How much can I do in 1 day?

[NYHeel]

So, I'm going to be at Disney for one day on 10/26 with only my wife. We're heading down to Miami for the weekend and decided to drive up to Orlando on Sunday night, 10/25, and go to MK on Monday since we're going to use our 1 unexpired day tickets we each have from a 4 day park hopper we used in July 2001.

Since I can't add the old 2001 tickets to my MDE account the CM who confirmed my day left added in 3 MK fast passes; one for space mountain and Big Thunder in the morning and one for any MK attraction available all day. These show on my account but can't be modified at all. Now we're also going to Disney with our kids in January and I just got tickets for that visit. Adding those tickets to my account now allowed me to book 3 regular fast passes in addition to the earlier 3 the CM booked.

We're staying on-site since it's only one night and there is EMH on 10/26 though MK is projected to be a 6/10 day at MK per touringplans.com. Our plan is to utilize EMH and get to MK around 8-8:30 and ride the high demand attractions as is typical. We're not spending any times on character lines since we're adults and all that. We also don't really like parades all that much (at least I don't) so not planning on doing that either. We also won't be eating a big lunch since we only eat Kosher and we'll probably just eat ice cream and hot pretzels for lunch. My thoughts are to plow through MK and head out around 3:00.

Since we have this time I figured we could go to a different park. For now I'm thinking we would go to Epcot where I currently used my 3 regular fast passes for Soarin, mission space and spaceship earth. We'll eat dinner at Liberty Inn which has on demand Kosher food. It's airplane food style but I remember it not being so terrible on our last visit to Disney in 2012.

Our flight back from MCO is at 9:45 so I'm thinking we should leave Epcot to return the rental car by 7:45. We're not checking any bags in and we both have TSA pre-check so I think we don't need to leave any earlier.

Thoughts and suggestions on the above plan? Should I try a different second park besides Epcot? Does any of the above change if I add that we're coming back for a full vacation visit in late January with the kids? Am I crazy to pack all this in on one day?

 

[bc7ate9]

It definitely sounds like a do-able plan for 2 adults who have been to Disney before. My husband and I can easily knock out 3 parks in the same amount of time - and we DO spend time in character lines despite being "adults and all that."

 

[NYHeel]

Thanks for the feedback. Maybe I should try and squeeze in HS to get on Rock n Roller coaster and Tower of Terror. Those 2 are really good.

Didn't mean to be offensive about the character thing. Just not really my thing. Perhaps it's from walking through Times Square and seeing all the skeevy costume guys there. Plus I'm coming back in January with my 3 kids, ages 13, 9 and 7. Though my current plan is to only do Anna and Elsa for my 7 year old daughter. Not sure my boys (13 and 9) care about character meetings. Maybe we'll do one or two to get some pictures.

I just need to figure out what to do with my car. We're staying onsite at All star movies for the night of 9/25. Should I drive and to MK and then drive to Epcot mid-day? Maybe I should just drive to Epcot, park, monorail it over to MK and then monorail it back to Epcot. I could always leave my car at the hotel but I hate relying on buses when time is important plus that seems longer for the way back to the airport.

 

[bc7ate9]

It's ok - character meets aren't for everybody.

We always take the bus/monorail, but with your time constraint I can see where driving would be easier. If I were you (and sticking with your original plan), I'd park at Epcot and take the monorail to MK and back.

You could go to MK, then bus to HS, and then take the boat to Epcot - it'd leave you a bit closer to where you want to eat.

 

[kate27]

At least 2 parks seems totally possible, and like you said, maybe even squeeze in a couple of attractions at a third park. That's what my mom and I did when we went on a Disney Cruise a couple years ago and one of the ports of call was Port Canaveral and they put us on buses to the parks with 1-day park hoppers. Here was our plan. We took the 6am bus from the cruise terminal and arrived at Hollywood Studios around 8-8:30 (the bus was really late getting to us and the drive was about an hour). It was EMH at Studios that day and we didn't think they'd let us in until official opening at 9am but they did! We hurried to Star Tours and then Toy Story, but it was down at the time, so we left there not wanting to waste time. We took the boat to Epcot, immediately ran to get fastpasses for Soarin (it was the old paper FP system back then), and visited our favorite countries, did Spaceship Earth, Ellen's Energy, had lunch and then used our Soarin FP at around 1pm. Then we left there and went to Magic Kingdom. We went around the entire park riding everything we love, had some dinner, and dragged our tired selves to the bus stop around 9pm to catch the bus back to the boat. It was exhausting but fun! This was late May, early June just for reference. And we had only planned on doing those 2 rides at Studios, which turned into only the one, so that saved us a little time. Have a blast! You can rest later.

 

[NYHeel]

I think we're going to stick with 2 parks as we have our 9:45 flight and rental car return. PLus we'll be back with our 3 kids in January for an 8 day Disney/Universal/Sea World trip.

 

[Pembo]

I would drive to MK and then drive to Epcot...seems easier to me.

 

[gabzee]

Your plan is definitely doable! It also helps that you are coming back in January so you won't feel like you have to do everything. Like PP said, I would drive to MK and then drive to Epcot. If you parked in Epcot and then took the monorail to MK you would have to stop at TTC and then take a monorail to MK. Since you have to go to TTC for either plan, it would be faster to drive as it would save time on the return as well.

 

[Jerusalem Gal]

Hey, just BTW, each park has one place that serves on demand kosher food
So even if you choose a different park to visit, that won't be a problem. Have fun!

 

[NYHeel]

Thanks, I was aware, but appreciate the advice. We did the on demand kosher food at our last visit in January 2012. Though I've heard that an early dinner is a good idea during Yeshiva vacation week as they run out of kosher food. Not an issue on our October day trip but definitely relevant for our late January trip over Yeshiva break.

Have you ever tried the Kosher food via a dining reservation? How does it compare to the on demand kosher food in terms of price and quality?

 

[Jerusalem Gal]

When I visited two years ago I travelled with my cousin. I no longer keep kosher but she does. We got a great deal on a dining plan so we had lots of snacks and meals for each of us each day.
I tried getting reservations and ordering kosher at sit down places so that we could both eat together, but it became so complicated that we gave up. I'm not sure if it's because of the dining plan, but most of the people I spoke to really weren't helpful.
Also, booking lunch and dinner ahead of time wasn't something we wanted to commit to. (Even though that's what everyone does nowadays.)
I researched the topic online before we left and as far as I know, even if you order kosher ahead of time, it's still exactly the same quality. It's glatt so they have to keep it sealed. Still the same airline food.
In terms of price, if going only by my experience with the dining plan, it will be more expensive than the on-demand places.
We stayed at the Coronado and I tried to reserve some kosher meals at the sit-down there for Shabbos. The manager was going to charge 3 or 4 dining credits (we got two a day each) for a single kosher meal! When he saw I was shocked he said they're very expensive and it's not worth it for him otherwise. (We ended up stopping by the parks on Friday to pick up a few meals and kept them in our fridge..)
I wonder if they'd be able to tell you the price ahead of time..?

 

[jimmytammy]

I would drive between parks since you will have car with you.

 

[NYHeel]

So I'm putting together an afternoon touring plan trying to see what I can fit in and eating dinner at Liberty Inn is throwing everything off since it's such a far walk. I'm not really planning anything besides dinner in the World Showcase area so it's basically a 40+ minute round trip walk just for dinner. Is there a faster way to get from future world to Liberty Inn? Does a boat take people across?

I may change my plans and choose Hollywood Studios instead of Epcot as a late afternoon park. The only problem is that they close at 7:00. But I assume the counter service places like ABC Commissary stay open later right?

 

[shaynar]

So I'm putting together an afternoon touring plan trying to see what I can fit in and eating dinner at Liberty Inn is throwing everything off since it's such a far walk. I'm not really planning anything besides dinner in the World Showcase area so it's basically a 40+ minute round trip walk just for dinner. Is there a faster way to get from future world to Liberty Inn? Does a boat take people across?

I may change my plans and choose Hollywood Studios instead of Epcot as a late afternoon park. The only problem is that they close at 7:00. But I assume the counter service places like ABC Commissary stay open later right?

^^ I wouldn't assume that

PS In terms of kosher food at an ADR, while it still is "glorified airplane food", the actual meal is nicer. You'll have to pre-order, either salmon, chicken breast, brisket or lasagna (with sides). It's definitely a little nicer than the chicken nuggets (if you can even call it that!) or hamburger in a bun.

 

[NYHeel]

^^ I wouldn't assume that

PS In terms of kosher food at an ADR, while it still is "glorified airplane food", the actual meal is nicer. You'll have to pre-order, either salmon, chicken breast, brisket or lasagna (with sides). It's definitely a little nicer than the chicken nuggets (if you can even call it that!) or hamburger in a bun.

Thanks. I think we'll try out a sit down restaurant or two for our family trip in January this time. We were so pumped to have actual kosher real food (as opposed to just ice cream and hot pretzels, which was lunch ) that we were totally fine with the kosher fast food options. Plus I hate to be tied down to a specific time and place. Though it seems that Disney is really pushing that now.

How are the size of the meals at the table restaurants? I'm not so worried for my kids as they're not big eaters but is there going to be enough food for my wife and I? Thanks for the help.

 

[shaynar]

Thanks. I think we'll try out a sit down restaurant or two for our family trip in January this time. We were so pumped to have actual kosher real food (as opposed to just ice cream and hot pretzels, which was lunch ) that we were totally fine with the kosher fast food options. Plus I hate to be tied down to a specific time and place. Though it seems that Disney is really pushing that now.

How are the size of the meals at the table restaurants? I'm not so worried for my kids as they're not big eaters but is there going to be enough food for my wife and I? Thanks for the help.

They're decent size. Bigger than the QS options. You'll have a main (so one piece of chicken, or a med size of salmon etc) and then a starch and a veg. They're enough for us, but we're not huge eaters. Plus you can also order soup or dessert if you feel fancy
(PS a reminder that you have to book the kosher food in advance.)

We're actually considering doing a TS meal this upcoming trip (also Jan - go figure lol!). We stay in the villas so we have access to a kitchen so I make most of our meals.

 

[shaynar]

Oops also wanted to add that you get a bread (usually a challah roll) along with the meal.

 

[NYHeel]

They're decent size. Bigger than the QS options. You'll have a main (so one piece of chicken, or a med size of salmon etc) and then a starch and a veg. They're enough for us, but we're not huge eaters. Plus you can also order soup or dessert if you feel fancy
(PS a reminder that you have to book the kosher food in advance.)

We're actually considering doing a TS meal this upcoming trip (also Jan - go figure lol!). We stay in the villas so we have access to a kitchen so I make most of our meals.

We stay off-site for the main reason of having a kitchen without have to pay a small fortune. So we eat many of our meals at the apartment but it helps having the availability in the park for the later nights spent there.

We did all QS last time we went in January 2012 and we thought that everything was fine with the exception of the pizza from pizzafari which was so bad that it was inedible. I'm thinking we'll try one TS meal this time in January just to try it out.

 

[DisneyWishes14]

Yes, you can take a boat from Showcase Plaza to Morocco or Germany and then walk to the America pavilion for dinner. I would personally park in EP and take the monorail between parks.