revised itinerary/questions

[in2013]

hi,

i took the advice of some of you and revised our disney schedule. here it is:

day 1

- very early breakfast at cape may

- head to hollywood studios (doesn't have to be for rope drop if we can't make it)

- have lunch at mama melrose's as part of fantasmic dinner package

- osbourne lights following fantasmic

*extra magic hours from 8-10 pm

..........

day 2

- no early breakfast

- head to magic kingdom for rope drop

- breakfast in the form of MK snacks

- quick service lunch

- harmony barber shop haircuts

- have an early supper at crystal palace

- tomorrowland dessert party (we booked this on the suggestion of a friend for the view and also for my daughter as a special treat for her birthday. she will have plenty of treats this week, but this one will be extra special.)

*extra magic hours until 11 pm (a long day for children! whether we take advantage of these EMH is up in the air.)

..........

day three

- very early breakfast at chef mickey's

- head to epcot (doesn't have to be for rope drop. this is a long day at epcot, considering that i'm not even sure how much the kids will enjoy it. the fireworks are at 9:30, so we will be quite late returning to resort. we may or may not take a mid afternoon break at our resort pool, weather depending.)

- lunch at akershus (disney princess meet and greet is high on my daughter's list of priorities!)

- a very late supper at le cellier (this is primarily an experience for my husband and i...we are canadian and would really like eat here. the kids will be coming with us but will be highly unlikely they will each much, given chef mickey's and akershus earlier in the day. my husband and i will go light on the breakfast/lunch buffets.)

*we plan on doing the christmas showcases and i am really looking forward to that!

..........

day four

- head to animal kingdom (for rope drop)

- breakfast at tusker house (the only reservation i could get for this is 0945. i am continuing to search for an earlier time.)

- quick service supper

- spend the evening at MK (we cancelled the spirit of aloha party.)

*extra magic hours AK 8-9 am

..........

day five

- breakfast at ohana

*no park booked

- bibbidi bobbidi boutique at cinderella's castle at 1140 (we don't have a park in mind for this day, but since we'll be at the MK i suppose we'll probably hit up any rides we missed, or repeat the favorites. our simply head to resort pool/downtown disney/something else.)

- hoop dee doo revue (ft. wilderness)

- holiday sleigh ride (ft. wilderness - this is short - lasts 30 minutes.)

- campfire/marshmallow roast with chip and dale/outdoor movie (ft. wilderness)

*try to catch MK's holiday wishes fireworks from the fort wilderness beach/dock

..........

day six - our last day

- sleep in or explore our resort one last time

- late breakfast at 1900 park fare

- explore grand floridian's christmas decorations (and possibly other resorts.)
no park booked (backtrack or visit downtown disney.)

- a very late lunch at DTD rainforest cafe

- a hot air balloon ride from DTD (to admire it from above before we leave.)

- meet santa at DTD

- depart for the journey to south carolina (our first stop on the way home. we'll be driving very late but that's alright.

*i have a park ticket for this day and it would be a crying shame to waste it so i'd really like to squeeze in some park time, although it highly unlikely an option at this point.

..........

NOTES

- we have fastpasses booked for our most sought after attractions.

- we did not schedule at early breakfast for MK, as it is our priority to make this as long a day at the park as possible.

- it won't break my heart if we don't get any resort pool time because we are spending 4- 5 days at seaworld, aquatica and discovery cove prior to disney.

- our harmony barber shop appointments are late in the afternoon, which is ridiculous to me since their time in MK with fancy hairdos will be cut short. i'm calling every day in attempt to get earlier appointments.

- only one of my kids is booked for BBB at the castle. my other daughter stated she had no interest in getting dolled up like a princess. she seems to be having a bit of a change of heart...there are no appointments left at the castle. we may end up switching to downtown disney location as a result.

- i chose one table service + one quick service meal (rather than several table service) at each of our priority parks - MK and AK.

- our souvenirs will include autographs, penny press, mickey ears, design your own t-shirts, and goofy's candy shop).

- our deluxe meal plan gives us two snacks per day. it isn't likely we will each two snacks a day EVERY day, so i'm going to try to get items like nuts and fruit for our long drive home (3-4 days).

- the kids would REALLY like a kitchen sink sundae at the beach club resort but i've convinced them that they may feel sick, haha. i am not interested in spending a fortune on a sink of ice cream!

- i am up in the air on whether or not to get photopass. we are a family who LOVES taking pictures, so it seems wasteful to pay to have someone else take them for us. but...carrying our camera equipment around the park does not sound desirable at the moment.

- rides that we will NOT be doing (complete write offs for my nervous children) are aerosmith, tower or terror, space mountain, and a few others. no need to stand in those long lines!

..........

QUESTIONS

- the osbourne lights are typically scheduled from 6-8 (i believe) but will they run later due to EMH that evening?

- how is the DTD BBB in comparison with the castle?

- would you recommend using fastpass for things like fireworks? well, we have the tomorrowland terrace for wishes...but illuminations...or stick with rides?

- what are some other little christmas activities to do? christmas around the world, santa at DTD, jingle jungle parade, osbourne lights, sleigh ride...can you think of any other special holiday experiences throughout the parks?

- we have the fantasmic dinner package booked. has anyone done this? i am seeing mixed reviews online regarding the priority seats. some say they are terrible and you are better sitting with the general crowd, although i don't see why. a second option would be to use fastpass for admission.

- can you think of any other very cheap souvenirs for my children? anything unique like the penny press, for example.

 

[Happyjen27]

It looks like 102 people have looked at this, but nobody has any answers. So, I'll give it a go:

- the osbourne lights are typically scheduled from 6-8 (i believe) but will they run later due to EMH that evening? Probably yes.

- how is the DTD BBB in comparison with the castle? I don't know about this one. It seems like you have no choice though, if other DD wants to be all done up, you'll have to switch, or tell her you couldn't book it.

- would you recommend using fastpass for things like fireworks? well, we have the tomorrowland terrace for wishes...but illuminations...or stick with rides? Since you have the Tomorrowland Terrace for wishes I think that probably covers that. For Illuminations I'm not sure. I suppose if you have o other attractions worth FP+ing now that there is the tiered system of FP+ in Epcot, why not.

- what are some other little christmas activities to do? christmas around the world, santa at DTD, jingle jungle parade, osbourne lights, sleigh ride...can you think of any other special holiday experiences throughout the parks? I think you've got a lot planned. I can't imagine any other time in your schedule where you could put anything else. I think you will get a lot of holiday cheer!

- we have the fantasmic dinner package booked. has anyone done this? i am seeing mixed reviews online regarding the priority seats. some say they are terrible and you are better sitting with the general crowd, although i don't see why. a second option would be to use fastpass for admission.

- can you think of any other very cheap souvenirs for my children? anything unique like the penny press, for example. Pressed Pennies were a good souvenir. My kids really, truly loved pin trading, that's not cheap, but it is a good value in that it provides fun in collecting and trading and something nice to take home.

I would like to offer some unsolicited advice. This is a very rigorous and demanding schedule you've planned for your family. It is very possible that your children, and even you adults may not be able to keep this pace. Please consider how many hours of sleep your children normally get at home and consider offering the same number of hours at Disney. That means that if you're planning on a late dinner one night, it might not be reasonable to expect that your children will be able to be up at 6 or 6:30 to catch a bus at 7 to be at rope drop at AK at 8. You might shave a little bit of time off of that if you drive, but, even so, to be somewhere dressed and ready at 8AM you're going to be rising early after a late night.

Yes, you're on vacation, and later nights are the norm on vacation. But, if they are followed by early mornings, that might be too much. I can only assume that you will be playing a lot of this by ear, based on what the kids and what you are feeling up to doing. I think you've gone to a lot of effort in these plans, and with some flexibility you're going to have A GREAT TIME!!

 

[in2013]

It looks like 102 people have looked at this, but nobody has any answers. So, I'll give it a go:



I would like to offer some unsolicited advice. This is a very rigorous and demanding schedule you've planned for your family. It is very possible that your children, and even you adults may not be able to keep this pace. Please consider how many hours of sleep your children normally get at home and consider offering the same number of hours at Disney. That means that if you're planning on a late dinner one night, it might not be reasonable to expect that your children will be able to be up at 6 or 6:30 to catch a bus at 7 to be at rope drop at AK at 8. You might shave a little bit of time off of that if you drive, but, even so, to be somewhere dressed and ready at 8AM you're going to be rising early after a late night.

Yes, you're on vacation, and later nights are the norm on vacation. But, if they are followed by early mornings, that might be too much. I can only assume that you will be playing a lot of this by ear, based on what the kids and what you are feeling up to doing. I think you've gone to a lot of effort in these plans, and with some flexibility you're going to have A GREAT TIME!!

you hit the nail on the head - whether or not these things will get done - hell, whether or not ANY of these things get done - all depends on what happens once we get there. i mean, it could pour down rain the whole time. one of us could get the flu. one of the kids could develop a strong dislike for disney. they could look at me like i've got ten heads and refuse to do some of the things. aka rides - they are petrified of heights and the dark. or the pool (they can't swim). that eliminates a lot of what goes on at disney. this is the best case scenario in terms of things i know the kids will like, but not necessarily everything we plan to do.