Just booked first Disney Vacation

[levenhopper]

Hey all-
Long time lurker, first time poster. I just booked my first WDW vacation, and wanted to see if anyone has any tips of things to see off the beaten path. I have a rough outline of what we'll be doing, but am open to new ideas!! I'm traveling with my best friend (both of us are college-aged).

Travel: 12/15/12-12/21/12, staying at Art of Animation (with Disney Dining plan).

Sat: Flight lands at 10:00AM. Get to AoA, head to EPCOT for a few hours. Cirque du Soleil at 6PM, dinner at T-Rex after.
Sunday: EPCOT. Dinner at Via Napoli. Illuminations at night.
Monday: Animal Kingdom. Dinner at 1900 Park Fare. Disney Boardwalk after (maybe Jellyrolls).
Tuesday: Magic Kingdom. Dinner at 'Ohana (will try to move to Be Our Guest once they start taking reservations). Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.
Wednesday: Magic Kingdom. Seas Aqua Tour at EPCOT at 12:30PM. Dinner at Crystal Palace. Parade and Wishes Fireworks at night.
Thursday: Hollywood Studios. Lunch at Sci-Fi Dine-In. Fantasmic! and Osborne Family lights at night.
Friday: Hollywood Studios. Flight leaves at 5:45PM.

I'm trying to reach that fine line between planning enough where we'll get to experience as much as possible, but not going overboard with planning. My goal is to get ADRs finalized this week/next week before booking gets hard, so I can just relax and look forward to the trip .

I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's suggestions!

 

[deakam]

From what I have read you are doing a lot of bouncing back and forth. Travel time is wasted time as far as I am concerned. Are you driving or using Disney transportation?

Magical Express for a 5:45 pm flight will be about 3pm. You do not want to miss your scheduled bus. They may not be able to fit you on another.

 

[levenhopper]

From what I have read you are doing a lot of bouncing back and forth. Travel time is wasted time as far as I am concerned. Are you driving or using Disney transportation?

Magical Express for a 5:45 pm flight will be about 3pm. You do not want to miss your scheduled bus. They may not be able to fit you on another.

I was trying to avoid doing a lot of bouncing, because we'll be using Disney transportation...day one has the most, I think. Besides that, Sunday is EPCOT, Monday is AK all day until it closes, Tuesday is MK with monorail to dinner and back, Wednesday is MK except monorail to EPCOT for tour, Thursday is Hollywood Studio, and Friday is just a quick AM, planning on getting back to AoA in plenty of time for the bus. However, it might make for a good excuse to go back to the park if we miss it

 

[moobar25]

Not sure what kind of tickets you are using (base, park hopper or annual pass) - your plan is all over the place. I like to optimize my ticket (hoper): go to 2 parks in a day & schedule park restaurants on those days. If not going to park use resort restaurants. Also the day of MNSSHP I usually skip the parks during the day and relax at pool. This way don't waste a ticket and pay extra for party at night.
Try to keep in same area to save time traveling. Go to Epcot & Hollywood Studios the same day- can walk from one to other. Love the monorail & hate the bus.

 

[levenhopper]

Not sure what kind of tickets you are using (base, park hopper or annual pass).

We're using base passes.

Any ideas on how to cut down on the hopping? So far, the only things we've paid for are the hotel, flights, Cirque tickets (Sat. PM), MVMCP (Tuesday PM), and Seas Aqua Tour (which is refundable).

 

[Brave]

Hey all-
Long time lurker, first time poster. I just booked my first WDW vacation, and wanted to see if anyone has any tips of things to see off the beaten path. I have a rough outline of what we'll be doing, but am open to new ideas!! I'm traveling with my girlfriend (both of us are college-aged).

Travel: 12/15/12-12/21/12, staying at Art of Animation (with Disney Dining plan).

Sat: Flight lands at 10:00AM. Get to AoA, head to EPCOT for a few hours. Cirque du Soleil at 6PM, dinner at T-Rex after.
Sunday: EPCOT. Dinner at Via Napoli. Illuminations at night.
Monday: Animal Kingdom. Dinner at 1900 Park Fare. Disney Boardwalk after (maybe Jellyrolls).
Tuesday: Magic Kingdom. Dinner at 'Ohana (will try to move to Be Our Guest once they start taking reservations). Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.
Wednesday: Magic Kingdom. Seas Aqua Tour at EPCOT at 12:30PM. Dinner at Crystal Palace. Parade and Wishes Fireworks at night.
Thursday: Hollywood Studios. Lunch at Sci-Fi Dine-In. Fantasmic! and Osborne Family lights at night.
Friday: Hollywood Studios. Flight leaves at 5:45PM.

I'm trying to reach that fine line between planning enough where we'll get to experience as much as possible, but not going overboard with planning. My goal is to get ADRs finalized this week/next week before booking gets hard, so I can just relax and look forward to the trip .

I'm looking forward to hearing everyone's suggestions!

I'd be looking for that Ohana reservation NOW. There is probably little to no availability left at ohana right now on a MVMCP night. Also, the October - December free dining discount are supposed to be released next week, July 12, and once those free dining date are released the character meals and popular meals that aren't already booked up, will book up VERY quickly.

Another tip, if you could move your check in date to December 13 (the last date of this year's December free dining) you and your friend would save about about $600.00 off the cost of your trip.

 

[levenhopper]

I'd be looking for that Ohana reservation NOW. There is probably little to no availability left at ohana right now on a MVMCP night. Also, the October - December free dining discount are supposed to be released next week, July 12, and once those free dining date are released the character meals and popular meals that aren't already booked up, will book up VERY quickly.

Another tip, if you could move your check in date to December 13 (the last date of this year's December free dining) you and your friend would save about about $600.00 off the cost of your trip.

I already have ADRs for everything I've mentioned And I saw that post about free dining stays, but the last day of the promo is in the middle of my finals week for college...and looking at the schedule for finals week, there's no way I'd be able to adjust three finals to get to Disney in time. I just keep telling myself I'd only be saving closer to $400 by the time we upgraded to the standard dining....

 

[moobar25]

Since u're using base tickets (one park) I'd revise your plan - just so u get the most use for the money.
Sat: if using magical express you're getting to hotel by 12pm, I'd skip Epcot and relax by pool instead & then go DTD early and enjoy the sights there. Trying to fit Epcot in & the bussing time, you may be rushing places.
Tue: I'd do a water park during day (TL my favorite- crusher gusher), you'll be at MK at night on a special ticket anyways. Also if you make dinner reservations close to 5.30-6.30pm you can get in w/o using a park ticket. Just go to gate with party ticket & show dinner reservations- they'll let you in early with a wristband. This way you finish dinner in time for party. This is what we do each time.

Also check magic hours for each park - very helpful.

 

[MikeyTex]

I am planning on staying at AoA next Spring! Welcome!! You will have a great time!!!

 

[moobar25]

Correction on my previous post:
For Halloween & Christmas party tickets: the party is from 7pm-12am but you can go into the park as early as 4pm (even without dinner reservations). I found the rules on these special tickets on one of the forums here.
This means that you get extra few hours in the park with just this ticket- this way you can save the regular park ticket for a full day.

 

[levenhopper]

Correction on my previous post:
For Halloween & Christmas party tickets: the party is from 7pm-12am but you can go into the park as early as 4pm (even without dinner reservations). I found the rules on these special tickets on one of the forums here.
This means that you get extra few hours in the park with just this ticket- this way you can save the regular park ticket for a full day.

We thought of that, but wanted to do MK all day on Tuesday, because we're missing a good chunk of it on Wednesday due to going to the Seas Aqua tour (which is at EPCOT). So we thought we'd go for EMH in the AM, the go back to AoA for a mid-day break before dinner.

 

[Metro West]

Welcome!