How's my itinerary look?

[DKx3]

Good evening! Here's what my itinerary looks like now and I wanted some opinions from veteran DIS'ers. We are a WDW 1st timer family. Myself, DH, DD10 & DSalmost 8. No rental car, all Disney Transport (except to and from airport).

11/12/05 (Sat.) - arrive at MCO @6:30pm. Limo to POP Century. Requested top floor, 70's building, somewhere quiet (sounds like I'm asking alot). Maybe a little swimming, probably right to bed.

11/13/05 (Sunday) - leave POP @7:45am for 9am opening of AK. Leave AK at 3:30pm to arrive at HDDR for 5pm show. Back to POP for swimming.

11/14/05 (Monday) - leave POP @7:45am for 9am opening of MK. 3pm Dreams Parade, 7pm Spectro, 8pm Wishes. Back to POP to bed.

11/15/05 (Tuesday) - leave around 7:45am to get to EPCOT for 9am opening. PSB at 10:20am. Stay until Illuminations at 9pm. Back to POP and collapse!

11/16/05 (Wednesday) - sleep in & relax some. Around lunch head out to Downtown Disney. When done, go to MK for evening and stay for some of the EMH.

11/17/05 (Thursday) - leave around 7:45am to get to MGM for 9am opening. 12pm ADR at Sci-Fi. Hopefully see Stars & Motorcars @3:30pm (not listed yet on calendar). Get in line for Fantasmic @ 5:45pm. See Fantasmic & back to POP.

11/18/05 (Friday) - go to favorite park(s), leave park @5pm for a 6pm ressie at Chef Mickey's

11/19/05 (Saturday) - get picked up by towncar around 7:30am for 10:30am flight.

What do you think?

 

[SpoonfulofSugar]

Sounds like you have it all planned!
Tuesday is going to be a long day though.
Have a great trip!

 

[bigmac5]

What time is Fantasmic? We went about 30 min before show(Sep 1) and there were plenty of seats

 

[3xthecharm]

I would go till you drop.
We have gone this season twice and made out well.
No heat. Your kids are a good age.

We have skipped the afternoon parades. They can't compare to Spectro or Illuminations. My kids are the same age as yours. They would only sit through a few parades.

 

[DKx3]

Maybe with Tuesday being such a long day, we could leave before Illuminations and see it one of our free days. Thanks.

 

[jann1033]

it looks good to me are you planning on eating in the aprks for dinner( except hdd)?
you may be late gettting back to pop(like maybe an hr or so after park closing, might not be that long but it might) if you plan on waiting to eat there.

since you haven't seen them i'd go to the parades if you can. they are cute and fun just not something we rush to do everytime

we always go from park opening to closing, even when our kids were little..to much to see and you shouldn't hit tons of heat or crowds. just take your time to enjoy and not feel like you need to run like crazy ...Have fun!!!

 

[Frantasmic]

I'll wave to you at the airport. That is when we arrive.

Look's like a well thought out plan!

 

[DKx3]

it looks good to me are you planning on eating in the aprks for dinner( except hdd)?
you may be late gettting back to pop(like maybe an hr or so after park closing, might not be that long but it might) if you plan on waiting to eat there.



We probably will eat in the parks, but at counter service. Even at home we don't like to spend hours at sit down restaurants when we have things to do.

 

[alicenwonder99]

It looks good.

Here's my suggestions:

Stay at AK for the parade, go back to POP for a quick swim or just a change and go to the 7:15pm HDDR. I really like the AK parade. Or if you don't want to do that (you can see the AK on your next trip), make sure you stay at FW after HDDR and go check out the campfire/movie. It's free, it's fun, and your children would like it. You could also take the wagon ride at FW. That's a nice, relaxing thing to do.

Also, maybe you should rethink not doing a sit-down restaurant for dinner at Epcot. Your are going to be there ALL day. Your family is going to need an hour at least to just sit and relax. The Teppyanki (sp?) in Japan is a fun restaurant for families. They cook at your table and the chefs are very entertaining. We had a blast there on our last trip.

I've never stayed at POP before. This upcoming trip of ours will be our first at POP. But I can't imagine it taking 75 minutes to get to the parks from POP. We stayed at FW cabins last trip and the longest it took us to get to a park was MK. It took 1 hour to get there from the time we left our cabin, until the time we stepped through the turnstyle. But that was walking to the bus stop from our FAR AWAY cabin, waiting for a bus, getting to the dock, waiting for the boat, taking the 35 minute boat ride to MK's dock, then walking to the turnstyle. Maybe someone who stayed at POP can confirm how long it takes to get to the parks. Because I would think if you left at 8:00 or 8:15am that would give you enough time to get to the parks at opening. That would give a few more minutes to either let the kids sleep later, or to eat a quick breakfast at POP (or in your room).

I'll be looking for your trip report.

Have a great time.

Mary

 

[addicted2disney]

You probably dont need to be at Epcot that early either. Even though wishes is at 8, it wont be over until about 8:30. I bet you arent getting back to POP until 9:30. If you grab fast passes for Soaring and Test Track, you will still get to do alot without having to be there at 9 am. Id get to Epcot a littler later ( I would get up at 6am to get there by 9) and stay all night and watch Illuminations. We always like to hop over to Epcot on days MK and AK close erly!

Since this is your first time there, your "get up eat and leave by 7:45" may start to change by mid week.. lol ... WDW is tiring!! Even in the off season.

What time is Fantasmic? If MGM isnt crowded that day ( if the waits for TOT and RNRC are like 15-20 minutes or less) you wont need to get to Fantasmic all that early. Id say 45 minutes tops.. ( if its not crowded ). We never go earlier than that for our off season trips.

As for a sit down dinner in Epcot.. check out the dinner menu's before you book a sit down. First, they are expensive meals. Second, when we looked at menus for sit downs in Canada and Mexico, my 12 yo DD said.. ew... Im not eating ANY of that. So we did counter services instead. You can still make a counter service dinner last as long as a sit down. Eat slow, talk to each other, look at maps, and autograph books, pressed pennies ( our new favorite thing to do... press pennies). Get dessert..

I think your kids will love all the parades! Especially since its their first time! How exciting!

 

[addicted2disney]

Ive stayed at POP, and although the bus ride alone wont take all that long.. you will get dropped off at one of the furthest away bus stops, and then you have to walk to entrance, get through bag search at security, and then the ticket line. So if you are determined to be there before 9, I guess 7:45 would be good.

Personally, I could NEVER do that.. LOL.. We arent even to the food court for breakfast that early. Except for DH, we are not morning people!!

But I think your itinerary sounds good!!

 

[magicaldisney]

Also, take into consideration, that when you leave a park at closing.....everyone else is leaving at closing. This means that the time to get back to your resort could take quiet some time.

It takes time to exit the park and time to catch a bus back to the resort. You could never wait in line for a bus, but you could also wait in line 30 mintues or more. I had a friend who stayed at the POP in March. She waited an hour for a bus at the end of Illuminations. OUCH!! (This also happened to us last year at POR. Crabby kids, crabby parents...not a pretty sight)

Either way, what I'm trying to say, is that you could be arriving back to your resort later than you were hoping to.

Have a great trip!!

 

[Skroops]

Great schedule!
Now don't be too upset if your family decides to sleep in a bit or change a bit of it. Think of it as an outline...
You will have such a great time! Now that you have your basic plan, let go and enjoy the experience! You're all set!!

 

[lfama]

You guys may get a little bored at Epcot from 9am-9pm. It does take a long time to walk around all the countries and wait for the rides and such, but I find that Epcot is mostly walking around and looking at things (which the little ones may not enjoy so much.)

Also, I just want to suggest to you that if you plan on going on Test Track, Mission: Space, and/or Soarin', do those before breakfast, or atleast grab a fast pass as early as you can as waits for those rides are usually very long. (Especially TT, they usually run out of fp's by noon and their waits are often 1 1/2 - 2 hours!)