How does my rough itinerary seem to you?

[PoppyAnna]

My group is Me (35), DH 39, My Mum (57), DD 4 & DD 1.5 (!)

We arrive sat with virgin, based on what I've read re: busy days etc, this is what I think. Tell me what you think.

Sunday - Epcot, I felt this didn't have to be a park that required a mega early start. Thought it would ease us into our trip.

Monday - MGM

Tuesday - Rest day, some hotel pool action and some premium outlet shopping.

Wednesday - MK, can't put it off any more - here's the big one for the little ones (don't stay for fireworks - read on) Crystal Palace for lunch.

Thursday - Animal Kingdom - Rainforest Cafe for lunch

Friday - Either TL or BB to miss the weekend water park crush.

Saturday - Rest day, downtown disney.

Sunday - Universal

Monday - Islands Of Adventre

Tuesday - Back to MK - late start but stay for fire works (subj to availability)

Wednesday - MGM - Fantasmic dinner show.

Thursday - Seaworld.

Friday - Whatever was trip favourite (maybe park hop)

Saturday - Wet n wild and then evening flight home.

Well?

 

[heatherbelle]

It does seem rather a busy schedule.

If you go to the parks when they open get some rides under your belt, go back to the hotel pool for the afternoon when it's hot, you will be okay. I notice you have little ones. Make sure for the MK that you do these rides first as they do have long queues. We also did these during the parades on a night, hardly any queues then at all.

Last year when we went some days, we did too park days one after the other and it was too much. What about having a rest day, water park day in between the main parks.

Epcot is a really big park, to do it right, you will need two days, one for the front of the park and another for the world show case.

World show case is very nice on a night too. It ususally closes at 9.00pm. MK is also very nice on a night and opens very late.

Whatever you do, drink plenty of fluids, and rest, by watching shows etc, and don't try and do everything. You can always go again. Have a great time and happy planning.

 

[PoppyAnna]

Thank you.
I should note that DH and I don't like Epcot very much (sorry) and I don't think I can justify two days there, I also don't think think it's the most suitable park to entertain the little ones.
We're not too bothered about going on every adult ride and my mum has a permanent heart virus which means she can't, as she puts it she's coming along to "hold the coats" !
We are also going at the same time we went in 2001 when we sometimes did two parks a day....! Admittedly we didn't have the nippers then but we are hoping it's going to be that quiet again....
We don't intend to have lots of late nights out when we're not in the parks, the two or three nts we stay in the parks for fireworks/parades we won't start 'till late.
Perhaps I am a tad optimistic......

 

[rosiejo]

Is this for your 2007 trip? What dates are you travelling?

 

[Shooby doo]

Baring in mind that you & DH don't like Ep that much I'm not sure that I would start with it,especially as the little ones are probably dying to see MM.I'm thinking along the lines of it being a huge park with not alot aimed at their age group,we always begin with MK but if you don't fancy that on your first day then I would try AK or MGM
SD

 

[PoppyAnna]

We are travelling 28th april 2007, easter crush is over and weather isn't too hot.

Something says to me don't do MK straight away, for a four and near two year old nothing will come close for the next two weeks.......but I'm happy to be told I could be wrong.

cheers all.

 

[jax100]

we do mk first - because of cinderella castle to dd that is disney, mickey aside for dd cinderella's castle has to be her first place to visit.

we took our dd(then 4) and ds(then 3) last feb to orlando. on that occasion we only did magic kingdom and no other disney park, sea world and universal. for us the kids got more play value out of universal what with barney, and woody woodpecker and dr seuss play areas than they did out of the whole disney experience. but it had to be cinderella's castle. my dd also had a phobia about the characters and altho loved it didnt want to see them.

on returning this year we did loads more(dd was 5 9(and loved all the characters)and ds 4). mk on first day where we still didnt do the whole park, but did the toon town fair, and the new play area outside winnie the pooh which is created as pooh's enchanted forest. kids loved it(but make sure you have extra clothes they could get wet). universal again were a highlight with barney and dr seuss with lots of characters. we also did epcot - the must do here for us was the crush show. if the kids love nemo they will love this. we did walk around the whole showcase and were fortunate enough to meet lots of characters, in the right place at the right time. AK for us was a disappointment and we couldnt see it all. didnt see the animals, but this was due to having fil who was in a wheelchair and the ground is not wheelchair friendly. what we did do though was go into ak go to the right down to the dino area where kids played for a bit and then walked back to the main tree section before heading down to camp mickey where it was so quiet with hardly anyone about - kids saw mickey, minnie, donald and goofy, the bears from brother bear, chip&dale, and hardly any queues with no people around. on way in and out of park kids met pluto, chip'n'dale, balou, bear from splash mountain, king from robin hood, rafiki from lion king and a couple of others which we were not very sure about.
the rides at ak - the train ride etc had over an hr wait, and the other adventure there was no guarantee we were told by a cast member that our ds would get on the ride. we would have to queue(over an hr) and then once at front of queue we would be told if he could get on or not. because of this we just decided to not bother heading up that way. kids were happy enough.
mgm was another favourite as ds got to see the stunt show, power rangers and we were lucky to meet jojo and goliath, donald duck before going into the playhouse disney show.

although we wanted to do a firework display it was never an option. the kids were always shattered and in bed even when we opted for a late start to the park stay late it just didnt work.

these are obviously merely my experiences. each child is different obviously but from my own personal experience and due to the age's of your children i would recommend starting with mk and perhaps not doing as many parks. it is quite a hectic plan.

another suggestion is not to do wet n wild on last day, what with having wet gear to pack then for coming home. maybe do the fav park that day to say a final farewell. last yr we did islands of adventure on our last day but this yr we headed back into epcot - not to do the whole thing again but let the kids see the fish etc at the crush show, and the innovations hall bit and then we went into the character meet so the kids could say a final goodbye to the characters(mm,mm,chipndale,donald,pluto and goofy). also allowed us to purchase our disney photopass cd(for 99dollars) incl all the official pics taken round all the parks plus some of the clipart to bring home and be developed back here.

as i say though merely suggestions from my own personal experience.

 

[PoppyAnna]

Thanks to all of you that have helped out on this one.
I guess I'm just naturally excited and want to do everything with my girls.
I fully appriciate that my little one will take in whats going on but really won't be as aware as my four year old.
To be honest my 4yr old (3 now) is only just getting into Cinders and Ariel (with my help in prep for trip!) etc and really isn't very familiar with the playhouse disney characters apart from Bear in the BB house (dh is too tight for full cable package ha ha). She's more of a lazytown/charlie and lola kinda gal - so we will be able to skip some stuff she's not too up on. This also goes for barney at universal.
Perhaps nanny can help out and maybe DH and I can do Universal and IOA on our own (his fav parks) giving kids a rest.

 

[Cochise]

Isnt there a theory that you start small and work higher in relation to the travellers?

It isn't the way i have work my plan but it fits well here!