Now Approaching... Sleepingbooty's Sept. PTR (We're BAAACK! 9/26)

[Sleepingbooty]

Glad to hear you had good service when you were at Le Cellier

I believe the first seating is around 4pm

Thanks for the tips on Kona and O'hana. I do want to keep it a surprise for my mom but even if I do tell her we plan on eating there for dinner, she won't suspect we're staying there... hopefully. For now, I'll pick Kona Cafe for dinner

Oh, that's right - I forgot about the Poly stay being a surprise.

 

[Sleepingbooty]

I don't think 'Ohana even serves breakfast. In fact, if I'm correct, it's ONLY dinner. ARe you thinking of Kona for breakfast??

No, I'm fairly certain O'hana serves breakfast with Lilo & Stitch?

OOps! You're so right, Jen! Thanks for correcting that! It was lunch they don't serve. I knew it was closed sometime during the day...

Lilo and Stitch hold no allure for me, so I'm not really tempted by breakfast there. Plus, I don't like bananas (tonga toast).

As popular as Ohana is, they really are missing the boat by not being open for lunch (with the same menu as dinner).

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Chapter 17. Sorting Out the Mess

Now that we know WHERE we'll be eating, it's up to me to come up with a schedule of park days and figure out where and when to plug in the ADRS. I will be getting NO help on this. So what's a good Diser to do? I've come here to lay my dilemma at your feet. Help!

We are (probably) not getting park hoppers, so when I make my ADRs I'm also committing to park days (at least for those days that include a restaurant located within a park). So naturally I consulted the Unofficial Guide's website to check which parks were recommended for the days we'd be there. I've done this in the past and planned my trip around it, and things have always worked out fine. The first itinerary I came up with was based on this model:

Saturday 9/18
Magic Kingdom (evening)
Ohana

Sunday 9/19
Epcot
Le Cellier

Monday 9/20
Magic Kingdom
Hoop Dee Doo Review

Tuesday 9/21
Epcot (possibly Blizzard Beach until dinner)
1900 Park Fare

Wednesday 9/22
Magic Kingdom (possibly BB until dinner)
Whispering Canyon Cafe

Thursday 9/23
DHS
50's Prime Time Cafe

Friday 9/24
Animal Kingdom
Counter service at DTD

Saturday 9/25
Epcot before leaving

Continued.....

 

[Sleepingbooty]

....Continued

Option #2 is also based around UG's best/worst days - in fact, I kept the park days the same and just switched around the restaurants a bit:

Saturday 9/18
Magic Kingdom (evening)
Ohana

Sunday 9/19
Epcot
Le Cellier

Monday 9/20
Magic Kingdom
Whispering Canyon

Tuesday 9/21
Epcot (maybe BB first)
Counter service dinner at Epcot

Wednesday 9/22
Magic Kingdom (maybe BB first)
1900 Park Fare

Thursday 9/23
DHS
50's Prime Time

Friday 9/24
Animal Kingdom
Hoop Dee Doo
DTD evening

Saturday 9/25
Epcot until Magical Express pickup

I started this plan by moving Hoop Dee Doo to Friday after our AK day, and then rearranged some other things to fit. This does leave us with less time at DTD though. I've got one other option working, though.

Continued....

 

[All7OfUs]

I like the Hoop on your AK Day. If you leave AK by 4:00 you should be there in time for the 5:00 show. Then you'd still have time to do DTD afterwards.

A couple things:

Will you have your own car?? I can't remember.

Also, you'd have to not mind leaving before AK closes AND you should eat a light lunch by 12:00 or so.

If you don't have a car, you may have to leave at early as 3:30. They say to check in at Hoop a little bit before your show.

I'd say if you don't want to do the 5:00 show, you may not have much time, if any, at DTD.

Just my two cents. Everything else looks great and very do-able!

 

[Sleepingbooty]

...Continued

After I came up with the first two plans and mulling them over for a bit, I wasn't all that happy with the arrangement. Mainly because both of those plans based around the supposed "Best and Worst Days" stacked Magic Kingdom and Epcot heavily at the beginning of the week, and I'd prefer it to be spread out throughout more evenly. The result was that our last visit to MK would be on Wednesday! That I don't like - I want it to be the first and last park of the trip.

So, dare I ignore conventional wisdom and plan our park days based on my own ideas, rather than those of the experts? I think that much of the "best/worst days" criteria is based on avoiding parks that are having an EMH. I get that. We typically don't take advantage of EMH anyway, and (at least morning EMH) does tend to make the park a bit more crowded. But, after all, this IS September we're talking about. And yes, it has gotten successively more crowed in September each of the last 4 years, but even so it's still relatively calm.

So I decided to throw caution to the wind and design a plan based on nothing else but my own idea of what would make for a good schedule:

Saturday 9/18
Magic Kingdom (evening)
Ohana

Sunday 9/19
Magic Kingdom (maybe BB until afternoon)
Whispering Canyon Cafe

Monday 9/20
Epcot
Le Cellier

Tuesday 9/21
Animal Kingdom
Counter service dinner at DTD

Wednesday 9/22
Magic Kingdom (maybe BB first)
1900 Park Fare

Thursday 9/23
DHS
50's Prime Time

Friday 9/24
Epcot
Hoop Dee Doo

Saturday 9/25
Magic Kingdom until Magical Express pickup

So, I like the way this schedule spreads out our MK and EP visits more evenly, but I am a little nervous about venturing into 'not recommended' parks! Although, the crowd level for all of those days (except our very last day) is listed at either a 4 or a 6 (why no 5s?), so maybe even 'not recommended parks will still be manageable. The other thing is, Epcot has an evening EMH scheduled for Friday, 9/24. We wouldn't normally do that, but perhaps knowing that it is our last evening we will have the energy to stay up late and squeeze every last drop of fun out of the trip that we can!

Am I crazy for considering this?

Next: Ch.18 A Little Twist

 

[All7OfUs]

This looks really good too! I'm sick that we're going to miss you by only 5 days!!!!!

 

[glennbo123]

Am I crazy for considering this?

Was this question referring to the Epcot EMH on the last evening or ignoring the "best park days" thing in general?

Regarding the "best park days" thing, you're going in late September and a lot of schools will be in session so I think it'll probably be a little bit lighter crowd-wise. With some strategic planning on how you'll attack the parks, you'll be fine.

Regarding Epcot EMH on the last night, you can always keep it in the back of your mind. If the kids (and you) are still going strong after Hoop, then mosey on back over there. If you're whooped, head on back and hit the hay. Giving yourself options is the important thing.

 

[Sleepingbooty]

I like the Hoop on your AK Day. If you leave AK by 4:00 you should be there in time for the 5:00 show. Then you'd still have time to do DTD afterwards.

A couple things:

Will you have your own car?? I can't remember.

Also, you'd have to not mind leaving before AK closes AND you should eat a light lunch by 12:00 or so.

If you don't have a car, you may have to leave at early as 3:30. They say to check in at Hoop a little bit before your show.

I'd say if you don't want to do the 5:00 show, you may not have much time, if any, at DTD.

Just my two cents. Everything else looks great and very do-able!

Ah, you jumped in right before my last option - you may like that one better!

Good questions. No, we won't have a car. But I don't mind leaving before AK closes - especially if we'll have been there since 9, which we probably will be. I agree, if we don't get to the 5:00 Hoop show, we'll probably have to just skip DTD. I really kind of like the idea of eating at DTD, because in the past we have typically gone down there in the evening of our AK day, usually after eating at Boma. So by the time we get there its usually around 7:30 or 8 and we don't have much time to shop.

 

[Sleepingbooty]

This looks really good too! I'm sick that we're going to miss you by only 5 days!!!!!

I KNOW!!!!

Unfortunately, we can't move it up - the girls' fall break starts on the 17th.

 

[Sleepingbooty]

Was this question referring to the Epcot EMH on the last evening or ignoring the "best park days" thing in general?

Regarding the "best park days" thing, you're going in late September and a lot of schools will be in session so I think it'll probably be a little bit lighter crowd-wise. With some strategic planning on how you'll attack the parks, you'll be fine.

Regarding Epcot EMH on the last night, you can always keep it in the back of your mind. If the kids (and you) are still going strong after Hoop, then mosey on back over there. If you're whooped, head on back and hit the hay. Giving yourself options is the important thing.

Yes, I guess I was referring to both questions - ignoring UG and doing Epcot EMH. Do you plan your days around what's recommended? Or just go with your gut, and hop if its too crazy?

 

[glennbo123]

Yes, I guess I was referring to both questions - ignoring UG and doing Epcot EMH. Do you plan your days around what's recommended? Or just go with your gut, and hop if its too crazy?

Well I pretty much do plan my days around what's recommended. I've used Tour Guide Mike in the past, but I think I'm going to skip it in the future -- it's a pay site and I've pretty much got his philosphy down, so I can figure them myself. I was able to predict pretty accurately what he would recommend for our upcoming week before it was posted. The only exception was he selected one particular park (as a paying member I'm not supposed to divulge his recommendations) for one particular day when a rather large group of PChef consultants and their families are going to be there for exclusive EMH before the park opens. Maybe he doesn't get that info. to factor in, I don't know. Anyway, I digress. I think it's more important to follow the recommended parks in late June than in late September. The "worst" park in September will probably still be less crowded than the "best" park in June. If you can't do the "best" park, (and even if you can, for that matter) try to get there early, plan what rides you want to do, use fastpasses wisely (get new ones as soon as your window opens up, even before redeeming any existing ones), and have fun -- you're on vacation.

 

[Sleepingbooty]

I think it's more important to follow the recommended parks in late June than in late September. The "worst" park in September will probably still be less crowded than the "best" park in June. If you can't do the "best" park, (and even if you can, for that matter) try to get there early, plan what rides you want to do, use fastpasses wisely (get new ones as soon as your window opens up, even before redeeming any existing ones), and have fun -- you're on vacation.

That's what I was thinking, too. And we do typically try to get to the park at opening. I noticed you never really complained about the crowds during your last trip - and you were there the week of July 4th - that has to be one of the busiest times of the year.

 

[eandesmom]

well...we did Epcot on EMH during President's week last year and outside of Soarin', it was just fine! We had lots of crowd issues, I don't think there really was such a thing as a best park on some days, if memory serves MK hit capacity more than once that week and pretty much every park was at a 9...

I'm all for having information like crowds levels and best/worst but at the end of the day it's your trip and it needs to feel "right" to you. I too would want to spread out MK and Epcot and not bunch it all together. Without hoppers you are more tied down but since you are there before food and wine it seems to me it should be great crowd levels pretty much anywhere!

 

[Dancegrl624]

I think all of your options look great. I take a look at the best day from the UG, but they don't make or break what I'm doing that day. Personally, we love EMH (especially in the morning) so we almost always go to the park that has them. We only end up staying at that park until lunch time (11am or noon), go back to our hotel/DTD, then we pick another park for the evening (we NEED hoppers). For the evening park, it's usually the one offering EMH, but I mostly plan around evening festivities (Wishes, IllumiNations, etc).

 

[kcandbella]

From what I hear, Sept is a pretty slow time of year. So the best/worst days may not even matter ALL that much. I like your last plan the best, but I'm like you. I want the castle to be the first thing I see when I get there and the last thing I see before I leave!

 

[jenbear123]

Working the ADRs into the schedule is the hardest part. Usually I get my ADRs first then slot them into my itinerary. Never thought of doing it the other way around. Maybe that would would better? duh!

I like UG for the Crowd Calendar but I usually take it with a grain of salt. I don't usually work my plans around it. For the dates you're going, I doubt it will be very crowded since most schools will be in session. I went to Disney in September two years ago and, despite the heat, it was pretty low crowds.

Make sure to give yourself some options to choose from. Don't make the plans like they are written in stone as things sometimes don't always go as planned i.e. weather, hunger, etc.

Other than that, your choices look great

 

[Sleepingbooty]

well...we did Epcot on EMH during President's week last year and outside of Soarin', it was just fine! We had lots of crowd issues, I don't think there really was such a thing as a best park on some days, if memory serves MK hit capacity more than once that week and pretty much every park was at a 9...

Wow! Well, Epcot seems to handle large crowds well - but I can't imagine MK at a 9. Wait, I think I can - we tried to do pm EMH one night at MK when Scott and I went on our anniversary trip in 07. It was sheer insanity - wall to wall people. This was at about 10pm - maybe it would have cleared out a bit, but we didn't wait to find out.

I'm all for having information like crowds levels and best/worst but at the end of the day it's your trip and it needs to feel "right" to you. I too would want to spread out MK and Epcot and not bunch it all together. Without hoppers you are more tied down but since you are there before food and wine it seems to me it should be great crowd levels pretty much anywhere!

That's what I'm thinking. The last schedule feels the best to me at this point.

 

[Sleepingbooty]

I think all of your options look great. I take a look at the best day from the UG, but they don't make or break what I'm doing that day. Personally, we love EMH (especially in the morning) so we almost always go to the park that has them. We only end up staying at that park until lunch time (11am or noon), go back to our hotel/DTD, then we pick another park for the evening (we NEED hoppers). For the evening park, it's usually the one offering EMH, but I mostly plan around evening festivities (Wishes, IllumiNations, etc).

Yep. I seem to hear a lot of people who plan their trips this way, and it seems to work out for them - so why not us?

 

[Sleepingbooty]

From what I hear, Sept is a pretty slow time of year. So the best/worst days may not even matter ALL that much. I like your last plan the best, but I'm like you. I want the castle to be the first thing I see when I get there and the last thing I see before I leave!

I know, right?! It doesn't really feel like we are "there" until we've set foot on Main Street!