Feedback on my itinerary please

[LAV]

I'm looking for some feedback on my itinerary & touring plan and have a few questions.

Will be travelling with my family of 10 from January 3-10, 2018.
Our group includes my family of 4 including me, dh, ds 14 & dd 12. Our 3rd trip. Last visit was Nov 2012.
My sister's family of 4, including sister, dh, dd 9 & ds 7. Their 1st trip. My sister was last there in 1990 (she was 10); her dh went to Epcot once as a child and remembers it as being "boring".
My parents, their 6th trip, last visit was 2010 (with my family).

Our flight arrives in Orlando at 6:30pm on Wed Jan 3. We are staying off site in a house in Windsor Palms (just south of AK). We are renting a minivan and my parents will already be in Florida with their own vehicle. They will meet us at the airport, since 8 of us won't fit in the minivan, and they will pick up groceries for the week (breakfast & snacks, etc) earlier in the day.

we intend to stick together as a group in the parks, for the most part, and everyone else is pretty easy going and willing to just follow what I plan (or so they say now). I intend to be there for RD each day. We'll need both vehicles to get everyone out, so if my neice & nephew get tired, my sister's family could leave earlier. Originally we were planning on 4 park days, including 2 at MK but skipping Epcot, and the men want a golf day (rest of us will probably go to Disney Springs that day). I expect the parks will be very busy the first few days, so I planned to spend most of our park time later in our week, once crowds thin out a bit. And I specifically wanted Tusker House & ´Ohana ADRs, but booked late and just took what I could get, so I planned our park days around the ADRs and touring plans crowd predictor as best I could - we won't have park hoppers.

The plan:

Thurs Jan 4 - nothing planned - recently I've been considering adding Epcot for this day. My mom's favourite ride of all time is Soarin' and I feel like we'll wake up excited to "do Disney" on 1st day. But it may be 8 or 9 before we arrive @ our house on Wed pm, so I'm not sure we'll be moving fast enough Thurs am for RD and Epcot also has EMH. Could we do a late arrival (10/11?) and still be able to do Soarin', Frozen, & Test Track without spending many hours in line? Maybe if I got FP for Frozen, Mission Space, Turtle Talk and then try for 4th FP for Soarin? What are chances I'll be able to get 10x FP for Frozen & later Soarin on what will probably be a very busy day? If it's going to be insanely busy, maybe we should just save our enthusiasm & energy for AK on Friday. If we don't go to a park thurs, any other suggested activities?

Fri Jan 5 - AK
Arrive before RD, ride Na'vi stand-by, Safari, Dinosaur, Nemo @ 11, Everest (FP), Jungle trek, Rafiki's PW, Gorilla trail, Tusker House ADR @ 2:50, Lion King @ 5, ROL @ 6:30, bugs life, FOP stand-by just before 8.

Sat Jan 6 - men's golf day, Disney Springs, maybe TRex for dinner

Sun Jan 7 - MK
Arrive close to RD, BTM, Haunted Mansion, small world, PP (FP), Philharmagic, lunch (CS), Jungle Cruise (FP), Pirates (FP), parade @ 3, go back to faves or maybe go to Tomorrowland. Leave before crowds fill in for fireworks (will see them later in week).
I'm worried about traffic on this morning due to marathon. Are there options to park anywhere else and take a bus?

Mon Jan 8 - HS
Arrive before RD, TS, ToT, RnR (FP) - little ones & grandma will go to little mermaid @ 9:30 - we'll meet back up for Beauty & Beast @ 11, lunch (CS), star tours (FP), Indiana Jones and/or Frozen Sing Along @ 1:15/1:30 (we may split up, depending on interests), Muppets, TS again @3 (if we can get a 4th FP); will leave early for dinner @ house or maybe boardwalk and some or all may return for Fantasmic

Tues Jan 9 - MK
Arrive before RD, 7dmt, space mntn, buzz light year, speedway, Winnie the Pooh (FP), barnstormer, dumbo, little mermaid (FP), enchanted tales w belle (FP), leave by 2:30 for Ohana ADR @ 3:30, return to MK, monsters inc, other faves or characters & for fireworks.

Our flight leaves for home Wed @ 10am.
Thanks for any advice or feedback you can offer!

 

[srwarden1928]

I would definitely add Epcot on that first day. The idea of doing nothing on your first full day would have me so antsy. I also really don't like skipping a park. And if your mom liked Soarin that much in 2010, it is better now. As you know, rope drop is always a good plan, but do what you can. If you intend to ride Frozen without a long line, it needs a fastpass. Soarin isn't as bad as it used to be with the third theatre. Test Track of course has single rider. Test Track 2.0 has definitely lost something in its "upgrade". I still like it, but I sure liked the old one better.

 

[pens4821]

I would say you should go to Epcot on Thursday. Get FP for what you can. Even if you don't get there until later, you could do FP with the lesser rides. I'm sure you'll be able to get FP for one of the big 3, then save another for later at night before close. You may miss out on one, but with that strategy you'll at least get two done. Check waits throughout the day and you may get lucky. While it'll probably be crowded due to the week and then add on EMH, I still think you should do it. You're going to have a non park day a couple days later, so why not. I know it adds up with a group of 10, but adding a day to a ticket isn't that much. The only way I wouldn't is if you could find something else in the area that you'd rather do.

Other than that I think it all looks good. You have a nice plan. Not trying to fit too much in, and giving yourself plenty of time for other things/redos.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

I would definitely do EP on your first day. We never do RD anymore and we still enjoy ourselves and get our "must-do's" in each day. If you want to do all three headliners, I would suggest FP+ FEA, doing single rider line for TT (since your youngest is 7, you can all do this. Just be prepared, your group will be separated) and do Soarin' standby (as it typically has the shortest standby line of the three). OR ditch the FEA FP+ (and possibly FEA altogether) and just FP+ Soarin' since it's your mom's favorite. I would also FP+ Mission Space and Spaceship Earth (if you want to ride it). Turtle Talk doesn't need a FP+.