Itinerary help for a first timer....Please?!?!

[DisneyNic]

My family(DH, DD, DS, and my mom and dad) and I are going to WDW for the first time in Sept. I am an extreme overplanner and overthinker. I have had our (rough) itinerary set pretty much from the moment we booked our WDW package. But now I am having a little freak out. Could some of you pros give me your advice??

Fri Sept 18---Arrive at MCO 4pm, Eat at foodcourt (ASsp) and just relax
Sat Sept 19---AK
Sun Sept 20---Getting a rental car and spending the day in Cape Canaveral
Mon Sept 21---Epcot
Tues Sept 22---MK and MNSSHP
Wed Sept 23---DHS
Thurs Sept 24---Whatever park we choose
Fri Sept 25---MK
Sat Sept 26---Whatever park we choose
Sun Sept 27---Whatever park we choose in morning, Fly out of MCO 5pm

Obviously, some of it might change when the Sept schedule is released. So here is what I am most concerned about (although I welcome opinions/advice on any of it.) Tues will be our first day at MK and I know we will all want to be there at RD, but will that make it a REALLY long day to then be at MNSSHP all night?? Should we move Epcot to later in the week and hit MK on Mon and then again (but much lighter) on Tues before MNSSHP?? Or something completely different that I am not thinking of?? Thanks in advance for any help/advice. I am trying to research as much as I can to make this vacation great, but some of it is just really overwhelming because I want this to be a really great trip for all of us. Thanks again!!!

 

[geffric]

Will you have park hoppers or one day one park tickets??

 

[OB1]

That MK day is a killer. Unless your family runs marathons, I'm not sure you can make it - especially after a full day at EPCOT. It does depend on how late you plan on staying for MNSSHP. If you do keep your schedule, then your next day will probably need to be a half day at best, with plenty of rest. You will lose 1/2 a day someplace.
You can show to the party at 4:00 - giving you 4-midnight. Consider making the party day a half day and do not hit the parks that day and just chill.

 

[dizzi]

Without putting my thought into your itenerary yet.....
My first thought is

YES that from ROPE DROP to End of MNSSHP is too much.

Unless you are planning to do all of your vacation commando style and somepeople can do that......I used to do that but as age has crpet up i cant and i am thinking mostly of your parents.

One bit of advice on MNSSHP

You can get in at 4PM...At least everything i have heard you still can,we did.
That means entering the gates at 4 and not leaving until after midnight that in itself is 8 hours in the park.

You can try to hit anything that closes for the MNSSHP before 6pm.

 

[dizzi]

MNSSHP day you could sleep in a bit grab a little pool time,early lunch and start getting ready for MNSSHP......If you are doing costumes....

By the time all that is done it is almost time to get ready to be there.....
Because you either have to consider the BUs wait or if you have a car, drive time to WDW, parking waiting for tram to get to the monorail, waitingon monorail, riding monorail, getting through security lines geting through ticket line.............aaaahhhh getting your MNSSHP wrist band

 

[dizzi]

Also, with this being your FIRST Trip..............How sure are you that you want to fit in a day at CAPE CANAVERAL???

Is this something that is a must must do???

I know we did this on like our 7-8 trip (hated by the way) and wished we had spent the time doing soemthing else.

If it is NOT a must and you might be loooking for "men" things to do you could always consider Wide World of SPorts or some fishing or boating things at one of the resorts.

 

[noahdove]

Could you do rope drop at MK on Friday? You don't say how old your children or your parents are so that may play into the planning. My advice tho, take your time and enjoy all moments and have a magical trip. I personally am a planner, but in my other trips, I have revamped and tossed my "plan" in the trash...And honestly, I had a much better time...enjoy this special time

 

[lfwhipp]

I will tell you what we do, for us we are a bit of commando style WDWers. our kids function very well going RD to midnight, but we always try to make sure that the next day is a later morning park for us. we will be there the week you are and will be doing DHS on Monday till about 8-9p depending on hours, Tuesday AK at RD leaving about 3pm, stopping at our hotel for CS meal and a quick rest and then to MNSSHP, Wed is MK for my sons 6th birthday, Thurs Epcot and finishing with a full on commando day on Fri MK RD till midnight at MNSSHP for our last day. hope this helps

 

[DisneyNic]

Yes, we will have park hoppers.

All of your thoughts are the exact things that have been going through my head making me rethink my itinerary.

I did consider just waiting to go to MK until 4pm and just use our MNSSHP ticket for admission. We would then have an extra day on our tickets (we have 8 days.) Would it be insane to think that we could hit MK on our arrival night (even though we don't get to MCO until 4pm) just more to look around??

Would it be crazy to go to MK around noon on MNSSHP day? That being our first experience there, would it be really busy/hot and ruin it at all for us?

My kids will be 6 and 4 and are real troopers. As long as they are going, they are going. If you do manage to get them to sit down for more than two seconds, they will fall asleep. My parents are 54 and 50 and are both in great shape, I am not worried one bit about them falling behind or getting tired.

Cape Canaveral is kind of a must for us. We spent a couple days there before our cruise last year and loved it. We want to take the kids down so they can see the beach (neither one has seen the ocean before) and we are going to Grills to have late lunch/early dinner and watch the cruise ships go out.

 

[dizzi]

when u said Cape Canaveral iwas thinkign more along the lines of, Nassa.....etc.

The beach and GRills...awesome and thankyou for the name of the place,i think DH and i will hit that place up on our trip, between Vero and Beach CLub.

I think if your kiddos are troopers a couple hours at MK when you first get in would be really cool.....What a great way to start out a trip.

Do you know the hours that day???? Can you get in for several hours i think it would be worth it!

 

[FigmentFan77]

Consider moving Cape Canaveral to later into your trip. It will give you a nice break after you're 'Disney-ed out' after a few days, and then you can go back for more 'magic'.

Have a fantastic time!!

 

[dizzi]

Probablly cant move the CC day if they want to see ship roll out

 

[DisneyNic]

I highly recommend Grills to anyone who will be in the Cape Canaveral area. It has GREAT food and a huge wooden deck to sit out on right on the waterside. Even if there is not any cruise ships going out, there are plenty of fishing boats going in and out.

We would move the CC day, we really wanted to let the kids see the cruise ships. They have never seen one in person and we thought it would be fun for them.

I think that maybe we will go to MK on Sat after AK. Going from last years hours, it will close at 5 and that will give us atleast a few hours at MK, even if we just look around. And who knows, maybe we will be lucky and find short lines (haha, yeah right) Then on MNSSHP day, we will just sleep in and relax a little in the morning and not worry about RD. Maybe go around 12 or 1. I don't know.

In Sept, how important is RD? Would we really need to be there for it when we have three more days that we could spend in MK?

Thanks again for all the help!!

 

[Mom2PrincessK]

I would recommend having a "sleep in" morning for that Tues, spend the day at the resort/swim and then go to MK and the MNSSHP early (I think you can get in as early as 4pm-5pm on the MNSSHP tix). That is close to mid-trip for you and will be a welcomed break.

Since you have several other open park days, I would do MK rope drop on one of those or the Fri you have it scheduled.

The hard ticket parties are fun, but it is a late night and you will enjoy it a lot more if you are not tired.

You have plenty of days for the parks, and I do recommend rope drop for most days but I would put 2-3 days where you sleep in (especially if you are staying out late the night before).

I would also recommend breaks mid-day, especially when you are doing rope drop. I always resisted breaks thinking I needed to be at the parks every minute and that we would "rest" in the parks. On my last two trips we took mid-day breaks and the vacation was SO much more enjoyable and relaxing (and the last trip was during Spring Break with 9/10 crowds and we got everything done we wanted to prior to noon each day.

With 8 full days you have plenty of time to see all you want AND to take it easy and rest.

HAVE FUN!