My first Trip to Meet the Mouse!...during December's Week of Insanity!!

[brock20l]

Day 1:
Flight arrives in Orlando @ 416pm
- take the ME to POP and check in
- relax? -- depending on what time it is!!
- head for DTD for supper (@ Ragland Road?? -- I haven't made ADRs yet, but I think I will because I hear it's great there....)

Day 2:
Magic Kingdom!
Rides planned:

• Jungle Cruise
• Pirates
• BTMR
• Splash Mtn
• Haunted Mansion
• It's A Small World
• Mad Tea Party
• PhilharMagic
• Peter Pan
• Buzz Lightyear
• Monsters, Inc.
• Space Mtn.

...anything I should be adding, IYHO??
- a late dinner @ Cali Grill, and watch Wishes from their observation deck.

Day 3:
Epcot!
- breakfast (with the princesses!!!) @ Akershus
Rides plnned:

• Innoventions
• Spaceship Earth
• The Seas
• Turthe Talk
• Soarin'
• Honey, ISTA
• Test Track
• Mission: Space
• Maelstrom

...again, anything I'm missing?!
Also planned for the evening:
- dinner @ Coral Reef
- watch IllumiNations
- Candlelight Processional @ the America Gardens Theatre

Day 4:
Universal Studios
Rides planned:

• Animal Actors on location
• Disaster!
• ET
• Jaws
• Men in Black
• Revenge of the Mummy
• Shrek
• Street Scnes
• Terminator
• Twister

...and again, any I'm missing?!
Other activities:
- Universal 360 - a cinesphere spectacular
- Macy's Holiday Parade
- dinner @ Bubba Gump's @ Universal Citywalk
- dancing @ the groove @ Universal Citywalk? (depending on how grumy DBF is at this point in the night!)

Day 5:
Universal's Islands of Adventure
- breakfast @ Confisco Grille with the Grinch & friends
Rides planned:

• Spiderman
• Incredible Hulk
• Dueling Dragons
• Cat ITH
• Grinchmas

...and yet again, what have I missed that should be on the list?!
Other activities:
- meet the Grinch
- dinner at Mythos

Day 6:
NYE @ Hollywood Studios!!
Rides planned:

• the Great Movie Ride
• Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular
• Muppet-Vision 3D
• Lights!Motors!Action!
• Rock n Rollercoaster
• Star Tours
• Streets of America
• Backlot Tour
• Beauty & the Beast
• Toy Story Mania
• Twilight Zone
• Little Mermaid

\
...any I am missing??
Other activities:
- Osborne family spectacle of dancing lights
- Fantasmic dinner package @ the Brown Derby
- Lights, Camera, Happy New Year fireworks

Day 7
Animal Kingdom!
Rides planned:

• Tough to Be a Bug
• Lion King
• Kilimanjaro Safaris
• Everest
• Flights of Wonder
• Jungle Trek
• Dinosaur
• Primeval Whirl
• Finding Nemo the Musical

...any I should be adding to the list??
Other activities:
- lunch (or dinner) at Rainforest Cafe

Day 8:
...unplanned!!..
...a scary thought, I know!! However, the "plan" is to hit the park we enjoyed the most, or felt that we missed out on the first time we were there. As for dining, I know it would be idiotic to dream of eating without an ADR, so I think we will make one at a resort rather than in a park, as suggested by another DISboard-er. My one PLANNED activity for the day?: no matter what park we attend for the daytime, we will park hop back to MK to watch Wishes from Main Street.

Day 9:
time to head for home
- breakfast @ 1900 Park Fare with Mary Poppins & the Mad Hatter
- personal Photo Pass photo shoot at the GF for me and DBF (because we don't have any "professional" pictures of us, and what better a setting than WDW?!)
- board the ME
- flight arrives @ home @ 1030pm



...any suggestions on what to add, remove, or how to make this trip plan better??

Other things to take into account for this PTR:
- have joined (or am trying to join) a fridge-share, so am planning on eating breakfast in the room (almost) every day.
- am going to buy groceries from amazon.com and have shipped (with free super-saver shipping!! ) to the hotel a week or so in advance
- plan on using Photo Pass faithfully every day (as it's just me and DBF, so I'd rather not have pictures of just one of us, or have to try to find someone to take them for us, or try to personally straight-arm the camera and get just our heads and no background in every shot) and buy the CD for $99.
- getting Memories by Betsy to deliver a gift pack with mousketeer ears for me and DBF to the room as a "surprise" (for DBF anyways!)
- getting to as many of the rolled penny machines as possible -- I love those things!!
- will try to schedule a carriage ride during our day at AK -- I'm thinking earlier in the day, or around lunchtime, as I hear the crowd thins out in the afternoon....
- will use RideMax to plan out my days. I've read nothing but good reviews, and hopefully that $25 investment will make all the difference at this time of year. If not, nothing really lost in terms of productivity, but nothing gained either.
- will try to eat lunches around 11am and dinners around 5pm (or 8pm late dinners, and snack in the afternoon) to beat the rush
- will stop @ City Hall in MK (and/or will ask at POP when we arrive) for a "1st visit" button for me. Hopeing it might generate some extra magic!?


...and I think that's it for now!!

 

[mncherokee]

Seriously think about doing both Universal and WDW in the same trip. We did last year and only got to do a sampling at all the parks. I would not advise doing both in the same trip. You will have enough just at WDW to do for an entire week (and you probably won't get in everything!)

You will want 2 days for Epcot... one for the countries another for the other part.

You probably want 2 days for MK as well.

Meals at DIS restaurants with characters take longer than you think (I think ours were about 2 hours from start to finish).

You will need a DOWN DAY in the middle to refresh so you can hit those parks. My advice would be to take a couple of low key days intermixed... maybe one shopping at Downtown Disney and relaxing.

I look forward to hearing more about your planning.

 

[brock20l]

You will want 2 days for Epcot... one for the countries another for the other part.

You probably want 2 days for MK as well.

Meals at DIS restaurants with characters take longer than you think (I think ours were about 2 hours from start to finish).

You will need a DOWN DAY in the middle to refresh so you can hit those parks. My advice would be to take a couple of low key days intermixed... maybe one shopping at Downtown Disney and relaxing.

I look forward to hearing more about your planning.

Thanks for the advice! Unfortunately, DBF doesn't do "relax" very well -- that's why we're going to WDW in the first place! -- I was hoping for a hotter, more beach-y destination (not that Disney won't be great), but I was ex-nayed on that due to the fact that it would be "too boring" to just sit on the beach. So, I think a day off won't really be an option.... I'm hoping that AK serves as a bit of a relaxation day, as I think we will be able to tour a little slower and more leisurely. And, maybe I can convince him that we will go, go, go from 8-5 on Universal days, but then relax at a lounge during the evenings....

Thanks for the info about the character meals -- that will really help when choosing ideal ADR times! And also, thanks for the tips about Epcot and MK -- maybe we will park hop on our last day there, and spend half a day at Epcot to do the worlds, and the rest of the day at MK...then we will have had at least a day and a half at each.

 

[DisneyMissy]

Whoa that was a lot to soak in at once...let's see if I remember everything!! I would suggest changing that "unplanned" day to somewhere in the middle! After three days straight, you might be wishing you had a break. I know EMH haven't been posted yet, so if you and your bf are night owls and prefer to sleep in (like me and my bf do), you might want to plan your days around them. I don't know if you have the park hopper (I think you do since you mentioned park hopping one day), but Fantasmic isn't shown every day, so make sure you're at DHS on a day it is showing...which I'm sure you'll do since you want to do the dinner package.

I'm not a huge fan of the park hopper, as it takes a while to get from one park to another. You also seem like you plan on spending on entire day at each park so it may be a waste of $100.

I haven't been to any of the restaurants you mentioned!! I'll let you know how breakfast is at 1900 park fare though...it looks like a lot of fun! In AK, I'll be going to Yak & Yeti and heard some good reviews. Are you going to be on the dining plan?

I've never heard of ride max, but make sure you know which rides have Fastpasses and def. use them on these: Rock'n'Roller coaster, expedition everest, and Soarin'.

If you can afford a trip back, I def. agree with the post above mine. You'll want to do 2 days at MK. So you might want to think about universal another time (I'm going next year!!).

For your unplanned day, maybe make a ressie at one of the restaurants in the boardwalk area. I haven't been, but it seems like a lot of fun for adults. Make sure your dinner ressie on the first day is 8 p.m. or later. It could be 6 by the time you check in. And make sure you leave some time to walk around the POP and go swimming...it's a really cool resort (esp. for a value)!

Okay...I think that is all for now. Oh except I'm very dissapointed you Canadians aren't all lumberjacks haha

 

[DisneymoonJess07]

I love your ideas - we have a lot of similar ones!

We are looking at getting groceries. I had heard of garden grocer for fresh stuff, but not amazon doing it. Makes sense though.

I'm trying to decide whether to do the Memories by Betsy thing or to make a point to make a stop and the ear shop in MK since that's our first stop anyway, and it might be more meaningful to us? It's my DH's first trip too, so that's exciting as well!

We are hoping to do Rope Drop, so we are also hoping for early lunches to beat the crowds.

Looking forward to hearing more!

 

[Shir Kahn]

So far so good. DW and I never take breaks in our trips, we're "go, go, go!" type people, so we can understand your dbf!

 

[mncherokee]

I'm not a huge fan of the park hopper, as it takes a while to get from one park to another. You also seem like you plan on spending on entire day at each park so it may be a waste of $100.

I wholeheartedly agree! We purchased park hopper and never used it. Also, it is EXTREMELY easy to upgrade tickets at the gate if you change your mind. If you pre-purchase tickets, wait until you are there to add park-hopper.

I also agree with your 'down' day being spent at Downtown Disney. There is a TON to do there. (you should be able to continue to go, go, go for DBF's benefit . No Lounging There!

 

[shordiebecka]

hey! just checked out your PTR. I think you should move your rest day to somewhere in the middle also! How are you planning on getting to universal? are you going to go through mears? Just wondering... remember that it will be crazy this week, so plan on only doing a few things per day..maybe make some sort of top 5 list of things to do, just realize you won't get to do everything!

Raglan Road= amazing. Fyi. I loved it there!

My suggestion for another resort restaurant is Ohana or Whisperning Canyon. Both have easy transportation to the MK for the fireworks!!!! I'm subbing, lookingforward to hearing more!

 

[brock20l]

So...after discussing with DBF this weekend, he thinks it is far too strict to schedule all aspects of our day including which rides to go on at what time, ADRs, free time, etc. I, however, disagree, especially considering what time of year we are travelling. I suggested a compromise -- and please let me know what you think of this, because I'm not entirely convinced that it will work out well....

I suggested to him that I use RideMax, as previously planned on, to schedule a few "chunks" of time -- maybe 3 or 4 hours in the morning, and 2 hours in the afternoon -- to do only the "blockbuster, Headliner" type rides. This should ensure that we (somewhat efficiently) get all of those in. Then, I leave say 11am-230pm and 5pm onwards as "free time" during which we can go to our ADRs for lunch and/or dinner, go shopping in the park, ride smaller rides which appear to be less lined up, visit characters, find the penny machines, take lots of pictures, etc. ...Is this an OK idea?? -- will this work?! .

..It does sound slightly more enjoyable to me than my original plan of sticking to a regimented schedule, and I think I will stress out a little less, considering that I won't be trying to enforce the plan all day, every day...but WILL THIS WORK?!! Now I'm stressing that this scenario will put us walking elbow-to-elbow with people, and not getting anywhere, or getting anything done....

 

[DisneyMissy]

I think that sounds better! As much as I love to plan, I didn't even sit down and think "we need to do this ride, then this one, then this one." I would suggest picking the top 5 or 10 you want to go on, and do those first. Then leave the rest of the day for whatever. I don't know what RideMax is, but I have a feeling it will cost money. No one can truly predict the length of rides, so it may just be a waste. Just use FastPASS wisely, and I think you'll be able to do pretty much everything you want to. I don't think Disney World is going anywhere, so hopefully you'll be able to go back again for all the rides you didn't get to do on your first trip!!