We will be driving to Florida from the Houston area. From what I can see it's in between a 13 and 15 hour drive. On the way there, we plan to stop off in Pensacola. Now, even though I am a serial planner, I have not decided if we will leave Saturday or Sunday. (Check into Orlando hotel on Monday.) I just can't get excited about this leg of the trip, as it is not Disney. We are both off of work so we can leave whenever we want. Andrea's work schedule is different than ours, so she has to leave Sunday. She is driving and meeting us at the hotel. We are not staying on Disney property. We are staying at a Disney good neighbor hotel, the Radisson Celebration Resort. I stayed here last time, and I LOVE this hotel. Free transportation to the parks, the buses have a good schedule going, and the hotel pool is amazing. Plus kids eat free at the hotel breakfast and dinner buffet. No, we don't get EMH or dining plan, but we will be ok.
This is just a stock photo, I don't really feel like going to drag out my old photo album from four years ago and scan in a vacation photo.
As far as plans go, yep, I have every day mapped out.
Monday: Check into hotel, go to DTD in the evening. I love nighttime there. Shopping, and Earl of Sandwich, yum! I tried to get ADR to T-Rex, but they were out. It was a good thing too, because I tried to take Coop to our local Rainforest Cafe and he freaked out in terror, so I can't imagine he would do good there.
Tuesday: First park day. Animal Kingdom. Now I know this sounds crazy. First park day should be Magic Kingdom with three small children and two first time adults. However, Wishes is only on M,W,F that week, and we are not doing hoppers, so we chose MK for Wednesday. AK is smaller, and I already know what attractions we will and will not want to do. Since AK is smaller and closes early, we plan to go to the boardwalk that evening and eat at Kouzzina. Now, I have never been to a Disney resort and know NOTHING about the process if you are not a Disney guest so I am a little nervous. I've read enough trip reports to know that we basically just have to go valet our car and then we can eat there (love Greek food!) and then explore the boardwalk. I've read that you can see illuminations from the beach by the boardwalk but I don't know if there are certain Disney guest only places there. I guess we will see.
Wednesday: Magic Kingdom. Again, I have a list of must dos, maybes, and skip. I have never spent more than a 1/2 day at MK and always got through what I wanted. I know it will different with kids. I have never rode Dumbo or Peter Pan, in fact, I'm not sure if I've ever gone to Fantasyland. It doesn't matter anyway, because it's all new! Cooper is very excited to see Mickey and Bella is very excited to see the princesses and fairies. We plan to stay 1/2 day, eat at Columbia Harbor House, and then go back to the hotel, and return that evening for Wishes. I've never eaten anything there except Cosmic Ray's (what is it about Space Mountain that makes me hungry?) so I'm excited to try something else.
Thursday: Disney Hollywood Studios. Call me crazy, but I have no interest in Toy Story Mania. I don't really want to run through the park to get the chance to play an arcade game.

I've talked with Chris, Andrea, and Juan and they don't care either. This is going to be a big rider swap day, as we both love Rockin Rollercoaster and Tower of Terror. Cooper loves Phineas and Ferb so I'm glad we get to see them. All 3 kids love Disney Jr. so seeing that show is a must.
Friday: Either Epcot or MK again. I LOVE Epcot. It's my favorite park, and Maelstrom is my favorite ride. Chris hates Epcot. He calls Soarin' "borin." He hates World Showcase, and the only redeeming thing to him is Test Track, which will be closed when we go. So I told him that if we don't get our fill of MK, we will just return on Friday. (I'm hoping we get our fill.) Another option is for Andrea and I to take the kids to Epcot, and Chris and Juan head off to the park of their choice.
Phew! I've got many more plans and questions, but it's time for Anya to wake up from her nap, so I will continue on another day.