Spring Break Itinerary

[Steve19842015]

Hey everyone so here's my plans for spring 2016. Any input would be much appreciated. Biggest concern I have is one or two days at Epcot. A little info about us. Family of four. Mom, dad, 12 yr boy and 5 yr old daughter. Been to WDW once last year.

03/15- Arrive at Coronado Springs. Having dinner a Trex.

03/16- Breakfeast @ Chef Mickeys @7:35a. Magic Kingdom for rope drop. Beeline for 7DT. Boutique for my daughter at 10:40. Waiting to make fast passes in Jan. Cinderellas Royal Table @8:20. Planning to see Wishes.

03/17- Epcot Futurefor Magic Hours @8am. Corral Reef @ 7pm. Planning to see illuminations.

03/18- Breakfeast @8am @ Kona. Head to Epcot primarily EW. Lunch @ San Angel Inn @2pm. Dinner @ La Hacienda @8pm

03/19- Animal Kingdom @ 8am for magic hours. Dinner at Yak and Yeti @4:45pm.

03/20-Hollywood Studios @8am magic hours. Lunch at sci-fi @1:40pm. Planning to see Fantasmic.

03/21-BOG breakfast @8amMagic Kingdom. BOG dinner @8pm.

03/22-Breakfast at whispering canyon @7:30am. Hollywood studios @9am.

All restaurants have a reservation. I have a few "backup times"now as well.

 

[Alesia]

If you're not going to park hop, avoid EMH like the plague. The park with EMH is going to be the busiest park by far. Use the crowd calendar at easywdw.com to choose your days.

I can't imagine trying to do Epcot in just one day. We need 2.5.

 

[tink9702]

Possible concerns:
1. Can your 5 year old go to bed late & wake up early. You have quite a few late nights followed by early mornings. Great if she can, miserable if she has trouble with that.
2. Parks with EMH will have bigger crowds. Not an "issue" but you'll want to be aware of that.
3. Your 3/18 Epcot day is very full with reservations. Great if you are big eaters, possibly problematic if you won't enjoy 3 nice meals. They also take up a lot of time so that's at least 3 hours eating. With TWO Epcot days you'll be fine. If you cut out one of the Epcot days it could be hard to see everything on this particular day due to all the ADRs

I wouldn't say any of the above concerns are definite issues, just possibilities for you to be aware of. Have a great trip!

 

[Steve19842015]

Appreciate all the feedback.

 

[mom4fun]

I'm sure since this is your 2nd trip that you know what you're doing. For us, it would be exhausting. We either do early or late but not both. Are you planning on going back to the resort mid day?

 

[Steve19842015]

My kids are the go go go type so even the 5 year old will be all over the place lol. I don't know about going back to the resort. I booked a lot of dining reservation with our Disney plan for "rest" time.

 

[crostorfer]

If they are anticipating huge crowds it is very possible that on your MK day they will move opening time to 8am, which will conflict with your Chef Mickey's reservation if you plan to do the rope drop mad dash to the Mine Train.

 

[Steve19842015]

Crostorfer,
You make a very good point. I didn't think about that. I went back and checked this past March and sure enough spring break it was open from 8am-midnight. A few questions... When do you think updated times will be reflected. And regarding the shows.. I'm showing that during this past spring break the shows were as following... Do you think they will be the same again?

Wishes-10pm
Fantasmic-8:30 and 10pm
Illuminations-9pm
Electric parade-9pm and 11pm

 

[skuttle]

We went to WDW for easter week this year. We don't pay attention to crowd calendars. We also don't hop. We did early EMH every other day and got TONS done during those early hours. Due to the ages of our kids (youngest two were 4 and 2.5) we didn't do any late EMH. We also have an older 11yo son as well. For easter, our early EMH were almost all at 7am. Not sure when easter falls next year.

We spent two days at Epcot since it was flower and garden. Will it be flower and garden when you go? With the flowers, food booths, and playgrounds for the kids, we enjoyed more time at Epcot than we normally do.

 

[Steve19842015]

Yea I don't plan on staying late for the EMH. Probably exiting park by 11pm latest on the MK days. I haven't checked regarding the flowers and food event. The nicE thing is that it's super easy to make a reservation and cancel it. I believe I have up to 24 hours to cancel with no penalty. I made a bunch of "backup" dates and times for breakfast/lunch and dinner. As I get closer to the date I'll cancel my backup dates. What I just did is reserve chef Mickey for a non magic kingdom day

 

[Jfsag123]

Crostorfer,
You make a very good point. I didn't think about that. I went back and checked this past March and sure enough spring break it was open from 8am-midnight. A few questions... When do you think updated times will be reflected. And regarding the shows.. I'm showing that during this past spring break the shows were as following... Do you think they will be the same again?

Wishes-10pm
Fantasmic-8:30 and 10pm
Illuminations-9pm
Electric parade-9pm and 11pm

We were there the corresponding week in March this year. If I remember correctly, they changed the opening times of the parks about a month out from our trip. I know I had already made FP+ reservations. I would expect show times to be the same, but you never know with Disney.

 

[Steve19842015]

Jfsag,
Did you end up changing your FP of kept them the same?

 

[Jfsag123]

Jfsag,
Did you end up changing your FP of kept them the same?

Kept them the same. The only one I looked at changing was 7DMT, but they were all gone by the time the changes came out.

BTW, that extra hour at MK was like gold. Got soooo much done.

 

[Steve19842015]

Yea I lm thinking I'm going to have my fast passes start around 11. So I can bang out early rides between 8 or 9-11am.

 

[Jfsag123]

I scheduled most of mine for sometime between 3-6pm. We rope dropped everyday and hit attractions easily, had a late breakfast or early lunch, took a break, then headed back in the evening and used FP to our hearts' content. Additional FP for second tier attractions at MK (Haunted Mansion, Pirates, Buzz, etc) were plentiful, and we were able to grab 7 FP in a day despite not using our last pre-scheduled until early evening. Absolutely loved going in March. Have a great trip!

 

[Steve19842015]

Awesome thanks!

 

[Julylady]

I agree that your schedule is pretty aggressive. We also avoid a late night followed by a rope drop morning. And, we try to schedule a 3-5 hour break most days to swim or just hang out at the hotel. I like that you do one table service meal each day. That really works well for our family. And we avoid all extra magic hours whether they are morning or evening. The parks are busier and we need the extra sleep.

Last, have a plan but don't let it rule you. Ask yourself if the plan is working and your family is having fun. If the answer is no, they regroup and do something else.

 

[ggluvs2travel]

We have never been able to do rope drop after a late night. Keep in mind that even if you leave the park at 11, it will take some time to get back to your hotel and to your room. Then getting the kids ready for bed, etc. We were always too exhausted to get up early. You may be able to do a couple of days like that, but the whole week may be too much.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[ariane37]

The only thing I'll mention that hasn't been brought up is that on 3/18 you're eating lunch at San Angel Inn and dinner at La Hacienda, both Mexican restaurants. Now I enjoy Mexican and maybe you guys really love it lol. Just pointing out that's the same type of food for lunch and dinner the same day

 

[Steve19842015]

Appreciate the feedback. Definitely a lot of great things to consider. On a side note, I'm surprised on how expensive Disneyland resorts are! From $400-$500 for a standard room?? I'm from CA, relocated to AZ. Funny I've gone and now making plans to go again to FL rather than just driving 5 hours to CA. We enjoyed Orlando so much this pay trip that we knew right away we needed to do it
Again.