How does this 3 day plan look?

[CindyZMomof3]

Right now I am planning only 3 days in the parks. Has anyone been successful with 3 days? It's just me and my 8 year old son. He is not a daredevil, so we won't be going on a lot of the rides that are "scary"...(but I swear I'm going to get him on Splash Mountain)....we really are there to experience the resort (and resort visits) and just being in The World. I really think that I should do a day at Epcot, a day at MK, and then split between Animal Kingdom and either Epcot or MK again for a 1/2 day. The last day before our flight I wasn't going to go to the parks. I thought we'd we'd follow this plan:

August 24 Tuesday: Arrive in Orlando early from our stay in Daytona Beach. Pre-check into the POP Century hotel and head on over to Epcot for the day. We could do Future World in the AM (no need to wait in lines for Test Track or Mission: Space). Then perhaps head on back to the POP for lunch and a swim. Then back over to Epcot for the Ice Cream Social at the Garden Grill and then over to World Showcase for the rest of the night and perhaps the fireworks (if they have it that late into August).

August 25 (Wednesday): Head on over to MK for our ressies at CRT for around 9am. Then stay in MK for the day. Depending on how hot it is...how it is going...and how much we want to see we may be going back to POP for afternoon swim, but if we're standing the heat and want to take it all in...we'll just stay for the day. Dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern! Counter service lunch or lunch back at room.

August 26 (Thursday): Breakfast in Room. Then over to Animal Kingdom for the morning. (We could decide to do the Extra Magic hour at MK first...if we really want to go back to do some things we missed..then over to AK). Then back to hotel for lunch if we want. Then we could decide that we REALLY want to end at MGM till closing...or head back over to Epcot or MK.

August 27 (Friday): Wake up in room a bit later. Breakfast at Chef Mickey's. Back over to room. Check out and ask to have our bags held. Hang out a pool and then figure out 2 resorts we really want to visit. (Thinking WL, Coronado Springs, and Port Orleans) Spend the rest of the afternoon resort hopping and enjoying the pool at POP before heading off to the airport for a 7 or 8 pm flight.

Does this seem doable? I could cut my visit with my relatives short in Daytona, but I really shouldn't. It's bad enough I'm flying in on Sunday...and on Tuesday EARLY morning saying goodbye!

~Cindy Z in CT

 

[mic_key_mouse]

Hi Cindy.

It looks really good to me- nice and relaxed and unstructured.

Just remember that the animals are more active in the morning, so you want to be at AK 15 minutes before the park opens to do the safari before it gets crowded if you choose the AK route over arriving at the MK for EMH

Since this would affect MK EMH that's gonna be a tough choice. It looks like you are pretty much playing it by ear, and either choice is going to work out great. I personally wouldn't do the safari later in the day- especially in August, but I am sure you will have fun anyways having never experienced it. There will be some animals out, but if it is hot don't expect lots of them.

Blessings
mic_key_mouse

 

[CindyZMomof3]

OH, I forgot about being at AK early. We would be there for the Safari mostly, and the Tree of Life, and the Kali River Rapid rides. Maybe one of the shows.

It would be a very tough choice to give up EMH, especially if the Buzz lightyear ride is part. Maybe I should go over to AK early in the morning on our first day (Tuesday)...then Epcot World Showcase or Future World the in the PM. Then we could do the rest of Epcot on Thursday....That might just work out. Thanx for the advice.

~Cindy Z in CT

 

[lentesta]

Hi Cindy,

I think the plan looks good. In particular, visiting the MK on Wednesday is a smart idea. As Epcot is the second-most visited park, and it's Epcot's EMH day, a larger than usual number of people will be there instead of the MK. That should help crowd levels at the MK, and lessen the impacts of your CRT at 9 am on waiting in lines at attractions after breakfast. It might even be the case that any 9 am CRT reservation is best done on Wednesday, for the same reason. Should we have some spare time(!) in the future, that might be something interesting to look at. But I suspect you've done the best you possibly can.

Touring Epcot on Tuesday after checkin is also a good idea, as you say you're skipping MS and TT, and the relatively large capacities of Epcot's attractions will offset some of the impact of arriving after the park opens. Epcot's probably your best bet for a park to go to after a morning check-in, and let's face it, Epcot's just a fun park anyway.

From a pure wait-time perspective, visiting the AK after it opens probably isn't a good idea. The relatively small number of attractions, and relatively low capacities of those attractions, means you may encounter some fairly long waits. But if you like the attractions, and you're willing to make the tradeoff of waiting in line longer to see some attractions you really enjoy, then wait times aren't your primary consideration anyway, and that's okay. In any event, going to Epcot after the AK would still be the best option, for the same reasons listed in the previous paragraph. In short, I think your plan is fine.

Best of luck on your trip. Have a great time.

Sincerely,

Len Testa

 

[sters]

Future World after 5pm is uncrowded and an excellent time to do Journey Into Imagination and Spaceship Earth. If I'm not mistaken, Test Track and Mission Space are also open until closing.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[CindyZMomof3]

HOLY COW!

Thanx Len,
If the Un Official guide to WDW guy says that I did a fine job with my plan...then I'm darn proud of myself. Thanx for the info and advice. I'm feeling so much better about things now. I think I'm ready to make all my PS now. I have a PS at CRT on Wed because I forgot to call my 90 days out for Tuesday, so I made it for the Wednesday. I have 9am reservations versus the 8:05 because the CM said that might be cutting it a little close with transportation; and I'd rather not be worried about making it on time. I do realize that it's one hour less in the parks following breakfast...but decided to choose to not panic about the time.

Do you think it would be better to go to AK Tuesday morning?. I plan on leaving Daytona very early and doing a very early pre-check in at the POP. I would then go back to hotel in PM and over to Epcot for the remainder of the day. Should I then do the World Showcase or Future World for the afternoon?

I will return to Epcot on Thursday after EMH at MK to do the rest of the park, and then make a decision on staying at Epcot or going over to MGM. I think that August park hours may cause me to tweek this plan a little more.

Meal plan is as follows:
Tuesday: Breakfast Early in Daytona...Snack at Epcot (or AK)
Lunch at POP food court
Ice Cream Social at the GArden GRill (PS)
Dinner at the World Showcase (no PS...we'll decide counter service in whatever country we wish at the time!) Then hopefully there will be the fireworks show (is this Wishes?)

Wed: Breakfast at CRT!!
LUnch at Pecos Bill Cafe (for some reason my son saw this in a book and just wants to go there...don't know why.)
Dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern (PS)

Thurs: Breakfast in room or POP food court (wonder what time they open?)
Lunch: Counter service at AK or MGM
Dinner: NOt sure. Cause I'm not sure where we'll be exactly. I wonder if I should make a PS at Sci Fi in MGM?

Friday: Breakfast at Chef Mickey's
Lunch at a resort as we resort hop
Dinner at the airport I guess

Sound reasonable?
Thanx again for your assistance!

 

[lentesta]

Hi Cindy Z,

Yes, if you want to visit the AK, Tuesday morning is your best...well, it's your least-bad choice (if that makes sense), taking the best- and worst-case scenarios into account.

If you think you can get from Daytona to Orlando, check in to Pop, and get to the park before park opening, then there should be no impact to the time you spend waiting in line at the AK. But that sounds like a lot of stuff to do before 9 am, and I'd be hesitant to say a traveling family can do that.

If you got to the AK after it opens, sure, you'll wait in line longer than strictly necessary. But if you really want to see something at the AK, waiting in line is a secondary consideration, so don't worry about it.

A mid-day break on Tuesday is a great idea. Heck, I could use a nap right now, and I'm not on vacation. After the nap, I'd do a quick tour of whatever Epcot attractions are your highest priority in Future World. As parts of Future World close at 7pm, while World Showcase is open until 9, you want to make the most of the time you have in Future World.

A nice time to transition from Future World to World Showcase is around dinner. There are lots of interesting and popular restaurants in World Showcase, and visiting one adds immensely to the Epcot experience. If you don't catch all of World Showcase on Tuesday, you've already realized you can cover it on Thursday after EMH at the MK.

I'm not sure I'd park hop from the MK to Epcot to MGM on Thursday. In general, the amount of time taken in transportation between three parks would usually be better spent actually waiting in line at some attractions. So I'd limit park hopping to two parks per day.

Sincerley,

Len

 

[Eeyore2003]

Sounds really great. For a break at MK you might want to go over to Tom Sawyer Island and just explore and relax with a cool drink. That is if you don't feel like going back to the resort.