vacay plans and ?'s

[seenellie81]

I have made our plans for our Aug vacation and would like some suggestions or comments on it, if you all wouldnt mind!
Let me start by saying i dont think that i am an over planner, i like to go with the flow a little more then most, i think. I always have an idea in my mind but often just go with what everyones up to. Because of this, FP+ is freaking me out because honestly i dont know where i want to be when. I also want to get my FP+ early so that i can get what i want. I guess thats why i am asking others to look over my plans. It will be me DH DD9 DS13. We have been to disney several times before and always just went with the flow it is what worked for us.
We are going August 20-28 Flying into MCO Staying at POP with 8 day hopper waterpark and more passes.
Aug 20th- land at around 1130ish take car service to POP see if we can check in /leave our luggage. Head to MK (we always do MK the first day we arrive) ADR for liberty tree at 4pm. Have dinner maybe take a break to unpack if we werent able to do so when we arrived. Finish the night at MK
Aug 21st-I have no clue. I guess either waterpark as i have to fit them in somewhere and dont know what i should plan this day
Aug 22nd- I have no clue, again a waterpark i guess
Aug 23rd-ADR tusker house 805am woohoo before park open. Stay at AK for a few hours. AK is not an all day park for us. Take a break when we are done with AK. Nap swim cleanup. Check out another park in the evening.
Aug 24th-HS ADR 50's prime time 4pm. after dinner back to hotel to rest. MK for evening EMH they are from 10-12 this night. the latest that they have them while we are there and we love the late nights.
Aug 25th- Wake up a little later no rope drop for us this day. Epcot 4pm ADR for Coral Reef.
Aug 26th- It is DH's Birthday! So whatever he wants to do this day. He may want to go back to HS because it is his favorite. ADR chef Mickeys 5pm Who knows what after
Aug 27th- no clue again. Its our last day and we really love to end it with MK at night. During the day i really dont know.
As you can see i am not much of a planner. I know that we all agree we must take some breaks in the middle of the day. We know that we cant see and do everything that we always have next trip. We like the vacation to be relaxing as much as it is fun. We like to start the day with EMH or rope Drop to take advantage of that time and get in as much as we want/can before the park gets really busy. If a park has EMH we leave as soon as the park starts to get busy and head to a park that doesnt have EMH. While we are there the parks close relatively early on most days so we will do DTD in the evening sometime. I know that some people think Hopping and Breaks are a waste of time, but its what works for us. I dont like melt downs from cranky kids, mom or dad.
Ok next leg of our Vacay- On the morning of the 28th we are leaving for Clearwater beach. We will stay 1 night there but really be there 2 days because we will not head to our next hotel until late on the 29th. Never been to Clearwater beach before. Looking forward to the beach, the pier at night, shopping and shelling at near by state parks. Any comments about Clearwater would be much appreciated as i have no clue what to really expect except from what i have read online.
Aug 29th later in the evening we will return our rental car and stay at close to the Tampa airport for the next mornings flight home.
Originally we were going to do 2 nights in clearwater but i just added the extra night to disney instead.
I look forward to everyones thoughts on this!

 

[Marilou]

Are you morning people? If you are, I would check for morning extra magic hours and have that help you decide which park to hit in the morning. You can knock out 2-3 major rides in that first hour before it opens to the general public.

I wouldnt go back the hotel as often as you're planning. especially that first day where you'll only get 1/2 day in the park as it is.

If you're scheduling TS meals every day, that will give you some down time. But I know I'm in the minority on the "mid-day" break subject.
I feel it more tiring to commute about an hour (or possibly more depending on wait time for the busses) swimming in the hot mid-day sun isnt relaxing to us (just tires our legs out more) then if everybody needs to shower after swimming there's ooodles of time wasted.
I'm also better with teeny catnaps like one might get on Carousel of progress, Spaceship earth, Ellens universe of energy, Hall of presidents etc.
So if we all tried to lay down and nap in the room(s) simultaneously.... I doubt that 1/2 of us would actually nap.

If you want to use FP+, you will definitely want to nail down which park you want to start at each day.