What are your touring plans and ADRs for your upcoming trip

[missmickey]

I'm going to Disney in September and in the process of trying to decide what days to do what parks and what ADRs to make. It's tough! I'm curious about what others' plans are. We are a large group with young children (at least 11-6 adults 5 children aged 1 through 8 and all girls, possibly 15 with 8 adults 7 children-1 boy in the mix). We will be there from Sept. 12 -20th.

So what schedule have you worked out? What are your theme park touring plans (which parks which days) and what are your dining plans each day?

If there's already a thread about this just send me that way

 

[davkata]

We plan our days around the EMH am park. We head there for RD and then take a break at our resort pool in the middle of the day. We hop to another park where we use our 3 FP+'s usually 4 pm or later. For our upcoming trip, we have booked one ADR meal each day, depending on what park we are in. We have one late breakfast at Tusker House, A late dinner at Sci-Fi, a dinner at Biergarten and a lunch at Be Our Guest. Our arrival day, we did not book any dining in case we have any delays. We did book 3 FP's for arrival day at MK with the first one being 3 1/2 -4 hours after our expected flight arrival. After FP are booked I look at the availability of dining options that are of interest to us and book accordingly. If nothing worked, I kept checking. Our trips are about the headliner rides. If meals and shows fit in those are bonuses for us! Happy planning, it's a lot of fun these boards are awesome!

 

[siskaren]

I would recommend checking out the crowd calendar at easywdw.com, which gives recommendations for which park to go to each day, as well as detailed explanations as to why those parks are recommended (or not). September's should be up in mid-February.

 

[minnie mum]

I agree with Siskaren. Have a look at easywdw.com. Until this year's crowd calendar comes out, you can use last year's for rough planning. We follow Josh's recommended parks, and also use his cheat sheets as a guideline for park touring and FP selection. On the Dis, Mesaboy has a great thread about FPs.

Your strategy may differ depending on whether or not you are staying onsite. If you are onsite, you may want to consider PH tickets, so you can go to a morning EMH park for a few hours in the morning before hopping to a less crowded park for the rest of the day. If you don't want PH tickets, of if you are staying off site, going to the recommended park will be your best bet.

We plan our park days before deciding on ADRs. We prefer to minimize time wasted on transportation, so will pick a restaurant that is either in the park we will be in that day or at a nearby resort. The park calendars come out a couple of weeks before your 180 day, so you have a few days to fine tune decisions before you make your ADRs.

 

[butterfly71076]

I have checked easywdw.com and touringplans.com to help plan. Although, most people here have told me easywdw.com is most reliable, I still check both Based upon best park, park hours, any special events happening, and EMH, I make ADR's. At certain parks, I prefer morning EMH, at others, I like evening EMH. And then, it depends on your touring style. Do you like to RD to closing, with no breaks? Or do you prefer RD to mid afternoon, take a break at the resort, then head back? Once you figure that out, in my experience, everything else starts falling in place. Good luck!

 

[Farps]

We also use the crowd calendar at EasyWDW website. We do all Am EMH then we hop to a less crowded park when the crowds start rolling in. I do look at last years calendar to get a rough idea, but until new one comes out we cannot really plan. All of our ADR's are also planned around where we will be on any given day, so all that I can say is Come on crowd calendar....
EasyWDW is a fantastic website, that guy really helps a lot of people plan great vacations!

 

[IndianaRRT]

Our touring plans and ADRs differ from families with small children because we're all "kids-at-heart", and it's a totally different plan when the youngest in our party is 16.

We arrive on a Sunday and will head straight for Downtown Disney. Lunch at Earl of Sandwich (ADR not necessary), some shopping, then back to POR. From there, it's off to the BoardWalk for supper at the ESPN Club (no ADR necessary), then walk or take the boat to EPCOT for whatever fun awaits us. We'll end the evening with Illuminations and then back to POR!

Monday we'll breakfast at POR, then it's off to AK! AK is a place our family just plays by ear. We love the shows, Dinosaur, and the Safari. DH and DS love Everest, but DD and I don't like the big coasters. It's too far out for us to reserve FP+ yet, but we'll definitely try to FP+ at least one of those. Once we've had our AK fill, we'll head back to POR for a dinner ADR at Boatwright's, and the rest of the evening is free. We may head HS for EMH or we may take in the outdoor movie at the resort.

Tuesday is our longest day--MK! We have an ADR for Chef Mickey's breakfast because this trip is to celebrate my 40th birthday, and even 40 year old mommas love breakfast with the Mouse! Then it's off to MK. We'll do our best to FP+ BTMR and PPF, but really, we'll be there all day, so we usually can get in everything we want to do. DH insists on multiple Dole Whips per trips, so you'll find us at Aloha Isle. It'll be QS for lunch and dinner. We'll enjoy parades and Wishes, then back to POR!

Wednesday is HS day, and we'll do our best to have a FP+ for at least one of TSMM or RnR. I'm insisting on visiting Starring Rolls, so we'll work that in, as well as a QS for lunch. Again, we'll use the FP+ the best way we can to work in everything we want to do. We have an early dinner ADR at Hollywood and Vine as part of the Fantasmic! dinner package. We'll try to hit some more favorites before we attend the first Fantasmic show, then back to POR.

Thursday (our last full day, so sad) is our full EPCOT day. It's our favorite park by far, so we'll be there at open for sure. Not being able to book our FP+ yet, I'll still say we'll do our best with these, but we'll do lots of things we love that don't need the FP+--walking around the World Showcase, enjoying the exhibits, etc. Our favorite lunch of any trip is "eating around the World", so as we make our way around the Showcase, we'll get a dish from each place and split it 4 ways to get a taste of everything. Then, the last of my birthday requests, we have an ADR at Ohana for dinner with Wishes! Can't wait, and we think it's a great "last night" thing to do!

We'll leave on Friday for the long trek back to Indiana! We love our plan and hope that you come up with something perfect for you. We've found that as long as we remember that every plan WILL have hiccups, then we can roll with it and totally enjoy our WDW time!

 

[ArielDreams]

We are just a young married couple without kids but here's our plan anyway in case it's helpful!

We are arriving around 11am on a Tuesday (April) and will be checking in/eating lunch at our resort (CSR) then heading over to Epcot for ADR's at Coral Reef Restaurant. Our FP+ will probably be for Soarin or Test Track.

Day 2 - Head to Studios at RD to go straight to RnR or TSM (depending on crowds). Hopefully have FP+ for TSM, ToT and Star Tours later in the day. Lunch ADRs at Sci-Fi. Then after stopping back at CSR for the afternoon, park hop to MK for the evening.

Day 3 - Head to MK for RD (not exactly sure what our strategy will be yet) with hopeful FP+ for SDMT, Space and Splash. We like to eat breakfast at Gaston's Tavern. Hoping to have a FP lunch at BoG. Then we'll head back to the resort before going to dinner at Yachtsman Steakhouse. We'll either add on a stop at Epcot or Studios afterward depending what we feel like.

Day 4 - Be at AK for RD. Head straight to Everest (per our tradition). Hopefully FP+ for KS, Kali and Everest for later. We like to have QS lunch at Yak & Yeti. Will definitely schedule in Nemo and FOTLK shows. Head back to the resort for a pool break and then head to our park of choice.

Day 5 - Unscheduled park for the morning. Park hop to Epcot for the evening to eat dinner at Japan and enjoy Illuminations.

Day 6 - Typhoon Lagoon for the day. Before late showing of Hoop Dee Doo we will stop at MK. It also has late EMH so we can stop by afterward as well.

Day 7 - go home

Several visits ago I stopped going to parks on EMH mornings... I don't really remember why but I arrange my parks around who doesn't have it. IMO I don't think there's as big of a benefit as they used to seem. We're always at the parks for RD and get more done that way.

Have fun planning!!!

 

[OurLaughingPlace]

I agree with Siskaren. Have a look at easywdw.com. Until this year's crowd calendar comes out, you can use last year's for rough planning. We follow Josh's recommended parks, and also use his cheat sheets as a guideline for park touring and FP selection. On the Dis, Mesaboy has a great thread about FPs.

Your strategy may differ depending on whether or not you are staying onsite. If you are onsite, you may want to consider PH tickets, so you can go to a morning EMH park for a few hours in the morning before hopping to a less crowded park for the rest of the day. If you don't want PH tickets, of if you are staying off site, going to the recommended park will be your best bet.

We plan our park days before deciding on ADRs. We prefer to minimize time wasted on transportation, so will pick a restaurant that is either in the park we will be in that day or at a nearby resort. The park calendars come out a couple of weeks before your 180 day, so you have a few days to fine tune decisions before you make your ADRs.

This is exactly what we do. The planning ahead will really pay off. I love my Disney time and don't want to be wasting time jumping from park to restaurant, so it's important to have your park picked (per crowd calendars) first. I find the planning to be part of the fun. It helps get me excited for the trip. I make sure my kids are part of the planning- this means they can't complain about our ADR's or park/FP+ choices once we are there. Also, they like to help plan too.
We are rope drop people (well, 3 of us are ... DD15 not so much), so we tend to enjoy the mornings and swim in the afternoon. We might / might not head back to the parks. Now that we go every year, we are less 'commando' style. We try to have the MK as our first park and our last park (just a tradition). We try to take one morning off every 4 days to have a sleep in (to keep DD15 from getting too Grumpy lol)

 

[yeheyprincex2]

I agree with Siskaren. Have a look at easywdw.com. Until this year's crowd calendar comes out, you can use last year's for rough planning. We follow Josh's recommended parks, and also use his cheat sheets as a guideline for park touring and FP selection. On the Dis, Mesaboy has a great thread about FPs.

Your strategy may differ depending on whether or not you are staying onsite. If you are onsite, you may want to consider PH tickets, so you can go to a morning EMH park for a few hours in the morning before hopping to a less crowded park for the rest of the day. If you don't want PH tickets, of if you are staying off site, going to the recommended park will be your best bet.

We plan our park days before deciding on ADRs. We prefer to minimize time wasted on transportation, so will pick a restaurant that is either in the park we will be in that day or at a nearby resort. The park calendars come out a couple of weeks before your 180 day, so you have a few days to fine tune decisions before you make your ADRs.

This is exactly what we do do what Josh says!!!
We stay onsite and I book my days by the best park days from Josh and Keep ADR close to where we will be during the day. My DH liked doing EMH in the morning so we usually do that and will hit RD every morning.

Good luck.

 

[GatorMama]

I don't think you said if you'd be onsite or not... We have usually stayed offsite and picked our parks based on easywdw's crowd calendar, most recommended park for the mornings then if we wanted to see fireworks or an event at a different park at night, we'd hop in the afternoon after a break. (We've traveled with 1-2 kids under 3 each time) This time we are staying onsite and will plan to RD for morning EMH each day. Then rest in the afternoons and hop to a less crowded park in the evenings. We will not have many in-park ADRs because I don't want to waste park time (we only have four day hoppers). I will plan resort ADRs for days we aren't in the parks and I'll plan in park ADRs for the beginning of evening park time or end of morning park time.

ETA: we are also going the same week as you so I'm waiting on park times to be released

 

[ZephyrHawk]

OP, you're going to get as many different answers as there are posters on this site! Those who have said to check out crowd calendars are on the right track. What's good for us when we're planning to go may not be ideal for your rather large group when you're planning to go.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

OP I definitely agree with the rest of the posters and check out the crowd calendars. I did that for our upcoming trip in April. I usually do that first before I do my ADRs. But here is my planned schedule so far. Its me, my DH, my DS8, and my DS1 1/2. We are doing a split stay. Staying 2 nights at an off site hotel and then the rest of the time at the Grand Floridian. Anyways heres are schedule"

Day 1: Arrive in Orlando, & Check into our hotel. Head to Disney Boardwalk for dinner at ESPN Club and play games at the Arcade next door.

Day 2: Having breakfast at the hotel, then going to Sea World. Eating lunch at the park. Leaving Sea World around 3 or 4 and then heading to Downtown Disney (west side). Do a little window shopping at the shops on the west side and then heading to the AMC Dine In Theater for Dinner and a Show.

Day 3: Dropping off our bags at the Grand Floridian before breakfast then heading to 'Ohana for Breakfast. Going back to Downtown Disney for shopping in the Marketplace and then having lunch at Rainforest Cafe. Going back to the hotel to relax for a bit before heading into Magic Kingdom for dinner. Having Dinner at Cinderella's Royal Table. Going to do some rides afterwards and then taking my older son to the Wishes Desert Party

Day 4: Having breakfast at Kona Cafe. Going to Epcot for the day. Having Lunch at Coral Reef and Dinner at Garden Grill.

Day 5: Going to Magic Kingdom. We have a pre park opening ADR for Crystal Palace for Breakfast. Then having lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern and dinner at 1900 Park Fare

Day 6: Going to Hollywood Studios. Have a pre park ADR for Hollywood & Vine for Breakfast. Having lunch at Sci-Fi Dine In Theater and Dinner at Beaches and Cream

Day 7: Going to Epcot. Have a pre park ADR for Akershus for Breakfast. Having lunch at Tutto Italia and dinner at Whispering Canyon Cafe

Day 8: Going to Magic Kingdom. Eating Breakfast at Check Mickey's, Lunch at Grand Floridian Cafe, and Dinner at Be Our Guest.

Day 9: Departure Day Going to Magic Kingdom for 1/2 the day and having breakfast at 1900 Park Fare.

Still don't have my fast passes yet. My Fast pass window doesn't open til the 11th. I am going to try and get all fast passes for the mornings so I can get more fast passes after we use our initial 3. Plus my older son is on the spectrum and we had the DAS last year so I am hoping to have that again this year so that will make things easier as well. Hope you figure out your schedule! Planning is half the fun of a Disney vacation!