tweaked, twisted, turned around itinerary

[denanbob]

Hi everyone. Please run through my itinerary if you would (pretty please with sugar on top) and let me know if it's too much park hopping. Since we are doing breaks in the afternoon, I don't see how it matters if you return to the same park or a different one (if you've already left one, ya know?). Plus, the best park days and our ADR's caused some problems that could only be fixed with park hopping. Here's what I've got:

Saturday May 6th - arrive at resort by 4:30pm (POR). Plan to go to DTD by boat and eat at Earl of Sandwich and possibly hit Lego Store, Goofy's candy shop, and Disney Quest for a couple hours (just to see what it's like.......we have passes, so we won't waste money if it's busy and we want to leave). I know this sounds like a late night, but my kids would never forgive me if I had them go to bed early on our first night of vacation. Plus, we don't have to get up early because our flight doesn't leave until 10:15AM (airport very close).

Sunday May 7th - AK at rope drop. Tentatively planning our break at WWoS eating at the All Star Cafe for late lunch. Will try to do the "Sports Experience" if we can. My boys will LOVE this. Then head to MGM for 6:30 50's Primetime ADR and see Fantasmic.

Monday May 8th - Epcot at rope drop, PSB in Norway at 10:00, then tour World Showcase until afternoon break. MK in the evening for 5:15 Liberty Tree Tavern ADR and Wishes/Spectro.

Tuesday May 9th - MK in the AM, break at hotel in afternoon, MGM in evening for 6:15 Sci Fi ADR

Wednesday May 10th - possibly Typhoon Lagoon in AM, maybe Disney Quest in afternoon, maybe stay at resort and carriage ride/bikes/swim (basically our break day and whatever we feel like). Epcot in PM for Coral Reef at 6:00 and Illuminations.

Thursday May 11th - Epcot all day and Hoop Dee Doo at 7:15. We have an ADR at Teppanyaki today for 1:30, but I'm thinking of cancelling it after reading reviews and knowing that it doesn't seem like the type of food we would like (especially the kids).

Friday May 12th - MGM in the AM, break in afternoon, MK in the PM (end our trip with another viewing of Wishes). All counter service meals today, no ADR's so plans can change if we'd like to visit a different park today.

Any ideas, concerns, advice, etc... would be MOST appreciated! Jeanine, I changed our "play day" to Wednesday like you suggested, thanks much!

 

[AmyBennett]

Do you think you've given yourself enough time in MK? Everyone is different, but I know, I like to spend the most time there.

We also went back and forth about Teppanki(sp). I wound up cancelling it(we are going in SIX DAYS!!!). Aren't the ADRs the hardest part??? You don't want to miss the good restaurants, but there are just too many!!!!

I hope you have a great time!!!!!

 

[Tink-n-Belle]

I would try not to park hop so much. It takes forever to get from one park to another (so much wasted time). I would try to tie in your ADR to the parks you are going to. Unless its not crowded the fast passes will be gone for the popular rides early so getting to a park at night may have you standing in line instead of utilizing the FP system.

Also, waiting around for Disney transportation is tiring plus all the extra walking to get into the parks from where the bus drops you off. We were there in Feb and we didn't luck out once. We had to wait 15-20 minutes for every bus which wasted so much time. I originally plan my trip/ADR then I bought an AP (which had us going to the parks everyday )which changed everything and we back tracked alot.

In addition, you may want to change the PSB in Norway to lunch. That would give you all morning in FW. We ate there around 1:30 and it was a much needed break at that point, but we got alot done in FW before lunch and had all afternoon in WS.

Have a great trip!!

 

[ArielDreams]

sounds great to me! you hit all of my favorite restaurants (prime-time, hoop dee doo, sci-fi, coral reef) and your plan sounds exactly like an itinerary i would make, lol. i really like park hopping, it really doesn't make a difference if you go to one park the whole day if you're going to take a break in the middle of the day -- much needed breaks, i might add! we usually have a rental car with us so the disney transportation thing isn't really a problem in time wasting - but i did go last march using disney transportation and although it was frustrating waiting 15-20 minutes for a bus, i really don't think it wasted too much time in the long run. so, i wouldn't change a thing. i really like your idea of spending the first night in downtown disney, sounds relaxing and fun! and POR is one of my fav resorts - gotta love the boat ride up the river to downtown! best of luck with your trip!

 

[denanbob]

Do you think you've given yourself enough time in MK? Everyone is different, but I know, I like to spend the most time there.

We also went back and forth about Teppanki(sp). I wound up cancelling it(we are going in SIX DAYS!!!). Aren't the ADRs the hardest part??? You don't want to miss the good restaurants, but there are just too many!!!!

I hope you have a great time!!!!!

This seems to be the burning question! LOL! With the ages of my kids (10, 8, 6) and the things they like (rollercoasters, scary rides), I'm thinking MK probably WON'T be their favorite park (but boy I could be wrong once we get there........we've never been there before, any of us!). Here is what we want to see/do at MK:

Jungle Cruise
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Splash Mountain
The Haunted Mansion
Mad Tea Party
It's a Small World
Philharmagic
Peter Pan
Snow White's Scary Adventures
Barnstormer
Buzz Lightyear
Space Mountain

I don't think we'll even go to Toontown (except for Barnstormer then leave).

Maybe I will cut out MGM on Tuesday night and just make it a full MK day (and move my Sci Fi ressie to Friday at lunch).

 

[denanbob]

I would try not to park hop so much. It takes forever to get from one park to another (so much wasted time). I would try to tie in your ADR to the parks you are going to. Unless its not crowded the fast passes will be gone for the popular rides early so getting to a park at night may have you standing in line instead of utilizing the FP system.

Also, waiting around for Disney transportation is tiring plus all the extra walking to get into the parks from where the bus drops you off. We were there in Feb and we didn't luck out once. We had to wait 15-20 minutes for every bus which wasted so much time. I originally plan my trip/ADR then I bought an AP (which had us going to the parks everyday )which changed everything and we back tracked alot.

In addition, you may want to change the PSB in Norway to lunch. That would give you all morning in FW. We ate there around 1:30 and it was a much needed break at that point, but we got alot done in FW before lunch and had all afternoon in WS.

Have a great trip!!

So you don't recommend taking breaks back at the hotel during the day, right? Because the way I see it, if you're going back to the hotel anyway, it makes no matter if you return to the same park or a different park (timewise). I understand the FP thing though. I think for *US*, we will HAVE to take mid-day breaks away from the parks, because my DD10 has very mild cerebral palsy and he will not be able to keep up all day with the walking. We'll have to break for a swim, or boat ride or something during the day (but I certainly see how this can take up lots of time with the to and from thing). Also, the lunch menu at PSB is not something we would enjoy, so we are going for the yummy breakfast (our only sit down breakfast all week). We'll just make that our World Showcase day and tour FW the other times that we have planned there. I think I have the most time planned at Epcot.

 

[denanbob]

sounds great to me! you hit all of my favorite restaurants (prime-time, hoop dee doo, sci-fi, coral reef) and your plan sounds exactly like an itinerary i would make, lol. i really like park hopping, it really doesn't make a difference if you go to one park the whole day if you're going to take a break in the middle of the day -- much needed breaks, i might add! we usually have a rental car with us so the disney transportation thing isn't really a problem in time wasting - but i did go last march using disney transportation and although it was frustrating waiting 15-20 minutes for a bus, i really don't think it wasted too much time in the long run. so, i wouldn't change a thing. i really like your idea of spending the first night in downtown disney, sounds relaxing and fun! and POR is one of my fav resorts - gotta love the boat ride up the river to downtown! best of luck with your trip!

Great to hear!!!! We won't have rental car, so it will be Disney transportation for us! Luckily, we are going May 6-13 and it's not SUPPOSED to be overly crowded at this time, so I'm hoping for decent travel times. If we were going during peak season, I would be very concerned about the transportation delays. I'm so happy you enjoyed POR! I feel like we really didn't have much of a choice. With 3 kids, the values were out and we can't afford the deluxes, so POR was our only option since most of the mods only have 4 to a room too. We're sooooooooo excited!!!!!!!