help with itinerary for first trip in May

[kennyssenorita]

This will be my families first trip to WDW. It will by myself, my husband and two boy's, ages 5 and 8. We are staying at the All Star Movies resort and I am thinking about getting the dining plan also. We will have our own vehicle,but plan to also use Disney transportaion. Any suggetstions would be very helpful!!

Here it goes!!
Saturday, May 6: arrive around 1pm after long drive over night. Rest and relax at hotel all day & evening. Possibly go putt putt golfing.

Sunday, May 7: character breakfast at AK at 8:10am and spend the day here, including the parade at 4pm./Dinner at Rainforest Cafe at 5pm/Back to hotel for swimming & relax.

Monday, May 8: Breakfast in room/Magic Kingdom by 8:40am--we plan on doing Tomorrowland & Toontown this am/lunch at Cosmic Ray's/go to Frontierland/break from 1:30-4:30/dinner at O'Hana's at 5pm/back to MK for Spectro at 9pm

Tuesday, May 9: breakfast in room/MK by 8:40am---we plan on doing Fantasyland & some of Tomorrowland this AM/lunch at Pecos Bill/ride rides in Adventurland/break from 1:30-5:00/dinner at Whispering Canyon at 5:30/back to MK for Wishes at 9pm

Wednesday, May 10:breakfast in room/boy's have Pirate Cruise at 9:30am/back to hotel from 12-3:30 for swimming and resting/going to DTD for some shopping and dinner at Wolfgang Puck's Express/Go to MGM for Fantasmic

Thursday, May 11:breakfast at hotel food court/MGM day/lunch at Sci-Fi Theater at 11:40/stay for parade if kid's want to/back to hotel for rest of evening.

Friday, May 12:breakfast at Chef Mickey's at 7:40am/MK by 8:50am/we would like to hit our favorites in Fantasyland & Tomorrowland & Toontown this AM/lunch at Plaza Restuarant/after lunch whatever kid's want to do/parade at 3pm/head home (we will be really sad)

Please let me know what you think, any suggestions would be great!!

Tracy

 

[kennyssenorita]

bumping for some help/suggestions!!

 

[Wendy1953]

No time at EPCOT?? will you have hopper passes? If you do, I would definitely change one of your dinner or lunch arrangements and visit at least one restaurant in EPCOT...especially if you are going to do the dining plan...kids can get a world passport and have it stamped at every country around the world showcase....make choco. chip cookies at the Land, gotta go on Soarin...okay that's my opinion, but you'll have a great time no matter what!

 

[Evad]

Did you include a day at Epcot?
You would need a full day there. Your kids would love it. Illuminations is one the best fireworks display at WDW. Also don't forget Soarin'. IMHO it is the best ride at WDW. It should not be missed.

 

[kennyssenorita]

No, we as a family decided to wait until our next trip to do Epcot. We just don't have enough time this trip.

No we are not getting hoppetr tickets.

 

[Evad]

You wont need 3 days to do MK, 2 tops. Try and reconsider Epcot. You will not be sorry. Also the dinning plan is a good idea. We used it last Sept. and had more food then we could handle. It was great.

 

[Crazy Kanga]

I would also give up one of your MK days for an Epcot day. I too thought i would skip out on Epcot on our first trip when our kids were younger, but a friend of mine who is a major Disney fan talked us into it and it is now my favorite park. There is soo much to do there. I wouldn't miss it if I were you, but if you insist then that itenerary sounds fine.

 

[dimoe]

Reading your post really brings back memories for me. My family went to disney last may for our first time. We had plenty of time for rest and to see all the parks too. We all decided that epcot was everyones favourite park. Mk wont take that long to go through and if you get there at opening you can get in a lot of rides. I would say dont miss epcot.
We plan on going back this Dec and will be spending a lot of our time at epcot for all the christmas things. Not to exclude 2 our favourite rides soarin and test track which we will ride multiple times.
Go for the dining plan we loved it ! We got to eat at a lot of really great restaurants and you know your food is paid for. I split some of the ts with my daughter who was 6 when we went. Next time we will split some of the cs too . So much food too much really.
These guys are awesome ask away any questions you come up with someone here will have the answer.
Have fun planning.
Diane

 

[kennyssenorita]

Thanks for all the replies. I will think about Epcot. Any more suggestions?

 

[Evad]

Don't forget to go to Tom Sawyers Island when at MK. Look for a paint brush.
If you find one then give it to a CM who will give you something in return. This a great place for your kids to run and play in the caves as well.

Dave

 

[ACrider]

Tracy,
I thought I was reading a post I hadn't even written yet!
My family too is going for our first visit - the first week of May. We will be arriving 4/28 and leaving 5/6. We have 2 boys, ages 6 and 8. maybe we'll cross paths on 5/6 somewhere! We are staying off site though at Sheraton Vistana.

I was just coming here to post some questins in preparation for making an itinerary - you are much further ahead than I am! I too was thinking we'd just do the Disney parks and not Epcot, though am reconsidering after reading the suggestions you received. We have 7 day hopper passes (no waterparks), though I kind of regret getting the hopper part as I doubt we'll do more than one park any one day anyway. not much I can do about it now.

What is the dining meal thing and where do I find out more about it? It seems to be highly recommended but I don't know much about it. The only thing I seem to recollect was that there used to be some sort of meal ticket program but it has been discontinued?

Where do I find a list of and schedule of activiites that I have to make reservations in advance for, like character meals etc? the pirate boat ride sounds cool, I know my boys would like it.

I'm a little overwhelmed by all this. terribly excited but overwhelmed. Have the resort reservations made, purchased park tickets earlier this week, working on the airplane tickets and possible rental car reservation now. I'm already tired out and I don't even know what we are doing when we get there yet!!

thanks for your post and thanks everyone for the replies, it has been helpful to me! appreciate any more answers and tips too!
Amanda

 

[luv2nascar]

one thing I noticed it seems you are budgeting 30 minutes from hotel/rest to dinner reservations. Disney transportation is great but until you are there you don't realize how BIG disney property is. All stars resorts are furtherest from parks (esp MK). Probably 15 min at least ride. Till you walk from hotel room to bus stop, wait for your bus, buses take 10-15 min at least to load, ride to destination, unload bus, check in at park (they check baggage always a line and a wait) and walk to your restaurant.

I always need more than an hour to get to dinner ADR. I am not trying to sound discouraging just being realistic. Disney property is hugh think of it as a city with traffic. I'd leave more like an hour to an hour and a half to get to restaurant.

 

[cjb71870]

For being your 1st time you have done your work on where you are eating. Now, do the same work with your park planning. 3 days at MK is more than enough. If you don't want EPCOT add another day for MGM.

 

[ACrider]

I am following up my own post. Correct me if I am wrong, but it looks like the dining plan is only for those staying is Disney resorts (we are off-site). So that is not an option.

I looked on WDW website and found where I can check out the character dining options too, now to decide what to do when...

 

[kennyssenorita]

Amanda,
Go to allearsnet.com and click on "dining" at the top of the page. They have all disney restaurants on there and the menus. You can make reservations 180 days in advance, so you can make yours now.