My Itinerary -- Critiques and Observations please!

[BrerMama]

Trip dates: June 3-11
Trip takers: Me (33), DH (34), DS (9), DD (8), DD (4.5)
This is the 3rd trip for myself, dh and ds. 2nd trip for the girls, although the youngest was only 10 months last trip, so it will be brand new for her. First time staying onsite.
Details: We're using a Dream Maker package with Prince/Princess Add-on. I booked back when they were running the Kids Free special so it was a good deal for us. We have UPHs using the package and plan to get our money's worth from them. We also chose to stay onsite solely so that we could take advantage of EMH in the mornings. We're staying at POR, using Happy Limo for transport to/from airport and relying on Disney transportation when we're on property.


I've revised this itinerary till my pencil lead broke, and this is the one that makes me happiest.

Day 1, Thursday: Plane lands in Orlando at 12:50, Meet Happy Limo, Pick up groceries from Albertson's (will have faxed order the day before), Check In. After we get checked in, we'll be off to Epcot. Plan to eat at Sunshine Season Food Court (we'll be starved... our first plane leaves at 7:45 am and no time to eat between connecting flights). Only goals for this night are Spaceship Earth, see a character or two, and hit the Imagination pavilion (JIYI and HISTA). DH would like to do Test Track so I may send him through the single riders line.

Day 2, Friday: AK EMH. We're using our Prince/Princess seating at Festival of the Lion King's 9:45 show. We have a PS at Rainforest Cafe at 11:30 am. After lunch, back to the resort for swimming and naps. When we're rested, it's off to MK for rides and Wishes.

Day 3, Saturday: MGM EMH. PS for Sci Fi at 12:05 pm (DS's birthday request) and PS for Beauty and the Beast at 2 pm. Just read that we'll have front row seats for this... too cool! We'll head back to the resort after this show. If we have any energy that evening, we'll go to DTD or back to Epcot.

Day 4, Sunday: MK EMH. Plan to leave MK by 1 pm. PS at Hollywood and Vine at 4:20 for the Fantasmic Dinner Package. Plan is to finish up with whatever we missed the day before while others are waiting in line for Fantasmic.

Day 5, Monday: We'll either go to a water park this morning or do AK EMH (my dh is worried we won't have enough time at AK; he's an animal lover). Regardless of which one we pick, we have a 4 pm PS at Liberty Tree Tavern at MK. My original thought was that we'd have this nice big meal, then see a few shows and maybe do a FP attraction or two before heading back to the resort. This is now an E-Ride night and I already knew Mondays would be busy. Should I expect a Monday evening at MK to be even busier due to people come in for E-Ride night? Should I scrap this plan?

Day 6, Tuesday: We'll either do MK this morning or go to a water park if we didn't do that the day before. Then the usual break at the resort. We have a 5 pm PS at Prime Time Cafe at the Studios and then we'll boat over to Epcot for the rest of the evening.

Day 7, Wednesday: Epcot EMH. Test Track hopefully multiple times, explore Future World. PS for the Princess Breakfast at 10:20 am. After breakfast, we'll monorail over to MK and stay until after the 3 pm parade. That evening we can do downtown Disney/Disney Quest if we have enough energy.

Day 8, Thursday: MK EMH. Leave when it starts getting crowded. After our break, we have a 5 pm PS at Chef Mickey's. When we're finished with dinner, monorail over to Epcot to see Illuminations on our last night.

Day 9, Friday: Probably AK EMH, just because we'll have to leave by 11 am and this will give us 3 hours in the park. We may have to visit MK one last time, however. Meeting Happy Limo at noon for our trip back to the airport.

That's it. Any suggestions or glaring errors? Love the DIS! Thanks so much!

 

[babby]

We will be there from June 6-13. Are you not planning to see Spectro? It's offered on Tuesday night and most likely the Sat. But Sat is "Gay Day" at MK and you don't want to be there then. So Tuesday would be the only option for you. Just a thought. We'll be there! Enjoy your trip!

 

[XStAnt]

My first thought is that you have too many late nights and early mornings. Your kids (and you and DH) will be exhausted by midweek, even with afternoon breaks. Plan a little more down time or late mornings.

Here are a few other random thoughts:

Day 1: Bring food on the plane. Bring one of those soft lunch bags that you can put an ice pack in. This way you can eat something during the flight. Make it an early night (don't stay for Illuminations) as you have an early morning the next day.

Day 4: You may not have a lot of time for an afternoon nap with a 4:20 PS at H&V. If you leave MK at 1:00 you might not get back to your room until close to 2:00 pm. I find that when people say they want to leave by "x" time that usually means start heading for the exits. If you are in Fantasy Land at 1:00 then you have to walk through the whole park to get to the exit. Your kids will probably plead with you to stay a little longer, you'll need potty breaks, you'll have to keep your kids from wandering into every store on main street, etc. It could take 30 minutes to get to the bus stops at MK's entrance. You'll probably wait about 10 mins for a bus, and then have a 10-15 minute bus ride to you resort stop at POR. Then you'll have 1-2 more minutes to actually get to your specific room. It is now about 2:00 pm and you haven't even started your pm rest yet. To make a 4:20 PS you probably should leave your room by 3:00 pm (and that includes time to get everyone awake, freshened up and ready to go). Given the extra time it always seems to take with kids, you'll be at the bus stop by about 3:15. You'll need to wait 10 mins for your bus, 10-15 mins to get to MGM. Then you'll have to get into MGM and walk to H&V. It's probably around 4:00 pm now. That assumes eveything goes as planned which is why I say leave your resort at 3:00 so you'll have an extra 20 minutes in case something delays you. That means you've had less that 1 hour for a pm break. You may want to leave MK a little earlier.

Day 5: Sleep in a little this am and get to a water park by 10:00 am. I know it is usually better to get there early but you'll have had 3 straight early mornings and a late night the night before with Fantasmic. Stay at the water park until no later than 1:00 pm if you want an afternoon break and still want to make a 4:00 pm PS at LTT. Can you make a 4:30 PS at LTT? This might help.

Day 6: Don't go to MGM for dinner only and then head over to Epcot. It's too much park hopping and wasted time. Go to Epcot for dinner this night and stay for Illuminations. You'll probably have a little time to do an attraction or two this way.

Day 7: You'll probably be tired by the evening. If you go to DTD or DQ only stay for a few hours and try to make it an early night.

Day 9: You'll only have time for one park so play it by ear and see what you get done during the rest of your trip.

I hope my comments are helpful and don't ruin your plans. I think you have a good itinerary, just a little ambitious. I'll be curious to see how you do with it. When you get back can you please post and let us know how close you were able to stick tou your plans?

Good luck and have fun.

 

[tc]

As long as you know your family will get up for all the EMH's, I think it looks great. I have a hard time getting my family up on consecutive mornings for EMH. But, they were teenagers when we went, and preferred to sleep in and stay up late.

Make sure that you do take those mid-day breaks. It is essential.

As for E-night crowds on Monday, that's hard to say since e-nights have been gone for so long. Will the majority of resort guests know about it? I would stick to your plan, and, if you see it's pretty crowded, scrap it. That's the joy of park-hopping. Also, the resorts pool at night is fun.

I think you have a great plan. Have a great time.

 

[krissy3483]

Your trip sounds very well planned out....not to mention completely magical! Do you have room for one more? Sounds wonderful, have a great time

 

[CharlesandCamilla]

Only one comment here. On the first day when you're traveling, if you can handle the extra carry on consider bringing a small soft sided cooler along. The kids might just be too cranky to have fun on the first day if they don't get a good lunch. We're also traveling at lunch time so I plan to bring a cooler with a bunch of Lunchables and some fruit. It'll beat trying to grab something on a layover or waiting until after check in to eat. And peanuts, pretzels, and snack mix don't make for a satisfying lunch.

I'm still shopping around for the cooler, but there are a couple I'm looking at that seem to be about the right size.

Then on the return trip you can cram it into your bag or fill it with souvenirs or even some more snacks.

 

[mansionfan]

Nice itinerary! Looks like you will stay busy.....Have a MAGICAL Vacation!!!!

 

[BrerMama]

After reading the replies, I should add that we normally have season tickets to Silver Dollar City in Branson (as well as the water park and Celebration City) and run a similiar schedule 2 weeks each year. Early morning, break (usually no naps), evening touring. Only on the Wishes/Fantasmic/Illuminations night do we plan to get back to the hotel past 10. Other nights we'll be home and in bed by 9 at the latest. Our evenings in the parks are mostly for atmosphere, maybe dessert and a little shopping. If we get to do an attraction, that's great, but it's not a must-do sort of thing.