Magic Kingdom - Question Planning My Day

[Long Beach Mike]

Hi Everybody,

Once again, thank you to the board veterans for all your advice! I'm going to Disney 12/15 to 12/23, staying at the GF with my wife and 2 daughters, age 10 and 8, on the DDP.

Just a bit of background, my whole family are late risers. All our days start at the parks no earlier than 11AM, sometimes as late as 1PM, but we like staying to close. We plan on the spending the mornings enjoying the GF a bit. The hope is we will have lighter crowds in the evening, when all the rope drop crowd has left

Arrival day we will do a half day at HS, with a late dinner at Ohana at 9:30PM. Hoping all the mixed reviews of Ohana go in our favor that night!

My question is about our 1st full day at Magic Kingdom the next day. We have a pretty tight day scheduled, and I was hoping for advice on preventing burnout from bouncing all of the park.

Here's our schedule:
11:20AM - Tales with Belle FP
1PM - Crystal House Lunch ADR
2:40PM - 7DMT FP
4:30PM - BBB Reservation
6PM - Space Mountain FP
8:30PM - CRT Dinner ADR

We haven't been to Disney in 4 years, so I don't remember the size/scope of the park too well. A few questions:

1) Will walking all the way through the park to Tales with Belle, walking to Crystal House, and then back to 7DMT be too much walking from the get go?
2) How long does it take to walk from Tale with Belle to the Crystal House?
3) I was thinking of re-scheduling Tales with Belle to later in the day, say 7PM OR cancelling Belle and Space Mountain, and re-scheduling with Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain 6PM and 7PM
4) SIDE QUESTION - Should we try to have a longer comfortably paced dinner and hope to linger to be in the castle for the Wishes Fireworks, which start at 10PM, or try to eat quickly to see them outside? Will they even let us linger until fireworks, or push us out quickly? FYI, we will be at the MK 2 other nights with the opportunity to see the fireworks outside, including at the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party on 12/18.
5) If there is anything I haven't taken into consideration that could help, please let me know

I know this all may be ridiculous fine tuning, but it does seem a lot of the hard core vets on the board consider all these nuisances.

Once again, thanks for all your help!

 

[Long Beach Mike]

BTW, another alternative is too try and squeeze Tale with Belle with a 3:50-4:50PM FP, but concerned we will have to speed over to BBB. How long is the whole Tale with Belle interaction?

 

[UrsulaTime]

Touring Plans says Enchanted Tales with Belle lasts 20 minutes.

 

[siskaren]

4) SIDE QUESTION - Should we try to have a longer comfortably paced dinner and hope to linger to be in the castle for the Wishes Fireworks, which start at 10PM, or try to eat quickly to see them outside? Will they even let us linger until fireworks, or push us out quickly? FYI, we will be at the MK 2 other nights with the opportunity to see the fireworks outside, including at the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party on 12/18.

You can't see the fireworks from inside the castle.

 

[GPC0321]

It might not be possible, but if you could basically swap your ETWB and Space FP+'s, that might work out better. A little less criss-crossing of the park, and if I were a little girl getting gussied up at BBB, I'd rather go be in a play with Belle than on a wild roller coaster ride.

Regarding fireworks, are they visible from inside the restaurant? (Yes! We can see that they are!). I would think an hour and a half should be enough time to comfortably eat dinner and meet the princesses. If the fireworks are starting as you exit the castle, that seems like it could be a neat experience for your little ones too! Almost like they are for them!

 

[Long Beach Mike]

Hi GPC0321,

Thanks so much, that is the perfect solution!

I got the FPs as you suggested, and now the back end of my girls' 1st day at MK is BBB, ETWB, CRT and Wishes Fireworks!

BTW, see the review of CRT on the Disney Food Blog website, which has some nice photos of fireworks from the dining area. I am probably going to try and linger until Wishes in the castle dining area. While you certainly cannot get the full view of the show, I think it could be kind of magical to be there and hear the sounds and catch some fireworks right outside the windows. I'll be at MK 2 more evenings, including MVMCP, so I'll catch them in full view on one of these nights.

 

[JZCubed]

Hi Everybody,

Once again, thank you to the board veterans for all your advice! I'm going to Disney 12/15 to 12/23, staying at the GF with my wife and 2 daughters, age 10 and 8, on the DDP.

Just a bit of background, my whole family are late risers. All our days start at the parks no earlier than 11AM, sometimes as late as 1PM, but we like staying to close. We plan on the spending the mornings enjoying the GF a bit. The hope is we will have lighter crowds in the evening, when all the rope drop crowd has left

Arrival day we will do a half day at HS, with a late dinner at Ohana at 9:30PM. Hoping all the mixed reviews of Ohana go in our favor that night!

My question is about our 1st full day at Magic Kingdom the next day. We have a pretty tight day scheduled, and I was hoping for advice on preventing burnout from bouncing all of the park.

Here's our schedule:
11:20AM - Tales with Belle FP
1PM - Crystal House Lunch ADR
2:40PM - 7DMT FP
4:30PM - BBB Reservation
6PM - Space Mountain FP
8:30PM - CRT Dinner ADR

We haven't been to Disney in 4 years, so I don't remember the size/scope of the park too well. A few questions:

1) Will walking all the way through the park to Tales with Belle, walking to Crystal House, and then back to 7DMT be too much walking from the get go?
2) How long does it take to walk from Tale with Belle to the Crystal House?
3) I was thinking of re-scheduling Tales with Belle to later in the day, say 7PM OR cancelling Belle and Space Mountain, and re-scheduling with Splash Mountain and Thunder Mountain 6PM and 7PM
4) SIDE QUESTION - Should we try to have a longer comfortably paced dinner and hope to linger to be in the castle for the Wishes Fireworks, which start at 10PM, or try to eat quickly to see them outside? Will they even let us linger until fireworks, or push us out quickly? FYI, we will be at the MK 2 other nights with the opportunity to see the fireworks outside, including at the Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party on 12/18.
5) If there is anything I haven't taken into consideration that could help, please let me know

I know this all may be ridiculous fine tuning, but it does seem a lot of the hard core vets on the board consider all these nuisances.

Once again, thanks for all your help!

My dad would say, "Six of one; half-dozen of the other."

You're splitting hairs.

If you and your family are willing to and knowingly have the energy to be out and about from 10am past 10pm (with two ADR's & BBB), whether walking from here-to-there or from there-to-here is effectively the same thing.

1.) Walking from any place on your schedule back to Crystal Palace is about the same thing. If leaving from Enchanted Belle, attempt to use your FP+ on the earlier side so that you won't feel rushed at all.
2.) You cannot see the fireworks from inside Cinderella's Castle.
3.) Since your girls are doing BBB, avoid Slash Mountain & Pirates of Caribbean - since each may wash off make-up.

 

[GPC0321]

Glad I could help! You're absolutely right about the fireworks! Look at this! So cool!

 

[Alesia]

Glad I could help! You're absolutely right about the fireworks! Look at this! So cool!

Most people will not get that view. I don't think there are any 4-top tables by the windows. If you're not right by the window, you won't see much of anything.

I would plan on watching wishes from outside.

 

[GPC0321]

Most people will not get that view. I don't think there are any 4-top tables by the windows. If you're not right by the window, you won't see much of anything.

I would plan on watching wishes from outside.

Well, as the OP said, they've got other nights to see the fireworks from outside. Really nothing to lose by being inside for them on this night. Seems like the music is piped in, and that last flash looked like it lit up the entire place, you could hear the reaction of the people inside. If nothing else, it'll be a unique experience.