Thoughts on First Draft of Itinerary?

[Disney Dining Dad]

I haven't been to WDW since the summer of 2018 with my then four-year-old. She's now 11 with a six-year-old sister. I was wondering if you could provide feedback on the first draft of my itinerary? We have the dining plan, but I've decided to skip the two-credit restaurants, even though we really enjoyed Cinderella's Castle, Be Our Guest, Yachtsman's Steakhouse, Flying Fish, and Monsieur Paul the first time around. We also have a hopper pass, if that matters when reviewing this. Thanks very much.

Sunday, July 5

Arrive at Wilderness Lodge

Depart for Magic Kingdom

Lunch at Columbia Harbour House

Lightning Lane: Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean

Dinner at Skipper Canteen

Fireworks

Return to Wilderness Lodge

Monday, July 6

Quick breakfast at Wilderness Lodge

Depart for Animal Kingdom

Lightning Lane: Expedition Everest, Kilimanjaro Safaris, Na’vi River Journey

Lunch at Satu’li Canteen

Return to Wilderness Lodge

Dinner at Ohana

Return to Wilderness Lodge

Tuesday, July 7

Quick breakfast at Wilderness Lodge

Depart for EPCOT

Lunch at Regal Eagle Smokehouse

Lightning Lane: Frozen Ever After, Soarin’ Around the World, Spaceship Earth

Dinner at Via Napoli

EPCOT nighttime show

Wednesday, July 8

Quick breakfast at Wilderness Lodge

Depart for Hollywood Studios

Lightning Lane: Slinky Dog Dash, Toy Story Mania, Tower of Terror

Lunch at Woody’s Lunch Box

Return to Wilderness Lodge

Dinner at Toledo’s

Return to Wilderness Lodge

Thursday, July 9

Quick breakfast at Wilderness Lodge

Depart for Magic Kingdom

Lunch at Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café

Lightning Lane: Jungle Cruise: Under the Sea – Journey of the Little Mermaid: The Magic Carpets of Aladdin

Dinner at Liberty Tree Tavern

Fireworks

Return to Wilderness Lodge

Friday, July 10

Pool time at the resort

Lunch at Whispering Canyon Cafe

Depart for home

 

[woody5]

Why pay for park hoppers if you are not planning to park hop?

 

[KT0191]

I think there are better initial LLs for your second MK day other than Little Mermaid and Magic Carpets. Those are really easy to get during the day. Winnie the Pooh, Buzz (if open which it should be by then) or even a repeat of Haunted Mansion and Pirates.

 

[Marthasor]

I wouldn't go all the way to Toledo to eat dinner after being at DHS and going back to WL. Consider something on the monorail loop. You could take the boat from WL over to Contemporary and eat there or do a 1 TS meal at GF or Poly. Or just stay at DHS and consider eating at one of the EP resorts - taking the Skyliner from DHS could be fun. I also wouldn't watch the MK fireworks both nights unless you really love fireworks. Seeing them from Fantasyland is kind of fun and you could do some rides at night while the fireworks are happening which typically means shorter lines. I agree with PP - no need for hoppers if you are only doing one park per day.

 

[cruising spud]

Just my thoughts:

Are you planning to do Early Entry? When you say "quick breakfast at Wilderness Lodge" do you mean eating at one of the Wilderness restaurants? If so, I would save yourself time and eat in your room with food bars, cereal, etc you bring from home. This way you can easily make it to the parks in time for Early Entry, which will give you a great leg up for the day.

Example-

We were in Animal Kingdom in January 2025. We did early entry and walked onto Na'vi.. Then did it again-no line. Then headed to the Safari, where we walked on. Had a LLSP for FOP. Did all the other rides and shows we wanted. Ate lunch at Satu’li Canteen.

 

[Disney Dining Dad]

I wouldn't go all the way to Toledo to eat dinner after being at DHS and going back to WL. Consider something on the monorail loop. You could take the boat from WL over to Contemporary and eat there or do a 1 TS meal at GF or Poly. Or just stay at DHS and consider eating at one of the EP resorts - taking the Skyliner from DHS could be fun. I also wouldn't watch the MK fireworks both nights unless you really love fireworks. Seeing them from Fantasyland is kind of fun and you could do some rides at night while the fireworks are happening which typically means shorter lines. I agree with PP - no need for hoppers if you are only doing one park per day.

Thanks for this input. I admittedly didn't look closely at a map to see that Coronado Springs is all the way back near Hollywood Studios. So, I agree that wouldn't be ideal.

What do you think about Steakhouse 71 at the Contemporary instead? I've heard it's not as good as Toledo, but it would be a lot closer to the Wilderness Lodge after we get cleaned up, and I'm hoping to have at least one "fine dining" experience while avoiding the two-credit restaurants I mentioned we went to several times on our last trip.

 

[Disney Dining Dad]

Just my thoughts:

Are you planning to do Early Entry? When you say "quick breakfast at Wilderness Lodge" do you mean eating at one of the Wilderness restaurants? If so, I would save yourself time and eat in your room with food bars, cereal, etc you bring from home. This way you can easily make it to the parks in time for Early Entry, which will give you a great leg up for the day.

Example-

We were in Animal Kingdom in January 2025. We did early entry and walked onto Na'vi.. Then did it again-no line. Then headed to the Safari, where we walked on. Had a LLSP for FOP. Did all the other rides and shows we wanted. Ate lunch at Satu’li Canteen.

By "quick breakfast at Wilderness Lodge," I meant grabbing a quick pastry and eating it on the property before boarding the boat or bus to a park. Not sure if it will still work that way, but in 2018, that's what we did...filled up our refillable cups, had a donut or two by the pool, and then departed for the day.

 

[Disney Dining Dad]

Why pay for park hoppers if you are not planning to park hop?

It was tough to include in the itinerary, but I should have mentioned that if this trip is like our last one, we will likely hop over to another park at the end of the day a time or two. For example, in 2018, we used our fast pass on the Frozen ride so we couldn't use one on Soarin' or Test Track, and thus, we went over to EPCOT and did those late at night (on different nights, if I recall correctly).

 

[nyy]

WL is our favorite!! You will love it!
Don't overlook Geyser Point at WL! You can grab take out or eat there. We love the casual vibe. Depending on your arrival and departure times, you may be able to enjoy it one of those days. It is also fun at night. They pipe in music and there are some ping pong tables etc. by the water.
You are traveling in July, but only plan on using the pool one day. That wouldn't work for us - but if you are used to the heat and plan for it then no problem. Obviously depends on where you live and when you have traveled previously.
Breakfast - we are EE rope droppers and always wish Roaring Fork (or any other resort QS) would open earlier!
You could buy pastries the day before and then eat them in the room or on the walk to the bus or boat. We also bring protein bars.

 

[TheOneWithTheTriplets]

By "quick breakfast at Wilderness Lodge," I meant grabbing a quick pastry and eating it on the property before boarding the boat or bus to a park. Not sure if it will still work that way, but in 2018, that's what we did...filled up our refillable cups, had a donut or two by the pool, and then departed for the day.

^-If your goal it to make it to early entry, this generally won't work. In my experience, the coffee refills are out early enough but they aren't serving food in time to buy it, eat it, and get to your transportation in time to take advantage of early entry. I would buy the pastry the night before and have it in your room instead of waiting for places to open in the morning.

As someone said upthread, no way I'd be prebooking Mermaid and Carpets in MK, unless you're specifically trying to grab Mermaid for park opening time so that you can tap in and begin loading up on other tier 1s. Those are both going to be readily available throughout the day and often not needed other than during peak midday crowds.

Also, having traveled in August with 8 year olds and then July with 11 year olds, I think your two open-to-close days are going to be hard. We do that in cooler months but, in the summer heat, all of us need a midday break. We try to time it with the daily thunderstorm to get back to the room, relax a bit, grab our showers, and then head out to a new park for dinner. If you know it's going to storm, you can grab LLs for rides that go down in the weather (carpets, barnstormer, and dumbo usually have readily available return times) and hope that you get to start your evening with some MEPs.

Which leads me to my final thought: having hoppers and planning LL, you can get to more top priorities if you hop to a different park in the evening. For instance, on your Epcot morning, once you use your prebooked rides, good LLs can be hard to come by in that park. But, you can start loading up for an afternoon/evening at MK, which would still have good availability. Or, on your AK morning, you can tap into your first LL before Epcot even opens, so you can then grab an evening Epcot tier 1 before they all sell out because only folks who have tapped into a ride at AK will be in a position to book additional tier 1s that early in the morning.

 

[patty57]

Have you considered Storybook Dining at WL?

 

[DL1WDW2]

Hi I barely made it thru Day#1 without my brain exploding
nNot to scare you BUT
MK will have the biggest 250th USA Birthday Celebration Fireworks and probably something at EpCot finale …
Friday, Sat, & Sunday 7/3 7/4 7/5
Are you flying or driving ?
Doesn’t matter cause traffic always sucks .
You might need transport that has car seat with that age …
Your room probably won’t be ready early because Who is going to check out early on a Sunday ?
Doubtful Lightning Lane will be easy to score because guests arriving days before you have probably grabbed best times, etc.
Tiana and Pirates have big drops for a 6 year old…
First day, I hope you enjoy your resort amenities for dining .
Also plan to get a seat along waterfront to watch the MK fireworks and the nightly Electrical Water Pageant
That is plenty of excitement for the first family day cause you will need the early morn resort benefit for the park you plan for second day
But the Animal Kingdom Opens earlier than the other choices if your children are super excited and awake and ready to go start a great trip.

P.S. I live in the area so I am not joking about traffic .
I also like to help with trip planning and it does seem that the SesquiCentennial for America is not on anybody’s radar !
I just could not give you a fair warning .
Just to give you one example…Starbucks early morn with a castmember holding up sign for a 45 minute wait and they have 2 sides Open and they probably are the best trained Quik service on property .. They don’t have drive thru window or APP orders online except for the Disney Springs locations to slow down their process and if you are desperate remember SBX has simple fast easy choices . Ilove to get my order and walk towards Castle with outdoor umbrella covered tables in front of the Plaza Ice Cream ( yellow) and red umbrellas in front of Casey’s with nice bathrooms on both sides.
Also the Starbucks location allows entry to pass up the guests waiting for rope drop to get something while you are waiting in line for EPCOT to Open ( on the left hand side of Spaceship Earth . I also think that line for Spaceship Earth starts early to line up…
connections Cafe also has a huge food court on the other side connected to the Starbucks for lunch & dinner and really nice bathrooms as you head for Guardians of the Galaxy ..
My next best advice is to research mid afternoon dining/ seating to rest your feet and get out of the heat… and be sure to find out when the “ Cool Kids Summer Acrivites are planned at your resort and at the Theme Parks especially at the Hollywood Srudios and EPCoTCommuniCore

 

[Disney Dining Dad]

Have you considered Storybook Dining at WL?

I did think about that, but I believe it's two credits, and the itinerary currently keeps to our dining plan of one quick service and one table service meal per day. We ate at the previous Artist Point when staying at the Wilderness Lodge in 2018.