Help! I'm Befuddled!!! (Change my schedule?)

[Wendy31]

Hi, everyone!!

DH & I are taking our 2 children (5 year old daughter & 3 year old son) to WDW from 5/22 through 5/28. We're staying at a FW cabin & have 7-day MYW w/ park hopper & dining tickets.

I've been doing some research at various on-line sites. And, based on what I discovered to be the typically most crowded days/park during the week, I had tentatively planned our schedule for the week. And, because we had to make our PS's 90 days out, they've already been made.

However, from things I've been reading on this board, I get the impression that it is not smart to go to a park on the day that park has the EMH. And, after looking at our schedule, we are scheduled to be at each park on that particular park's EMH day.

Of course, I made all our PS's before the May hours were out. So, what can I do now?

Following is our current schedule/plan -

SUNDAY, 5/22 - Arrive

Dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern at 5:35 pm

I thought that, after dinner, we could look around MK & maybe stay for Spectromagic.

MONDAY, 5/23 - Epcot

Breakfast - Trail's End (at FW)
Lunch - Counter Meal
Supper - Counter Meal

TUESDAY, 5/24 - MGM

Breakfast - Cabin
Lunch - Counter Meal (Toy Story Pizza Planet)
Dinner - Fantasmic Dinner Package at Hollywood & Vine at 4:30 pm

According to the schedule, Fantasmic is scheduled for both 9:30 pm & 10:00 pm on this date (I think). How do I request the earlier show?

WEDNESDAY, 5/25 - Magic Kingdom

Breakfast - Cabin
Lunch - Crystal Palace at 11:50 am
Dinner - Grilling Out at our Cabin

I thought this would be a good night to do the campfire & movie at FW.

THURSDAY, 5/26 - Animal Kingdom

Breakfast - Cabin
Lunch - Counter Meal
Dinner - Boma at 5:00 pm

According to the schedule, if we have dinner at Boma at 5:00 pm, we're probably going to miss the Jungle Parade. Any ideas?

After dinner, I'd planned to go back to our resort & watch the Water Parade that goes by FW.

FRIDAY, 5/27 - Magic Kingdom

Breakfast - CRT at 8:25 am
Lunch - Counter Meal
Dinner - Counter Meal

I'm upset because I just found out that this day is the morning EMH for MK. I was looking forward to getting some really nice pictures of the castle.

SATURDAY, 5/28 - Depart

Breakfast - Chef Mickey's at 9:30 am

After breakfast, shopping at Downtown Disney & maybe going into MK 1 more time.

So, should I try to change anything? I'm not concerned about the "big" rides because we won't be doing them anyway. We'll mostly be in Fantasyland, of course. In MGM, we'll just be there for shows.

I'm also trying to figure out when to schedule some time at our resort for swimming & pony rides. I had thought the afternoons of our MGM & AK days, but we've got dinner reservations, and I'm not sure we'll have time.

And, I'm also a little concerned about transportation from FW. (We will have our mini-van, but I wanted to experience the magic of Disney transport!)

Ideas? Advice?

Thank you!!!

 

[minmate]

I'm not sure if you bought the park hopper option for your tickets, but typically, the advice given to stay away from EMH parks is meant if you plan on NOT utilizing the EMH schedule itself. Ideally, you would enter the EMH park right at the EMH opening (for a.m. EMH parks) and stay a couple of hours (say until 10:30/11:30) -- or until the park started to feel crowded... at which point, many people either "hop" directly to another park, or return to their hotel for a mid-day break, then, once refreshed, "hop" to another... NON-EMH park (or to the park that has EMH for the evening so you can take advantage of that). If you do NOT plan to be at the EMH park upon opening... then I DO suggest going to an alternate park. You can still keep the PS's you have and call to make some alternate ones in case you wind up somewhere else... should you choose to park hop.

It looks like you'll need to stick to your Tuesday night Fantasmic! package and your Friday a.m. CRT, as those are ones you have to "prepay" for (i.e., give your credit card info for)... unless you cancel w/in 48 hours I believe it is... so you should stick with those.

It looks to me like 5/25 you might be able to get a late afternoon swim break in there, before grilling out at the cabin or going to the campfire. Also, Thursday, after your dinner at Boma, you could swim (after the water parade).

You could go in late to a park one morning and have an early morning swim too... if you do this, then you should definitely pick a NON-EMH park that day.

HTH!