. MCO is a mess of an airport. I like to squeak onto planes generally, but not there.

Amazing tips! Really good to know about MCO and the Uber pickup. Thanks!

And that’s great to know about bringing luggage to Disney Springs. We can always take an Uber back to the resort after our meal if need be! (May have to change out of my airport clothes though aha).
Great to know we have options. Really appreciate all the help on here.

 

[AquaGlitter]

Looks great, but I personally don't like whole days off. I get bored by lunch time. I would do two half-days off rather than a single full day off.

I also think you're going to have a bit of a rude awakening with G+ availability, since it seems like you're sleeping in almost every day. Genie+ and rope drop work they best when they're combined with one another.

Yeah I’m a bit worried about genie+ availability! Been following genie+ almost daily and it’s brutal (especially in DHS). I was more so hoping that because we have two days in each park we can do everything between the two.

I think we may try to prioritize rope drop on our first day in each park and then see how much we get done!