Grotesquely Optimistic - A September 2016 PTR (6-7 Update MK plan)

[Kanga&TwoRoos]

Hello everyone!

I'm new to the Dis and consider myself a Disney planning rookie, even though this will technically be my fourth trip to WDW. My in-laws are celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary this year and they decided to take the family on a vacation to celebrate. We all decided on Disney and that's how this whole thing started.

Trip basics:
We will be staying at Art of Animation in the Little Mermaid section September 25-30 of this year. We have 4 day base tickets, so we're planning one day in each park.

The cast of characters:

Nicole (me) - I am the primary planner for the trip. My in-laws, while wonderful in many ways, are terrible at planning and communicating so in some ways I'm sort of on my own trying to figure out how to make sure everyone will have a good time. Luckily, I love planning and I suspect the planning may actually be my favorite part of this trip!

Paul (my husband) - Really likes Disney World. We actually went about 12 years ago for a short trip while we were dating. He's a kid at heart and pretty much loves everything eight year olds like.

Tink (not her real name) - My 3 year old daughter, at the time of the trip she will be almost 4. She is a stinker. Very stubborn but also very sweet and social. Everywhere we go she makes friends. She loves Disney Jr and is very excited about the trip.

Buster (also not his real name) - My 2 year old son - just turned 2 last week actually. He is very high energy and also very sweet. He loves Frozen and Star Wars right now. He probably knows more Star Wars characters than I do (Captain Panaka?) He is going through a phase where everything is too scary though, so we might have to make some adjustments to the plans once we see how he reacts to various kinds of attractions.

Mo (my MIL) - LOVES my kids like crazy. Would probably do anything to make them happy. Very excited about seeing them enjoy Disney World. She has a bad knee - not that she would ever complain about it or admit that it slows her down. I'm trying to keep that in mind when making touring plans though, so we don't overdo it.

Rob (my FIL) - also excited about seeing the kids enjoy Disney but also would like to do some more adult things too.

Jason (BIL) - In his early thirties, single, likes to go his own way. Very nice and laid back.

Mark (BIIL) - In his mid-thirties, likes the thrill rides. Doesn't like following a strict plan but might be into it if it avoids long lines.

Amy (future SIL) - engaged to Mark - never been to Disney. Very nice.

 

[Kanga&TwoRoos]

Planning Strategy:

So with this ragtag group, I obviously needed a strategy that took into account the fact that many of the adults may want to go their own way part of time, the kids are somewhat unpredictable in what they want to do, but that no one will want to waste a bunch of time standing in line.

The general strategy is to make plans for the kids and Rob and I then let the adults on the trip decide which parts they want to join us for and when they'd like to do their own thing. In general I'm trying to start the days with the stuff they want to do together to make it a little easier.

We're planning to rope drop every day and even have some pre-park opening ADR's but i'll get into all of those details in later posts.

I'm new to this so if you all have suggestions, don't be shy. I've already gotten some great advice from the boards and I'm sure I will get much more before this trip happens so thank you in advance!

 

[Kanga&TwoRoos]

Broad strokes plan:

Day 1 (September 25)
Fly to MCO
Depending on what time we get in go to the pool/maybe get lunch at Landscape of Flavors or maybe go to Disney Springs.
Big family dinner.

Day 2 (Sept 26)
Epcot

Day 3 (Sept 27)
Magic Kingdom

Day 4 (Sept 28)
Animal Kingdom

Day 5 (Sept 29)
Hollywood Studios

Day 6 (Sept 30)
Depart

 

[Kanga&TwoRoos]

ADRs

Obviously our 180 days has already passed but I was on the computer (actually 2 computers) bright and early that morning, getting our ADR's lined up. Here's what I booked that morning:

Arrival day
5:35pm Ohana - the whole group
This will probably be our big celebration dinner for Mo and Rob's 40th Anniversary. I picked out a few resort/DS restaurants for them to choose from and as soon as I said meat on sticks they stopped me and said that was all they needed to hear. Ohana it is.

Epcot day
11:30am Garden Grill - My family plus MIL/FIL
Epcot was a late addition to our plans - we were initially planning on doing two MK days but with Buster loving Frozen so much we decided to add Epcot into the mix. I had heard good things about the food and character interaction at GG so I was excited to add this to the itinerary. It also takes the pressure off for meeting Mickey, although we'll probably meet him again at AK.

MK day
8:05 am Crystal Palace - the whole group
My kids love Winnie the Pooh. Buster just had a Winnie the Pooh themed birthday party complete with Tigger Tail candy covered pretzel rods and pin the tail on Eeyore. There's no way we could say no to CP. This was our top priority for ADRs so I was really excited to get the pre-park opening time.

11:30am Crystal Palace - the whole group
I know what you're thinking and no we don't love Pooh that much. Shannon at wdwprepschool.com recommends hedging your bets on a PPO breakfast in case hours are extended. So if MK opens at 8 that morning instead of 9 we'll cancel our breakfast and come here for lunch. If hours stay as they are we'll cancel the lunch reservation. I felt a little bad about hogging the reservations, but then again this will give someone looking for a reservation a few weeks beforehand a shot for a meal in the hundred acre wood, so maybe it's not so bad.

AK day
No ADRs

HS day
7:30pm Portobello Italian restaurant in Disney Springs - my husband and in laws (kids and I staying at the resort)
This one was my in laws pick. I suggested Raglan Road but they thought Italian would be more popular with the whole group. I hadn't heard much about Portobello, but I didn't want to be bossy so I just made the reservation and figured we could change it later if they wanted to go somewhere more exciting.
My in laws wanted to do one more big dinner. I offered to stay with the kids at the resort because they go to bed pretty early and I didn't want the whole group to have to eat at 5. We figured HS was a half day park and my husband and MIL wanted to go to DS to do some souvenir shopping.

6:45pm Mama Melrose - my husband and in laws (kids and I staying at the resort)
Another duplicate reservation - when I heard about the cool new Star Wars fireworks at DHS I thought my husband and his brothers/dad would be excited about them so I made a reservation at Mama Melrose in case they wanted to change their plans and stay in the park to see the fireworks. I'm waiting until they announce the schedule for the fireworks to cancel Portobello but I'm pretty sure that's what we're going to do.

That was all of the ADRs I made that morning, but that's not the end of our ADR story. This is where I was kicking myself for a few weeks. As I mentioned my kids (especially my son) are big fans of Frozen and that's one of the main reasons we added Epcot to our plans. As I was reading more about the Frozen attractions I realized it was going to be challenging to get FP+ and that the lines were probably going to be crazy.

Inspiration struck - I should try to get a PPO breakfast reservation at Akershus - that would have us in Norway before the crowds - perfect solution. Unfortunately many other people had the same idea and there was no availability. I was really beating myself up for not thinking about this at the 180 day mark but we had literally decided to add Epcot to the itinerary 2 days before our ADR window opened and I just hadn't thought our touring plan through at that point. So I checked MDE for openings a couple of times a day every day - nothing. Then I read on disboards about a touringplans service that alerts you to reservation openings. I was already a member for their personalized touring plans so I went ahead and made a request. A couple of weeks later I got a text saying there was an opening at 8:30 - I jumped on it, but by the time I clicked the reservation was already gone. I was bummed but I didn't give up. I made another request and in the early hours of Memorial day (3:04am to be exact) I heard a buzzing from my phone....it was the text. An 8:00 am reservation for 4 had come available - by 3:07am it was mine.


So now we have an 8am reservation at Akershus for my husband, my kids, and I! I'm pretty happy with our ADRs now and don't anticipate any changes. Other than this we'll probably be doing QS or just snacking throughout the day. I know for our Epcot dinner I'm excited to check out the Food and Wine Festival.

 

[Kanga&TwoRoos]

Epcot touring:

Since our kids are so little we aren't planning to do the big headliners, which leaves our day more flexible. If you have any suggestions for things your toddler/preschooler really liked at Epcot, let me know.

Here's what we have so far:
8am Akershus
9am Frozen Ever After
Anna/Elsa Meet and Greet
The Seas with Nemo and Friends
Turtle Talk with Crush
Living with the Land
11:30am Garden Grill lunch
Figment
Break back at the hotel
Late afternoon/evening - check out WS and F&W

This plan will depend on whether we can get a FEA FP+, if so we can do the M&G at rope drop. I guess we would just try to get a FEA FP+ as early in the day as possible and work our other FP+s around that. We'd probably try to FP+ Turtle Talk and Figment. I'm trying to get most of the stuff we really want to do done in the morning because I want to leave the option of not coming back after the break open. I don't want the kids to overdo it because we have such early mornings on our Epcot and MK days.

We think on this day Paul's brothers and Amy will have a totally different touring plan than us because they'll want to do Test, Track, Soarin', and Mission Space. I'm in charge of making all the FP+ reservations so I'll probably recommend that they do TT at rope drop them get FP+ for Soarin', Mission Space, and ...not sure what else maybe Spaceship Earth if they want to do that?

I'd love feedback on this plan - if there's anything that doesn't seem realistic or must-dos that I've left off.

Thanks!

 

[PrincessAshlee]

You are very brave traveling to WDW with family! I have read so many TRs from DISers complaining about how terrible their big family trip was that I am now afraid to ever attempt it. I hope it works out for you though. It seems as though you will have an advantage in that you are already planning to split from the group. It is unrealistic to make one set of plans for so many different ages.

By the way, your plans sound great! Very much like the plans that I had for my last trip in Feb/Mar 2014!

We will be staying at Art of Animation in the Little Mermaid section September 25-30 of this year. We have 4 day base tickets, so we're planning one day in each park.

I stayed at the Art of Animation in the Little Mermaid. It was great!!! Definitely make time to check out all of the pools!

5:35pm Ohana - the whole group

I really like Ohana, but from what I have read, they are notorious for running late. On my last trip we waited over an hour past our ADR time to be seated. Then again, I’ve heard of rare occasions where people got in early. I still recommend going, but maybe make sure you throw a snack in your bag for your kids, just in case they are running late. In my experience, the check in desk wouldn’t even tell us how much longer we would have to wait. They just kept saying it wouldn’t be too much longer. I’m sure you know how unhelpful that is when you have hungry children.

It also takes the pressure off for meeting Mickey, although we'll probably meet him again at AK.

You mentioned meeting Mickey at GG and AK, but I would definitely make time to meet Times Square Mickey at MK. He is the only Mickey that actually talks!

8:05 am Crystal Palace - the whole group

We did a PPO at Crystal Palace too! I really enjoyed the food; they have a great selection! I'm sure you probably already know this, but make sure you have your camera and autograph books ready. It seemed as though they came around very quickly at first (skipping over the tables that were empty because people were up at the buffet), but then if you missed one, it took a long time for them to come back around.

Since the main point of doing a PPO breakfast is to not miss the prime park touring time, I think that the best strategy is to send some of the adults up to the buffet first and having them fill some plates to get you started. You should stay at the table with your children to make sure that you don't miss any of the characters. Get all of your pictures and autographs while the characters are making their first loop around the restaurant. Then go back to the buffet for anything that you missed or seconds on anything you really enjoyed. Later into the breakfast, the characters will periodically lead a parade around the restaurant, but when it is over they will often just go to the next table that they see, instead of going back to where they left off. Therefore, with this strategy you will be sure to be out of there before the 9am rope drop, instead of waiting for one of the characters to come back around.

I hope that you have a great trip!! I will be checking back for more plans.

 

[Kanga&TwoRoos]

You are very brave traveling to WDW with family!

I'm definitely nervous about that. I'm glad I'm doing the planning because I love it but it's also a lot of pressure. Everyone says they're happy with whatever until the trip actually starts and it's too late to make changes, right? I'm sure it will be fine though. They're all very nice and understanding of the kids' needs.

I really like Ohana, but from what I have read, they are notorious for running late. On my last trip we waited over an hour past our ADR time to be seated. Then again, I’ve heard of rare occasions where people got in early. I still recommend going, but maybe make sure you throw a snack in your bag for your kids, just in case they are running late. In my experience, the check in desk wouldn’t even tell us how much longer we would have to wait. They just kept saying it wouldn’t be too much longer. I’m sure you know how unhelpful that is when you have hungry children.

When I first made the plan for Ohana they hadn't extended the dinner hours earlier (or at least I didn't know they had) so I thought we'd be one of the first reservations so they wouldn't be backed up. Then when they started doing dinner earlier I decided to stick with our 5:30 plan because I wasn't sure when everyone's flights would get in and I didn't want to make it too difficult to get there on time. I might keep an eye out for an earlier opening but with a group of 9 we might just have to stick with what we've got and hope for the best.

You mentioned meeting Mickey at GG and AK, but I would definitely make time to meet Times Square Mickey at MK. He is the only Mickey that actually talks!

That's a good tip. I think I'm going to add Times Square Mickey back into our Magic Kingdom plan.

Since the main point of doing a PPO breakfast is to not miss the prime park touring time, I think that the best strategy is to send some of the adults up to the buffet first and having them fill some plates to get you started. You should stay at the table with your children to make sure that you don't miss any of the characters. Get all of your pictures and autographs while the characters are making their first loop around the restaurant. Then go back to the buffet for anything that you missed or seconds on anything you really enjoyed. Later into the breakfast, the characters will periodically lead a parade around the restaurant, but when it is over they will often just go to the next table that they see, instead of going back to where they left off. Therefore, with this strategy you will be sure to be out of there before the 9am rope drop, instead of waiting for one of the characters to come back around.

That's another good tip. We shouldn't have a problem since CP is another one of our meals with the whole crew so the kids can stay at the table the whole time with adults just taking turns filling plates.

Thanks for the feedback! I've been doing a ton of research but nothing beats first hand experience and I haven't been there in over a decade!

 

[supraman215]

Haha! we'll see you there! 24th-30th for us! The one thing I'm really wondering about is the AK late nights making it very hard to plan ADRs and such, I hope they announce they are extending them soon. I also heard they may be adding a Star Wars fireworks show at HS.

 

[Kanga&TwoRoos]

Haha! we'll see you there! 24th-30th for us! The one thing I'm really wondering about is the AK late nights making it very hard to plan ADRs and such, I hope they announce they are extending them soon. I also heard they may be adding a Star Wars fireworks show at HS.

When we booked I didn't quite realize how hot it would still be in Florida at the end of September. But I'm sure we'll all have a great time regardless!

 

[Kanga&TwoRoos]

Magic Kingdom touring:

So our priorities for this day are hitting my in laws' nostalgia picks from when they went as a family many years ago (mostly adventureland it seems) and of course to do as much of the preschool targeted stuff as possible.

8:05am Crystal Palace
Jungle Cruise
Pirates of the Caribbean (if we think the kids will get too scared I'll take them on Magic carpets while the rest of the groups rides this)
Many adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Dumbo
Under the Sea
Enchanted Tales with Belle (FP+ maybe 10:30-11:30) at this point I image in the adults will want to split off from us and do their own thing. I'm planning on saving their FP+ for the headliners
it's a small world
QS lunch - Pinocchio Village Haus would be close
Meet Rapunzel (FP+ maybe 12:15-1:15pm) thinking about switching this out for Peter Pan

Back to the Resort for a rest

Return to MK
Meet Mickey (FP+ maybe 3:45-4:45)
WDW railroad main street to frontierland
Tom Sawyer Island
Country Bear Jamboree
QS Dinner - Pecos Bill's?
Swiss Family Treehouse
Magic Carpets - if we haven't already done it
Head back to the Resort

For the grown ups I'm planning on trying for 7DMT, Splash Mountain and Space Mountain for FP+ timing to depend on if they decide to stay in the park all day or take a break.