Please critique my itinerary (obsessive, color-coded chart inside!)

[Crispity]

We are planning a trip for May, staying 8 nights. We are staying the first 3 nights in an Arusha view room at AKL (booked through Disney), then moving to a 1 bd savannah view at Kidani (used airline miles to book). It will be myself, my husband, and DD, who will be almost 2. This will be our second trip to WDW. The first was last October, staying offsite, and we loved it so much we had to go again as soon as possible.

I love to plan (it’s almost as much fun for me as the trip itself), thus the color-coded itinerary chart below. Please take a look and tell me what you think. We aren't planning on doing much on our arrival and departure days, so I have not included those. I also haven't planned on going to DHS, because I don't think there will be much for DD there (she's too young to really enjoy the shows). All ADRs have been made, but I am open to moving them around.

Thanks in advance for your help!

ETA: Just saw that the chart may not be showing up, so here is the itinerary in text in case you can't see it (not nearly as pretty!)

Sunday: AK Rope Drop
10:30 am Tusker House
Leave park around 2:00 pm
6:05 dinner at Boma

Monday: Resort Day
4:00 pm Hoop-de-doo Review

Tuesday: AK 10:30 arrival
QS Lunch (Flame Tree or Pizzafari)
Check-in Kidani
Dinner at Resort (room service or Mara)

Wednesday: MK Rope Drop
11:00 am breakfast at 1900 Park Fare
Leave MK mid-late afternoon
Dinner at Resort (room service or Mara)

Thursday: Epcot 3:00 pm arrival
6:45 pm dinner at Garden Grill
Illuminations

Friday: Resort Day
5:15 pm dinner at Sanaa

Saturday: MK
8:05 am breakfast at Crystal Palace
BOG Fastpass for lunch (if available)
Dinner at resort (Mara or room service)

 

[fairy8i8]

The chart isn't showing on my computer... what airline lets you trade in points for Disney stays?

 

[chloelovesdisney]

I'd switch your 1900 Park Faire to dinner or try to move up your breakfast and then go to the park afterward.

The 6:45pm Garden Grill would be too late for my 2yo to eat, but my son did have a blast there with the characters.

Not sure you if you are aware, there is a lounge in Kidani right outside Sanaa that also serves some food. I went there instead of going over to Mara.

They show movies in the evening poolside at Kidani, we watched lying in the lounge chairs. You can bring some snacks (they sell some things in the gift shop if you aren't getting any groceries).

Just an fyi, they have tables outside of Mara but when we ate there a bunch of VERY aggressive birds came after the food while we were eating it. We ended up giving up the food to the crazy birds and going back inside, ordering more food and then ate inside.

 

[Crispity]

The chart isn't showing on my computer... what airline lets you trade in points for Disney stays?

Sorry - I'm not sure why it isn't showing up. I added a text itinerary. We booked the hotel with United miles. You can go to their website under "use your miles" and you can book hotels as one of the options. It takes a lot of miles and is not a "good" use of them (poor dollar to point ratio), but it works for us at this time in our lives. Prior to having our DD, we used to trade in miles for international business class tickets, which provides excellent dollar to mile value. However, I have no desire to take a flight that long with DD, and we are planning on having another child soon, so that's out for us for the foreseeable future. We figured we might as well use the miles for a nice place to stay

 

[Crispity]

I'd switch your 1900 Park Faire to dinner or try to move up your breakfast and then go to the park afterward.

The 6:45pm Garden Grill would be too late for my 2yo to eat, but my son did have a blast there with the characters.

Not sure you if you are aware, there is a lounge in Kidani right outside Sanaa that also serves some food. I went there instead of going over to Mara.

They show movies in the evening poolside at Kidani, we watched lying in the lounge chairs. You can bring some snacks (they sell some things in the gift shop if you aren't getting any groceries).

Just an fyi, they have tables outside of Mara but when we ate there a bunch of VERY aggressive birds came after the food while we were eating it. We ended up giving up the food to the crazy birds and going back inside, ordering more food and then ate inside.

Thanks so much for the tips! I was thinking about trying to move the Park Fare ADR earlier, or dinner is also a good idea. I didn't know about the Sanaa lounge or the poolside movies at Kidani - we will definitely check that out!

 

[chloelovesdisney]

Thanks so much for the tips! I was thinking about trying to move the Park Fare ADR earlier, or dinner is also a good idea. I didn't know about the Sanaa lounge or the poolside movies at Kidani - we will definitely check that out!

I would only move the breakfast because it will be time consuming to get into the MK for an hour then have to leave to head over to the GF and then go back. My 2yo also naps in the afternoon (in the parks he'll nap in his stroller) so we'd basically be getting back to the MK in time for him to sleep. If your dd has dropped her nap already it may not be an issue for you.

When we went to the lounge there was a couple of people at the bar but we sat in the seating area and were the only ones there. I actually had my son in his Mickey pjs and had the stroller there in case he started to fall asleep (he didn't).

The Kidani pool and splash area is great, you will really have a great time there. My favorite part of the trip was just hanging out watching the movies in the evening.

Are you going to be there during the garden show? They had a butterfly exhibit in Epcot that my son was just amazed by (it was the very beginning of May).

 

[Crispity]

I would only move the breakfast because it will be time consuming to get into the MK for an hour then have to leave to head over to the GF and then go back. My 2yo also naps in the afternoon (in the parks he'll nap in his stroller) so we'd basically be getting back to the MK in time for him to sleep. If your dd has dropped her nap already it may not be an issue for you.

When we went to the lounge there was a couple of people at the bar but we sat in the seating area and were the only ones there. I actually had my son in his Mickey pjs and had the stroller there in case he started to fall asleep (he didn't).

The Kidani pool and splash area is great, you will really have a great time there. My favorite part of the trip was just hanging out watching the movies in the evening.

Are you going to be there during the garden show? They had a butterfly exhibit in Epcot that my son was just amazed by (it was the very beginning of May).

1900 Park Fare Resrvation moved earlier! DD does still nap in the afternoon - I am hoping she will nap in her stroller, or we'll leave the parks early afternoon and put her down a bit late. We will be there for Flower and Garden - I hope they have the butterfly exhibit again!

 

[magicbob]

obsessive, color-coded chart inside!

Is there any other kind?

 

[amss14]

Don't forget DHS has Disney Jr. Live show where the kids get up and dance and characters are outside the show for pictures if she is a fan of disney jr!

 

[flutterby3744]

Is there any other kind?

I too have an obsessive color-coded chart.....

 

[mom2cgj]

I too have an obsessive color-coded chart.....

Same here!

 

[Mommy2PrincessAbby]

I think we are going to be there right around the same time! Butterfly garden? Admittedly we are wdw newbies and dlr vets... But if there is a butterfly garden my dd will love that!!

I am sure you have a good reason for your resort days the way you have them... My only thought, and this is based on dlr experience... I would pick busy days to take a day out of the park... Like weekends... For sure not a Monday when it's not a holiday or anything, and the park should be pretty quiet, especially in the morning? Just a thought!

 

[Crispity]

Same here!

Hooray for obsessive, color-coded charts!

 

[Crispity]

I think we are going to be there right around the same time! Butterfly garden? Admittedly we are wdw newbies and dlr vets... But if there is a butterfly garden my dd will love that!!

I am sure you have a good reason for your resort days the way you have them... My only thought, and this is based on dlr experience... I would pick busy days to take a day out of the park... Like weekends... For sure not a Monday when it's not a holiday or anything, and the park should be pretty quiet, especially in the morning? Just a thought!

From what I've heard, I think that WDW crowds are more evenly dispersed on weekends vs. weekdays, because the ratio of vacationers to locals is so much higher at WDW vs. DL. For crowd predictions, I used EasyWDW (great site if you haven't looked at it) and picked a "recommended park" every day with the exception of Saturday, which is the only day we could get pre-park opening reservations at Crystal Palace (a must-do for us!). Good luck with your planning, and have a magical time!

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Haven't read all the responses so don't know if others have suggested trying Hollywood studios? Also, on Thursday, your Epcot day, maybe you could do rope drop and have resort time later on? Its always good to make rope drop when crowds are smallest and you can get more done than you can later on in the afternoon.

 

[rrali33tt]

Hooray for obsessive, color-coded charts!

me too! Now I don't feel like a crazy peron anymore LOL

I was going to suggest the same thing as 1900 park fare. I would schedule it befre park opens.

I usually schedule my ADR for Tusker house breakfast before the park opens to get a ahead of the crowd, but you have two days in animal kingdom + you are staying at that resort so no rushing needed to squeeze everything into one day

 

[cindy2875]

I love your color coded chart!! I'm a bit of a planning geek myself

I will leave the suggestions to the planning experts on here, but I wanted to say that we LOVED LOVED LOVED Hoop Dee Do and the best day of our trip last year was when we arrived by boat from MK and just hung out at FW with zero crowds for the afternoon just before the dinner. It was the most relaxing and magical time for our family, right in the middle of our busy hectic trip Here is a little snippit from my trip report about it. I'm so excited for you, sending pixie dust your way!!!

(speaking about MK in the afternoon): Again it was wall to wall people, and we were getting really claustrophobic. So we headed out around 2:30 to the water launch to Fort Wilderness. DS-5 fell asleep in the stroller.

The boat ride to FW was very relaxing and quiet. We were at FW by 3:30 and DS-5 had a blast playing in the beautiful playground area. DH & DS-10 played tetherball and horseshoes. I did some shopping at the little country store. It was very nice and relaxing! We were basically the only ones there for a while, and the weather just gorgeous!

We had our HDD pictures taken at 4:30 and they let us in at 5:00. We had AWESOME seats! Category 2 because we used TS credits, but seriously, I think the best table ever. This is why we book 180 days out! Everyone LOVED the show!

 

[kidd_freeper]

An excellent mix of park and resort time!!!

 

[Crispity]

Thanks, everyone for the replies! Cindy, we are SO excited about Hoop-de-doo! I think we will all love it

 

[BudgieMama]

I can't help critique, as I'm planning my first visit, but your chart is pretty! Colour coding FTW!