Iteinerary Critique Please

[IGetAKickOutOfFlik]

First-timer to WDW here, going with my wife and 3 kids – DD9, DS8 and DS4. I’ve done a fair amount of research here, in Birnbaums, and in UG, here’s what I’ve come up with. I’m going June 17 to June 24, so I’m not sure how much I can move things around at this date, although I really haven’t had too much trouble getting PS as recently as yesterday, so I probably still have some flexibility. Any feedback is appreciated, thanks.

A couple overall comments:
-general approach is to hit the parks early each day, return to the hotel (Beach Club) for swimming/naps mid-day, then return to the parks early evening.
-for simplicity’s sake more than anything, as of now I have us returning each evening to the park we went to that morning, not sure if that’s a great idea or not. So for each day below, I’ve shown the day as being split between that day’s park and Stormalong Bay (Beach Club pool).
-given that I do intend to shuttle back and forth between the parks and hotel pretty frequently, my current thinking is to rent a car and use that when practical rather than Disney transportation.
-I know there’s some disagreement on this board on this point, but I’ve taken the approach of avoiding the EMH park each day…so far.
-I’ve tried to leave a decent amount of open time for rest or to give us the flexibility to return to areas that we liked the best.


Friday (arrival day) – arrive at airport 11:40AM, check in. Family spends the day at Stormalong Bay, I join them after an appointment with the folks at Disney Vacation Club.
Dinner – 5:45PM, Yachtsman
Illuminations cruise that night, then to bed or maybe check out the Boardwalk for a little while

Saturday – EPCOT/Stormalong, with 5:45PM dinner at Tepanyaki. Evening is open (continue touring EPCOT, or see Illuminations again, or go to Boardwalk or Downtown Disney)

Sunday – character breakfast at Breakfastosaurus at 8AM, then spend the day at Animal Kingdom. If the family can hold out, I’d be inclined to stay there until we’ve done whatever we want, rather than shuttle back and forth to the hotel. The hope is that we’re “done” with AK in time for dinner at Spoodle’s at 5:30PM, the evening is open.

Monday – character breakfast at Cape May at 8:40AM, might skip it though and get to MGM early. Spend morning at MGM, then back to hotel, then back to MGM for 4:20 early dinner at Brown Derby, followed by more time at MGM and into Fantasmic.

Tuesday – Magic Kingdom, finally. Dinner at Concourse Steakhouse, 5:30PM.

Wednesday – wide open. Will spend the day doing some combination of EPCOT/Downtown Disney, maybe even MGM. Dinner at San Angel Inn at 5:45PM.

Thursday – back to MK, character lunch at Crystal Palace, 11:35AM.

Friday – open, departing from Orlando Airport at 7:50PM.

Like I said, this is our first trip to WDW, so any suggestions are appreciated.

 

[maxiesmom]

It looks good to me. You have plenty of breaks scheduled. I would maybe try to get to MK earlier in the week given the ages of your little-ones. And that is one park you definately need to be at at open if you want to do Dumbo. Are you sure you want to try that after a late night at Fantasmic?

 

[ciera321]

It looks really good to me. The only thing I would say is that AK is a park that seems (probably sounds strange) to be hotter. I would recommend a break that day and you could return on Tuesday the 21st for EMH and spend more time there then. The EMH at AK is the slowest of all EMH evenings and it is very peaceful and relaxing...We really enjoyed having such low crowds last week at AK for EMH!!! Have a wonderful time.

 

[Amirah95]

Perfecto! Are you going back to MK after Concourse?

 

[peanutgirl]

We are going to Concouse then back to MK. Is there a prefered way to do this?

THANKS,
PEANUTGIRL

 

[Amirah95]

I was wondering because you'll miss the night shows. LOL! I thought maybe you weren't returning. Silly me! You're good!

 

[IGetAKickOutOfFlik]

Thanks a ton for the feedback. I missed that Fantasmic/MK combo, could be tough to get the troops moving the morning after Fantasmic. I gotta' noodle with that one a little bit.

I intentionally left MK until well into the trip, not sure if that's advisable or not. UG recommends seeing the park in the sequence I used for firstt-imers (EPCOT, then AK, then MGM, then MK), the thinking being that once the little guys see MK everything else is a letdown. That made some sense to me, and the EPCOT/AK/MGM/MK sequence seemed to fit in fairly well in terms of avoiding EMHs and avoiding certain parks on their most crowded days, so I went with it. Not married to it by any means, if anyone thinks that's a bad idea, I'd certainly be interested in hearing why.

I'll play AK by ear - if everyone's starting to drag, then cutting it short and returning for evening EMH later in the week sounds like a good idea.

Thanks again.

 

[Amirah95]

the thinking being that once the little guys see MK everything else is a letdown.

I've heard that somewhere before and it seems logical at your child's age this can happen! You're plans are fine.