Please review revamped plan 9/24-10/2

[tatoet]

I have changed some of our trip plans and would appreciate any suggestions you can give! First trip for me, DH, and DS4!

9/24: Arrive at MCO at 10:35 am. DME to CSR. DTD for lunch at Earl of Sandwich or Wolfgang Puck Express and shopping in afternoon/early evening. Dinner at Pepper Market? Possibly movie and camp fire at CSR in evening.
9/25: HS for RD. Lunch ADR for Hollywood and Vine at 1:25. Take a break in afternoon if needed. Dinner at Pizza Planet (must do for DS). Fantasmic 8:00.
9/26: MK for RD. Breakfast ADR for Crystal Palace at 10:25. Boat to HDDR for 6:15 dinner show.
9/27: AK for Breakfast ADR for Tusker House at 8:30. Dinner ADR for Boma at 5:05
9/28: Resort in morning, swimming/laundry. Lunch ADR for Whispering Canyon Café at 2:20. Boat to MK for MNSSHP. Dinner at Casey’s Corner.
9/29: Epcot for RD if possible but will be flexible due to late night before. Lunch at Sunshine Seasons. Dinner ADR at Garden Grill 5:45. Illuminations 9:00 if we feel like staying.
9/30: Grayline Tour to Clearwater Beach + Captain Memo’s Pirate Cruise (depart and return from ASMU or Dolphin/Swan). Possibly take QS lunch to beach, QS dinner upon return
10/1: Resort in morning to pack for departure. Lunch ADR at The Wave 1:25. MK before or after lunch depending how morning goes. Pirate’s League reservation at 3:25 with PL parade at 4:00. Dinner at CHH. MSEP and Wishes.
10/2: Depart from MCO 11:00 am so I am assuming DME will pick us up at 8:00 am.

 

[JKeenz]

Wow, first trip? You've really done your homework!
Here are my thoughts, and really just opinions of how we like to do things... others may disagree and you obviously know your family best!

First of all, I think that's a great time of year to go... our trips in the fall have been the best ones, I think, in terms of crowds and weather! I also like that you have planned the first day to hang out around the resort and DTD.

On your MK day (9/26), were there any earlier reservations available for breakfast at Crystal Palace? Something to consider: if you were able to get an earlier reservation at CP, even before the park opens, they will let you in early and you might have an opportunity to be on Main Street USA and at the castle with little or no crowds. Great photo ops! Of course, you would probably miss the RD ceremony, which is pretty fun too, so it depends on which is more important to you.

9/28: Good idea to plan for a 1/2 day of relaxing and swimming. I hope you enjoy the pool at CSR - it's one of the best! We also like to plan a resort day sometime during a week-long trip.

9/29: MNSSHP will be a late night, so good to play it by ear that morning! For dinner in Epcot, have you considered any of the restaurants over at World Showcase? We love Teppan Edo in Japan, and also enjoyed San Angel Inn in Mexico. Those may depend on your personal tastes, and I personally have not tried Garden Grill... that may be a better choice for you anyway with your DS and the character meal!

Have a wonderful trip! I am going through some serious withdrawals, so I enjoy looking at this stuff and living vicariously through others' plans, since it will probably be another year and a half before I make it back!

 

[tatoet]

Thanks for the input! I have been watching for a pre RD ADR at CP but no such luck yet. We chose Garden Grill for the characters although I wonder if DS will still be interested in Disney Jr. characters by that time. They used to be his favorite and he still watches them but he is more interested in other shows. The next step for me is to look at options for FP+!

 

[DisneyLvr55]

Personally I don't think your giving enough time to Epcot, especially since food and wine festival may be running at that time. Plus your food choices there are... Not my idea of good Epcot meals. Pick a country or two to explore and try their food. That's what they are there for! People don't give Epcot enough credit or time, and I'm worried you may regret it since its such an amazing park. And it's not just for adults. My 7 & 9 year old dds want to go there more than MK! Good luck and enjoy your trip!!

 

[DopeyDame]

Like others have said, if I had one meal in Epcot it wouldn't be Garden Grill.
Other than that, it looks like a fantastic schedule.
Just remember to go with the flow, and don't be afraid to change things if needed. (You never know what might happen with preschoolers!)

Have a fantastic time!

 

[tatoet]

I just read my last post and realized the Disney Jr. characters are at H&V, not GG like I had mentioned. Can anyone suggest a quick service and table service restaurant at Epcot that has great food and would be fun for a 4 year old?

I debated about spending more than one day at Epcot and decided that I didn't want to spend the extra money on a park hopper just for one day and I didn't want to give up an additional MK day for it. From what I have read I'm not sure that DH and DS will be that interested in it. But if we really like it we can always spend more time there on another trip!

 

[DisneyLvr55]

I just read my last post and realized the Disney Jr. characters are at H&V, not GG like I had mentioned. Can anyone suggest a quick service and table service restaurant at Epcot that has great food and would be fun for a 4 year old?

I debated about spending more than one day at Epcot and decided that I didn't want to spend the extra money on a park hopper just for one day and I didn't want to give up an additional MK day for it. From what I have read I'm not sure that DH and DS will be that interested in it. But if we really like it we can always spend more time there on another trip!

I believe Biergarten in Germany has a little show during their dinner. And Akershus in Norway has the Princesses, so thats always fun for little ones. There is also San Angel Inn which is inside the Mexican pavilion, so you get to watch the boat ride go around and to everyone as they go by.

 

[PennockFive]

We are doing teppan edo. My kids have always loved watching a chef cook at a hibachi table.

 

[magicwishes]

We limit ourselves to 1 TS meal a day. For us doing two on a day means we're eating a lot of the day and our schedule is pretty inflexible. For us it feels like our whole day revolves around eating rather than having fun. The smallest number of kids we have gone to WDW with is 2, so I think your likelihood of being more efficient with 1 child is much better. We love both Boma and Tusker House. The food is good at TH and the characters are great. We love the food at Boma. Boma has everything from the basics to food I've never seen elsewhere. It a great family meal (save some room).

If it were us, I would consider moving one of your non-theme park meals to arrival day like HDDR or Boma if the meals are really important to you. The leisure of your first day is a great way to start the trip however, so otherwise we would just do less TS meals. We would spend the most time at MK like you have planned.

Are you in the same time zone as WDW? It's something to consider with RD and timing of meals. We come from a couple of time zones away, so RD would be very difficult for us. We try to have a late breakfast/early lunch at WDW or dinner for our TS meals.

It sounds like you are planning down time and have an attitude to not do it all or push too hard. That's great. For us, it's hard to stick with that once we are there because we get so excited and caught up in the fun. If you're noticing everyone's miserable, take a break even if it's just sitting in a calm, air conditioned area with a snack.

If MSEP and Wishes are really important to you, I wouldn't wait until your last night to see them in case you have to or want to change plans.

If you decide you want a park hopper, you can add it to your tickets once you are there even part way through the trip. We don't park hop, but I thought I'd mention it as an option in case you want to split a day.

 

[MSSANDRA]

The only big change I would make is not to spend a morning packing, rather than in the park! Honestly, if you try to stay at least a bit organized, you can be packed in a half hour. Do it the night before after the kids are in bed, or get up a bit earlier the last morning. You are going to need a lot of your stuff up to the last minute anyway.
As for Garden Grill, the characters there are amazing. We have done almost every Character meals and they are the best. Food, not our favorite at all, but love the pictures we have from GG.
The only other mention is to not hold too firmly to your CS choices if that does not work out for your plans. Sometimes it is just easier to eat where you are when you are hungry. One caution about Pizza Planet, if you go in expecting even close to what you see in the movie, you will be disappointed. It is really a typical pizza CS with ok food and that's about it. That said, my 7 year old ALWAYS want to eat there so most of the time we do it too. Plans really look great. Have a blast!!!!!

 

[tatoet]

I thought about moving an ADR to our arrival night but don't want to be stressed if we have a flight delay or need more time to get acquainted with the property and transportation system.

Good point about the time zone. We are an hour behind FL time and DH works the night shift so getting to RD may be a challenge. I would like to make it to MK for RD on 9/26 and our ADR at AK is pre RD. If we don't make it to RD at HS or Epcot how will that affect the efficiency of our day?

I am a very organized person in general but will try to be flexible and go with the flow. DS doesn't like change so I am going to try to prepare him for the plan for the day as much as I can but also talk to him about being flexible if needed. I will watch for cues from him that he's had enough because otherwise we won't be having fun anyway. Since this is our first trip if we don't see everything we want, we really don't know what we are missing out on, lol.

Is it possible to buy a park hopper for 1 day or would it have to be for the duration of the trip?

Also, good to know about Pizza Planet. DS is just excited about the arcade games at this point.

 

[magicwishes]

I thought about moving an ADR to our arrival night but don't want to be stressed if we have a flight delay or need more time to get acquainted with the property and transportation system.

Good point about the time zone. We are an hour behind FL time and DH works the night shift so getting to RD may be a challenge. I would like to make it to MK for RD on 9/26 and our ADR at AK is pre RD. If we don't make it to RD at HS or Epcot how will that affect the efficiency of our day?

I am a very organized person in general but will try to be flexible and go with the flow. DS doesn't like change so I am going to try to prepare him for the plan for the day as much as I can but also talk to him about being flexible if needed. I will watch for cues from him that he's had enough because otherwise we won't be having fun anyway. Since this is our first trip if we don't see everything we want, we really don't know what we are missing out on, lol.

Is it possible to buy a park hopper for 1 day or would it have to be for the duration of the trip?

Also, good to know about Pizza Planet. DS is just excited about the arcade games at this point.

You will also have enough time on your trip to adjust if things aren't working. If you decide it's too much to do 2 TS meals, you'll be able to cancel one of them the day before.

Being at Rope Drop definitely makes things more efficient, however there is still plenty of opportunity to do things and make things work for you. The new fastpass plus system especially helps with getting a later start. Rope drop at MK is fun with the opening show. For us, HS and Epcot work fine without being there at rope drop with a TS meal also thrown in during the day.

My understanding is that adding a park hopper is for whatever the duration of the ticket already is, so you couldn't add a park hopper for just one day to a 5 day ticket. You'd have to buy two separate tickets if you wanted part of the time to hop and part not to hop, which probably isn't cost effective.

I think you guys are going to have a great trip. You're doing a great job planning now, and your willingness to be flexible later will make things work and allow you to adjust where you need to.

 

[PennockFive]

We love the pirate cruise. We have been on different ones and Clearwater is by far the best. We will be heading to Tampa to visit family after disney and doing the pirate cruise is definitely on our to do list.

 

[laughinplace199]

My thoughts in red...

I have changed some of our trip plans and would appreciate any suggestions you can give! First trip for me, DH, and DS4!

9/24: Arrive at MCO at 10:35 am. DME to CSR. DTD for lunch at Earl of Sandwich or Wolfgang Puck Express and shopping in afternoon/early evening. Dinner at Pepper Market? Possibly movie and camp fire at CSR in evening. Sometimes the movies don't start until 8:00, which may be a little late for your DS, esp with RD the next morning.
9/25: HS for RD. Lunch ADR for Hollywood and Vine at 1:25. Take a break in afternoon if needed. Dinner at Pizza Planet (must do for DS). Fantasmic 8:00. Again, another late night with RD planned for morning. Could be tricky, depending on your child.
9/26: MK for RD. Breakfast ADR for Crystal Palace at 10:25. Boat to HDDR for 6:15 dinner show. We LOVE CP for breakfast!
9/27: AK for Breakfast ADR for Tusker House at 8:30. Dinner ADR for Boma at 5:05 We love TH & Boma - great choices!
9/28: Resort in morning, swimming/laundry. Lunch ADR for Whispering Canyon Café at 2:20. Boat to MK for MNSSHP. Dinner at Casey’s Corner.
9/29: Epcot for RD if possible but will be flexible due to late night before. Lunch at Sunshine Seasons. Dinner ADR at Garden Grill 5:45. Illuminations 9:00 if we feel like staying.
9/30: Grayline Tour to Clearwater Beach + Captain Memo’s Pirate Cruise (depart and return from ASMU or Dolphin/Swan). Possibly take QS lunch to beach, QS dinner upon return
10/1: Resort in morning to pack for departure. Lunch ADR at The Wave 1:25. MK before or after lunch depending how morning goes. Pirate’s League reservation at 3:25 with PL parade at 4:00. Not sure if you'll be done in time for parade. We waited a bit to get started, even with a reservation. Dinner at CHH. MSEP and Wishes.
10/2: Depart from MCO 11:00 am so I am assuming DME will pick us up at 8:00 am.

You'll probably need to be at the bus stop by 7:45 AM for DME.