Thoughts and Advice on our plan

[disneyfreak202]

So I went to WDW Sept. 2015 with my mom and it was great, however, she planned everything and wanted to do everything. So for the purpose of this trip, I am taking my dad and I am planning everything. So I am a first time planner if you will.

We will be arriving Oct. 31st and leaving Nov. 8th (I added an extra day, but if we can leave the 7th we will). We will have park hoppers and staying at All-Star Sports. I have thought about making it a split stay and staying at AKL for the Savannah View, but have also thought about looking into staying at Coronado or Port Orleans instead the whole trip.

Currently our plan looks like as follows:
Day 1- Arrival Day. Do Hollywood Studios at night (Fireworks/Fan)- If we get an early flight that allows this as we haven't booked those yet.
Day 2- Epcot RD, mid afternoon break and either return for Illuminations or visit Magic Kingdom for Fireworks.
Day 3- Animal Kingdom (Morning/Afternoon); Hopefully Wild Africa Trek at 11:45am then take a mid afternoon break. Epcot for Illuminations or Disney Springs.
Day 4- Hollywood Studios all day (Fan or Star Wars Fireworks if they are still around)
Day 5- Magic Kingdom all day unless we see wishes on Day 2 then a different park (Not sure I am liking a Saturday at MK)
Day 6- No morning plans so we can relax and not feel too scheduled besides ROL Breakfast, Animal Kingdom at night OR Football Game (we are huge Raider fans so if they play out there I would love to spend this day at a game).
Day 7- Universal (if we don't do the football game, possibly), If no Universal, then no morning plans and Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom at night.
Day 8- Magic Kingdom at some point, but no other plans.
Day 9- Leave (either at 5:30pm or sometime around lunch time, again depending on our flight schedule)

My current list for potential ADRs are:
Be Our Guest Dinner
Be Our Guest Breakfast
Fantasmic Dining Package- Mama Melrose
River of Lights Package- Tusker House Breakfast

I haven't decided on an Epcot ADR or QS yet. I've heard Hollywood Brown Derby is good and 50s Primetime too so might try for one of those, but not sure.

Any advice or suggestions? I know once I make ADRs my plans will be harder to change.

Thank you for your time.

 

[glassslippergirl]

Sounds fun. If your dad is a huge sports fand, AS Sports will be fun, but generally I find the value resorts loud, they involve a lot of extra walking, they are far from parks (I think all values are serviced by the same busses but could be wrong there), and the amenities are minimal. If you can swing it, a moderate is the way to go.

I like that you're prioritizing evening shows. To me, they are a big reason to go to WDW. US is going to be super-expensive just to spend a day. I'd switch day 4 at MK with plans for day 3 to avoid MK on weekend. You may want to plan time in Epcot specifically to visit the Food and Wine festival, just not on a weekend. Actually, visiting F&W booths is a great way to have "dinner" at Epcot. It will probably be the most memorable meal of your trip. Otherwise, I like Restaurant Marrakech because the food is unlike anything I can get at home (and I live in a pretty cosmopolitan area), but all the country restaurants are worth visiting. Via Napoli is fabulous for pizza, I love the shrimp tacos at Hacienda San Angel, and Teppan Edo is a fun experience. I wouldn't eat twice at BoG, but that's just me. Brown Derby is one of the best meals I've ever had, so if it's on your maybe list, if move it to the definite list.

Have you considered MNSSHP? It will be wrapping up the first few days of your trip. Something to think about.

 

[Nancyg56]

So I went to WDW Sept. 2015 with my mom and it was great, however, she planned everything and wanted to do everything. So for the purpose of this trip, I am taking my dad and I am planning everything. So I am a first time planner if you will.

We will be arriving Oct. 31st and leaving Nov. 8th (I added an extra day, but if we can leave the 7th we will). We will have park hoppers and staying at All-Star Sports. I have thought about making it a split stay and staying at AKL for the Savannah View, but have also thought about looking into staying at Coronado or Port Orleans instead the whole trip.

Currently our plan looks like as follows:
Day 1- Arrival Day. Do Hollywood Studios at night (Fireworks/Fan)- If we get an early flight that allows this as we haven't booked those yet.
Day 2- Epcot RD, mid afternoon break and either return for Illuminations or visit Magic Kingdom for Fireworks.
Day 3- Animal Kingdom (Morning/Afternoon); Hopefully Wild Africa Trek at 11:45am then take a mid afternoon break. Epcot for Illuminations or Disney Springs.
Day 4- Hollywood Studios all day (Fan or Star Wars Fireworks if they are still around)
Day 5- Magic Kingdom all day unless we see wishes on Day 2 then a different park (Not sure I am liking a Saturday at MK)
Day 6- No morning plans so we can relax and not feel too scheduled besides ROL Breakfast, Animal Kingdom at night OR Football Game (we are huge Raider fans so if they play out there I would love to spend this day at a game).
Day 7- Universal (if we don't do the football game, possibly), If no Universal, then no morning plans and Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom at night.
Day 8- Magic Kingdom at some point, but no other plans.
Day 9- Leave (either at 5:30pm or sometime around lunch time, again depending on our flight schedule)

My current list for potential ADRs are:
Be Our Guest Dinner
Be Our Guest Breakfast
Fantasmic Dining Package- Mama Melrose
River of Lights Package- Tusker House Breakfast

I haven't decided on an Epcot ADR or QS yet. I've heard Hollywood Brown Derby is good and 50s Primetime too so might try for one of those, but not sure.

Any advice or suggestions? I know once I make ADRs my plans will be harder to change.

Thank you for your time.

The first thing that stands out is how little time you have planned in Epcot. I am not sure but it seems like you have a lot of time in DAK and DHS, and while I love both of those parks, I think that Epcot during F&W is a treat not to be missed.

I would skip Universal unless there is something there you really want to experience. I don't suggest bouncing between the two theme parks unless you have enough time or have been to WDW enough so you do not feel like you have to are squeeze a lot in.


In DAK< plan to stop in Nomads for a coctail or a small plate. The lounge is awesome.

 

[DeterminedOne]

If you are serious about splitting your stay at a Deluxe resort, you should consider a resort with more transportation options. AKL is lovely, but it is farther away from everything and only offers one mode of transportation. If you are going to stay Deluxe, go for the gusto! Multiple transportation options make a huge difference, IMO.

 

[DekrRini]

If you are serious about splitting your stay at a Deluxe resort, you should consider a resort with more transportation options. AKL is lovely, but it is farther away from everything and only offers one mode of transportation. If you are going to stay Deluxe, go for the gusto! Multiple transportation options make a huge difference, IMO.

I agree with this. I've stayed at AKV, BCV, and BWV. I love all three. If you want to spend time at the resort, I'd go with AKL because of the ambiance and the animals on the Savannah. If you do spend as much time at DHS as you have planned, I'd go with either BC or BWI because you're within walking distance of both Epcot and DHS. About 5 minutes walking to Epcot and I've heard about a 20-30 minute walk to DHS. I usually walk to Epcot and take the boat to DHS.

I do spend most of my time at DHS because of ToT. It's my favorite ride in all of WDW and I try to ride it as often as possible. I'd probably spend a little more time at Epcot and less time at AK. With the Express bus between parks, it doesn't take as much time to park hop. I've not used it before, but am planning to on this upcoming trip, so I'll be doing more park hopping than usual.

I don't like leaving the Disney bubble once I'm there so I don't go to Universal, but I've heard if you're a big Harry Potter fan it's a must do.

Hope you and your dad have a magical time!

 

[TwoMisfits]

So I went to WDW Sept. 2015 with my mom and it was great, however, she planned everything and wanted to do everything. So for the purpose of this trip, I am taking my dad and I am planning everything. So I am a first time planner if you will.

We will be arriving Oct. 31st and leaving Nov. 8th (I added an extra day, but if we can leave the 7th we will). We will have park hoppers and staying at All-Star Sports. I have thought about making it a split stay and staying at AKL for the Savannah View, but have also thought about looking into staying at Coronado or Port Orleans instead the whole trip.

Currently our plan looks like as follows:
Day 1- Arrival Day. Do Hollywood Studios at night (Fireworks/Fan)- If we get an early flight that allows this as we haven't booked those yet.
Day 2- Epcot RD, mid afternoon break and either return for Illuminations or visit Magic Kingdom for Fireworks.
Day 3- Animal Kingdom (Morning/Afternoon); Hopefully Wild Africa Trek at 11:45am then take a mid afternoon break. Epcot for Illuminations or Disney Springs.
Day 4- Hollywood Studios all day (Fan or Star Wars Fireworks if they are still around)
Day 5- Magic Kingdom all day unless we see wishes on Day 2 then a different park (Not sure I am liking a Saturday at MK)
Day 6- No morning plans so we can relax and not feel too scheduled besides ROL Breakfast, Animal Kingdom at night OR Football Game (we are huge Raider fans so if they play out there I would love to spend this day at a game).
Day 7- Universal (if we don't do the football game, possibly), If no Universal, then no morning plans and Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom at night.
Day 8- Magic Kingdom at some point, but no other plans.
Day 9- Leave (either at 5:30pm or sometime around lunch time, again depending on our flight schedule)

My current list for potential ADRs are:
Be Our Guest Dinner
Be Our Guest Breakfast
Fantasmic Dining Package- Mama Melrose
River of Lights Package- Tusker House Breakfast

I haven't decided on an Epcot ADR or QS yet. I've heard Hollywood Brown Derby is good and 50s Primetime too so might try for one of those, but not sure.

Any advice or suggestions? I know once I make ADRs my plans will be harder to change.

Thank you for your time.

So, the away games for 2017 for the Raiders are "Away: Denver Broncos, Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego Chargers, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Philadelphia Eagles, Washington Redskins, Tennessee Titans" - not sure any of the games are gonna be close enough to Orlando to try watching (there's no Tampa game to try to hit)...so, you can plan that day at will...

 

[disneyfreak202]

Thank you all for your help! Last trip we did one day Universal and that is why I put it on my list as a maybe. It was a nice break from the resort. However, I am not sure if my dad would want to do Universal. Though I know I am going to ask him once we get our ADRs. We didn't have any breaks last trip which killed us on the first two days because we weren't used to the time change yet and were falling asleep in shows at DHS. Trying to avoid that the first two days this time lol.

Im not a big Epcot fan and that is why I have the least amount of time there. I also left two mornings at the end of the trip for us to visit any theme park we want. I was thinking if my dad liked Epcot to go one of those days and we can do Food and Wine. I have never been to the one out there in WDW, but the last two years out here in Disneyland were not impressive and once was enough.

Thank you for the Raiders schedule. I hadn't looked yet. I know my dad also mentioned watching a hockey game if the Kings were playing out there, but as much as I love love love hockey, I feel like this trip will be harder to get out to see a game of any sport the more I plan.

Good advice on the deluxe resort. I didn't think about that. I stayed at Sports last time and it wasn't too bad. Our room was way in the back so it was nice because the noise honestly wasn't bad. I have thought about a moderate a good amount of time, but they just raised prices so I am not too sure.

I have started to move things around and plan what days I am going to try for my dining packages.

Any other advice would be helpful as this is my changes:
Day 1- Arrival Day.
Day 2- Epcot Morning, afternoon break, Hollywood Studios at night (Fireworks/Fan)
Day 3- Animal Kingdom (Morning/Afternoon); Break, Animal Kingdom- ROL Dining Package
Day 4- Magic Kingdom (Be Our Guest Breakfast/Lunch)- Break Epcot Illuminations
Day 5- Hollywood Studios (Fan)- Dining Package
Day 6- Animal Kingdom Night if we don't do universal
Day 7- Magic Kingdom (Be Our Guest Dinner)/Fireworks
Day 8- Morning- Free day to do as we please. (AK at night if we go to universal)
Day 9- Mini Golf- Leave

I really want to do BOG in the beginning and end of our trip since I have a huge love for Beauty and the Beast.