How does this trip layout sound? I need advice!!!

[jacobsmommy]

We are going back to WDW for our first long trip in six years! We will be arriving on Tuesday, May 30 and departing on Monday, June 5th. We are staying at POP and have the regular dining plan. Our flight arrives at MCO at 11:55 and I haven't been able to book our return flight home yet. Our kids will be 13 (ds) and 9 (dd).

Here is how I have our parks/meals planned as of right now. I think I was able to find the parks for Gay Days to avoid crowds, but I still feel anxious without having TGM or a crowd calendar to use.

Arrival Day (Tuesday, May 30): We will do DHS this day because I think we can get everything we want to do there done in half a day. We have a Fantastic lunch scheduled at Mama Melrose's at 3:05 and are planning to see Fantastic that evening.

Wednesday, May 31st: Epcot Day with 5:05 Via Napoli reservations. We will probably see Illuminations that evening

Thursday, June 1: Magic Kingdom Day with Crystal Palace Reservation at 12:00. We will probably see Wishes or the parade (if there ends up being one)

Friday, June 2: Animal Kingdom Day with Donald's Breakfast at 8:10 and Rainforest Cafe at 3:30. We will stay for evening entertainment

Saturday, June 3: Epcot morning/Downtown Disney evening. No dining reservations

Sunday, June 4: Magic Kingdom Day with 5:30 Chef Mickey's reservation

Monday, June 5: Departure Day.... not sure if we need more time at Animal Kingdom if Pandora is open, or if we should go somewhere else....


How does this plan sound? Is there anything you would change about my plan?

 

[Momto2minniemice]

I worry that your Lunch at 3 is cutting it REALLY close. If you are landing at 12 by the time you taxi and clear the plane you are closer to 1230, then if you take magical express this would take a couple of hours. I would try to have a later reservation for dinner.
Via Napoli is WONDERFUL and my girls love the pizza there. The pizza's are large and the desserts are amazing. You can easily share a meal here and save a dining credit or two!
Crystal Palace is great for the kids and during the heat of the day you will love the AC! The characters move pretty fast but the food is great for the adults and kids!
The Tusker house is a great! And as soon as you are done you will be able to hit up the Safari.
I would move your Rainforest Cafe reservation to Sat for either lunch or dinner. If you call the Rainforest Cafe directly they have more dining times as they are not a Disney Restaurant per say.
Have a wonderful Stay!!

 

[jacobsmommy]

We can change our reservation to a later time, but we won't have the Fantastic dining package. Is that a big deal? Will we possibly be able to score a FP for Fantastic after using the FP that we choose?

 

[dislmntx]

We can change our reservation to a later time, but we won't have the Fantastic dining package. Is that a big deal? Will we possibly be able to score a FP for Fantastic after using the FP that we choose?

I bet you'd be ok with a 3:05 reservation. I've always been at the hotel within 1 1/2 hours of landing. That puts you at 1:30 and still gives you 1 1/2 hours to get to HS. Chances are your room won't be ready and so you can just leave any carryon bags you might have with bell services and then catch the 1st bus to HS. You probably won't be at the hotel long. I would take the chance if it were me. Your plans sound great! 2 of our trips have been during the first week of June and it is a great time to be in the parks! Crowds are decent and weather is not too hot! Have a fantastic trip!

 

[sharonabe]

The pizza's are large and the desserts are amazing. You can easily share a meal here and save a dining credit or two!

While they are big enough to share, Via Napoli will NOT allow you to share. Everyone on the DDP will have to order something, pizza or entree, and then you can share what you have. But you cannot order two individual pizzas and four people share them.
OP, if there is another TS you were wanting to do, but didn't have credits for it, you could pay OOP at VN and share all you want and save those credits for a different meal.

We can change our reservation to a later time, but we won't have the Fantastic dining package. Is that a big deal? Will we possibly be able to score a FP for Fantastic after using the FP that we choose?

I would chance getting FP over missing a meal and having to pay the $40 no-show charge. You should be able to get a fourth FP for F! I think PP's 1 1/2 hrs from touch down to the hotel is more rare than they think. Not to mention, you have no control over your flight. All it takes is some small mechanical or weather delay, and suddenly your 11:55 arrival is a 2:00 or 3:00 arrival.

 

[Markansas]

We are going back to WDW for our first long trip in six years! We will be arriving on Tuesday, May 30 and departing on Monday, June 5th. We are staying at POP and have the regular dining plan. Our flight arrives at MCO at 11:55 and I haven't been able to book our return flight home yet. Our kids will be 13 (ds) and 9 (dd).

Here is how I have our parks/meals planned as of right now. I think I was able to find the parks for Gay Days to avoid crowds, but I still feel anxious without having TGM or a crowd calendar to use.

Arrival Day (Tuesday, May 30): We will do DHS this day because I think we can get everything we want to do there done in half a day. We have a Fantastic lunch scheduled at Mama Melrose's at 3:05 and are planning to see Fantastic that evening.

Wednesday, May 31st: Epcot Day with 5:05 Via Napoli reservations. We will probably see Illuminations that evening

Thursday, June 1: Magic Kingdom Day with Crystal Palace Reservation at 12:00. We will probably see Wishes or the parade (if there ends up being one)

Friday, June 2: Animal Kingdom Day with Donald's Breakfast at 8:10 and Rainforest Cafe at 3:30. We will stay for evening entertainment

Saturday, June 3: Epcot morning/Downtown Disney evening. No dining reservations

Sunday, June 4: Magic Kingdom Day with 5:30 Chef Mickey's reservation

Monday, June 5: Departure Day.... not sure if we need more time at Animal Kingdom if Pandora is open, or if we should go somewhere else....


How does this plan sound? Is there anything you would change about my plan?

I personally always like to kick off my stay with MK, to really get in the spirit. I can't imagine being at disney world and not going to MK until the 3rd day.

I would do MK day 1, but thats my preference. On that day I would eat at Ohana at the Poly which is way way way better than melrose.

I also would spend more time at AK and less time at Epcot. Epcot is not an all day affair for me, especially for 13, 9 year old kids like you have.

I would split a day between Epcot and DHS and ride the boat between the two, and do another half day at AK, maybe on your downtown disney day.

The only reason to go to Chef Mickey's is for characters, if your kids are getting to an age where that is less important and you want good food and a better atmospehe, I would skip CM's.

My plan would look like this,

day 1 MK
day 2 AK
day 3 HS/Epcot
day 4 MK/Epcot
day 5 downtown/AK
day 6 MK

 

[TwoMisfits]

I'd punt 1 of your 2 AK dining options or your 1st day Mama Melrose one (b/c I've had perfect weather flights get delayed just "b/c") and I'd make a dining res for Disney Springs - 1/2 the reason for going there is the nice sit-down places...

 

[jacobsmommy]

We don't have park hoppers. I wouldn't want to do Epcot just in the evenings because we wouldn't have any FP and we have to do DHS in the evening because our favorite thing is Fantasmic. My husband's favorite park is Epcot and on our short trip last October we didn't even spend a whole day there, so I was trying to give him more Epcot time. At Disney Springs we are going to eat at Wolfgang Pucks because our whole family loves the food there.

 

[mindeola]

On AK day I would drop Rainforest Café and head next door to AKL and eat at one of their fabulous restaurants! Sanaa ( have the bread service!) or Boma buffet. It is beautiful over there and you will see so many animals.

 

[Owl X]

Note that Epcot and DHS have Fast Passes in Tiers. You can only Fastpass one Tier 1 ride.
Soarin' & Frozen are both Tier 1 rides in Epcot. So having 2 days at Epcot is a good idea.
If Pandora is not open for your trip, you might want another morning in MK for additional FPs.

Example FPs based on your schedule:

• Tuesday: Toy Story Midway Mania (Tier 1), Tower of Terror, Star Tours
• Wednesday: Frozen (Tier 1), Spaceship Earth, Mission Space
• Thursday: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Peter Pan's Flight, Haunted Mansion
• Friday: Dinosaur, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Kali River Rapids
• Saturday: Soarin' (Tier 1), The Seas with Nemo & Friends, Living with the Land
• Sunday: Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean
• Monday: Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Jungle Cruise

 

[mrzrich]

FYI you are going to be there during the DIs's 20th anniversary celebration. If you are interested in participating, I would keep an eye on the sticky at the top of Dis Unplugged Forum. They usually plan some neat one of a kind events when they have a meet.

 

[jacobsmommy]

One restaurant my kids really want to go to is Rainforest Cafe, they love that place. I can't get rid of that reservation!

 

[Ds4angels]

Disney Springs is really crowded on the weekends. So you might want to move that around.

 

[jacobsmommy]

I guess I could switch our two Epcot days and go to Via Napoli on Saturday instead of Wednesday, but we usually like to go to Disney Springs after we've shopped at all of the parks. We will really only be eating at Wolfgang Pucks and shopping on our Disney Springs night.