Short trip itinerary help

[bhartman]

My kids (7 and 5) and I are heading to WDW in September. My husband won't be joining us for this trip, so I'll be the only adult. We're flying in on Tuesday 9/8 and leaving on Saturday 9/12, so we'll only have three full days there. My original plan was to do two park days. On the morning of 9/9, we'd RD at HS for TSMM, Star Tours, Animation Academy, and the Frozen sing along and then head over to Epcot in the afternoon to do the Land and Sea pavilions and have dinner in World Showcase. There aren't a ton of rides that we'd like to do at HS, so we'd use our fastpasses at Epcot for Soarin' and Turtle Talk. Our second park day would be MK on Friday 9/11. We'd RD there too and it's a NOJ day, so I'm hoping to get a lot done. In my original plan, we would take Thursday off from the parks and just relax at the resort pool (CBR) and then go to FT Wilderness in the evening for the campfire/movie.

Lately, I've been thinking of adding another park day for Thursday. Instead of hanging out at the resort, we'd head back to Epcot for Test Track (RD) and any other rides that we wanted to add and then go over to MK for a few hours. This would give us 3 more fastpasses to use at MK, so we could relax a little on Friday, but still see everything we want to see. I have two problems with this plan: the additional cost (about $250) and the loss of a relaxing resort day. If my husband were joining us, I'd be more inclined to add the park day, but since it's just me, I worry that I'd be cramming too much in and overextending myself. On the other hand, it's such a short trip that we may be fine without a resort day.

I'd love some input from those that have taken shorter trips or parents who have traveled solo with their young kids. Will I regret adding the 3rd park day?

 

[worm761]

I would add the extra day. But that's just me. I don't really do down days. But I don't do commando in the parks either. I think if you just take it easy in the parks, realize you have limited time and therefore will only be able to do a few things then you can be happy with both. Or you could make the extra day a half day and by half I mean use the evening to relax instead of park hopping. Or just drop the park hopping all together.

 

[tink9702]

I think your original plan sounds good. But your adding a day plan also sounds good. Go with your gut!

 

[Happyjen27]

I would not bother with the hassle of flying without at least 3 park days. They don't have to be long days. $250 has to be less than or equal to 10% of the total operating cost of this trip, right? Drop in the bucket. You could eliminate the park hopper from your tickets and add a day and break even.

Then you could do Epcot one day (do the morning TT via standby and Soarin' via fastpass, then take a break, chill out, and go back for dinner), DHS for a half a day and then relax at the resort, and then MK the last day.

I think it would be more tiring to entertain two kids in a hotel all day rather than walking around the parks.

 

[bhartman]

Thanks for your replies! We have to keep the hopper tickets to get free dining. We'd already planned on getting hoppers, so we actually didn't have to change anything about our reservation to add free dining, which was nice. The $250 is a little more than 10% of our total trip cost, but not by much. It just still feels like a lot to spend to add another day. I guess I can't just add the extra day when we're there, can I? I won't be able to schedule FP+ for three days with just a two day ticket, right? I'll probably just add the day and hope for the best.

 

[cefcdana]

I vote if you feel like it might be too much for you by yourself, then don't plan on it and then you can change it when you get there if you change your mind. Mama's sanity is key!