Itinerary Help Please!

[brandip22]

Hey gang, I am having issues, as many are, with my itinerary. I started off this week really well, making my 90-day ADRs and then, bam, the week just got away from me and I don't know when to go where and what to do!
Here's the scoop: Dh (30), DS (3), DNeice (10), and I (30) will be going to WDW Saturday, Sept 3- Friday Sept 9- staying in a 2 BR Villa at BWV. We are DVC members. We'll be driving from Baton Rouge, LA, leaving Friday, 9/2, at about 4:30-5 PM. We'll drive to Lake City. FL and have a ressie at the Ramada. We have 6-day premium tickets and don't plan on visiting any park on Friday, but could add a day, no biggie either way. Here's the rest so far:

Sat, 9/3/05- Wake up about 7AM, dress, get free b-fast and on our way- hopefully by 8, 9 at the latest. I think it's a 3 1/2 hour drive to Orlando from there, so we should arrive by 12:30 or 1:00 at the latest. We will try to check in- already have tickets, so doesn't matter too much if we can't. Plan on getting lunch at Spoodles Pizza or whatever- really flexible here. May go to the pool or to EPCOT- just depends on everyone's mood and energy level. (IE, is my 3-year being sweet or does he need some rest?) We do have 6:00 Ressies for Chef Mickey's. We tend to eat early, but I was worried with timing for any earlier today.
Sun, 9/4/05- Magic Kingdom today! Have a 12:00 ressie for CRT. No other plans at this point.
Monday- 9/5/05- MGM day today. Not sure it will take the whole day since we have a little one. We will be doing naps/breaks, so we can go back at night or not. I'd like to do Fantasmic, but not sure if we should do it tonight or we dhould hop over to another park.

Tuesday- 9/6/05- Typhoon Lagoon Day- we'll probably get there early as opening. Ifigure we'll stay there until about 2. Dont' know what to do here. We have the tickets and could go to a park, also thought of doing Whispering Canyon tonight. We want to do it some night, just not sure when.

Wednesday, 9/7/05- AK- again, not sure how long a day this will be. So far, I'm thinking we'll go early have an early lunch at Rainforest and then see whatever else. We have $50 in GC for them and kids will love it, so we for sure want to eat there. Should we make ressies- how slow is slow enough not to have to? We could then go back and nap and have dinner in villa that night. Then what? Maybe EPCOT for night time. This could be a late night.

Thursday , 9/8/05- MK day again- hoping for Spectro and wishes tonight
OK, I know there's not a lot of EPCOT here, but I'm leaning to that on Saturday and Wednesday evenings. I do want to do the night shows- fantsmic, spectro, wishes, etc, but with no schedule up yet, have no idea how to plan for this. Any help is appreciated!

 

[brandip22]

Update- I just made more ADRs:
Sat 9/3- CM @ 6:00
Sun 9/4- CRT@12
Mon 9/5- MGM day- no plan yet
Tue 9/6- WC@5:30
Wed 9/7- RFC@11:15
Thu 9/8- CP@5:10

What ya think?

 

[lllovell]

You seem to be taking the 3 year old's schedule into your planning and obviously know that he will sometimes be ok and sometimes not be ok (I find my boys now 3 and 5 last much LONGER at WDW than other places and as long as they are good, we keep going).

I wouldn't over plan, but I know the busier months it is much better to have some meals set so that you can get in as quickly as possible (realizeing that PS are not ressies, blah blah blah and all that jazz Disney tells us).

It sounds like your plans are great to me. I tend to stick with one PS a day, eating breakfast in the room simply because too many restaurants in a day makes the boys prone to bad behavior.

(if you have been often - forgive the rest of this post as I am sure you know all this)

I also think that MGM can be an all day park, but the timing of those shows seem impossible at times! Your Niece will enjoy Beauty and the Beast and your son will enjoy Bear - hopefully both will like the more middle of the road things like Lil Mermaid and Backlot tour, etc. We have often spent all day at MGM doing all the shows (the boys LOVE Indiana Jones and do NOT miss the new car stunt show...my 3 year old FLIPPED out over this show and wanted to go back every day after that on our last trip). Fantasmic is about Mickey's nigthmare and is scary for some. It is a family fav for us, but not all small children by a long shot.

We also can make a pretty full day out of Animal Kingdom. There is lots to do and see there that often gets over looked. Do the different shows (Tarzan is rumored to be going bye bye, so maybe take that one in while you are there this time....again - I was surprised, but my boys loved the action). Of course the Lion King, Safari, the train to Rafiki's planet watch, Dino Land and the boneyard, etc. The closing early usually allows us to catch Spectro or some other nighttime show if it is not happening on our "MK" night for example.

Have fun!

 

[brandip22]

Thanks lllovell. I've been a few times, but not since our HM in 2000. So, first time for us with kids! I plan to take it as DS can handle it. He normally goes forever when we are at other parks, but I'mplanning on him getting tired, just in case. I will hope that DN and DH will come in for a break, but I can take Ds myself if need be, so we are all ok with that. I think that the shows at MGM will be the hardest part. DH just saw my schedule so far and is quite upset that EPCOT isn't specifically included. So, Im thinking we can switch Typhoon Lagoon to Monday and do MGM that night. Then do EPCOT Tuesday with WC for dinner break? Still not totally sure. Plus, DH mentioned he thought we were staying an extra night. So, maybe I can get that in as well. That would help a lot. I'm wondering how difficult it would be to get a 1 BR this late (we'll go down from a 2BR) and move to SSR. It'd only be 20 points for the Friday night vs 60 of we stay where we are. Or maybe even move over to one of the All Stars? HMMM

 

[lllovell]

lol - its hard figuring it all out isn't it?

We do EPCOT about every other trip. There are some things there our boys love (Test Track, Living Seas, Journey into Imagination, and Spaceship EArth) and I really really think you should see Soarin if you can (my3 year old didnt want to - but we have a rule about trying things first....he loved it while we were on the ride but said he didnt like it afterwards - of course - he was in a mood and didnt like ANYTHING that day). We actually did the boat ride in the land this time and they enjoyed that along with the movie with the Lion King characters in it (about Man making a mess of the world).

Mostly after that, there is nothing there of interest to them. They are patient and ride around in the stroller if we choose to explore the countries, but really, they would much rather be doing something fun. Illuminations is a must see one night on our trip and it usually comes in conjuntion with our day at AK. The down side of only going in the evening is that the rides are super jammed packed, so we ONLY go for illuminations if we are going at night.

Last trip, we did EPCOT early to make sure we did Soarin....rode the monorail to MK, did Fantasy and Tomorrow lands and then back to Illuminations for the evening shows. We are spoiled though, since I KNOW we will be back again, so if we miss something, its no biggie. This way, we hit the boy's favorites (sometimes more than once) and everyone is happy.

 

[gopherit]

Are your ds and dn water-lovers? My trio of kids are, and we found that after a day at a WDW water park, they were SPENT!

You may want to keep the evening of the water park day flexible and low-key... like a walk over to EPCOT just for Illuminations, maybe choose a dinner closer to your resort or within EPCOT? (Most kids like Teppanyaki for its activity... or Garden Grille... or maybe Beaches and Cream, but avoid prime dinner time -- small place with long waits!) As I recall, on our water park days, the family sort of collapsed in a heap in the villa... we ended up dining in on those nights!

I would also suggest, if you have a child that gets edgy as he tires, that you consider a FANTASMIC dinner package. At least then you won't feel like you have to secure a seat an hour in advance, and then wait... and wait... and wait for the show. My kids HATE waiting for Fantasmic! Last trip, we had DH scout ahead and save some seats, and I brought the kids 30 minutes later. It cut the kids' waiting time in half, but if it's a busy night, folks gets peeved at you for doing this!

Don't be afraid to divide and conquer! You have 2 diverse age groups -- you may find that your 10 yr old dn wants one thing and your ds wants another. We find it's easier, in those cases, to split up and rejoin over a meal! It makes for great conversation, too, as each party relates their experiences, and everyone feels like they got to do just a bit more of what they wanted that way. My 10 yr old LOVES EPCOT, and my 8 yr old thinks MGM is the best, so while MK is probably tops for the wee ones, don't wholly discount the pull of the other parks (especially as your ds gets older).

LASTLY -- I see you have parks scheduled every day. You may find it behooves you to throw in what we like to call a "do nothing" day (or as my DH jokingly calls it, "Deliberately Scheduled SPontaneous Fun" days. Little legs walk 3 steps to our every 1, and while sometimes it seems they go and go like energizer bunnies, they also crash worse than computers if overloaded with excitement and activity! On our do-nothing days, we usually spend time at the pool, expolre the resort, check out DTD (my kids think it is the 5th park, LOL!) We take some sandwiches with us and let the kids wear their bathing suits under some clothes over there. THey play in LEGO land, do some shopping in the toy store, then play in the fountains. We dry off and eat our snack, lunch (a Ghirardelli sundae is a great finish!) They also have a venodr there selling the usual array of frozen kid-sized goodies (like itsakadoozies and ice cream bars and such). SOmetimes we also check out other resorts, decide where we want our next trip to be! And for other fun, we might, say, dine at WCC and then pool-hop afterwards, or maybe sleep in that morning and have a late character b'fast over at Cape May. I believe character b'fasts are BEST on a do-nothing day -- you can really "tank up" on some good food, characters are great, and you can relax and enjoy without feeling like you have to rush off to the parks!

Good luck with your planning -- the simple reality of it, however, is that there is NEVER enough time (and NEVER enough points!) Pick out the top 5 or 10 things each person realllllly wants to do, plan for those, and consider everything else you do "gravy" and anything you DON'T do -- well, that's your reason to COME BACK!

 

[brandip22]

Thanks guys. I think I'm stressing too much over it! Unless WDW makes some major changes to schedules, I think we'll leave things as is for now. Yes, DH & DN are water lovers. I think they'll be quite tired after the waterpark. We have one here at home and they come home, rest and then go back to our "theme" park that night. So, I am pretty sure they'll have energy for more. But, since that's now the "nothing planned" day, we'll just decide later what to do that night. Probably DTD or DQ even.