Generic Orlando Theme Park Family Vacation Title Pre-Trip Report--4/27-5/4/2019

[Ticklefart]

Follow along with my pre-trip report, and as I figure out how to post things on this site. Wow, I feel old. I've been following the DIS and the boards for a few years now, but here is my very first post!

Welcome to my pre-trip report!

This trip will consist of two adults and three kids, ages 7, 5, and almost 2. We are a bilingual family of 5 from the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC. I grew up going to Disney World every couple of years with my family, but we stopped going around the time I was in high school. My husband and I definitely wanted to take our kids, and we figured we would go when our two daughters were about 6 and 4 years old. Well, I love to plan, so I started putting things together about two years in advance for a trip planned for the summer of 2017. Well, sometimes you get a wrench thrown into your plans and that trip which we had thought would be for our family of four ended up being a trip for our family of five! Our youngest daughter was born in May 2017. When we found out about my pregnancy, there was some discussion of postponing the trip, but we decided to forge ahead and I’m so glad we did! The girls loved it and having a 3-month-old along was very little added trouble for us. I’ve gotten a good portion of a trip report for that trip written offline, and when I get more of it finished, I may begin posting about it here. I just didn’t want to start something online I couldn’t finish!

When I figure out how, I will insert an awesome family picture from that trip. Ooooh, the suspense!


When we planned our first trip, we were thinking that it would be a big “one and done” trip, but then we decided we would maybe come back in 5 or 7 years, so that our youngest would have her magical moments. Of course, when we came back home, that 5 or 7 years became more like 3 or 4. Then we had some job opportunities and decided that if we wanted to avoid crowds and heat, the 2018-19 school year was really the only time we could get time off work and not feel horrible about taking the kids out of school. So here we are, planning for our April 27-May 4, 2019 trip to Disney World!

DH was cool with putting some pictures up but wanted code names, so I’m going to with favorite foods. Well, except for me.

Yours Truly, Ticklefart--I’m 38 and teach elementary school. I love, love, love being a teacher, and I work with multilingual elementary school students who are still learning English. Most of my hobbies and interests relate to my kids and/or my career, but apart from those, I love taking pictures (I’m not sure I would call myself a “photographer” though!), shopping for deals but usually not purchasing, collecting sneakers (mostly Air Jordan, but a variety of other brands and styles that I like), making fun desserts, and cheering for the Baltimore Orioles and Ravens, and Washington Capitals. Over the past year, I’ve developed a hobby a never would have pictured myself doing--running! I’m super slow and started off with very little stamina, but I’m improving every day and that in itself is pretty much my only goal. As mentioned earlier, this will be my second “grownup” trip to Disney, after going many times as a kid in the ‘80s and ‘90s.

My favorite Disney movie of all time is the Indiana Jones franchise, but of the animated genre, I love Coco, Toy Story, and the Lion King. I don’t really have a favorite Disney character because I love all the classics (except Donald Duck. I do NOT like Donald Duck). Chip and Dale definitely have a special nostalgic place in my heart, since they were my favorites when I was a kid.

My favorite things at Disney World are the Hoop Dee Doo, Toy Story Mania, Buzz Lightyear Space Ranger Spin, the PeopleMover, and Spaceship Earth. I'm generally a scaredy cat when it comes to thrill rides, but I love just soaking up all the fantasy and magic of Disney World!

My husband, Ribs--he’s 42 and teaches middle school. Growing up, his family did not take a lot of big vacations, so our trip in 2017 was his first visit to Disney. Outside of teaching and fatherhood, he likes to play guitar, collect and rebuild vintage toys, especially G.I. Joe and Transformers, play rec softball, experiment with new recipes for grilling and smoking, collect sneakers (his collection is almost exclusively Nike and Air Jordan), and cheer for those aforementioned Orioles, Ravens, and Caps.

Ribs likes Star Wars, but I’m not sure what his Disney favorites are. I suppose I should ask him! Really, he just likes whatever the kids like, and he’s happy going along with whatever makes them happy. His favorite Disney World attractions are Soarin', It's a Small World (no, really), and any place with good food.

Our oldest daughter, Pancake--she’s 7 and in second grade. She’s an awesome reader, and keeps a book tucked somewhere basically anywhere she will ever be. She also loves to draw and make art, and her current career goal is to be an author-illustrator. I think it might happen! She is also very involved in her Girl Scout troop and is very proud to be a Brownie.

She loves dogs and puppies, and any Disney characters that are dogs (Pluto, Lady, the Tramp, the dalmatians, Dante, etc). Her favorite Disney movie varies from day to day, but she tends to go more for the Pixar movies. Our whole family’s favorite is Coco, hands down, but she also likes Finding Nemo, Brave, Moana, and the Mickey Mouse shorts. She is a former Frozen fanatic, and indulges her sister with princess play.

Our middle daughter, Sardines (yes, I know)--she’s 5 and goes to preschool (October birthdays, represent!). She is full of energy and emotions and everything is a 10 with her. If she’s happy, she’s thrilled. If she’s sad, she’s devastated. She is very outgoing and makes friends everywhere, and usually finds the positive in every situation. She loves playing with building toys like Legos and Magnatiles, and pretty much anything her big sister does.

She is a hardcore princess lover right now, although she loves the other characters too. Minnie Mouse is her top character. Her current favorite princess is Ariel, with Anna, Elsa, Belle, and Elena of Avalor as close runners-up. Her favorite Disney movie is Coco, but she also loves Frozen, Moana, The Good Dinosaur, and Toy Story. She also loves most everything on Disney Junior.

Our youngest daughter, Egg--she will be two weeks shy of 2 on this trip. Her current hobbies right now are eating, sleeping, and throwing books. Sometimes to likes to look at the books, too. She’s also really awesome at destroying Magnatile castles with one mighty stomp. She doesn’t really watch any TV or movies, but I’m sure she can identify Minnie Mouse from the product placement on her toys. We’re excited to see how she does with characters. If it’s anything like her Santa experience, she will be opting out of most of the meets.

We also have some furry family members who will be no doubt throwing feline and arachnid frat parties while they're home alone (don't worry, our neighbor is coming over to take care of their needs). We have two cats, our boys Rocky and Tyrus, and one amazing tarantula, Octavius. Octavius is technically a classroom pet, but he will be riding out my vacation at home, since I don't trust him with a substitute teacher.

Maybe I'll some pictures of those guys here. Or not. We'll see.

Our current plans:

Flying in BWI to MCO on Southwest, arriving at 3pm. We’re staying at the Pop Century Resort. One day I’d love to splurge for the nicer resorts, but at this stage in life, the kids are all about characters and theming, so we’re perfectly fine with a value resort. We stayed at Art of Animation last time and they LOVED it. The only reason we switched to Pop this time was because of the refurbished rooms (and a shorter walk to the bus!)

We will be using the Disney Dining Plan, which is new to us. We went without it last time, and we quickly realized how fast the meals add up. We had a budget, but that was blown to pieces and there was a lot of sticker shock when that credit card bill came (we used our Disney Visa for the discount). So, while it may not save us any money, we’re going with the DDP so it will all be paid for by the time we travel and we won’t have to worry about how much we’re spending on food.

We went ahead and got park tickets for all 8 days, and sprung for park hoppers. Whether or not we use them, we learned from our previous trip that just having options was key.

Edit: Here are our planned park days
4/27 Saturday, Arrival Day: Epcot in the evening
4/28 Sunday: Hollywood Studios
4/29 Monday: Magic Kingdom
4/30 Tuesday: Epcot
5/1 Wednesday: Animal Kingdom
5/2 Thursday: Magic Kingdom
5/3 Friday: Epcot
5/4 Saturday, Departure Day: not sure, hopefully some park because our flight doesn't leave until 10pm!

Our plans are mostly concentrated in the mornings/afternoons with evenings free for pool time. Pancake and Sardines LOVE the pool! Ribs and I have also discussed the possibility of one of us taking 1-2 kids to a park in the evening for a special ride or two on some of the days.

Next up, time to EAT. Let’s explore ADRs!

 

[reyasmommy]

You don't need to post pictures, just by your descriptions I can tell you're an adorable family.

I know all to well what it is like to travel to Disney with a 3 month old. It was a little challenging at times, but I will cherish the memories forever.

We stayed at POP back in July, and I was pleasantly surprised. The beds and pillows were so comfortable and I love the refurbished rooms! I would definitely stay there again.

Anyway, I look forward to hearing more about your plans..... Happy planning!

 

[Ticklefart]

I know all to well what it is like to travel to Disney with a 3 month old. It was a little challenging at times, but I will cherish the memories forever.

She slept a lot--even on rides--plus we had decided not to do any height restricted rides at all, so there wasn't much inconvenience in that realm, at least. The worst part really was that we went in August, and the "real feel" for several of the days we were there was 105 and up. I was constantly worried about her being overheated, and the heat made babywearing impossible, so we were tied to the stroller. We did make great use of the baby care stations, and since it was our first trip, we really didn't know what we were missing out on. I was impressed with fellow visitors and CMs, who gave up their bus seat for baby and me without me even asking, constantly offered to move aside to let us stand in shade, offered to carry our bag when we were getting on or off the bus and Ribs had to wrangle the stroller, etc. Lots of good people out there willing to small things that made a big difference for someone else. Definitely glad we didn't postpone the trip--after all, now she'll be able to brag that she went to Disney world twice before she turned 2!

 

[Ticklefart]

okay, there's our family picture from the previous trip. I love it! Pancake does not do mornings and refused to turn around, Sardines was pissed that we were stopping for a picture BEFORE getting to the castle for breakfast, Egg was already losing it and I was failing miserably with "the hold," and Ribs is, like always, holding us together with his smile, even as he's already melting in the 8am heat. Oh, and the photo is crooked. Like I said, I love it!

 

[Ticklefart]

Okay, time to EAT! I made our ADRs right at the 180-day window, but have changed them quite a bit already. Our strategy is to mainly eat at the parks. I know there are tons of nice places at Disney Springs and at the resorts, but we found last time that leaving the park with the intention of returning after a meal was just a huge time suck, and we want to be in the parks as much as possible. Here are our current reservations:

Saturday 4/27 (arrival day)
Thinking positively that we will get some park time in, even if it’s just to eat dinner. Our flight is currently scheduled to land at MCO at 3, and the plan is to skip the room and go straight to Epcot.
Garden Grill--8pm. We ate here on a whim last time and loved the food, as well as the character interaction. It’s one of the two places the girls specifically asked to return to eat.

Sunday 4/28
50s Prime Time--12:05pm. I loved this place as a kid, and when we went on our last trip, everyone had a great time. I’m a sucker for the shtick, and even though I know it gets so-so reviews, we all enjoyed the food. For a variety of reasons, we have decided to pay out of pocket for this meal. We went over all the TS places we wanted to go to, and we’re one credit over. After comparing menus, it looks like 50s PT will be the cheapest.
I'm hoping we can rope drop/morning EMH Hollywood Studios, so I think breakfast will be cereal in the room, and snacks at Woody's Lunchbox. I don't think we'll be eating dinner in the park.

Monday 4/28
Be Our Guest--8am. Hoping to take advantage of that pre-park opening, and knock out some of the Fantasyland attractions at rope drop.
Looking at Pinocchio Village Haus and Pecos Bill’s as potential QS options for lunch or dinner (if we make it that far!)

Tuesday 4/30
Garden Grill--10am. Yes, we liked it that much that we’re doing it twice. Ribs and I love breakfast food, and their breakfast menu looks delicious. Again, with the DDP, we’re going for as many character meals as we can, and I like the all-you-care-to-enjoy aspect, so we don’t have to split our meals up so Egg can eat, too. Update: cancelled this one, moved Garden Grill breakfast to Friday. We'll sleep in a bit to be ready for EMH until 11pm.

Akershus--6:55pm. Trying something new. I hear good things about the princess interaction, and while I’ve never really had Scandinavian food outside of IKEA, the menu looks approachable. There’s always mac and cheese for the kids.

For a QS lunch, I’m not really sure yet. We have a long list of places that look good, so it’s a good problem to have.

Wednesday 5/1
N/A--QS in Animal Kingdom. Something’s got to give, and we’re perfectly happy with the menus from Pizzafari and Flame Tree BBQ here.

Thursday 5/2
Chef Mickey’s--9:30am. Ribs’s favorite place from our last trip, so this was his request. I had originally booked Chef Mickey’s for Wednesday, but a few weeks ago, my dad, who lives in the Keys, mentioned possibly flying up and meeting us in Disney World for a meal. Since he’s not buying a park ticket, he suggested treating us at Chef Mickey’s, and we of course agreed. Aside from getting to spend time with my dad, it was helpful with our plans because we need to eat up two TS credits at...

Cinderella’s Royal Table--2:20pm. This is the other place my kids specifically requested. We did breakfast here last time and they loved it. Anything for the kids, right? We had originally scheduled a much earlier lunch, but after our plans with my dad were finalized, we needed to push it way back (who’s ready for lunch at 11 after you’ve just stuffed yourself at Chef Mickey’s?!). We’ll probably need a snack in between, but that’s doable.

If we make it to dinner… still mulling that one over. QS, obviously.

Friday 5/3
Akershus--10:35am. This was a late addition, and I’m not 100% sure we’ll keep it. The idea was to get into World Showcase a little earlier and have time to take pictures before it officially opens and gets more crowded, but I’m not sure that is even going to work. Even if we explore before we go to eat, we’re not going to be there before the whole park opens. Still, the breakfast looks good and for now, we’re keeping this reservation. I have a Touring Plans alert request in for an earlier booking, but I’m not optimistic for an opening for 5! Update: I actually got an alert at around midnight last night for a reservation at 9:20, but it was already gone by the time I woke up and got the email. Still not sure about this one. Second Update: Cancelled this one and moved Garden Grill here instead.

Whispering Canyon Cafe--6:10pm. I love the Hoop Dee Doo, but my kids were not as into it as I thought they would be when we went before. Ribs liked the show a lot, and loved the food, so instead of wasting 2 TS credits on a show our kids didn’t appreciate, we settled on Whispering Canyon, because it has the same menu.

Again, so many QS options for lunch/snacks. Something delicious in World Showcase for sure.

Saturday 5/4
So sad, departure day. Using up whatever credits we have left! Our flight doesn’t leave MCO until 8pm, so we’re hoping for some park time before we really have to go.

 

[Ticklefart]

Tuesday 4/30
Garden Grill--10am. Yes, we liked it that much that we’re doing it twice. Ribs and I love breakfast food, and their breakfast menu looks delicious. Again, with the DDP, we’re going for as many character meals as we can, and I like the all-you-care-to-enjoy aspect, so we don’t have to split our meals up so Egg can eat, too.

Akershus--6:55pm. Trying something new. I hear good things about the princess interaction, and while I’ve never really had Scandinavian food outside of IKEA, the menu looks approachable. There’s always mac and cheese for the kids.

For a QS lunch, I’m not really sure yet. We have a long list of places that look good, so it’s a good problem to have.

And we've already made a change. Epcot has evening EMH until 11, which Touring Plans is showing virtually no wait times after 9ish for Soarin', Finding Nemo, and Turtle Talk, which are all high priority attractions (and I predict we will be going on Nemo multiple times...). As I was working the plans, it just didn't seem feasible that the kids would be able to go hard all day, and every plan I put together had a huge chunk of multiple hours of free time, in order to get us to those short wait times in EMH. Since going back and forth from resort to park eats up so much time, I decided to move the Garden Grill ADR to Friday, and drop the Akershus breakfast that day. We should be able to see plenty of things if we push our park arrival to 2 or 3 in the afternoon, and plan to stay late.

 

[Justplainchy]

And we've already made a change. Epcot has evening EMH until 11, which Touring Plans is showing virtually no wait times after 9ish for Soarin', Finding Nemo, and Turtle Talk, which are all high priority attractions (and I predict we will be going on Nemo multiple times...).

Just a heads up about Nemo during evening EMH - they turn off the aquarium lights at some point and it becomes really hard to see any of the fish during the scenes where you're supposed to be able to see them. The first time my wife rode it was during epcot EMH, and she totally didn't understand the appeal until I made her re-ride in the daylight with the aquarium lights on.

Still a fun ride, but I was surprised it was so different at night, so just wanted to make sure you knew too!

 

[Ticklefart]

Just a heads up about Nemo during evening EMH - they turn off the aquarium lights at some point and it becomes really hard to see any of the fish during the scenes where you're supposed to be able to see them. The first time my wife rode it was during epcot EMH, and she totally didn't understand the appeal until I made her re-ride in the daylight with the aquarium lights on.

Still a fun ride, but I was surprised it was so different at night, so just wanted to make sure you knew too!

Thanks! We rode it, no joke, about 6 times in a row on our last trip, but I don't think it was EMH then. Honestly, I did not enjoy it very much, but for some reason, the girls LOVED it. Hopefully they won't be disappointed (and make me ride it again another time) if the aquarium lights end up being off!

 

[Ticklefart]

I'm working my way through my Touring Plans, trying to get ready for Fast Pass day, which is in about two weeks.

Here's what I have put together for Arrival Day:
This will all depend on what time we actually arrive and how quickly we can get to our destination. And, of course, how we’re feeling. So, I’m just imagining a best-case scenario (that’s probably unlikely) in which we are able to go from MCO to Pop Century, go straight to the buses, and arrive at Epcot at 5pm. Hey, it could happen.

As soon as we get there, we'll be heading straight for Spaceship Earth. I'm planning to get a FP for 5:00-6:00. If we miss that window and the line isn’t too long, we could either wait it out, or just forge ahead. There will be other opportunities to ride it, but it just seems like a nice way to start the vacation!

From there, we’ll head left and meander up to World Showcase, stopping in Mexico for a bite at La Cantina. Probably just a snack, because we have an ADR later, but we’ll see. After that, we’ll move up to Norway with an FP for Frozen Ever After, somewhere in the 6:00-8:00 range. If we have the time, and the girls are in good moods and want to do it, we may do the Anna and Elsa meet. The wait times on Touring Plans seem to be pretty fixed on 20 minutes no matter when I’ve plugged it in. If it doesn’t happen, we’ll have another good opportunity later.

Now, depending on the time, we may pop back to Mexico and just check out the pavilion. We have a long shopping list, so it would be nice to get a peek. If we end up with a later FP for FEA, we might check out Mexico right after we eat instead.

We have an ADR at Garden Grill for 8pm, so we’ll head over to the Land for that. Ribs may want to try his luck at getting a ride on Soarin’, just in case we finish our meal before the park closes.

Then it’s back to the buses and finally checking out our room! I know it's ambitious, but I feel like we'll be riding that Disney excitement high and be ready to just dive in. And if we have to cut some things, it's fine. We'll have opportunities later on to do all of these things, even Garden Grill.

Touring Plans crowd level for this day: Epcot 5

Updated with what we skipped/added

 

[Ticklefart]

Day 2: Hollywood Studios

I didn’t plan this very well, because after I had made our ADRs, I found out that Disney was offering Early Morning Magic for Toy Story Land during one of days, but it conflicted with some of our plans and I made the executive decision to not even consider it. We don’t have to do everything, and excited as we are for Toy Story Land, we probably won’t get to do any of the rides more than once.

I am hoping to drag everyone up and out the door in time to maybe rope drop Hollywood Studios, but we’ll see. They are having morning EMH beginning at 8am, so I just don’t foresee us getting there that early. I am hoping to secure FPs for Slinky Dog Dash for Ribs and Pancake, and Toy Story Mania for Sardines and me (and Egg, of course). Pancake swears she wants to ride SDD, but I’m not convinced. Ribs sure does, though, so maybe she will surprise us and go along with him. I’m thinking we will do a 10:00-11:00ish FP, and if we get there earlier, we can try our luck with standby wait times for TSM. Either way, once SDD is done, and I’ve documented their ride in pictures, Sardines, Egg, and I will do our TSM FP, while Ribs and Pancake explore TSL a bit or otherwise amuse themselves. Depending on the wait time, I could see Ribs waiting in standby with Sardines and Pancake, while I chill out with Egg in Baby Care, or some place that is not in the blazing sun. I would like to do Alien Swirling Saucers as well, but Ribs gets sick on spinning rides, so he’ll be on Egg duty.

After we’ve done what we can in TSL, we’ll budget some time to take pictures and explore, and get a snack at Woody’s Lunch Box.

We have our 12:00 lunch ADR to look forward to at 50s Prime Time, and after that, we’ll be taking it easy and seeing our list of attractions in whatever order involves the least walking. In HS, we’ll be doing mostly shows, so we’re planning to check out Beauty and the Beast live on stage, the Frozen sing along, MuppetVision 3D, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Disney Junior Dance Party, and possibly meet Kylo Ren and Chewbacca. I would also love to be able to see the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular again, but I feel like I'm the only one that enjoys it, and so I'm willing to make the sacrifice if everyone is done at this point. Hoping to make an early-ish exit and have a QS dinner at the resort, maybe hit the pool, and get everyone to bed early!

Touring Plans crowd level for this day: Hollywood Studios 4

 

[Ticklefart]

Day 3: Magic Kingdom

Our first day in Magic Kingdom begins with the first ADR I booked--Be Our Guest at 8am. Pancake and Sardines are really excited for this meal. When they saw the place on the last trip, they really wanted to go in, but we couldn’t get a reservation so late. I’m excited to be deep in the park at opening!

I am still fiddling around with actual plans and the order, but after breakfast, we will try to knock out as many Fantasyland attractions as possible while the crowds are low. Currently, I have Dumbo, Barnstormer (2x), meet Ariel in her grotto, Under the Sea, It’s a Small World, and Winnie the Pooh, before some time for a snack, diaper change, bathroom break, whatever. Then we’ll go meet some princesses. I’m really torn here. Sardines wants to meet Rapunzel and Elena. Of course, they’re not together. Since we have a lunch ADR for Cinderella’s Royal Table later in the trip, I was thinking it would be best to do the Cinderella/Elena meet on this day, and save Rapunzel and Tiana for CRT day (so she doesn’t meet “Cinderella” twice in the same day). But then what if something happens and we don’t get to Rapunzel? And do I want to use up another FP for another princess meet? So I’m not sure here. I’m thinking right now we’ll get a FP on this day for Cinderella and Elena, and do standby for the other pair. Hopefully the wait won’t be more than 15-20 minutes. Decisions, decisions!

We’ll round out Fantasyland with an FP for Peter Pan’s Flight at around 11:30, then have a nice lunch at Pinocchio Village Haus. I know that’s an incredibly ambitious morning, but we’re ready to cut whatever needs to be cut for time and moods, and we’ll have time later on to make them up. Or not! We don’t need to do everything.

After we eat, we’ll head over to Tomorrowland and use an FP for Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. This is one of my favorite rides, so I definitely want to do it more than once on this trip! After Buzz, we’ll soak up some A/C at Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor, Carousel of Progress (I can’t help it, I love this), and another favorite, the Peoplemover.

By this point, I expect we’re going to be pretty tired and cranky, so there are several options. I’m sure we’ll want to look in some shops. The parade might also be on its way, which might trap us in Tomorrowland for a bit, in which case I’m fine just riding the Peoplemover over and over. We also might escape to Baby Care and pamper Egg for a bit while the big girls watch some TV, and maybe Ribs will get us snacks.

We may also start looking at attractions missed in the morning, or that we have slated for our second MK day but that we can scoop up FPs for now. Leaving it open! We would just go back to the resort, but we really want to eat at Pecos Bill’s for dinner.

Then more time for browsing and winding down. We’ll head out for the buses and see what our resort has to offer for the rest of the evening (read: POOL).

Touring Plans crowd level for this day: Magic Kingdom 4

 

[Ticklefart]

My Day 4 plans (Epcot) are still all over the place, so I'll just skip ahead here to day 5!

Day 5: Animal Kingdom

This is one day that I haven’t really played around with too much in terms of the order. In fact, if the only thing we got to do here is go on a Kilimanjaro Safari (or 3…), I know we’d all be happy. Since we’ve been getting up fairly early, especially for us nightowls, I think this day we will let everyone sleep in a bit and have a relaxing morning. Breakfast can be in the room, or QS at the resort. The plan right now is to get to Animal Kingdom at 12 noon or so, visit the Wilderness Explorers booth, and have a nice lunch at Flame Tree BBQ. Ribs is already eyeing, you guessed it, the ribs. I don’t know too much about the Wilderness Explorers thing, but it at least sounds like something Pancake and Sardines would like to do, especially since Pancake is such a Girl Scout.

After lunch, I’m planning to have a FP to meet Favorite Disney Pals at Adventurers Outpost, since it’s right there. Then we’ll zip up and over to Africa for an FP on Kilimanjaro Safaris. From there, we’ll check out Gorilla Falls Trail and ride the train over to Rafiki’s Planet Watch, then back for another Safari on standby, if the wait isn’t too long (15 minutes max). Then over to Asia for the Maharajah Jungle Trek to hopefully see some tigers!

We’ll stop for a snack along the way and head to Discovery Island, for the trails and It’s Tough to be a Bug, for this bug-lovin’ family. Then we’ll go over to Dinoland. We completely missed this section on our first trip (it was literally 100 degrees that day, so we had to bail early). I have us doing Triceratop Spin and then checking out Finding Nemo: the Musical. Note: in this order, this puts us getting the very last show of Finding Nemo at 4:30. If we start to run behind, I’ll probably move Dinoland to before Discovery Island.

After Nemo, we’ll go over to the Boneyard and let the kids play for a while (if they even want to--I think this playground looks neat, but I’m also aware that they may be dead tired at this point).

Then we’ll meander back through the park and get some dinner either at Pizzafari or Flame Tree again (Ribs is campaigning for Flame Tree, obvs, but I think the kids are going to lobby for Pizzafari). Eventually we’ll get back to Africa and finish our day with another Safari. If we time it right, it will be around sunset, which sounds amazing! Then we try to beat the crowds and scurry out before Rivers of Light. I would love to see that show, but my kids just have no interest, and again, we can’t do everything.

Magic Kingdom has EMH on this night, so depending on how things go, we may decide to go back out for some more Buzz Lightyear, but we'll see. Hollywood Studios also has a low crowd level (2), so there's a chance we might want to try for some of the TSL attractions during the last hour. This is shaping up to be the closest thing to a "relaxing" day, so maybe we'll just let it be.

Touring Plans crowd level for this day: Animal Kingdom 1 (!!!!!)

 

[Ticklefart]

ooh, and I finally can have an avatar!

 

[Ticklefart]

Okay, moving backwards a bit. Here are the ever changing plans for Day 4: Epcot

I have fiddled around with this day more than any other. I’m trying to balance time in World Showcase, which we almost completely skipped on our first trip, with rides/attractions that Pancake and Sardines specifically want to see. Originally, I had us with a mid-morning arrival, and then I tacked on a breakfast ADR at Garden Grill. But since there are evening EMH, in order to get to shorter wait times, my Touring Plans kept giving me huge chunks of 2-3 hours of “free time.” Ribs and I discussed a few options, including keeping the ADR and then doing a few quick things close by, then heading back to the resort for a while and coming back later with the intention of staying until 10-11pm. The more we talked about it, the sillier it sounded, going to Epcot just for a fairly easy to get ADR, then going all the way to the resort to rest and getting everyone back out the door later. So, for now, we decided that we wanted to do a Garden Grill breakfast more than we wanted the Akershus one, so we dropped the GG ADR for this day and moved it to the day we had for Akershus breakfast, and cancelled that one entirely.

So, now our plan is chill out some more this morning, probably a later QS breakfast/brunch at the resort, and arrive at Epcot with the intention of making the 2:30 showing of Beauty and the Beast Singalong. Pancake is currently obsessed with all things French, so she is very excited to see France. We’re budgeting time to really explore the France pavilion and shop a bit, then get something to eat at Les Halles. Ribs will probably take Egg down to the UK and get fish and chips to go for the two of us from Yorkshire County Fish Shop, and bring it back up so that we can fulfill Pancake’s dream of eating in France.

After France, we’ll move on to Japan, which is another much-anticipated stop. We are planning to do Pick-a-Pearl with Pancake and Sardines, and my mom has already promised that she will give them the money to pick out a nice setting. We’re also excited to check out the rest of Mitsukoshi Department Store. All of us will probably end up finding souvenirs there.

Moving along in World Showcase, we’ll probably not visit any pavilions in between Japan and China. In China, I want to check out the shopping for just a bit, and we’ll see if Mulan is around. From there, we’ll slide into Norway and assess our time. I’m thinking of a FP for Frozen Ever After in the 6-7pm window, since we have our Akershus ADR for 6:55. If there’s time, we’ll try for an Anna and Elsa meet as well, if we didn’t get to meet them on our arrival day. This can also be moved to after dinner, if needed in the interest of time.

After dinner and Norway attractions, we’ll go into Mexico to explore the pavilion. I know we will want to do some serious shopping here, so this will probably be a reconnaissance mission so we can think about what we want to go back and purchase on our next Epcot day. Then we’ll trek over to the Land for the rest of the night. We want to do Living With the Land and Soarin’, then go do the Seas with Nemo a couple of times, Turtle Talk with Crush, and check out the aquarium. When EMH kick in, we’ll just stay here until the girls are ready to split. I anticipate lots of Soarin’ and Nemo.

Again, depending on time, we may try to hit Spaceship Earth on our way out, and then zip out so the girls can fall asleep on the bus.

Touring Plans crowd level for this day: Epcot 4

 

[Ticklefart]

Day 6: Magic Kingdom

This day has been changed around a bit, but I think we’ve got a good plan in place. After we started planning our Disney trip, I was talking with my dad, who lives in south Florida. He mentioned that he and his wife were thinking of taking a quick trip up to Disney, and that they could plan it to coincide with our trip. After plans were made, he let me know that he had booked a breakfast ADR at Chef Mickey’s for 9:35am, so that’s where we’ll be starting our day.

After we eat, we’ll head over to Magic Kingdom, and hopefully take care of two items right off the bat. We want to go to Harmony Barber Shop to get Egg’s first haircut (and maybe a trim for Pancake and Sardines if they want), and I want to get silhouettes from the cart on Main Street.

When those are done, we’ll go over to Town Square Theatre with a FP to meet Tinkerbell. I’m not sure about timing, but I think the window should be about 11:30-12:30 or so. Since we’re starting our day after the wait times for most rides have gotten pretty long, I’m looking mostly at non-FP type things. After Tinkerbell, we’ll grab a snack and go check out Swiss Family Treehouse, which I was moderately obsessed with as a kid. I’m excited to see how it holds up compared to my memory of it. Then we’ll hit another aging bit of nostalgia, Country Bear Jamboree. After, we’ll travel to Tom Sawyer Island and play for a while.

We have a very late lunch at Cinderella’s Royal Table at 2:20pm, so we’ll go there after Tom Sawyer Island. Then we’ll check out some less wait time heavy Fantasyland land attractions. We’ll ride the Prince Charming Regal Carrousel and then see Mickey’s PhilmarMagic, and then use an FP for Enchanted Tales with Belle (probably a 4:00-5:00 window).

I’m hoping that Pancake and Sardines will like the Barnstormer, which we will ride on our earlier Magic Kingdom day. Everyone but Ribs is pretty much a pansy when it comes to thrill rides, so Barnstormer seems like just the right amount of “thrill,” and if they hate it, it’s like five seconds long so they will be off of it pretty soon. So, if they do like it, we’ll go for another ride on it after Belle. Then we’ll do Dumbo again, and move over to Tomorrowland for an FP on Buzz Lightyear. After Buzz, I’d like another spin on the PeopleMover (I never get sick of that ride!).

From here, we’re open. I’ll be checking to see if there are any FPs available, and we’ll see if the girls want to do any of the lower wait time rides again, or we can try to make up some of the attractions missed on our other MK day. I’d like to get on Jungle Cruise, if the wait isn’t too long, but not badly enough to plan ahead with an FP.

When we’re ready for dinner, Columbia Harbour House looks good. My kids don’t like fireworks, so we’ll be skipping out before Happily Ever After. Back to resort, pool time if possible, and get ready for our last full day (sob!)

Touring Plans crowd level for this day: Magic Kingdom 3

 

[Ticklefart]

I realized I never came back with my Day 7 and 8 plans, which I sort of have, but first, today was Fast Pass Day! And I did it!

Here's what I got:
Sat (Arrival Day):
Spaceship Earth 6:05-7:05
Frozen Ever After 7:05-8:05

Sun (Hollywood Studios):
Toy Story Mania 10:00-11:00 (for Sardines, Egg, and me)
Slinky Dog Dash 7:55-8:55pm (for Ribs and Pancake, with Rider Switch if Sardines wants to try)
Might add Frozen Sing Along, just for bookmarking it in our plans

Mon (Magic Kingdom):
Meet Cinderella/Elena 9:55-10:55
Peter Pan's Flight 10:55-11:55
Buzz Lightyear 12:45-1:45

Tues (Epcot):
Frozen Ever After 5:55-6:55

Wed (Animal Kingdom):
Meet Disney Pals at Adventurers Outpost 12:30-1:30
Kilimanjaro Safaris 1:30-2:30
Might add on Triceratop Spin, then try for more safaris

Thurs (Magic Kingdom):
Meet Tinkerbell 11:30-12:30
Enchanted Tales with Belle 4:10-5:10
Buzz Lightyear 5:35-6:35

Fri (Epcot):
Meet Disney Pals at Character Spot 12:10-1:10
Spaceship Earth 4:10-5:10

Sat (Departure Day, but not until 8pm):
Slinky Dog Dash 12:40-1:40 (Ribs and Pancake, RS with Sardines)
Toy Story Mania 12:45-1:45 (Pancake, Egg, and me)

We pretty much got everything we wanted, with the exception of the Slinky Dog Dash timing, but at 60+1 days for the insanely popular ride, I'm not going to complain. I'm just glad we got it at all! We are reworking plans for that day. We initially planned to arrive for morning EMH, do our thing, and then be leaving by late afternoon. Now it's looking more like a cram it in before lunch, go back to relax, then come back in the evening. Hopefully travel won't eat up too much of the day!

Saturday was an "open" day since we're leaving, so I went ahead and grabbed the SDD FPs while they were available.

 

[Ticklefart]

Day 2: Hollywood Studios

I didn’t plan this very well, because after I had made our ADRs, I found out that Disney was offering Early Morning Magic for Toy Story Land during one of days, but it conflicted with some of our plans and I made the executive decision to not even consider it. We don’t have to do everything, and excited as we are for Toy Story Land, we probably won’t get to do any of the rides more than once.

I am hoping to drag everyone up and out the door in time to maybe rope drop Hollywood Studios, but we’ll see. They are having morning EMH beginning at 8am, so I just don’t foresee us getting there that early. I am hoping to secure FPs for Slinky Dog Dash for Ribs and Pancake, and Toy Story Mania for Sardines and me (and Egg, of course). Pancake swears she wants to ride SDD, but I’m not convinced. Ribs sure does, though, so maybe she will surprise us and go along with him. I’m thinking we will do a 10:00-11:00ish FP, and if we get there earlier, we can try our luck with standby wait times for TSM. Either way, once SDD is done, and I’ve documented their ride in pictures, Sardines, Egg, and I will do our TSM FP, while Ribs and Pancake explore TSL a bit or otherwise amuse themselves. Depending on the wait time, I could see Ribs waiting in standby with Sardines and Pancake, while I chill out with Egg in Baby Care, or some place that is not in the blazing sun. I would like to do Alien Swirling Saucers as well, but Ribs gets sick on spinning rides, so he’ll be on Egg duty.

After we’ve done what we can in TSL, we’ll budget some time to take pictures and explore, and get a snack at Woody’s Lunch Box.

We have our 12:00 lunch ADR to look forward to at 50s Prime Time, and after that, we’ll be taking it easy and seeing our list of attractions in whatever order involves the least walking. In HS, we’ll be doing mostly shows, so we’re planning to check out Beauty and the Beast live on stage, the Frozen sing along, MuppetVision 3D, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Disney Junior Dance Party, and possibly meet Kylo Ren and Chewbacca. I would also love to be able to see the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular again, but I feel like I'm the only one that enjoys it, and so I'm willing to make the sacrifice if everyone is done at this point. Hoping to make an early-ish exit and have a QS dinner at the resort, maybe hit the pool, and get everyone to bed early!

Touring Plans crowd level for this day: Hollywood Studios 4

Here with go with some major changes to this day, thanks to Fast Pass availability. Still hoping to get there during the EMH window, for a standby ride on Toy Story Mania, and then Alien Swirling Saucers, with Ribs and Egg sitting that one out. If we start at just after 8, Touring Plans is giving me an hour window here before the FP for Sardines, Egg, and me to ride Toy Story Mania again. We could use that time to get some breakfast from Woody's Lunch Box (I need that S'more French Toast Sandwich in my life), as well as jogging over to see if there are still slots for Jedi Training. I never brought it up to Sardines and Pancake, but they've seen it on Disney Jr. commercials and have asked. I don't think they'll be broken-hearted if they don't get to do it, but I think it would be fun to watch them, so we'll give it at least a good faith effort. We would be getting to the sign up probably right at 9, so maybe. If they get a slot, we'll have to redo the whole day on the fly, but we can make that work. We definitely have attractions that can be scrapped in favor of Jedi.

Pancake, Egg, and I will ride Toy Story Mania with our 10:00 FP, while Ribs and Pancake explore. Then we have the Disney Junior Dance Party and Voyage of the Little Mermaid. I would love to skip Little Mermaid, but she's one of Sardines' favorites, and it's right by Disney Jr., so she's going to see the facade. If it was tucked away a bit more, she'd be none the wiser and we could probably skip it with no problem. Oh well, it'll be fine. Maybe I can get a nap. After, we'll hit our 12:00 ADR at 50's Prime Time, then MuppetVision 3D and Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage before making our exit. Touring Plans says it's about 2:30 at this point.

I swear, I will make every effort to get us back to Hollywood Studios by 6:00. We shall see. If we do, we'll do meets with Kylo Ren and Chewbacca, and then catch the last Frozen Sing Along show of the day. If we're even close to not making it, we'll push Kylo and the wookie back, or scrap them all together, because Frozen has priority. Finally, we'll head back over to Toy Story Land so Ribs and Pancake can use their 8:00 FP on Slinky Dog Dash. Wait times look not so horrible for Toy Story Mania at this point, so we may ride that together one more time, if everyone is up for it. No interest in fireworks, so hopefully we can shove our way out of there before the show starts and the buses become flooded with people. Otherwise, we'll just stay trapped in TSL and make the most of it. I was hoping this would be an early night, since I'm sure we'll be tired from traveling, but what can ya do? If we have to cut attractions, we can, since we're now coming back to Hollywood Studios on our last day.

 

[Ticklefart]

Oh boy, after watching some rope drop videos on YouTube, I had moments this evening of wanting to completely change around our park days, and try for better FP times for Toy Story Land. I had new plans worked up, switching our Animal Kingdom and Hollywood Studios days, since on our AK day, HS has a crowd level of 2 (vs. 4 on the day we had planned), and on our HS day, AK has a crowd level of 2 (vs. 1 on the original day). It's been a stressful few days for a number of reasons, and I think it all just came out over Disney World plans. Ribs stepped in and advocated for just leaving the plans in place as they are, and if Hollywood Studios is crazy, it'll just be crazy and we'll still have fun. We'll see what we see, and miss what we miss, and we'll all have fun no matter what. He's right, I just needed that reminder. Especially since his contribution to these plans so far has mostly been "Eh? Okay, cool."

Moving on, here is the next installment of our plans.

Day 7: Epcot

So sad, our last full day! Much of what we do today depends on what we get accomplished on our first Epcot day. Our first order of business will be our 10am ADR for Garden Grill. We’re not planning to get to the park in time for anything before that. After, I have us checking out Journey into the Imagination, only because I loved Figment as a kid. Then we’ll check out the Disney Pixar Short Film Fest and use our 12:00 FP to Meet Disney Pals at Epcot Character Spot. We’ll drop by Club Cool before heading up to World Showcase.

I put Gran Fiesta Tour here, in case we don’t get to it on our earlier day, and more time in the Mexico pavilion if we need it. Like I’ve said before, we plan to do some serious shopping here. We’ll get some lunch along the way, and just have time to explore World Showcase.

Just in case we don’t get to it on the earlier days, I got an FP for Spaceship Earth for 4:00, and if we decide not to ride, we’ll let the girls have some time at games underneath. They really loved it there last time.

We have an ADR for 6:00 at Whispering Canyon Cafe, so the goal is to be out by 5:00. After dinner, who knows? Maybe we’ll be refreshed and want to head to another park, maybe we’ll hit the pool, maybe we’ll split up and one of us will take Pancake and/or Sardines out on our own.

Whatever we do, we’ll end the day by packing up and getting ready to check out in the morning!

Touring Plans crowd level on this day: Epcot 5

 

[Ticklefart]

Here with go with some major changes to this day, thanks to Fast Pass availability. Still hoping to get there during the EMH window, for a standby ride on Toy Story Mania, and then Alien Swirling Saucers, with Ribs and Egg sitting that one out. If we start at just after 8, Touring Plans is giving me an hour window here before the FP for Sardines, Egg, and me to ride Toy Story Mania again. We could use that time to get some breakfast from Woody's Lunch Box (I need that S'more French Toast Sandwich in my life), as well as jogging over to see if there are still slots for Jedi Training. I never brought it up to Sardines and Pancake, but they've seen it on Disney Jr. commercials and have asked. I don't think they'll be broken-hearted if they don't get to do it, but I think it would be fun to watch them, so we'll give it at least a good faith effort. We would be getting to the sign up probably right at 9, so maybe. If they get a slot, we'll have to redo the whole day on the fly, but we can make that work. We definitely have attractions that can be scrapped in favor of Jedi.

Pancake, Egg, and I will ride Toy Story Mania with our 10:00 FP, while Ribs and Pancake explore. Then we have the Disney Junior Dance Party and Voyage of the Little Mermaid. I would love to skip Little Mermaid, but she's one of Sardines' favorites, and it's right by Disney Jr., so she's going to see the facade. If it was tucked away a bit more, she'd be none the wiser and we could probably skip it with no problem. Oh well, it'll be fine. Maybe I can get a nap. After, we'll hit our 12:00 ADR at 50's Prime Time, then MuppetVision 3D and Beauty and the Beast: Live on Stage before making our exit. Touring Plans says it's about 2:30 at this point.

I swear, I will make every effort to get us back to Hollywood Studios by 6:00. We shall see. If we do, we'll do meets with Kylo Ren and Chewbacca, and then catch the last Frozen Sing Along show of the day. If we're even close to not making it, we'll push Kylo and the wookie back, or scrap them all together, because Frozen has priority. Finally, we'll head back over to Toy Story Land so Ribs and Pancake can use their 8:00 FP on Slinky Dog Dash. Wait times look not so horrible for Toy Story Mania at this point, so we may ride that together one more time, if everyone is up for it. No interest in fireworks, so hopefully we can shove our way out of there before the show starts and the buses become flooded with people. Otherwise, we'll just stay trapped in TSL and make the most of it. I was hoping this would be an early night, since I'm sure we'll be tired from traveling, but what can ya do? If we have to cut attractions, we can, since we're now coming back to Hollywood Studios on our last day.

So pretty sure nobody is reading this, and that's cool, I'm not here for the fame, but I'll continue in order to give my brain a place to dump my planning thoughts...

Touring Plans just "updated" the crowd calendars for these days, and pretty much my whole plan of visiting each park on its lowest day has been demolished. I tried a bit of reworking, but with our ADRs, especially for Cinderella's, we really can't. I might try to get fancy and park hop a bit more with the plans, but I also know my tendency to overthink, so I also need to accept that there will be other people at Disney World while our family vacations there.

i'm also worried about trying to cram in too much and turning into a drill sergeant with the schedule, so I'm looking again at this day in particular. I'm standing firm on our efforts to rope drop HS, or at least get there really, really early. I would love to get one family ride on Toy Story Mania before the FP window opens for Sardines, Egg, and me to ride it. If we get to do that, I will be thrilled. And if we don't, then we don't. I think we will be able to ride it all together that night, but I know I will also be worried about that all day. If we can get the family ride in, I will have one less distraction. Bonus if we can get on AS2 as well. If do end up getting into HS at 8, we'll have about 90 minutes to ride TSM (and maybe AS2), look around Toy Story Land, take pictures, and get that S'more French Toast Sandwich, before the TSM FP at 10.

After TSM, I have some different options. I made the executive decision (for now, lol) to cut MuppetVision 3D and Voyage of the Little Mermaid. We just can't do it all, and we're already seeing a lot of shows. Plus, I know that after Disney Jr., there will be meets with the characters, and Sardines and Pancake will want to do that. We spent a lot of time there on our last trip, baking in the sun for Sofia the First. Vampirina has been added, which is one of Sardines' faves. I think if we give her the choice--Voyage of the Little Mermaid or meet Vampirina--she'll give up LM. Fancy Nancy is being added starting Wednesday of our trip, but we're scheduled to come back here briefly on our last day, so we'll get her then.

I'm also rethinking when to watch Beauty and the Beast, since it's outdoors. We could conceivably go for the first show of the day at 11. It would make the day not so efficient with walking, but that's okay. I did have it on the schedule for 2pm, with us going back to the resort right after. I think it will be more pleasant for the first show of the day, and we could possibly get back to the resort earlier for a long rest period. Decisions, decisions! Back to Touring Plans to rework these ideas!

 

[Ticklefart]

ok, again, just for my own brain... I've got two version of our HS day now. Oh, we also scrapped the Jedi Training because they both decided it looked scary. Whatever, sure, one less thing to cram in.

Plan 1: Get there early, family ride on TSM, maybe AS2 (sans Ribs and Egg), play around and eat in Toy Story Land, TSM FP @10. Beauty and the Beast @11. Lunch ADR at 50s Prime Time @12 (might move this earlier, even just by 15 minutes could make a difference for the plan here). Try to get to the Disney Jr. Dance Party @12:55. Spend time afterward meeting the Disney Jr. pals, go do meets with Kylo Ren and Chewbacca if there's interest, and leave by 2:30. Earlier if possible. Chill out and eat at the resort. Back to HS with enough time to catch the 7:30 Frozen Singalong. Slinky Dog Dash FP @8, then family ride on TSM, then leave hopefully before fireworks, OR surrender to fireworks exit blockage and ride TSM over and over.

Plan 2 (really just hinges on Disney Jr.): Same morning, but if we miss the 12:55 DJDP show, we will leave right after lunch, probably 1-1:30. Then we'll have to be back for the 5:45 DJDP show, the last of the day, and meet the Disney Jr. characters after. Kylo Ren and Chewbacca, then Frozen, SDD, and TSM.

The difference is about an extra hour in break time, which I know we will appreciate when it comes. I am not a fan of the "leave and come back" strategy, just because I know it's hard to get motivated to get back out, especially after a busy day.