Help with general MK itinerary - two days

[petitephlox]

Hi everyone,
We'll be going to Disney the last week of October. I'd love help with our itineraries! I'll post the different parks in different threads to make it easier.
I'd love to know if these general schedules seem doable- and also whether they're so jam packed, if there's a chance for a toddler nap or not? Also - which day would be best for catching the afternoon parade?

We're splitting MK into two days. I figured on Day 1, we'd do Frontierland (which has least amount of stuff for us, since DD is too young for SM and BTMRR) and Fantasyland (which has the most amount).

MK Day 1 (not in particular order)
Fanastyland:
Peter Pan (FP?)
Winnie the Pooh (FP?)
Enchanted Tales (FP?)
Journey of the Little Mermaid
IASM
Dumbo
Barnstormer? (DD may be too scared)
Royal Carrousel
Tea Party
Ariel's Grotto (just to play, don't think we'll meet Ariel as DD not interested)
Pete's Silly sideshow
Fairytale Garden
Splash n soak station
Pooh's Playful spot
Philharmagic?

Frontierland:
Tom Sawyer Island
Country Bear Jamboree

MK Day 2
Meet Tinkerbell (FP?)
Tomorrowland:
Indy Speedyway (FP?)
Space Ranger spin
Monsters inc laugh floor
People Mover
Carousel of Progress

Liberty Square
Haunted Mansion (we'll likely do this as single riders since DD too scared)
Riverboat

Advenureland
Jungle Cruise (FP?) DD would like to do 2x
Magic Carpets
Treehouse
Tiki room

thank you everyone, would love to know what you think, and if the FP selections seem ok?

 

[mrsjoannh13]

This is a lot if you are factoring in a toddler nap. We went in November with DD3 who took midday naps. We did about 3-4 attractions in the morning (getting there first thing), took a midday break for food & nap, then returned after nap and did maybe 2-3 attractions then dinner and our little one was totally pooped. In bed between 8 and 9. Rinse and repeat.

Not sure how old your child is but factor in the unpredictable. For example... mine wouldn't get off the carousel. She probably rode it 7 - 10x per day and we dragged her off almost screaming.

When I look back on it with diaper changes, snack breaks, getting from one place to the next, line and ride times, I think we averaged 1 attraction every 45 minutes to an hour.

 

[petitephlox]

Good to know, thank you!! Dd will be 4 by october, and is starting to transition out of naps- so I have no clue if she'll need one or not. I'd like to be able to take the break, ideally. I appreciate you letting me know how slow going it can be!

 

[petitephlox]

Bumping! Pretending dd does not need to leave for naps, does this itinerary/split up of parks work?

 

[Sydney2977]

Rough plan looks good and doable to me. The only fp I might change is Speedway to Buzz- it tends to be a longer wait, although the wait is inside and the que is pretty cool vs. outside wait for Speedway and nothing to look at.

You know your child best, but things can always change when in a different environment. We were lucky with our youngest- at almost 2 he went with the flow, took naps in the stroller while DH and I switched taking his older brother on some rides, and we never went back to the resort on any park days. I still remember a picture I took of us riding the boat from MK back to the TTC- his brother who was almost 6 is sleeping on a bench and he's wide awake smiling! The next trip when he was a few months past 3 he almost never wanted to be in the stroller, was fine on all the rides and with characters too, and we never went back to the room then either.

I like your idea of staying in the same general area on different days. This will keep you from trekking all over and probably cut down on the fatigue. Just go with her interests, and like the PP said- if she wants to do the same ride 10 times, let her! At her age, even showing her the map (paper or on the app) and giving her an idea of what you're doing that day could be exciting for her. I think the second day would be best to try to do the parade.

 

[Sydney2977]

Rough plan looks good and doable to me. The only fp I might change is Speedway to Buzz- it tends to be a longer wait, although the wait is inside and the que is pretty cool vs. outside wait for Speedway and nothing to look at.

You know your child best, but things can always change when in a different environment. We were lucky with our youngest- at almost 2 he went with the flow, took naps in the stroller while DH and I switched taking his older brother on some rides, and we never went back to the resort on any park days. I still remember a picture I took of us riding the boat from MK back to the TTC- his brother who was almost 6 is sleeping on a bench and he's wide awake smiling! The next trip when he was a few months past 3 he almost never wanted to be in the stroller, was fine on all the rides and with characters too, and we never went back to the room then either.

I like your idea of staying in the same general area on different days. This will keep you from trekking all over and probably cut down on the fatigue. Just go with her interests, and like the PP said- if she wants to do the same ride 10 times, let her! At her age, even showing her the map (paper or on the app) and giving her an idea of what you're doing that day could be exciting for her. I think the second day would be best to try to do the parade.

 

[petitephlox]

Thank you! That is super helpful information! I'm glad this looks doable, fingers crossed. I have a feeling, even if she needs a nap, she would not want to leave the parks to go back and settle down, haha. So I'm banking on the same thing - a snooze in the stroller during a downtime, if she needs it.
And thank you for the tip on the parade- so Day 2 looks like it'll require a bit less time?

 

[Mac30188]

I am in a very similar situation with a slightly older child (4) and to me the X factor is the hard ticket parties. Even if you do not plan to attend, they are very likely to impact your schedule. For example, if you plan on doing a morning, an afternoon nap, and then early evening, that may not work well if you will be removed from the park for MNSSHP. The second factor is, do you want to see Wishes? If you want to see wishes then you are going to force yourself to attend MK on a day without a hard ticket party or buy a party ticket. It will make the nap easier but also will likely increase the crowds significantly. Finally the third factor is where you are staying. People often underestimate how much time you need to leave the park and take a nap in the middle of the day. If you leave at 11:00AM for lunch, I generally would not expect to be back in the park until 3-4.

Our solution was to do one MK day on a hard ticket party day and then the hard ticket party itself on a separate day. We will go at rope drop and stay until we hit exhaustion in the afternoon and leave (may or may not make parade). This will result in lower crowds for that day and we will focus on Adventure land and Fantasy land. The second day we will do a hard ticket party and not show up until 4 in the afternoon (resting, napping in the day). We will hit Frontier land and remaining Fantasyland/Tomorrow land attractions along with the parade/fireworks. While we will be doing half day, nap, half day for other parks. It just didn't fit well in MK. We also adjusted our expectations in there are many rides in MK that we will not do (even over 2 days). We are going to just focus on enjoying the rides we do ride and not lament the ones we missed. There will certainly be another trip.

 

[petitephlox]

Thanks, mac30188! Dd will be 4 in october, as well. I don't know that we'll do MNSSHP- I feel like it may give us an easy out to have an earlier day, and I'm not sure she'd be able to stay up and really enjoy it (though the same can be said for the fireworks, too!). We were also planning on going on a party and non party day. We'll skip a bunch of rides, as well (I'm not even sure she'll want to do some of the tomorrowland stuff).

 

[Mac30188]

Thanks, mac30188! Dd will be 4 in october, as well. I don't know that we'll do MNSSHP- I feel like it may give us an easy out to have an earlier day, and I'm not sure she'd be able to stay up and really enjoy it (though the same can be said for the fireworks, too!). We were also planning on going on a party and non party day. We'll skip a bunch of rides, as well (I'm not even sure she'll want to do some of the tomorrowland stuff).

I have very similar feelings. While I am sure she will have fun, I don't think Tomorrowland is as big a priority as Fantasyland and Frontierland. My DD is a daredevil who loves roller coasters so Barnstormer, 7DMT, and BTMRR are probably ones I really would like to hit (along with some princess). We are doing November (so a little different). MVMCP seemed to be much less crowded than the evening MK wishes crowds in November, and that was the tipping point to go ahead and do the party. We probably won't stay too late and will try to get there at 4 to mitigate.

 

[petitephlox]

Sounds super fun! I would love to do both MNSSHP and MVMCP sometime.
DD is too short for some of the rides!

 

[Mac30188]

My DD is a weed. She is already 41 1/2 inches and she just turned 4 in January. Makes clothes a constant challenge. I think I am pretty safe on the 44" barrier, but I am monitoring.

As far as rides go, I think we have similar list although on the first day you seem to have about 30% more rides than I was targeting/expecting. I think I had an initial plan of 13 rides if we go rope drop and stay until 3-4 (exhaustion point). I do have a couple more of the roller coasters and I just assumed I will need to do Fantasyland over both days and less Tomorrowland. Still just a guess as this will be first trip with DD. Tough to base expectations on volume from any of my previous experiences.

I am not sure this helped at all, but was great read to see what a person in a similar situation was expecting. Thanks for posting

 

[petitephlox]

Thank you for posting, too! And feel free to pm me anytime if you want to bounce ideas. I'm thinking the latter half of the list from day 1 is mostly playtime stuff (although who knows, if she ends up wanting to ride the carousel or dumbo multiple times!). You never know what they'll end up loving!

 

[EveClark]

A couple of things worth noting - Ariel's Grotto is just for her meet n greet. Nothing to see or play with there other than that. Just didn't want you to get in line for something you weren't interested in.
Also, Pooh's Playful Spot isn't there anymore, so that will free up some time as well.
Have fun!

 

[petitephlox]

A couple of things worth noting - Ariel's Grotto is just for her meet n greet. Nothing to see or play with there other than that. Just didn't want you to get in line for something you weren't interested in.
Also, Pooh's Playful Spot isn't there anymore, so that will free up some time as well.
Have fun!

Haha! I didn't know that, thank you! I thought there was a play area.