How does our day one at Magic Kingdom look?

[jacobsmommy]

We will be at WDW from July 6th through the 13th. It will be me, my dh, my 15 yo ds, my 11 yo dd, my parents, my brother, his wife and their almost 2 yo ds. We are all staying at Port Orleans Riverside and we have the quick service dining plan. We fly in on the 6th, but aren't going to a park that day. We will swim and go to Disney Springs instead.

On July 7th we will be at MK.
My nephew is getting his first haircut at 9:20, but the rest of us will head straight to Haunted Mansion and Pirates. Then we will all meet up for Jungle Cruise. We have a FP for Splash at 10:15 (we will split up into two groups to ride). Next we will ride It's a Small World and use our FP to meet Mickey/Minnie at 11:30. We may eat lunch in MK. We will then head back to the room for a long swim/nap break.

We plan to return around 4:00ish. We will go see Country Bears, Muppets History at 4:50, Tiki Room, and then Move It Street Party at 5:45. We have a 7 Dwarves/Enchanted Tales FP at 5:40. We will go see Philharmagic next. We will stay for Happily Ever After.

How does our first day sound?

 

[EdnaMarieMode]

Sounds good. I have a few things for you to keep in mind-
It takes about 20 minutes to ride Splash Mountain, so if you ride at 10:15 and go two groups back to back it'll be about 11 when you're done (maybe a little later, depending on how quickly they move the FP line). Which is fine, you can still go to small world (I'm guessing about a 20 minute wait, plus 15 minutes for the actual ride) and make it to your Mickey FP in time (I'm guessing you'd be there by noon at the latest).

If you eat lunch in the park you wouldn't be leaving MK until around 1, depending on what time you get to Mickey, how long that takes, and where you eat and whether it's QS or TS. That would put you at POR around 2 (assuming walking to the bus stop and waiting 20 minutes for a bus to POR, then the ride, then getting to your room). To be back at the park for 4 (off the bus, through security etc.) you'd want to plan on leaving POR for around 3. If you are not taking Disney busses then ignore the transportation times.

I don't mean to overwhelm you- I think the plan is fine, I just like to emphasize that there can be some waits even with FP, the time it takes to ride an attraction, walking time, and bus times.

 

[jacobsmommy]

If we don't make it back in time for Country Bears and the Muppets, it's no big deal. We can always do Country Bears after Philharmagic. We should have plenty of time before that starts to put in other things.

 

[YesterDark]

That's incredible aggressive. I don't think you'll be able to go on TM, Pirates, JC, HM all between the haircut and your Splash FP even if you go at the end of your grace period. Then you have Small world and another FP until 11:30. That list right there is sometimes what people get done in a full day, let alone just a morning.

VIP tour?

Then you'll be getting out of your Meet and Greet at like noon maybe? 12:30? Lunch is another 30 minutes at the very least, if not an hour. That puts you at around 1:30. Getting out of the park, getting on a bus, going back to your resort can be around an hour or so. Let's say you're now back at your hotel and you get changed for swimming, that's going to be a 30 minute ordeal if you're lucky with the kids and swim for 2 hours.

It's now dinner time around 5 oclock and you didn't have a nap yet. You still need to shower up, get changed, get on a bus and get back to the MK, that's another 60-90 minutes depending on how fast you clean up and how lucky you get for waiting for a bus.

If you're going to do a mid-day break with a swim and a nap, you're not getting back to the park until 5 at the very earliest.

I would really really tighten down on your expectations. Each ride at Disney you picked, especially those popular ones at that time of the year, are probably 45-75 minute blocks of time without fast passes1. You can go look up historic wait times on the internet to get an idea.

Key take away: You need to consider logistics of traveling to and from the parks. Leaving the parks and walking to the bus stop is probably a 15-30 minute trip depending on where you are in the park when you decide to leave. Waiting for the bus can be anywhere from 0-20 minutes wait. The drive is 10-20 minutes depending where you are on the bus loop. Walking to and from the bus stop can be 1-15 minutes depending on where your room is.

 

[jacobsmommy]

We won't wait until after my nephew's haircut to ride. Most of us (minus my brother/sister in law/nephew) will ride Haunted Mansion and POTC at rope drop. They will do the haircut and then meet us at Jungle Cruise. I also took Big Thunder Mountain out because we have fast passes for it on two other days.

 

[Kelly014]

I agree with the above comments about transportation, lunch, etc.

While this may be somewhat doable, it does not sound fun, especially when you factor in the three children, one of which is a toddler. You are going to wear everybody out trying to squeeze in every attraction at MK. There needs to be time for the unforeseen. Some practical, like bathroom/diaper breaks, snack time, needing to sit and rest for a minute, fastpass or standby taking longer than expected. Some less practical but still important, like stopping to watch a parade for a bit, wandering around an area to check out the details, stopping for Mickey ice cream or at the candy shop, playing at the splash pad, deciding to do a last minute meet and greet you see, and so on. Not to mention MK is huge and it's easy to underestimate just how exhausting it can be to go at this pace. It sounds like you have multiple days at Magic Kingdom. I would suggest loosening up your plans a bit, or at least knowing that there's a good chance you won't get to everything and mentally prepping to go with the flow in those moments

 

[jacobsmommy]

We do have another day at MK (plus my family has an extra day on the last day since we don't fly out until after 7:00 pm). We can always push It's a Small World to another day or that evening. The only thing I want to make sure to do in the evening is the parade because I think my nephew will love it, and of course Happily Ever After. I think my ds is the only one who cares about Country Bears. We are doing Fantasyland on our second morning, so Small World and Philharmagic could end up there if needed.

 

[YesterDark]

Here's one key factor that Kelly mentioned and I've lived. You've got a big group of people and unless everyone is ready and committed to do a full day sprint of as many rides as possible, you're setting yourself up for grumpiness and potential arguments.

Take it easy, plan for half the stuff you want to do and if you end up doing more it's a win. I always suggest to every friend that goes down there that they plan their breaks and rests, but don't plan anything else other than a general idea of what you want do (outside FPs).

 

[SaintsManiac]

We do have another day at MK (plus my family has an extra day on the last day since we don't fly out until after 7:00 pm). We can always push It's a Small World to another day or that evening. The only thing I want to make sure to do in the evening is the parade because I think my nephew will love it, and of course Happily Ever After. I think my ds is the only one who cares about Country Bears. We are doing Fantasyland on our second morning, so Small World and Philharmagic could end up there if needed.

The parade is at 3pm.

 

[SJSloan]

The parade is at 3pm.

I believe she is talking about the Move It! Shake It! Mousekedance It! street party/(parade) at 5:45pm. That is what she references in her first post.

 

[SaintsManiac]

I believe she is talking about the Move It! Shake It! Mousekedance It! street party/(parade) at 5:45pm. That is what she references in her first post.

Thanks totally missed that. We usually run from it. LOL

 

[KenHutch]

Things may be a bit tight but I think you can keep most if not all of your schedule. You will know for sure when you judge the crowds the day you get there. We do rop drop to close so I always schedule Tiki birds for the early afternoon. Its cool in there and the 10 year old has been known to nap there. Carousel of Progress is another good one for letting little ones nap without leaving the park. And if you have not seen the Muppets it really is a must.

 

[krybandt]

We will be at WDW from July 6th through the 13th. It will be me, my dh, my 15 yo ds, my 11 yo dd, my parents, my brother, his wife and their almost 2 yo ds. We are all staying at Port Orleans Riverside and we have the quick service dining plan. We fly in on the 6th, but aren't going to a park that day. We will swim and go to Disney Springs instead.

On July 7th we will be at MK.
My nephew is getting his first haircut at 9:20, but the rest of us will head straight to Haunted Mansion and Pirates. Then we will all meet up for Jungle Cruise. We have a FP for Splash at 10:15 (we will split up into two groups to ride). Next we will ride It's a Small World and use our FP to meet Mickey/Minnie at 11:30. We may eat lunch in MK. We will then head back to the room for a long swim/nap break.

We plan to return around 4:00ish. We will go see Country Bears, Muppets History at 4:50, Tiki Room, and then Move It Street Party at 5:45. We have a 7 Dwarves/Enchanted Tales FP at 5:40. We will go see Philharmagic next. We will stay for Happily Ever After.

How does our first day sound?

This sounds like a good first day to me! You have the more popular rides earlier in the day, when crowds should be lower. Your evening plans sound pretty laid back and flexible. You have some great fast passes throughout the day. We will be there around that time too and we’re planning midday breaks. They make a big difference. Have fun!