Trip Advice Requested...Newbie and a Veteran

[kristenrice]

First, a little back story...

I have a friend (Arlene) who has worked with me as a paramedic for the past 15+ years. We share a mutual love of Disney, but she has only made ONE trip to WDW in her life, which was about 3 years ago. She said that they went to all of the parks, but mostly just hung around the resort (POR) and chilled.

I finally talked her into coming with me on my annual F&W Birthday adventure. We are using my points and staying in a value studio at AKV for 5 nights. Since she and her DH are both military, she is able to get the screaming deal on the 5-day park hopper ($250!). I have an AP so we are all set on park passes. Since I am the WDW-veteran, she is assuming that I will be planning our itinerary...but it gets a little tricky...

...We have completely OPPOSITE schedules. I am up at 3:30am for my work shifts that start at 5am. It is all I can do to stay awake past 9pm. Arlene starts her shift at 4:30pm and works all night...so there's no way she can drag herself out of bed before 8am . Yesterday morning, as I was coming in and she was getting ready to go home, she says, "We have to talk about this trip....I hope you aren't planning on me getting up at the crack of dawn and running all over the park..." and that got me to thinking...how ARE we going to handle this?

I figured I would turn to my DISBoard friends for guidance..

This will be my 19th trip to the World so there is a LOT of stuff that I am willing to forego. She isn't really hip on all of the headliner rides like Everest, Space Mountain, Rock n Roller Coaster, etc, so I was thinking about really putting our focus on the shows. When I travel with DH and my kids, I can't get them to go to any of the shows with me, except Fantasmic.

I can reasonably put together a schedule for shows to see at each park. My bigger question is which FastPasses should I try to get for us? I know that we will do Soarin', Kilimanjaro Safaris, Toy Story Midway Mania and The 7 Dwarfs Mine Train. Those are probably the only rides we will do that need FP's. Are there any shows that we should book FP's for? I'm planning on using TOTWL for MK fireworks viewing so no need to book a FP for that. Any other general planning suggestions? We both like to eat so I know we will spend quite a bit of time at Epcot.

I think this will probably be the most laid-back, unplanned trips that I have ever taken. I think the hardest decisions are going to be where to eat. She says 50's PTC for sure (and I agree!) and I said Boma for breakfast on the morning that we depart. Other than that, there are so many meals that we need to plan...thank goodness for the TIW card.

 

[kniquy]

With this being your 19th trip and this just being her 2nd. I would tailor your touring plan around her wants and needs. You have been there done that and know what works. Come to some sort of agreement on time frames. Maybe she doesn't want to get up early everyday, but if seeing the MK opening show is a must then maybe one day you get up to see it when it opens at 9. You certainly can accomplish a lot and not have to at the parks all night, but if that is what she wants to do or if you want to do the EMH then plan a little relaxing in the afternoon and plan to stay out until 11, but sleep in the next day. I guess compromise is the best way to handle people with opposite schedules. Have a plan for where you want to eat and what rides you want to hit.

I am in a similar situation going with a co-worker to a convention at disney who doesn't like roller coasters (heck i think splash Mt might be too much for her). She is an early to bed person, but we will stay out a little later because we will be hitting parks late due to a convention we are attending. We have a couple nights with just dinner and resort time so those can be our relaxing evenings and we can power through the parks when we go. I am trying to tailor things to her wants/requirements.

 

[CarolMN]

Agree with kniguy. I'd just suggest scheduling FP+ reservation for your "must dos" for late afternoon or early evening. If you want to do rope drop, just arrange to meet here whenever it's convenient.

You try to sleep in a few days (or catch a nap) so that you can take in the nighttime entertainment. You'll want to make time for ROL and Pandora (assuming you don't see them before F&W trip), anyway.

Sounds fun!

 

[elaine amj]

I would suggest that you both also agree that when necessary, you split up. I just did a girls trip with my childhood bestie and I must admit, the first morning was rough. I got up early (as usual at Disney) and as she slowly woke up, I told her I would run down to the food court to grab her some coffee (since she needs her coffee in the mornings). She asked me to wait for her and that she would be "ready in 10 mins". I should have known better lol as it was closer to 45 mins later before we left the room.

That night, I gave her the heads up that I might head out super early in the am if I was awake. Sure enough, I did my usual at Disney and was up early so I quietly got ready and hit the parks for rope drop. She joined me after she woke up, about 11. I found I really enjoyed my solo time in the park! it made the time we had together even better as I could then concentrate on all the things she liked to do without feeling like I was missing out. (I was SO thrilled I managed to ride Frozen at RD that morning - woot! The next morning, I FINALLY watched Enchanted Tales with Belle and loved it. AND I watched Country Bear Jamboree for the first time in years - at 10am in an empty theatre lol!)

I did the same thing on our last night. She had to go to Disney Springs to pick up some shopping stuff and to be honest, by that point I was shopped out and really just wanted to hang out longer in MK. So, I told her I'd like to stay in MK a little longer and asked her if she would be OK going to Disney Springs by herself. She had no problems with it and we eventually met up in the room.

In your case, I agree with PP that you should plan for time together when you are both awake. I wanted to make sure my friend was comfortable sleeping in until she wanted to wake up and if I had been in the room, it would have been hard for her to do. What about if you go out early to tour, then get back about 12/1pm for a nice after-lunch nap before you both hit the parks together in the late afternoon? If you nap, you're more likely to be able to handle staying up for the night shows.

 

[kristenrice]

Love it! You guys have great ideas!

I'm even thinking that since I do get up early, even without an alarm, I will now have a good excuse to head down to the pool and just hang out without feeling like I'm missing out on something. When she gets up, she can text me and we can head out for the day. I'm fine with not setting an alarm and sleeping in, but I'm not sure that I am too comfortable with waiting until after noon before heading out for the day. I will definitely talk to her about her comfort level with navigating by herself. If she is comfortable with meeting me in the park, then we will be in good shape.

 

[icydog]

I just got back from a trip with friends who refuse to get up early. I too have been to Walt Disney World a million times so I didn't really care. What we did is we went to the parks that had evening EMH. That solved our problems because we arrived at 1:30 pm which is 4.5 hrs later than I would arrive with my family. Disney's Animal Kingdom Villas has so much to offer. Why not relax and enjoy the resort and the animals. Take a walk on the Boardwalk or eat at one of the Beach Club restaurants. Pool hop to the GF...in other words show off your DVC resorts. They're incredible--And certainly worth boasting about!

Did you know that as of Jan you get 20% off of pretty much any restaurant, and off most shops too, with your annual pass?

 

[elaine amj]

My upcoming trip is even more complicated. Traveling with my brother, SIL and 3.5 yr old niece. My brother and SIL like to sleep in and are night owls. My niece wakes up at a normal 8/9am. I already told them we're taking my niece with us for rope drop most mornings so they can sleep in as long as they want. On top of that, they are worried DN will need at least one of them at bedtime (8/9pm). Gives VERY limited touring hours! I have plotted most of the rides/shows that my brother and SIL would be interested in for the afternoon/early evening hours (and of course, we are there in August - so I am also avoiding the mid-afternoon sun and scheduling afternoon breaks!). Sooo many moving parts!! But thankfully we are there for 2 weeks so have extra leeway. Oh well, I just want everyone happy