Plan for the first week- tear it apart!
 

So much upheaval :confused2:cry: and with less than 2 weeks to go, I am only now able to formulate any plans.
FP 60 days and other perks are out the window.

Party of 5. Kids range from 13 to 7.

Please critique my plan.

Day 1: Sunday: Travel day. Arrive into MCO approx. 16.20. Immigration, collect car, buy sundries, check in to Wyndham LBV and then walk to DS for dinner. Is it unrealistic to expect to be eating dinner by 20.00 and in bed by 21.30?

Day 2: Monday: Boat to POFQ for beignets, pottering around DS, swim in pool, dinner at DS (Blaze or Dluxe)

Day 3: Tuesday: Character breakfast in Wyndham. Pool. Check out and check in to POP. Explore resort, pool etc.

Day 4: Wednesday: I bring car over to AoA and walk back, get up horrendously early and on bus by 07.30 to MK

Plan for MK:
Guest Services for DAS (is it open before opening ceremony? )
Opening ceremony
Get return time for Mine Train
IASW
Belle
Peter Pan (Fast Pass)
Haunted Mansion
BTMR and SM (FP x 2)
Hopefully we will have a return time for 7DMT or we'll skip it as he will no way queue for hours where he can't move about much.
Chill out time then- maybe Sorcerers or Tom Sawyer for a runabout.
Lunch at Plaza
Parade at 3pm.
3.30: Mickey M&G (if can get FP or return time)
4pm People Mover.
4.30: Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear (with FP if available- I am hoping to be able to pick up these additional FP throughout the day- is that unrealistic?)
Then any additional FP / low queue time rides/ Casey's splash zone etc
8pm: Sleepy Hollow for a snack
9pm: Fireworks and show
10.00 onwards: any other available FP til park close at 01.00 a.m. (it's EMH evening)

Will the park be busier than usual due to evening EMH?
Also, and I realise it's subjective, but is a full day 7.30 - 1 a.m. even as a one off, totally unrealistic? The days before and after are all chill out days to try and mitigate against any issues, but I may skip out some of the afternoon if required if DS needs a nap as he gets even more prone to meltdowns when he is tired (in fairness, no one is at their best when tired)

Day 5:Thursday: Chill out at AoA, drawing classes, pool. Check in to villa in the p.m.

Day 6+:Friday onwards: No plans as yet.

It that an insane amount of moving around? We will only have hand luggage, and the plan is to leave all bar one case in the car- we are bringing very little in the way of clothes... but I feel like we may not feel like we have "arrived" til we get to the villa if we are Nomading around WDW like that... however the thinking was to do a cheap do-over of what was initially meant to be an onsite week at the start of our trip (which had to be substantially curtailed for various reasons explained on other threads).

My comments by day.

Day 1. Impossible to say whether you could be in bed be eating dinner by 8pm, it will depend entirely upon immigration queues. I have in the past landed at 6pm and been in MK (eating dinner if I had wanted to) by 8pm though.

Day 2 & 3. You don't seem to be doing very much, are you only getting a one day park ticket? I was not sure why no parks these days.

Day 4. I don't understand the plan, why are you bringing the car from POP to AoA in order to go to MK? No idea what "DAS" stands for so cannot comment on that. It looks like a very long day to me, however if it is because you only have a one day ticket then I can see why you would do that. What do you mean by "7DMT return time" - there is no such thing as far as I am aware. I don't think it is unrealistic to hope to pick up some additional FP during the day, but no way of predicting what will be available, I am sure something will be though.

I don't really understand your question about moving about? It seems like a very leisurely six days to me.

Thanks Claudette. Yes just a one day park ticket that first week as I had to slash my budget.
The moving around is that we're staying in 3 different hotels over 4 nights... which is sort of a lot... I can't decide between Pop and AoA... and was thinking both.

I'm moving the car as we'll be checking out of Pop and into AoA. The reason I prefer AoA is the trip time to MK is slightly shorter ... I really want to maximise the day... but AoA is more expensive than Pop...

DAS is a disability pass. My son has ASD and can melt down when he feels restricted or frustrated. This long day will likely be a real challenge for him.

You're right. It is a bit leisurely. I really want to make better use of the fact that we're staying on property (albeit cheaply) but I can't really afford more tickets... it seems such a waste. If anyone has any suggestions about what to do here to better utilise the on-site time, I'd be grateful.

Ah I see, I hadn't seen the bit about changing hotel. I really wouldn't do one night each in POP and AoA, I would make a decision. The difference between distance to Magic Kingdom is negligible.

What are you doing after day 6? Are you onsite or offsite? What do you have tickets for?

Yes I think I'll just have to choose.

We're off-site in a villa from the Thursday and we will have Universal 14 day tickets starting on the Sunday.

How to make a holiday stressful in one easy lesson. Three different hotels in four nights unbelievable. It is hard enough organising a trip to Disney but you have certainly taken it to the ultimate. Thank god you are moving into a villa and will have time to relax. Have a super holiday.

Please don't do that to yourself...the stress of it. Even book a hotel in LBV and just get an over early to MK

Maybe a visit to some of the deluxe resorts on days you don't have tickets? At Animal Kingdom Lodge you can watch zebras, giraffes etc on the savannah. You could ride the monorail between the 3 monorail resorts, they all have nice shops and quick service loacations for eating and at night you can watch the fireworks from the Polynesian beach. Maybe a trip to the Boardwalk, where you could rent a Surrey bike. There's also the mini golf courses, Fantasia Gardens and Summer/Winterland.

I agree if you can simplify your moving do it. As long as you have the 60 day fast passes prob aren't necessary for your chosen Fps. Really on SWMT that can be hard to get at 30 days. EMH you can get at any Disney partner hotel.
You can always visit the other onsite hotels. I'm not sure if you can but can you get the DAS in advance ? at DS on one of the previous days. I would keep the option of a mid afternoon nap open and judge it on the day. Later fast passes can be hard to get for headliners but if you have the DAS you can get a return time so don't stress about it in advance. I also like the idea of looking around AK lodge on one of your non park pays.

I’d say the long day is doable in theory. We’ve only done this in Paris, but given that the Paris Disneyland Park is bigger than Magic Kingdom, and that we were zigzagging all over the place for FPs and short queues with not much planning (other than to cram in as much as possible on our last day) it’s probably a fair comparison. Oh, and this came at the end of a 5 day break with full-on Disney days every day.

We were up at 7, breakfast at half past ready to walk down to the park, kept going until after the fireworks at closing, left the park just after midnight, then wandered into World of Disney for some last minute shopping. Admittedly, my 5 year old (only just turned 5) did fall asleep on the sofas in World of Disney, but that was around 1am. She perked up again ready for the bus ride back to our hotel to collect the car. My 9 year old was still going strong, but they both fell asleep on our 2 hour drive to a campsite (where DH had already set up the tent earlier that day, thank goodness!)

It was a crazy day, and DH and I didn’t get to sleep until around 21 hours after we’d got up, but it was so worth it to get every last bit of fun out of our final day!