I am stressing out about my touring plan!!

[jacobsmommy]

We will be at WDW from May 30-June 5th staying at Port Orleans Riverside. Our plane lands at MCO at 11:55. We have the dining plan. It'll be me, dh, 13 yo ds, and 9 yo dd. As of right now we are not doing park hoppers.

On our arrival day we are going to DHS. I plan to get FP for Star Tours, TSMM, and TOT (for ds and I). I am hoping there will be Fantastic FP available after we use our 3. We will do counter service that afternoon/evening.

The first full day (May 31) will be an Epcot day. I plan to get FP for Soarin and two other rides. We will attempt Test Track at park opening. We have an ADR for Via Napoli at 5:05. I think we decided not to see Illuminations, so should I change our ADR to a lunch one or leave it the same and take a break during the day for swimming at the resort? If we had park hoppers we could hop to DHS to see the Star Wars fireworks show...

The next day (June 1) will be a Magic Kingdom day. I will probably get a FP for Splash (ds and dh) while dd and I FP Enchanted Tales with Belle, SDMT, and Peter Pan. We have an ADR for Crystal Palace at 12:00 and we will take a break and stay for fireworks that night.

The next day (June 2) we will be at Animal Kingdom. We have an ADR at 8:10 for Tusker House and an ADR at Rainforest Cafe at 5:15. I will probably try for a FP for the Avatar boat ride, Dinosaur, and KRR. We will take a mid-day break. We will probably stay late to see Avatar in the dark and Rivers of Light.

The next day (June 3) will be an Epcot day. We will get a FP for FEA and two other things. We will try to do Soarin at rope drop. We have a Bon Voyage ADR for 10:40. We will leave early afternoon for a break and then head to Disney Springs.

The next day (June 4) is a Magic Kingdom day. We have an ADR for Chef Mickey's at 1:10. I plan to get a FP for Splash (ds and me) and Haunted Mansion (dh and dd), Space (ds and me) and Speedway (dh and dd), and POTC.

The departure day (June 5) is a Magic Kingdom day. We have an ADR for 1900 Park Fare at 11:10. I'm not sure what to get FP for??? Our flight leaves MCO at 7:30, so we will have a decent amount of park time that day.

Overall how does my plan sound? I keep stressing about it and wanting to change things...

 

[Tomh]

Your plans sound pretty crowded, and tight for time to me . . . for example

"The departure day (June 5) is a Magic Kingdom day. We have an ADR for 1900 Park Fare at 11:10. I'm not sure what to get FP for??? Our flight leaves MCO at 7:30, so we will have a decent amount of park time that day."

You don't mention whether you are traveling from somewhere here in the states, or abroad. If from the states, it is likely that your magic express pickup will be about 4:30 . .. if from abroad, probably closer to 3:30.

Assuming 4:30, you will need to leave MK around 3:00 to be sure you get out to the bus stop, and back to your resort in time. Park opens at 9:00 . . . you have to be at GF by 10:50 or so, means you have to leave the park just a bit after 10:00, so you'll get an hour or so in the morning. After lunch (figure at least an hour, usually longer) you go back to the park, it is at least 12:30 now probably later, so you have 2.5 hours at best, for a total of 3.5 hours, or more likely closer to 3 hours. That goes by pretty quickly!

First day you are considering mid day break, the back to the park for a 5:05 dinner, then not staying for Illuminations (perhaps the best evening show in Disney). Maybe this plan will work well for you, but to me, overall, it sounds like a LOT of running back and forth, trying to cram in things that don't fit, and not much in the way of time to actually experience attractions, and enjoy yourself.

 

[Klayfish]

I'm really not the best at these kinds of plans, because we simply don't make them like that. We're very much the freestyle types. I'm not coming in here to say that planning is wrong, if that's what works for you, do it. The only reason I'm posting is I feel sad when I see people post, especially in bold, how stressed they are. WDW is supposed to be fun, it's supposed to be a vacation. Don't stress over it. From what I'm reading, your plan sounds fine, but I'm not the foremost expert. But even if it isn't "perfect", so what? Make the best plans you can and enjoy whatever happens. You could plan until the cows come home, then you arrive and it rains, or rides break, or who knows what. If you're already stressed about plans and that stuff happens, IMO it can lead to disaster. Best advice I have is to not get worked up over it. Go ahead and plan the best you can, but be happy with it and be ready to be flexible if things don't go exactly as scheduled. It's OK, you're still in WDW regardless.

 

[sharonabe]

Is swimming and/or breaks back at the resort important to your family? If not, I'd use the plan you've already made for most days, and use a lunch ADR for your "break." This would only mean changing your 8:10 Tusker ADR to a lunch ADR.

You would still have a couple days to do the pool: May 31 leave things as they are (but we would stay for Illuminations). If you still don't want to see Illuminations, just get in line for your favorite ride around 8:55 and get in one last fun trip.
June 1 you don't have any ADRs, so if they want to swim again, take the break as planned.
June 3 is another swim aftenoon

Departure day is going to be more busy than you think. Getting up, packed, out of the room, and bags checked will take some time in the morning. You'll be lucky to be at MK by 9:00, and then need to be pretty close to the entrance/exit by 10:30 to get over to your ADR. You should be back in MK around 12:30-12:45, but as pp said, you will need to be headed back out by 3:00, if you're taking ME back to the airport.

 

[jacobsmommy]

I am trying to figure out if I should change our Via Napoli adr to a lunch one in case we don't want to head back to Epcot after our break.

Also, we have one extra ADR right now. We may decide to get rid of the last morning breakfast. I just thought that would be nice since we have never eaten breakfast at 1900 Park Fare.

We have a domestic flight home.

 

[danielocha30]

I like your plan, drop the stress if it gets done great if it doesn't it's great also!! my only advice do not plan everything around a ADR I would leave a day free of ADR to be relaxed and leave room for improvisation

 

[Surgie2]

Your plan would be way too many ADRs for our family. For our 8-day stay we will have a maximum of 3-4 ADRs for the whole week. Much prefer the flexibility of QS restaurants or grabbing something at the resort. I would definitely not do Rainforest Cafe (at all). If you just keep TH as your only ADR on June 2, then that opens up the whole rest of your day to do as you please and not be tied to getting to DS in time for 5:15 dinner. There are plenty of places to pick up a QS meal.

For your final day, I would drop the Park Fare ADR (or switch it to another day if it is a must-do for you). Then you have the flexibility to spend as much time at MK as you can and still get to your flight.

Your kids are older than our grandkids, but for our grandkids, they don't enjoy sitting for TS meals so we'll keep it to a minimum. And for me, it isn't relaxing to live by the clock on vacation. We'll have to for FP+ to minimize waits but we'll balance that with a minimum of ADRs so we aren't constantly asking ourselves - where do we have to be next and when!

 

[gumbo1009]

I agree w Surgie2 about the # of ADRs - do you have free dining? If not, you may want to reconsider some of the ADRs to give yourselves more flexibility. First time my family went, we had a lot of ADRs, due to free dining, and I began to harbor a grudge at our ADRs! Since that time, I have not used the dining plan (and have minimized the number of ADRs).

 

[jacobsmommy]

I think I am going to change our Via Napoli reservation to a lunchtime one. That will free up our evening on our first Epcot day. I also think I will get rid of our 1900 Park Fare reservation on our last day. We would have had to pay for one meal anyways. We will have two other breakfasts on different days at the parks. Does that make my plan look less hectic?

 

[ariane37]

I rarely tell someone they have too many ADR's because we normally have at least one TS a day. However, nobody has mentioned June 3rd yet. You want to try doing Soarin' at RD and then have the Bon Voyage breakfast on the BW at 10:40. You'll have to head out of FW very shortly after 10 to get through WS and over to Trattoria. Then you want to do a mid day break, but by the time you get done with the breakfast it'll most likely be near 12. Will you go back into Epcot then for a bit and then leave again for a break? Then go to DS after your break? If you go back to Epcot after Trattoria that's just a lot of traveling. If you don't, it's only like an hour in Epcot that day so maybe skip DS and return to Epcot that night
Also, I do like having a nice TS meal on departure day and 1900 PF breakfast would be fun, but I agree with pp's that the time you have it especially will make your day weird. Any chance you can get an early time?

 

[jacobsmommy]

I changed our Via Napoli reservation to an 11:50 time on the same day. I think I'll switch our Disney Springs evening to the first Epcot day and on the second Epcot day we will stay longer at Epcot after our late breakfast. I'm going to try to get an earlier time for our last day breakfast. If not, it won't be the end of the world.

So now we will have our first afternoon/evening at DHS with no ADR and seeing Fantasmic, our first full day will be Epcot with Via Napoli ADR at 11:50/early afternoon at Epcot and Disney Springs that evening, our second day will be MK with ADR at Crystal Palace at 12:00/break/fireworks, the third day will be AK with Tusker House ADR at 8:10 and Rainforest Cafe at 5:15 with possibly nighttime show, next day will be Epcot with Bon Voyage breakfast at 10:40 and then as long as we want at Epcot, next day will be MK with Chef Mickeys at 1:10 and stay at MK for awhile after that, departure day will get rid of 1900 Park Fare unless we can get an earlier time and spend some time at MK. Less hectic now?

 

[JadeDarkstar]

also check express bus out my family and I are loving what this bus will mean for us. I will have adrs at BOG, a F meal (Hollywood and Vine ) , crystal palace, the german place for Candle Light dinner, and the Polly dinner show (might be our arrival night) might do a few more but right now these are my must do's/ wants. I have also been warned when and how many adrs to make. I am trying to plan them for times I wouldn't be losing to much park time. Or use them as a afternoon rest from sun heat and crowds.