[zoey9797]

I saw the other thread about itinerary and decided to throw mine out to check with all of you experts;) in case there is anything I should change or have overlooked!

Background:
Self (30) been to Disney 2 times- 7yrs, 21yrs old
DD (7) Never been
DH (30) Never been out of MN!
Babysitter (16) Disney 1 time at 8 yrs old

9 days at All Stars with 5 day PHP's starting on a Tuesday night 8pm until Wednesday 10AM. First and last days mostly travel time.


Tuesday: arrive in evening, check out DTD and pick up DD GOH

Wednesday: Magic Kingdom, CRT PS (YAY!) , Wishes

Thursday: MGM, parade, Fantasmic

Friday: Richard Petty Driving in am and TL in afternoon

Saturday: AK during day and PI for us big kids at night

Sunday: Epcot and Illuminations

Monday: TL or a favorite park again or maybe relax on our Vacation??? Nah , we're at DISNEY!

Tuesday: DTD pick up souviners/shop and Dinner PS at Chef Mickey's

(BTW no BB for us northerners *smirk* as I posted in another thread ..I can't bear to LOOK at snow let alone swim in it after this last winter!)

Your experience and thoughts are appreciated !

Thanks!
~Zoey

[maguilart]

Zoey,

I should say MK should be the park you go twice... I dont think it is possible to make it all in just one day...

Check on the calendar so you will know the exact times for each and every show in the parks...
Calendar

I hope this can help... :D

[tinkerbell]

we took a babysitter one year too .. hope it works out better for you then it did for us !!

I think it looks like your going to have a wonderful time!!!!

[downsouthtigger]

Zoey,
Looks good, I will agree with Melli about MK being the park you need to hit twice, eh but we worked there so we're biased!;)
You're doing good, unlike me, I've worked everything out on a spreadsheet and it's really going way too scientific!
I do have a suggestion, my Gf has only been to wdw once, which was last year with me. She has a short attention span so when we were there we park hopped.
This year as tabulated in my spreadsheet, we're starting our first day at Epcot then hopping to Magic kingdom. After we grab dinner at say maybe boardwalk we're heading back to Epcot to watch illuminations.
Most of our other days are like that too, one park in the morning and one in the evening.
The reason I ask you to look at that is maybe park crowds will get too hot and heavy in one park and you may want to leave for another. Also depending on parade and fireworks maybe it's better in your schedule to watch wishes on say friday or monday after TL??Oh if you do head to PI, maybe you'd like to go on mon or thurs, thats CM night and whats better then to see some of your fave cm's all drunk! :dazed lol Hey I'd be there! :laugh

[MerlinMatt]

Since you're there for 8 nights, I think you should move your Monday schedule to Saturday and plan on relaxing that day.

I posted this about 2 weeks ago:

Somewhere between your 3rd and 5th day, take a "breather" day.

Get up late. Don't go directly to a park. Go play miniature golf or go have a late breakfast on the Boardwalk. If the kids aren't into it, tell them that in order to make the most of the rest of the trip, that you need to go hang out some place and plan out the rest of the week.

Go find a bench on the Boardwalk or hang out at DTD for a while. Get out all of your park maps and have them decide what to do for the rest of the day. It'll be a great way to recharge your batteries and it might prevent burn-out late in the week.


Just my two cents. :)

[MagicalMoments]

Does MGM- parade on Thursday mean you will be staying for Fantasmic? I would recommend seeing that show! It is awesome.
Great plan you have. I would be prepared to move days around due to weather, in case it rains. We prefer Epcot on a rainy day because alot is indoors, except for walking around the lagoon.
Have a great time!

[MissDisney]

I may be in the minority here, but I really love going to two parks a day, and visiting each park twice... once in the morning and once in the evening. It was a suggestion from the Unofficial Guide book several years ago, and we tried it... it took all the pressure off of feeling like you need to stay in a park long enough to squeeze it all in, and you get a breather in teh middle of the day... great for the 7 year old especially. Also, some of teh best things happen early in the morning and later at night -- it was impossible for us to do a 14-hour day at MK in order to see it all! For instance, we'd go to EC for rope drop and ride the rides. Then go home for swimming and lunch around 1:00. We'd head back to MK aruond 4:00 and stay till after fireworks... Leter in the week, we'd make sure to get to MK in teh morning and EC at night!

When we tried to do a single park in a day, we always ended up tired, hot, cranky and frantic... but that's just us! You may have more stamina...

[zoey9797]

Great ideas!

I'll just write one big reply post here in no particular order.

We will park hop if DD is up to it :O) And MK will probably be the park of choice for the last day... My favorite too! And mom's the boss of the vacation you know!

I liked the one about moving Monday to Saturday... Just might have to do that!

I haven't got TOO specific on what we'll do so that we can change around a bit.

We LOVE our babysitter and she vacationed in the past with us.. what a lifesaver...really helps the vacation be a vacation for us! ( I work really part time so I am home so much with my DD that I love being able to trust someone else with her for a few hours and still have her close to me) Sorry to hear it didn't work for you.. I could borrow you our sitter ... i'm SURE she'd LOVE to go to Disney a couple times a year *smirk*

Took everything I had in the last YEAR of planning NOT to make a spreadsheet Itinerary LOL ...

Yep! we wouldn't miss fantasmic!

Thanks so much! Keep the thoughts coming... I still have 12 days to plan and re-plan! LOL

~Zoey

[Amneris]

Just wanted to comment on your BB comment -- the first time I saw that water park, just driving by and seeing the big peak off the side of the road, I said how it looked so COLD how could you possibly swim there! My DBF is still laughing at me about it four years later! I try to protest how where I grew up it actually LOOKS like that with ice and snow and everything, but it just makes him laugh more. :)

[disneyguy]

Looks great!!! I had a few questions though....

What about Fantasmic at MGM????

Also what about adding a few PS's.... wasn't sure if that was in your budget or not. A wonderful one to add might be the for the returaunt in England at Epcot for 7:30.... ask for the patio. Everyone that has been there says they love it and you get to sit and eat and watch Illuminations.

You said no relaxing??? I know I would need a breather day. What about a family trip out in the Mouse Boats??? They always look like fun and are easy to access at most of the MK resorts.

Most imprtantly..... Just have fun!!!!

[zoey9797]

Amneris-
My thoughts EXACTLY! Going from MN and the 6 months of subzero temps... all the way to Florida to swim on an iceberg just does not sound fun to me! Maybe it is really cool to people who have never seen snow? I personally have had PLENTY! LOL!

Disneyluva
Well, we have a few PS .. CRT and Chef Mickey's ..

I didn't want to cloud the schedule so we would HAVE to be anywhere at anytime LOL..That way we could just stop wherever or if we see a restaurant that looks good eat there????

Is that a bad idea at Disney? I know the popular ps's need to be made months ahead of schedule but what about regular ones?

We are ok with eating at a food court if need be...

Thanks!
~Zoey

[downsouthtigger]

Zoey,
I feel you on the ps's. I need to make mine coming up, but with my Gf always changing her mind about which restaurant, I'm really hesitant.
Also when you make a PS I know you don't have to show up, but just being bound to that kinda makes it hard.
Say you do have ps for Tony's at 7pm, you just ate a turkey leg at 5 and now you're not hungry??
It always gets hard sticking to that schedule. So IMO I think make one or two ps and then just kinda pick the others as you go.
I know in May with it just being me and Ashley they can usually accomodate us quicker, but having a fam of 4 or more ps will really help.

[disneyguy]

It just depends on how you want to eat and how long you are willing to wait. If you are going in the summer(June-September) I would make PS's for all nights. With these it doesn't matter if you show up and there is no penalty for not showing up. This plan always seems to work for me. I am not a big snacker and just mainly eat at meals. If you are more like downsouthtigger and tend to like to snack then maybe just showing up when you feel like is for you. I will share a story with you though. It is a February night at Epcot, we go to guest relations to try to get a sit down dinner anywhere. There was nothing! Just a thought to ponder...

[zoey9797]

WOW! That would stink Disneyluva!

We are going in 12 days so.. the crowds are not supposed to be too bad.. Although, I am not really sure what that means LOL .. Too bad compared to ??????? Reallly bad ? If any one can fill me in that would be great! LOL I hate lines and mobs of people so I hope I picked a decent time to go!

Getting back to the PS , I can handle it if we need to food court it most of the time. The kids will be happy if we had pizza, ice cream and chicken nuggets the entire vacation!

I was thinking of eating at Tony's.. Is that a walk in kind of place? My family LOVES Italian!
~Zoey

[disneyguy]

I can't imagine why the crouds would be big during this time of year. It should be very nice!! Crouds shouldn't be too bad. I would say that you might see some days where major atractions hit a 1 hour line tops, that is on a Saturday!!! I have no clue!!!! That is my guess though. I have heard wonders about Tony's. If you like Italian go there. I would also recomend the little Cafe inside the Poly. I loved it!!! It is similar to Ohanas and makes for a wonderful break from MK. We found that every resturaunt was packed for lunch starting at 10 all the way through 4. We were shocked and hate lines. So we opted to do more sitdown meals. Don't think of food courts as all bad. The food courts inside Disney tend to have a variety of foods. The PC food court had chinese!!