Please Help Me Figure Out Itinerary (Dining and Night Shows)!

[Yumi696]

Hello all! I currently am trying to figure out my family's itinerary for Disney World in terms of night shows and dining. I have a couple of different options because I currently have two Ohana reservations and two Cape May Cafe reservations and I'm trying to figure out which one to let go.

We have NEVER seen Illuminations before so I'm trying to figure out ways to see it.

I've also never tried to time nighttime shows and ADRs before, which is why I need a little bit of help. I'm not sure how long it will take for us to travel in between these ADRs and the parks.

PLAN 1

• June 23:
  • Arrival at CBR, check in
  • AK at opening
  • Go back to CBR at around 4PM, put our stuff in the room
  • Swim/hang out
  • Drive to Cape May Cafe for 7:10PM dinner
  • Walk to Epcot, watch Illuminations at 9:00PM
  • Drive to CBR, swim/hang out, sleep
• June 24:
  • Arrive to MK before rope drop
  • Cinderella's Royal Table for 8:40AM breakfast
  • MK time
  • Be Our Guest for 12:35 lunch
  • MK time
  • Ohana for 8:20PM dinner
  • Watch Wishes from Ohana
  • Back to CBR, swim/hang out, sleep
• June 25:
  • Arrive at HS before it opens
  • HS time
  • Fantasmic at 9:00PM
  • Back to CBR, swim/hang out, sleep
• June 26:
  • Arrive at Epcot before opening
  • Epcot time
  • Watch Electric Water Pageant at 9:00PM
  • Go to MK
  • Watch Celebrate the Magic at 9:45PM
  • Watch Wishes at 10:00PM
  • Watch MSEP at 11:00PM
• June 27:
  • Swim/hang out
  • Check out
  • DTD

PLAN 2

• June 23:
  • Arrival at CBR, check in
  • AK at opening
  • Leave AK at about 3:30PM-4:00PM
  • Family Split Up
    • Parents and littlest brother - Back to CBR, bring stuff in room, swim/hang out
    • Me and middle brother - Go to MK, get graduation Mickey ears, go to Epcot and ride a couple of rides
  • Cape May Cafe for 7:10PM dinner
  • Walk to Epcot, watch Illuminations at 9:00PM
  • Drive to CBR, swim/hang out, sleep
• June 24:
  • Arrive to MK before rope drop
  • Cinderella's Royal Table for 8:40AM breakfast
  • MK time
  • Be Our Guest for 12:35PM lunch
  • MK time
  • Watch Electric Water Pageant from Polynesian
  • Catch what nighttime shows you can at MK (maybe we can catch Celebrate the Magic at 9:45PM/Wishes at 10:00PM/2nd MSEP at 11:00PM)
  • Back to CBR, swim/hang out, sleep
• June 25:
  • Arrive at HS before it opens
  • HS time
  • Fantasmic at 9:00PM
  • Back to CBR, swim/hang out, sleep
• June 26:
  • Arrive at Epcot before opening
  • Epcot time
  • Ohana at 7:50PM dinner
  • Catch any MK nighttime shows that we missed on June 24; if we caught all nighttime shows, then ride rides while everyone is watching nighttime shows
• June 27:
  • Swim/hang out
  • Check out
  • DTD

PLAN 3

• June 23:
  • Arrival at CBR, check in
  • DTD
  • CBR - unpack in the room, swim/hang out
  • Polynesian - Electric Water Pageant
• June 24:
  • Arrive to MK before rope drop
  • Cinderella's Royal Table for 8:40AM breakfast
  • MK time
  • Be Our Guest for 12:35 lunch
  • MK time
  • Ohana for 8:20PM dinner
  • Watch Wishes from Ohana
  • MK - MSEP 11:00PM
  • Back to CBR, swim/hang out, sleep
• June 25:
  • Arrive at HS before it opens
  • HS time
  • Cape May Cafe for 6:50PM dinner
  • Fantasmic at 9:00PM OR 10:30PM depending on timing
  • Back to CBR, swim/hang out, sleep
• June 26:
  • AK at opening
  • Leave AK at around 4:00PM
  • Epcot: World Showcase
  • Illuminations at 9:00PM
  • Family split up:
    • Parents/littlest brother go back to CBR
    • Me and middle brother ride rides
  • Back to CBR, swim/hang out, sleep
• June 27:
  • Swim/hang out
  • Check out 11:00AM
  • Epcot

I highlighted the significant differences in the three different plans to make it easier to read.

Let me know what you all think! Especially so that I can let one Ohana reservation and one Cape May Cafe reservation go for other folks.

Thanks so much!

 

[runner_princess]

I like Plan 3 the best as a whole - you get the most variety in experiences. Personally, I wouldn't make a special trip to the Poly just for the EWP since you will be back there for Ohana. Maybe watch it from a different resort to see some more of WDW in the evenings?

 

[Yumi696]

I like Plan 3 the best as a whole - you get the most variety in experiences. Personally, I wouldn't make a special trip to the Poly just for the EWP since you will be back there for Ohana. Maybe watch it from a different resort to see some more of WDW in the evenings?

Do you mean watch it from one of the other resorts?

Thanks!

 

[DisneyFansInNYC]

I would probably do #1. We love EPCOT and would spend a lot of time there - especially in the countries. I would eat at Ohana when I was at the MK. As long as you see Illuminations the night you eat at Cape May then I would leave EPCOT on the 26th around 8ish to go to MK. MK is open late whenever we go so we always go there after the other parks. We don't do AK that often - if we do we only stay about 4 hours - then usually head to MK.

Enjoy your time!

 

[Yumi696]

I would probably do #1. We love EPCOT and would spend a lot of time there - especially in the countries. I would eat at Ohana when I was at the MK. As long as you see Illuminations the night you eat at Cape May then I would leave EPCOT on the 26th around 8ish to go to MK. MK is open late whenever we go so we always go there after the other parks. We don't do AK that often - if we do we only stay about 4 hours - then usually head to MK.

Enjoy your time!

Thanks!

My family and I have never been to World Showcase and we can't wait to go see it.

We probably will take longer at AK just because we love most of the rides and shows, but yeah we don't stay the entire time there...

 

[BaseballMoM2007]

Unless you watch wishes from the Beach at Poly there are only so many tables with Window seats in Ohana so not a guarantee that you will have a good view to watch them from Ohana.

 

[shpooey]

Are the days within the plan interchangeable?

If so…consider this alternative plan? For me, I’d prefer to do less hopping between parks and resorts, so that’s how I looked at the plan. I think you still get to do everything you want to do, but let me know if I missed something critical and I’ll look at it again.

June 23 – Alternative Plan (AK/DTD)
Consider going to AK at opening and the back to the resort as per Plan 1, but instead of Cape May/Epcot at night, go to DTD for the evening. You might even be able to find the graduation ears somewhere there!

June 24 – Plan 3 (MK)
Consider skipping Electric Water Pageant altogether, unless it’s important to your family (see this thread on MK area nighttime entertainment http://www.disboards.com/threads/wa...-the-magic-and-msep-all-in-one-night.3391669/), or try to get a view of the lagoon at Ohana where you might be able to see it from your table.
I’d do Plan 3, and try to see the water pageant from Ohana, but don’t worry if you miss it.
This would be your Ohana day, and your MK nighttime entertainment

June 25 – Plan 3 (HS)
This would be your Cape May Day

June 26 – Plan 2 (without Ohana)
If you missed MSEP or Wishes on June 24, you can go back to MK to catch them (I think trying to catch Wishes would be tight, but maybe you could see it from outside MK?)
If you don’t need to go back to MK, I don’t know about your family, but I could spend an entire day in Epcot. Future World in the morning, World Showcase in the afternoon, Illuminations at night. If this is too much Epcot for your family, then consider a mid-day swim break or getting to Epcot later in the morning after a swim morning.
This would be your Illuminations night

June 27 – whatever you want!
Since you’d have done a DTD evening and a full day at Epcot already, you could go back to either if your family needed more time there, or even back to MK to ride some more!

 

[Yumi696]

Unless you watch wishes from the Beach at Poly there are only so many tables with Window seats in Ohana so not a guarantee that you will have a good view to watch them from Ohana.

Ahh ok thanks for that info! I'll keep that in mind.

Are the days within the plan interchangeable?

If so…consider this alternative plan? For me, I’d prefer to do less hopping between parks and resorts, so that’s how I looked at the plan. I think you still get to do everything you want to do, but let me know if I missed something critical and I’ll look at it again.

June 23 – Alternative Plan (AK/DTD)
Consider going to AK at opening and the back to the resort as per Plan 1, but instead of Cape May/Epcot at night, go to DTD for the evening. You might even be able to find the graduation ears somewhere there!

June 24 – Plan 3 (MK)
Consider skipping Electric Water Pageant altogether, unless it’s important to your family (see this thread on MK area nighttime entertainment http://www.disboards.com/threads/wa...-the-magic-and-msep-all-in-one-night.3391669/), or try to get a view of the lagoon at Ohana where you might be able to see it from your table.
I’d do Plan 3, and try to see the water pageant from Ohana, but don’t worry if you miss it.
This would be your Ohana day, and your MK nighttime entertainment

June 25 – Plan 3 (HS)
This would be your Cape May Day

June 26 – Plan 2 (without Ohana)
If you missed MSEP or Wishes on June 24, you can go back to MK to catch them (I think trying to catch Wishes would be tight, but maybe you could see it from outside MK?)
If you don’t need to go back to MK, I don’t know about your family, but I could spend an entire day in Epcot. Future World in the morning, World Showcase in the afternoon, Illuminations at night. If this is too much Epcot for your family, then consider a mid-day swim break or getting to Epcot later in the morning after a swim morning.
This would be your Illuminations night

June 27 – whatever you want!
Since you’d have done a DTD evening and a full day at Epcot already, you could go back to either if your family needed more time there, or even back to MK to ride some more!

Thanks for the input!

The only issue is that we only have a 4-Day Park Hopper Ticket... it was a military discount. The issue with this is that since our June 24 Ohana reservation is so late, we would probably miss all but the second MSEP... we might see Wishes from Ohana but apparently there's a limited amount of window seats. We would love to see Celebrate the Magic because it's so awesome, as well as Illuminations because we have never seen Illuminations.

I'm already putting EWP at the very bottom of the list and something I can get rid of altogether if push comes to shove. We've never seen it but everyone seems to say it's not as cool as I'm thinking it is. XD