Our plans day by day so far (suggestions and critiques welcome!)
Hi there, just thinking of starting my own PTR shortly and reading through some of the existing ones, I always tend to migrate towards the people with less experience. So I hope you are serious about looking for advice.
April 17: DH's Birthday!
AK am
11:30 Tusker House
Epcot pm
6:10 Biergarten
You have two all you can eat Buffets that are 6.5 hours apart. At Disney prices (what's that about $35 a pop) i find that this is just too much food to be worth it. Consider one or the other. Personally, LOVE the lunch/dinner food at Tusker House, but it is very asian/indian ethnic, so if you're family doesn't like that, it's not a great choice. Biergarten I think the food's kind of blah (I am German though - my wife is not and loves the food here) but the entertainment and atmosphere are lots of fun. Unless you are on the
DDP and need to use the meal credits, I generally say avoid two sit-down meals in the same day. Or, if you have to, get an early breakfast for one of them.
April 20:
HS am
MK or EP pm
6:55 Kouzzina
Be aware that if you are in MK at night - getting to Kouzzina will be VERY inconvenient. Much handier from Epcot. Also, HS and EP are a boat-ride apart. We don't hop often, but when we do we usually do this hop at least once a trip. Kouzzina is an easy walk/ride from Epcot's WS.
Not sure whether to count this as day 1 (first park day) or day 2 (one sleep at Disney) - going with Day 2 for now.
7am to the busses
8:20 ADR Crystal Palace - DD can't wait to get a hug from a REALLY BIG Pooh bear. DS would love it if there was a Roo or Kanga around, but likes all the Pooh characters.
- does anyone know if there is an early place to pick up our photopass+? Wondering how we will be able to get that before our early ADR.
Ride plan for the day:
Parentheses are if we are moving quickly and there is a short wait. Assume lunch or snack stop in there somewhere.
Peter Pan - Pooh - (tea party, but looks like it will be closed) - Barnstormer - (Dumbo) - Under the Sea - (Enchanted Tales w/Belle - kids aren't really interested) - Small world while DH gets FP for Thunder Mt.
he has threatened to lop off little animatronic heads if we make him ride
- Haunted Mansion - Frontierland Arcade by popular demand, assuming time before TM - Thunder Mt - (Splash Mt dep on weather and interest, may grab FP) - Tom Sawyer.
Then backtrack Fantasy/Frontier lands, shows, etc. possible break at POR
For the Disney veterans, how does that order sound and is it reasonable? How long do you think that might take us to get the planned, no parenthesis rides done? We do have a second full day allotted to MK to do AL and TL.
Reasons for starting w/ FL - DS is not a big rider and want to warm him up slowly. He does not like big drops, and hates any ride that would get him wet. Hoping that the Barnstormer will warm him up and give him confidence to go on BTMRR. Hoping if that goes well we might get him on SP a couple days later.
Mid-April with easter being On March 31st shouldn't really give you to big crowds. If you look on Touring**plans** web-site, it's mostly 3-6 all that week, so shouldn't have big issues. We typically can do Fantasyland / Fronteirland / Adventureland between rope drop and about 2 PM, but that was before they added rides to Fantasyland. but I would say you should have no problem getting in what you are showing today. Key component: Avoid things like Philharmagic, Country Bears, Tom Sawyer Island until you have eaten lunch. Tom Sawyer Island especially wait until the crowds get to the point you can't stand them and then head over there.
I'm skipping a day here because I wanted to finish the MK plans before I move on to another park. We aren't doing our two MK days in a row though. Parentheses = optional if short lines
EMH 8am this day - try to get there for rope drop
Buzz - Space Mt. - Monsters Inc. - (Astro Orbiter, I get FP for JC) - Get FP for Jungle Cruise - Pirates - Jack Sparrow's - Ride Jungle Cruise - Tiki and/or Treehouse - (3pm parade) - Mickey's Philharmagic - random wanderings until
5:50 pm ADR @ 1900 Park Fare
I feel like this needs help - seems all over the park as opposed to my day 2 following a path. Any suggestions?
No problem at all here. If you do not get to Adventureland, you should EASILY be able to do these things. However again, don't waste the morning on Monster's Inc. You don't want to spend the day criss-crossing the park a dozen times, but going around the park twice in a day is not a big deal. Again, we usually loop through areas once in the morning, then a second time in the afternoon.
Remember also FP return windows will be very close to current time in the morning, and longer in the afternoon. For example, if you pull a Jungle Cruise FP at 10 AM, the return time will probably be 11 - 12 AM...whereas if you pull one at 2 PM, it might have a return time of 5 PM or later. So, you should FP rides in your immediate area in the morning, and in the afternoon rides you'll be coming back to. (I am a strong believer in FP, and frequently use 8-9 sets in a full day at MK.)
Suggestion: If you are at this point and don't think DS will ride it - get FP for Space Mountain. Then, you have 4 passes for it, you and DH can each take DD10 once while the other parents stays with DS. (Ride the TTA or go the arcade or something with him while waiting.)
Same rule as before, Tiki Birds / Philharmagic should never be seen before noon.
Day 3 - April 17th
Happy 40th B-day DH
Animal Kingdom has EMH that day, so that is where we are heading first
Tentative ride plan:
Expedition Everest
Dinosaur
Rest of Dino land in whatever order looks good at the time
Get FP for Kilimanjaro Safari
Lunch Tusker House 11:30
Ride Safari
A show or two, wander AK
Back to room 3ish for a rest?
Head to Epcot for 6:10pm ADR @ Biergarten
Wander World Showcase before and after ADR
What do you think of that order? Should we hit the safari first instead to possibly see more animals, then head to Everest/Dino? I had it this way just because the safari was close to TH for lunch.
Here's how we do DAK - One person (the fastest walker/best sense of direction) loops over to Everest to grab FPs, and the other head to Kilomanjaro Safaris and wait by the entrance. The FP runner meets up, and then everyone gets in line for KS. After that's done, head over to EE.
Now, that's on a normal day, though. You are going for EMH, so assuming you get there early enough (at least 30 minutes before regular park opening) I would say go ride EE first, then over to KS. They are right that KS is best done early or late in the day. If you like either of them enough to ride again, THEN get FP. You should be able to ride them both before the crowds hit. DO NOT rush to Dinosaur. It handles crowds easily, and really shouldn't even need a FP. I don't think I've ever NOT walked on the ride at slow times of the year. However, if DS is scared easily, this ride could do it. Really dark, really loud, lots of Dinosaurs attacking from the dark. Note they all attack from the right, so if he's a little timid, seat him in the middle or on the left, not the right.
I know this is more walking because of your lunch ADR but the Safari is very hard to plan around a meal-time....it's often a long wait, and it's a very long ride (at least 30 mintes), so unless you do it after lunch it will be hard on the timing. My opinion is to do it in the morning anyways. Of course, I'd rather spend 10 minutes walking than 30 minutes in line.
Other pieces of advice:
- Don't miss Festival of the Lion King. Best show hands down on WDW property. The other shows (Nemo & Flights of Wonder) are extremely skippable IMO.
- If you ride Kali RR - be sure to do it AFTER lunch and best do it right before you leave to go back to your room. There is a 20 % chance of any individual being soaked to your skin on that ride, making it 40 % for someone in your party getting it. Even better, skip it all together.
- With your limited time, you might not have a lot of time to see the animals, but the two trails (Pangori and Maharajah) are awesome. If I had to pick one...Maharajah is the better of the two. Pangori has the Gorillas, but is weak otherwise...MJT is strong throughout - plus TIGERS!
- If you just focus on the rides, AK can be done by noon. There is much that is amazing in AK though, and we usually spend 2 days there and don't usually ride anything but the Safari.
So, my suggestion would be:
- EE (during EMH)
- KS (during EMH)
- Dinoland
- Explore/FotLK (before or after lunch)
- KRR (last)
Edit: I didn't answer your Photopass+ question because we haven't been since Photopass started, so I am not exactly sure what you are referring to. It used to be, you can get a photopass card from any photopass photographer. If you are going in for breakfast at MK early, there will be a few hanging around to take your picture. Ask them about it.
MHT (Manchester, NH) to MCO, Arrive MCO 6:55pm, Depart MCO 11:55 (I think) ME airport to Disney, round trip
It is hard to get protein in the child - thank goodness she likes beans! DS is an adventurous eater. She will probably take his kids meals and he'll eat the adult one at most places.
