First Disney Trip - Well Balanced or Too Much

[DISfirstTimer]

Hi everyone! I'm looking for some input to my trip plans. This is our 1st Disney Vacation and may be our only (according to my husband!). I'm travel with DH and DS 6 and DD 4. I had to cut back the length of our trip as my kids will be missing school and I want to ensure I'm not trying to cram too much in. I'd rather do less and us all be happy! We will be traveling Sun 1/28/2017-Sat 2/3/2018 and staying at Caribbean Beach. We will have a rental car. I currently have all ADRS listed.

Sunday: Fly to Orlando/ Stay at LEGOLAND Resort

Monday: LEGOLAND. Check in to CBR. Chef Mickey's 5:45 (May have to cancel if I don't think we will make it on time)

Tuesday: MK or Bust! Hit it hard. BOG 11:30 Lunch

Wednesday: OFF Cape May 5:00pm

Thursday: Epcot (Early Morning Hours 8 am open) Askerhaus (12:00)

Friday: AK Hoop Dee Doo 615pm show

Sat: Trattoria al Forno 10:00 am Head to MK until 5pm. Fly home 830pm


What do you think? I was also considering doing Hoop Dee Doo on Wednesday our off day and doing Ohana's Friday night and watch Fireworks from the beach one last time. My husband thinks kids would prefer Hoop.

 

[chris benton]

There's nothing really wrong with what you've written, except that I hope you actually have a plan for each park. The details of what your itinerary is once you are in the park is what can be tiring. No Hollywood? 6 and 4 year olds not Toy Story or Disney Jr, or Star Wars fans? You know them best, but if you guys are only going to go once, Hollywood for a little while might be worth considering. Perhaps adding hoppers to your tickets can give you or your husband some extra time to go out after the kids are tucked in.

 

[pitpat]

Are you familiar with the construction at Caribbean Beach? There are resorts that would be more fun for the kids.

It doesn't look like too much at all, possibly not enough for an "only trip," which hopefully isn't the case.

 

[DISfirstTimer]

There's nothing really wrong with what you've written, except that I hope you actually have a plan for each park. The details of what your itinerary is once you are in the park is what can be tiring. No Hollywood? 6 and 4 year olds not Toy Story or Disney Jr, or Star Wars fans? You know them best, but if you guys are only going to go once, Hollywood for a little while might be worth considering. Perhaps adding hoppers to your tickets can give you or your husband some extra time to go out after the kids are tucked in.

I hope to have a more concrete plan as it gets closer to FP time. Although I did purchase touring plans for help in that department. I've really debated with HS and I thought that would be park we'd miss the least. My son has really been wanting to do LEGOLAND and my husband said lets do it all same trip because he has no desire to do theme park vacations. He's more of a sit on the beach with an umbrella drink. I really felt like we'd need an off day to spend time at resort and not feel so "go-go-go".

 

[Klayfish]

Are you familiar with the construction at Caribbean Beach? There are resorts that would be more fun for the kids.

It doesn't look like too much at all, possibly not enough for an "only trip," which hopefully isn't the case.

I agree. Actually, instead of too much, for me it looks like not enough...especially for a first trip and possibly only. Looks like you're skipping AK and DHS completely and taking a full day off. I wouldn't do either of those. You can have plans for all the days and not be go-go-go non-stop. Go to the parks, but don't run around. The rides themselves make great rest times anyway. But that's your call.

 

[DISfirstTimer]

Are you familiar with the construction at Caribbean Beach? There are resorts that would be more fun for the kids.

It doesn't look like too much at all, possibly not enough for an "only trip," which hopefully isn't the case.

I want my husband to want to return which is why I'm trying not to overload it . If I exhaust us and having miserable kids he certainly won't agree to come back.

I wanted Moderate for the Queen beds as my husband is 6ft 4. CBR fit best in my budget and my TA assured me I wouldn't be impacted by construction. However, is a promotion comes along that allows me to upgrade I plan to.

 

[BrianL]

Well, I definitely wouldn't call that "too much" by any means. Sounds like a nice time. You do need to flesh it out more, but it doesn't seem over-ambitious. Have fun!

 

[DISfirstTimer]

Thank you. Its good to know that I should be able to add to our days as I build a plan. Maybe I'll even try to add DHS. Ak is on Friday.

 

[Beer Me]

Thank you. Its good to know that I should be able to add to our days as I build a plan. Maybe I'll even try to add DHS. Ak is on Friday.

DHS might fit in well on Wednesday. Its an easy walk or boat ride to Beach Club.

 

[christmasmagic]

I agree with DHS on Wednesday! It would fit perfectly!

 

[Klayfish]

Thank you. Its good to know that I should be able to add to our days as I build a plan. Maybe I'll even try to add DHS. Ak is on Friday.

Oops, sorry, I missed that. Great. You can do 7 days without exhausting yourself. Certainly, I have the great fortune to have gone many times, so we know what we're doing. But we just did 17 park days without exhausting ourselves. Only "break" we took was one day we drove to Daytona Beach and spent the day there. Just don't "run" from spot to spot non-stop. Use the rides as good rests. There are plenty of rides that take some time, are indoors, sitting down in cool a/c. Enjoy your walk from place to place, don't hustle. By no means would I suggest park open to park close every day, but at the same time you can hit the parks every day without killing yourselves.

 

[Disney2017]

We did a very similar trip at the same time last year! Kids were 6 and 4. Will possibly be our only trip ever. We did so much more than I imagined and had an amazing time!!

We had 7 day hopper tickets but went in with a plan of our 3 fast passes pre booked and anything else was a bonus. Well.....we saw everything I had hoped to do plus so much more. We did early mornings everyday. We only stayed for one evening of fireworks at MK. We did not take a day off but did a part day at HS then had a "pool day" later in the afternoon.

I spent months pouring over forums, maps etc ( ok, I was obsessed with planning our perfect trip) and really feel that made a big difference in how we moved around and between parks. I didn't make an iternerary or anything but I think knowing everything I could made everything so much easier to figure out as we went along.

DH is not a planner and was not nearly as excited for the trip as I was. He was really surprised by how smoothly everything went and thought it was awesome that I knew all kinds of "stuff" (especially telling him that all the people waiting behind us at MK rope drop would run past us to Seven Dwarfs ha ha).

Honestly, I think being a prepared first time visitor must be easier.....everything is so exciting and the kids won't know if they are missing out on something ha ha!

I hope you have an amazing time!!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

From what I'm reading about CBR you will definitely be impacted by the construction. All of OPR is shut down and there are food tents instead of a food court. I don't know when OPR is opening back up. I know for us my SO wouldn't want to go back if that's the kind of resort I booked us for. I would definitely switch resorts and not risk that.

Personally for a first time trip I would skip LEGOLAND and just stick to WDW, especially since it's just one week. There's so much to see and do.

 

[lynzi2004]

I think it sounds like a good time! I don't think your missing anything by not doing DHS. My kids are 5 and 4 and while they enjoyed certain aspects of the park, neither of them say anything about their experiences at DHS. That being said, if your already buying 4 day tickets the cost to add a 5th day isn't too much. You might consider making FP for the top 3 things you want to experience at DHS and only go long enough for those. Meaning you could have a relaxing morning and swim before heading over for FP, dinner, and maybe fireworks. Or if you would rather go in the morning and then have a leisurely evening. You could still make Wednesday a "down day" but at least you would know what all the parks offer if you ever get to go back!

 

[KittyKitty]

Looks pretty good. Your husband can sit and people watch while you take the kids on rides. Only park I suggest you take Disney bus is to MK, except last day. It drops you right at the park, vs driving to big parking lot, then taking monorail or ferry to MK.

What is the situation with food at Caribbean Resort? Last thing I heard food court was closed, but it may have changed,(or I read it wrong).

Afternoon breaks could help keep kids happy.

 

[DisneyParkLover]

DHS might fit in well on Wednesday. Its an easy walk or boat ride to Beach Club.

Agree with this. Since it may be an only trip, instead of a full off day, how about just a lazy morning? Sleep in and maybe swim and then plan for an afternoon at DHS before Cape May? That's what I would do. I would not skip a whole park on an only trip.

 

[rg35]

We just did a combo Legoland / Disney trip for our annual Disney trip this year.

It's about an hour drive from the airport to Legoland (we drove from NYC, so your drive will be significantly shorter lol), and then it's going to be about a 40 minute drive from Legoland back to the Disney area, so so you have some sense of that timing. We didn't do the waterpark at Legoland, but you should really have no problem doing just about everything and be able to check out with plenty of time to make your 5:45 at Chef Mickey's. You could also always go directly there and eat first instead of checking in at CBR.

Legoland isn't that big, and it's not too crowded on weekdays, so you should be able to do everything at a pretty leisurely place. I'm glad we went this year because I felt that our 8 year olds were probably the perfect age for it. The roller coasters were not too intense, and the less intense rides were not quite at the stage where they would be boring for an older kid. I know another poster suggested skipping Legoland, but this is really a tough call, especially since your DS really wants to go. When I booked Legoland they were giving a free extra park day if you stayed at LEgoland resort, so depending on your arrival time you could go to the park on your arrival day and again on your second day.

I think otherwise your plan is fine. I keep thinking things like "I don't think I would leave animal kingdom early to get to Hoop Dee Doo", but then I remember the ages of your kids and that there will probably be a bunch of attractions you won't be riding so you wouldn't need as much time in that park as others might. Will you or your husband ride things that your kids can't? For example, would you ride Expedition Everest while your husband stays with the kids and would he then ride while you wait?

I would probably do Hoop Dee Do revue on the off day, just because I think it simplifies things. Also consider whether or not you'll be leaving the parks for breaks. If you're going to leave Epcot after lunch, you might want to make an ADR for dinner if you plan on returning to Epcot after a break.

This is also a point of contention on these boards, but I suggest renting strollers for your kids even though they are probably not "stroller age" anymore at home. Disney is A LOT of walking in extreme heat and humidity. 6 years old was the final year we got strollers for our kids at Disney. Since this might be your only trip and you have a very compressed timeframe, you're going to want to see as much as you can. Having happy, rested, non-tired kids is going to be key and running them ragged will not help, especially if they're not used to doing a lot of walking.

As others have mentioned, there is a lot of construction at CBR so you might want to consider a different resort.

 

[disneyvoice]

Since you are there during a "cooler" time of year I don't think you will need the day off. The thing that makes a WDW trip the most exhausting is trying to run around and accomplish way too much in brutal heat and humidity. By taking a day off I actually think your days in the park could end up being MORE exhausting because there's a good chance you are going to feel like you are racing around trying to get everything done in just a single day at the parks. We go for 8 days at a time and STILL feel like we can't do everything we want to do. My suggestions would be to maybe slow things down your first day at MK so you can enjoy the atmosphere and not feel like you are racing around. You could even head back early if anyone is tiring out. Then go back to MK the next day instead of taking the day off. You could sleep in a bit if that would help your husband feel less exhausted. That will give you 6+ FPs at MK plus rope drop your first day (and if you choose not to sleep in, rope drop your second day as well). Then do your day scheduled days at Epcot and AK. Your last day I would skip breakfast and spend half the day at DHS - or if no one is excited by the thought of going to DHS then you could all decide where your want to spend the last day before you leave. Your kids might not be all that into Epcot (my son wasn't until he was a bit older) so you might end up only spending part of the day at Epcot and then could also use the evening to relax if needed.

I also agree with the PP about Legoland. Unless it is something your kids are just dying to do I would skip it so you have another day at WDW. Legoland is nothing compared to WDW and I am guessing you will all wish you had more days to spend in the WDW when it is time to leave.

 

[NavyDad]

I think your plan is well balanced for a first time trip with younger kids.

I would say unless your family can seriously throw down some seafood I would cut Cape May in favor of Hoop Dee Doo. My DD was 4 on our first trip and she still vividly remembers how much she loved the Hoop Dee Doo. All three of your kids have loved it every trip.

I like your idea of ending you vacation with dinner at Ohana and then watch fireworks. I think your kids would enjoy both of those places more than Cape May.

 

[scrapquitler]

I'd plan for a half day in a park on Wednesday. My family does not like hanging around for a whole day and skipping a park. Our 'rest day' means we go to the park after lunch and stay till closing. This might be a good opportunity to slip in a few hours at DHS.

And I agree with the poster who said to rent or bring a stroller. They might not think they want/need it, but you might be surprised how willing they are to rest in it for a while, especially in Epcot. Expect to walk 6-7 miles daily.