Please help me plan my trip!

[KLB33]

Hello,

I am in serious need of help planning my family's first t rip to Disney! We're going to Disneyworld in 4 weeks and I haven't really done any planning. My parents bought our park tickets, dining plan and hotel so all of that is taken care of. I also booked our flight but we have no itinerary set yet for our activities and my type A personality can't handle a trip like this without a schedule!

So, please help plan my trip! There will be 6 adults and my daughter (she's 6 1/2). So far our only concrete plan is an appointment. at the Bippity Boppity Botique and lunch in Cinderella's castle. We also need to make reservations at the restaurants.

Here's what our trip looks like so far:

Monday, June 9th--arrive around 3:00 p.m. We do not have park tickets for this day. We should arrive at our hotel (Pop Century) around 3:00-3:30. I planned to just eat dinner at the hotel (I believe it is a quick service restaurant) and just swim in the hotel pool

Tuesday, June 10th--we have no plans yet

Wednesday, June 11th--we have the 10:40 BBB appt. (Cinderella's castle) and lunch at Cinderella's castle at 1:30. No other plans

Thursday--June 12th--no plans
Friday--June 13th--no plans
Saturday--departing around 11:30 a.m.

So with this type of schedule, what do you all recommend we try to see? I figure we will spend the majority of our time in Magic Kingdom but I don't know how many days we should set aside for it and what days we should do it. We also want to do Animal Kingdom even though I have heard mixed reviews. My daughter is really into animals. I would also like to squeeze in a trip to MGM if possible. I can do without Epcot this time around.

I have almost no time to research anything. I bought the Burnbaum book but it hasn't arrived yet. I thought my mom was going to do most of the planning but so far she's done next to nothing.

TIA for any advice!

 

[Aliceacc]

Your first priority is dining reservations-- you need to do that TODAY.

(Here are ours, just to give you an idea of some of the options)

Chef Mickey's (In the Contemporary, an easy monorail ride from MK.) Character dinner w/ Mickey and the crew. This one's mostly for my kids, but I want to see Mickey too!! And there's an ice cream sundae bar we'll all enjoy.

Fantasmic Dinner package at Hollywood & Vine. I love the idea of lessening the wait for this "must see" show. The other alternative on the DDP was Mama Melrose (Italian food-- take a look )

Coral Reef: One entire wall is an aquarium. But if you don't like seafood, ignore this option.

Cinderella dinner at 1900 Park Fare (Grand Floridian, on the monorail) I have 2 little girls, enough said. The Stepsisters are supposed to be hilarious.

Le Cellier in Epcot (Canada) Supposed to be AMAZING steaks, which my son will love (as will my husband and I.) Payback for him sitting through a princess dinner.

'Ohana at the Poly (on the monorail.) Polynesian food, served family style. You don't order, they just keep bringing you food. Take a look.

My sister is on the Deluxe plan, and also booked in the following places:
- Biergarten in Germany
- The Japanese steak house
- Crystal Palace in MK

and I forget where else.

Once you have that down, take a look at the EMH-- they're the extra hours the park is open for guests at the Disney resorts. You'll want to take them into account as you plan. Perhaps coordinate where you'll have dinner with where the evening EMH's are. (For example, if Tuesday is a late night at Epcot, plan a dinner there and stay late.) That may work especially well if booking dinner this late means you'll have a later dinner.

Do that, then worry about the rest. But do it now, OK??

 

[RFrank9504]

OK - most people here start planning a year in advance...before you book meals-if you have a base ticket find out what park have extra magical hours.This site has park hours and so does the disney webiste. You'll wanna plan your day around what park stay open later or earlier. Secondly definitely start today booking dining reservations. Use this site to find out what time shows, parades and fireworks are so that you dont mis them because of dining ressies. After that basically it all comes together. We always go to the park that stays open the lastest. We like to relax in the am, let the kids swim in the pool and enjoy the parks later in the afternoon. Good luck.

 

[Tnkrbelle565]

Don't wait a second longer to make dining plans. Once you figure out where you are going to be on each day...call and make ADRs. Plan on being very flexible with times/locations. I would have an "A" list and "B" list ready when you call Disney Dining. I would plan on doing most of your sit down meals at breakfast or lunch...it's going to be really hard to get a dinner reservation for 7 at this point (but not impossible)

i would plan on at least two days at MK (your BBB and CRT day plus at least one more). AK takes about a half day. If you have park hoppers, you could see a bit of another park in the afternoon. If you do go to AK, go first thing in the morning and hit the safari first thing...the animals are more active before it gets too hot. If you want to see all the shows at MGM, it will take at least 1 1/2 days.

 

[of2dbeach]

two sites I use for planning are intercot.com and mousesavers.com.. there are a few more but those are my favs. i hope i am aloud to post them on here if not Yikes and sorry !!
i hope this helps .. Listen to the others more about planning because i live localy I dont do the hotel thing

 

[lovetoscrap]

If a site isn't allowed to be mentioned then it will show up as ********* As long as you don't try to get around those by altering the name so it will show up you are fine

Intercot and mousesavers are very informative sites, but we also have a lot of the same information here at wdwinfo.com

 

[Mom2gymnasts]

When my DDs were 4 1/2 & 6 we had breakfast at 1900 Park Fare the food was wonderful and they really enjoyed Alice & the Mad Hatter. Also, Mary Poppins was there & the movie had just been re-released that year around Christmas & was their favorited character at that time. You could have breakfast at the hotel & then ride the monorail over to MK.

I would plan on 2 days for MK. My DDs loved AK when we were there 2 years ago. We also went to MGM on that trip. This is the first year we will be going to Epcot.

I agree with others you need to make ADR's ASAP.

 

[lovetoscrap]

Do you have Park Hopper tickets or just the base ticket? That will also make a big difference in your planning. If you do not have the hopper option then you will need make meal plans at the park you are planning to be in that day or in a resort.

By the way, OP you may need to fully register in order to get back on here and answer our questions and post further. There should be a link to register on the black bar at the top of the screen.

 

[ilovediznee2]

My suggestion would be this:
Relax the first day you get there. Just as you said, swim in the hotel's pool, eat dinner there, and go to bed fairly early.
Take the next two days for MK.
Go to DS on Thursday. Try to make sure you see "Fantasmic." As it will be hot, and probably crowded, try to get one of the dinner deals. This way, you won't have to stand in line at least an hour before the show starts.
I always do AK on my last day. I agree with going early. Especially in June! If the line is already fairly long for the Safari, grab a fast-pass and go see "It's Tough to be a Bug!" That show is awesome!! Your daughter will love it. I also recommend Expedition Everest. I don't normally like roller coasters, but Disney has a way of making even the scariest rides thoroughly enjoyable!!!

Good luck!!