October Itinerary Help for DW Newbie

[choover2576]

I love this board! Thanks everyone for such great tips! Since we are almost 180 days until our trip and would like to make dining reservations, I also need to plan out which parks we plan on visiting each day.

We are a family of 4 (2 adults, 2 boys 8 and 5). The kiddos have never been to DW and we went on our honeymoon, but I was so exhausted from the wedding it was really a blur. We are Disneyland veterans.

So, this is what we are thinking. It is Magic Kingdom heavy because I think that is the park we'll enjoy most, but also not sure if I'm allotting enough time for Epcot. I did purchase Touring Plans and it has helped. So, this is what I was thinking

Fri Oct 30 - Travel Day. Arrive at Pop Century around 6pm (it will seem like 3pmpst for us)

Sat Oct 31 - Magic Kingdom. We do have tickets for the Halloween Party

Sun Nov 1 - Epcot (maybe not the best day because weekends are busier for Food and Wine?)

Mon Nov 2 - Hollywood Studios

Tue Nov 3 - Animal Kingdom

Wed Nov 4 - Sleep in. Fish at Fort Wildernesses. Explore Downtown Disney. Chef Mickey's for Dinner. Maybe Magic Kingdom after dinner if we are up for it (is this all too ambitious?)

Thu Nov 5 - Epcot

Fri Nov 6 - Magic Kingdom. Lunch at Be Our Guest

Sat Nov 7 - Going home, but flight not until 4pm. What should be do this day?

I'm so excited! Any help would be appreciated. TIA

 

[EPCOTgrl1]

For your travel day if it will feel like 3pm to you it might be a good idea to get out and do something. I don't know if you want to spring for an extra park ticket and go out to a park. If not I would go to DTD or mini golfing. I think it you will have more energy for just hanging out at the pool.

I would agree that EPCOT on Sunday might be a little crazy. I know it isn't the last weekend of F&W but there will be A LOT of locals out getting very drunk. You also will want to sleep in a little bit because you will be at MNSSHP the night before, just keep that in mind.

I don't know if you will have park hoppers or not, but if you do I would add another park to AK day. AK is really good in the morning but you have to remember it closes at 6pm normally. I don't know if you will want to spend the rest of the night at another park.

As for you leaving are you using Magical Express? If you are you will have to be leaving for the airport at 1pm. You could do a park that morning if you wanted. It really depends on what ticket you are buying.

 

[MinnieNJ]

Hi! I always go to Chef Mickey's on arrival day. It saves a park ticket especially if we are arriving late and its a great way to start a Disney vacation! If you do that, it will free up your DTD day and you can enjoy dinner someplace there (T Rex, Boathouse etc).
Since you have Halloween tickets for the 31st, you can enter the Magic Kingdom at 4pm without using one of your tickets (only Halloween). Maybe consider going to Animal Kingdom during the day?

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

Hi! I always go to Chef Mickey's on arrival day. It saves a park ticket especially if we are arriving late and its a great way to start a Disney vacation! If you do that, it will free up your DTD day and you can enjoy dinner someplace there (T Rex, Boathouse etc).
Since you have Halloween tickets for the 31st, you can enter the Magic Kingdom at 4pm without using one of your tickets (only Halloween). Maybe consider going to Animal Kingdom during the day?

I agree with this. I don't like the idea of paying for two tickets to MK on the same day. You could use your park ticket for AK for this day, or just take it easy - do your fishing at Fort Wilderness in the daytime.

Personally, we prefer to take it easy the entire day that we have Halloween Party tickets. We need all the rest we can get so we can close the park down (and still be in a good mood) on our Halloween Party night.

I also think scheduling a special dinner on arrival night is perfect. Maybe a character meal, like a pp suggested, or something like Boma or a fun DTD restaurant.

Like a pp suggested, it might be ambitious to try to do Epcot on Sunday if you want to make rope drop. We usually get back to our resort after 1 am on MNSSHP night. Doesn't make it easy to get up early for rope drop.

Have fun! MNSSHP will be awesome on Halloween night!

 

[TheFuriFamily]

We have a really aggressive itinerary as well... and our boys are a bit younger (4, 2 *1 month from 3*, and 1). We too are Disneyland veterans and our trip is at the beginning of October! I'll post a trip report and let you know how it goes for us...

Our trip looks like this:

Tuesday, October 6th:
Check in to The Animal Kingdom Lodge
5:15pm Dinner at California Grill at Contemporary
7:00pm Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party

Wednesday, October 7th:
Animal Kingdom (extra magic hours)
5:10pm Danielle, Ryan + Kids Dinner at The Plaza Restaurant, MK
5:30pm Mom & Dad Dinner at Victoria and Albert’s, Queen Victoria Room

Thursday, October 8th:
Hollywood Studios
12:25pm Lunch at 50’s Prime Time Café
7:45pm La Hacienda De San Angel & Illuminations Viewing
9:30pm Epcot Visit, Extra Magic Hours

Friday, October 9th:
Epcot
3:30pm Danielle, Ryan + Kids, Dinner Res at TRex at Downtown Disney
3:30pm Tara & Paul Out at Epcot & Monorail Bar Crawl (if we feel like it)

Saturday, October 10th:
Magic Kingdom
9:10am Character Breakfast at Chef Mickey’s at Contemporary
9:05pm Be Our Guest, ADR Made on 4/9/15

Sunday, October 11th:
Magic Kingdom
8:45am Character Breakfast at The Crystal Palace (photos in front of the Castle, pre-opening)

 

[Jeannie in NJ]

You might want to change Sunday from Epcot to either DHS or Animal Kingdom. Also since you are not staying at a monorail hotel, and will need to be ready for Magical Express by 1:00 it might be quite difficult to go to a park, considering you would be depending on park bus transportation.

Just wanted to say, October is a great time to be at Disney. Last time we went in Oct. we stayed at Old Key West and had a pool right outside our room. Every night after we got back from park closing we would take a dip in the pool. No one else was ever there. Great weather and the parks were not crowded. Now that was about 8 or 9 years ago, so don't know if crowds have increased in Oct. or not.