Our itinerary for May--Could you comment?

[chilihead]

Hello! I have planned our trip for May. Below is our itinerary. I'm wondering if you all would look at it and make suggestions. Am I missing something? Does it look good?

Background: We (DH and I) are traveling with our DS (6) and DD (4). In addition we will have my dad and his wife with us for the first half of the trip (they love thrill rides) and my mom and MIL for the second half of the trip (they aren't thrill riders). My DH is not a thrill rider, but the kids will do a few. I am a definite thrill rider.

Here's the current itinerary:

Saturday: Arrive, eat at DTD. No parks.

Sunday: MK. Counter Service for lunch, LTT for dinner (5:35), Wishes at 8:45

Monday: DH/DF Richard Petty, me and kids Family Magic Tour. Don't know what to do with DF's wife. Meet at Epcot for lunch. Chef Mickey's (7pm) and ride monorail to Poly for water pageant (begins at 9)

Tuesday: MK or Epcot in morning. Move to MGM for snack at Sci-Fi at 12:05pm. MGM all day. HW&V for dinner (4:10); Fantasmic! at 9.

Wednesday: DF/Wife depart. Grandmas arrive @ 5. During the morning kids do pirate cruise, then I take them to BB. DH relaxes/plays golf/whatever. Dinner at Spoodles.

Thursday: MK. Lunch at CP (noon). Dinner at Tony's at 5:35. Wishes at 8:45.

Friday: MK morning/Epcot afternoon. Dinner at Rose & Crown (7pm). Watch Illuminations.

Saturday: Breakfastasaurus ( 8am). Dinner at Chef Mickey's (7pm) then monorail to Poly for water pageant (begins @ 9pm).

Some of this may sound redundant, but we will be entertaining two sets of guests at different times. I'm very interested in your observations and suggestions. BTW, if anyone can think of a way for us to do Spectromagic one night, I'd love to hear it. Right now I am thinking of switching our dinner at Tony's and our last dinner at Chef Mickey's so we can see it. (Spectromagic is only on Tuesday and Saturday while we are there.)

Thanks!
Chilihead

 

[disney4us2002]

I think breakfastosaurus and Chef Mickey's are the same characters so switching the last day around would probably work out. Just in case you didn't realize, you don't have to monorail to Poly to see the EWP. We stayed at the Contemporary last trip and could see it just fine. I know you said different parents are along but do you really want to eat at Chef Mickey's twice? Maybe 'Ohanas, then you're already at the Poly for EWP and can even see Wishes if they have it that night. Or I think Cinderella is at dinner at 1900 Park Fare in the Grand Floridian which your dd might enjoy very much.

 

[chilihead]

Those are great suggestions. I am seriously thinking of changing the latter Chef Mickey to Cinderella's Gala Feast at 1900 Park Fair. The main draw for CM's twice were the family pix they take on your way in. But, we can always arrange to have that done at a different restaurant, I guess. My DM has eaten at CM's already and no, I don't really want to eat there twice in one visit! I think both my DM and my MIL will love to see the inside of GF and eat at 1900 PF. Thanks for the advice!

Chilihead

 

[DebbieB]

What week are you going? If it's in the first part of the month, the parks aren't crowded so you will have room to do some switching around as you go. We rarely stick to our itinerary, we make changes along the way. Are you seeing EWP twice because you have different guests? It also stops at the GF at 9:20, you could see it there if you switch your dinner. You may want to move around Sunday and Tuesday so you could see Spectro on Tuesday night. I would not stay at MK all day on Tuesday, just go at night. Days there are very crowded in the off season when Spectro is showing that night.

 

[chilihead]

We are going May 8 (Sat) through May 16 (Sunday). I think the GF Cinderella Feast is the best bet since the EWP goes by there too.

Thanks for the tip about the parks being crowded on the days of Spectro. I wouldn't have guessed that.

I love these boards. My DH just came by and said, "What is this? An online "help" board for Disney freaks like you?" Help, of course, was meant in a mental way. And, before any of you take offense, he meant it as a joke. But, as with any joke, it's funny 'cause it's true!

 

[tinkie]

oh it all sounds good,,,,but as a DW, I honed in on the" Dh relaxes/plays golf/whatever"....while you run around like a chicken without a head!! Sorry, but what is up with that? I hope you can plan a DW relaxes/takes some spa time and high tea at the GF?whatever!



Just looking after my girlfriends!

 

[jl3614]

You know your family best - but my DD 3y9m could not keep up the schedule you have proposed. She still needs 10 - 11 hours of sleep. Her bed time is 8:00, she can occasionally stay up till 9:00 or even 10:00 without a meltdown, but will definitely sleep in the next morning if she is up late. She could not handle multiple late nights in a row very well.

Have a good trip, hope you can keep everyone happy.

Jeff

 

[jcemom]

Not sure if this helps...but, we (me, DH, DS 10, DS 9, and DD 1 1/2) were there earlier this month. We found that although I hadn't planned on it, we needed a break during the day...ALL of us! With low crowds and cool temps I seriously thought we could go all day, but we couldn't. I don't know if you will need breaks, but we did.

 

[plutosgirl]

Are you as excited as me?? (there are 8 of us going, 2 families of 4).

My only suggestion would be our dh's are golfing on Tue morning...that day we hope to let the kids sleep in and have a relaxing morning. We are doing Chef Mickey's that evening and then staying in the MK afterwords and catching Spectromagic and Wishes.

Maybe you could do that to catch the parade and switch the Hollywood & Vine Fantasmic package to another night (we are going on Wed Night).

Also we have main plans on where we want to be each morning and our Ps's made but left the afternoons open for going back to CBR for a swim, nap, or rest period and then heading back out because we don't want the kids (8,7,5,3) or dh's to burn out then no one will have fun!

Hope this helps a little. Maybe we will see you there!!!

 

[BoboJacks]

I dunno cause I dont use itinararies. Its a vacation! And no, Im not one of the people who sleep in. I stay all day at the parks.

I just do monday MK tuesday take off Wed BB Thurs MGM/Epcot Fri Off/ leave

 

[jann1033]

the only thing I noticed was sometimes you have 2 sit down meals ( TOny's and CP) in one day....we were always way to full after one to eat much at the next so you might want to save a little time/money and go for counter for one meal, sit down for one meal a day.

 

[jcemom]

Originally posted by jann1033
the only thing I noticed was sometimes you have 2 sit down meals ( TOny's and CP) in one day....we were always way to full after one to eat much at the next so you might want to save a little time/money and go for counter for one meal, sit down for one meal a day.

Yep, I didn't even think of that, but we weren't hungry even for a snack for at least 7 hours after each meal. I was really surprised because I'm a "grazer" at home and eat something every few hours.

 

[chilihead]

Given all the great advice I’m getting, I am considering some changes to our itinerary. I didn’t state it in my original post, but I am being *very* flexible on what we do. I have the itinerary to keep us on track, but anytime we want to quit, split up, or take a rest (especially the kids!) we will. Fortunately, my kids are very resilient. It’s my DH I’m mostly worried about! Having said that, here are some ideas:

1. I think you’re right jann1033 and jcemom: two sit-downs so close (CP lunch & Tony’s dinner on Thursday) would be too much. However, I can’t really change the restaurants because my DM is really looking forward to them. BUT! I could change the CP lunch to CP breakfast. That may work in our favor since it would get us into the park a little earlier. What do you think? How is the CP breakfast, anyone?

2. Tinkie: You rock! Thanks for trying to look out for me. The whole DH rests/relaxes/plays golf while I do BB with the kids is my choice. He is probably going to have to take the kids more while we’re at MGM because I’ll be riding RRC and TOT with DF and his wife. I think our time will be a little easier if I can get rid of him for a few hours! )

3. I’m going to see if I can change Thursday and Saturday to look like this:
Thursday: MK. Breakfast at CP, dinner at 1900 Park Fair (Cindy’s Gala Feast).
Saturday: AK. Breakfastasaurus, dinner at Tony’s and catch Spectromagic. This is our last night, so think that will be special for us.

Chilihead

 

[jcemom]

I think with those changes it looks perfect! You'll have a great time, I'm sure! While by no means an expert, I also think it's great to have a "flexible plan." Much better than looking at everyone each morning and asking...what do you want to do now? You know that five people would give five different answers...LOL