I'm having trouble figuring this out, sigh. Our plan was rushed, so I added more days onto our plane tickets and hotel reservations. So now with more days, I'm even more befuddled, lol! Just for background, gramps will have a scooter. He can walk, but he fatigues, making the scooter the way to go. Ds8 has autism, and we'll get him the DAS. With that mix, I *think* I can handle the ride wait issue by combining carefully the FP and DAS. However I'm still concerned about the overall effect of a full park. I'm confused because some sites are saying level 2 crowds the whole last week of January, while touringplans is saying higher on the weekend. And I think those crowd levels on TP are for waits, not so much #people like sardines in the park, yes? Like is a 9 in January (historical 9 on a day in MK that was predicted 5) as physically crowded as a 9 in the summer? Or is it that the waits were long but the feel of the park was radically different? I just don't know, not having been there.
Also, we're going for a wedding and splitting (guys only) for a day of fishing in Cocoa. And, just to make it more exciting, the Cocoa fishing will bump to the next day if the weather is rough! (see me pulling out my hair?) And Gramps has been to AK, without a scooter, and said it made him not want to do any more Disney. He's game to do it my way, and I think (just saying) that my way will be magical and make it look easy and comfortable. I mean, dude, on a scooter, with all the res and FP and a DAS? How do you beat that, mercy!
We already talked through arrival day in another thread, and y'all warned me sternly not to go into the parks. I did snag a 4pm dinner at BOG that we could have for that day, and I canceled the Saratoga Springs, meaning we're at Shades of Green.
This is all end of January.
Tuesday-arrive MCO 10:30, get rental car, hit Publix/Walmart for water, lunch, check in at SoG (which might be too early?), putt putt, dinner at Disney Springs
Wednesday-guys leave early for Cocoa to fish, while I get the entire day to myself with park hoppers
Thursday-Gramps sleeps in, Mom/Dad/ds8 go to Epcot for morning, Gramps joins at lunch or even after lunch, does half the WS, dinner at Biergarten, Illuminations
Friday-morning together doing one of the parks, lunch, Gramps returns for a nap from 1-3, Gramps and Dad go to rehearsal dinner, Mom and ds8 stay at the parks, Wishes dessert party
Saturday-haven't decided, wedding at 5pm, meaning need to leave Disney by 3pm
Sunday-PPO at BOG, do MK, lunch or dinner at Liberty Tavern, definitely NOT staying for fireworks
Monday-breakfast at Boma, depart
If fishing guide says Wednesday is rough, I basically switch Wed and Thurs plans.
I desperately want to do Fantasmic, and I want to do it with the dinner res. I could, in theory, move Fantasmic to Sunday. So then gramps could PPO at MK with BOG, lunch at Liberty, nap 1-3, dinner at 3-4-ish at HS, putz around there, then Fantasmic. It's such a wild card planning for people who get tired, kwim? He likes to be included and loves to be with us. Like what he CAN do, he will do. I had thought I wanted to do MK from PPO breakfast, do dinner at Liberty Tree, watch the parade at 7pm (if they have a replacement), then just send him back to SoG. But is it better to do that or to have him nap and then do Fantasmic? Wishes at MK on the weekend is late, like 9-10 pm. Just can't do that, not with this group. The crowds, how late it is, the whole thing is unbearable.
I'm realizing I haven't really committed to Wishes. Like I bought the Dessert party tix, but I could cancel those. Here's my concern. *I* want to do the dessert party. I will like the food and want to sit by then. But my ds8 is so active. He may be ready to chill, but someone else told me their dc spent the whole hour wait trolling and bored stiff. Like if we're gonna be bored stiff, might as well go ride some rides and give up, kwim? Then we could just catch Wishes whereever we are and call it good. So that was my plan for Wishes, to do it Friday, with or without the dessert party.
Biergarten at Epcot I think will be great with our group. I have the ressie for Thurs, and I made an alternate for Wednesday, just in case our fishing trip gets bumped. So if the guys fish Thurs, then we'll Epcot and Biergarten Wednesday, no problem.
As you can see, I'm just on overload! Do you see anything in there, anything I should do differently? If I take Gramps into MK on Sunday and it's crowd level 9 on Touring Plans, is that going to be miserable? Because if it's going to be miserable, I need to flip and do MK on Thurs (much lower crowds predicted and historically). He has 1 full day (Sunday), the 1/2 day (Thursday, the rest day after fishing), and another 1/2 day (morning). That Friday morning of the rehearsal dinner is the wild card to me. When I put into the touring plans app all the MK things Gramps could do, it really needs 9am-6pm. Just saying, it actually does. There's a lot he can do at MK! But if we're gonna do a nap on Sunday (because Fantasmic in evening), then he could do the Friday till nap and again Sunday till nap. But will he like MK that much? Will he want to do that?
Any thoughts here?
Also, we're going for a wedding and splitting (guys only) for a day of fishing in Cocoa. And, just to make it more exciting, the Cocoa fishing will bump to the next day if the weather is rough! (see me pulling out my hair?) And Gramps has been to AK, without a scooter, and said it made him not want to do any more Disney. He's game to do it my way, and I think (just saying) that my way will be magical and make it look easy and comfortable. I mean, dude, on a scooter, with all the res and FP and a DAS? How do you beat that, mercy!
We already talked through arrival day in another thread, and y'all warned me sternly not to go into the parks. I did snag a 4pm dinner at BOG that we could have for that day, and I canceled the Saratoga Springs, meaning we're at Shades of Green.
This is all end of January.
Tuesday-arrive MCO 10:30, get rental car, hit Publix/Walmart for water, lunch, check in at SoG (which might be too early?), putt putt, dinner at Disney Springs
Wednesday-guys leave early for Cocoa to fish, while I get the entire day to myself with park hoppers
Thursday-Gramps sleeps in, Mom/Dad/ds8 go to Epcot for morning, Gramps joins at lunch or even after lunch, does half the WS, dinner at Biergarten, Illuminations
Friday-morning together doing one of the parks, lunch, Gramps returns for a nap from 1-3, Gramps and Dad go to rehearsal dinner, Mom and ds8 stay at the parks, Wishes dessert party
Saturday-haven't decided, wedding at 5pm, meaning need to leave Disney by 3pm
Sunday-PPO at BOG, do MK, lunch or dinner at Liberty Tavern, definitely NOT staying for fireworks
Monday-breakfast at Boma, depart
If fishing guide says Wednesday is rough, I basically switch Wed and Thurs plans.
I desperately want to do Fantasmic, and I want to do it with the dinner res. I could, in theory, move Fantasmic to Sunday. So then gramps could PPO at MK with BOG, lunch at Liberty, nap 1-3, dinner at 3-4-ish at HS, putz around there, then Fantasmic. It's such a wild card planning for people who get tired, kwim? He likes to be included and loves to be with us. Like what he CAN do, he will do. I had thought I wanted to do MK from PPO breakfast, do dinner at Liberty Tree, watch the parade at 7pm (if they have a replacement), then just send him back to SoG. But is it better to do that or to have him nap and then do Fantasmic? Wishes at MK on the weekend is late, like 9-10 pm. Just can't do that, not with this group. The crowds, how late it is, the whole thing is unbearable.
I'm realizing I haven't really committed to Wishes. Like I bought the Dessert party tix, but I could cancel those. Here's my concern. *I* want to do the dessert party. I will like the food and want to sit by then. But my ds8 is so active. He may be ready to chill, but someone else told me their dc spent the whole hour wait trolling and bored stiff. Like if we're gonna be bored stiff, might as well go ride some rides and give up, kwim? Then we could just catch Wishes whereever we are and call it good. So that was my plan for Wishes, to do it Friday, with or without the dessert party.
Biergarten at Epcot I think will be great with our group. I have the ressie for Thurs, and I made an alternate for Wednesday, just in case our fishing trip gets bumped. So if the guys fish Thurs, then we'll Epcot and Biergarten Wednesday, no problem.
As you can see, I'm just on overload! Do you see anything in there, anything I should do differently? If I take Gramps into MK on Sunday and it's crowd level 9 on Touring Plans, is that going to be miserable? Because if it's going to be miserable, I need to flip and do MK on Thurs (much lower crowds predicted and historically). He has 1 full day (Sunday), the 1/2 day (Thursday, the rest day after fishing), and another 1/2 day (morning). That Friday morning of the rehearsal dinner is the wild card to me. When I put into the touring plans app all the MK things Gramps could do, it really needs 9am-6pm. Just saying, it actually does. There's a lot he can do at MK! But if we're gonna do a nap on Sunday (because Fantasmic in evening), then he could do the Friday till nap and again Sunday till nap. But will he like MK that much? Will he want to do that?
Any thoughts here?
