Plan Plan Plan

[olsmum]

Hey All,

Orlando newbie here, be nice please

Thoughts on my plan so far?
I'm travelling with my partner and 12 year old son, who aren't interested in character dining, so we don't have many reservations to plan around etc. Are we missing out by not doing a character meal?

Anyhow, thoughts/tips appreciated.

9th Oct - Travel Day (land around 4.30pm, so straight to hotel on I-Drive)
10th Oct - Check in a Royal Pacific hit Universal until late afternoon, hotel pool then possibly IOA for Hogwarts light show
11th Oct - Breakfast at the 3 Broomsticks then IOA until 4pm checkout, head back to I-Drive for tea
12th Oct - Free day, possibly go to MK for the evening/fireworks
13th Oct - Hotel Pool then MK around dinner time until close
14th Oct - Discovery Cove
15th Oct - Animal Kingdom, we have Rainforest Cafe booked for 1.3pm
16th Oct - Volcano Bay
17th Oct - Epcot
18th Oct - Rope drop Magic Kingdom
19th Oct - Easy morning, then we have T-Rex Cafe booked for 12.pm, then head to Hollywood Studios until close
20th Oct - Free day (we have Seaworld tickets also, so I had thought maybe do that)
21st Oct - Back to Universal / IOA
22nd Oct - Free day then we have MNSSHP tickets
23rd - Go home, we fly later afternoon, do people do much on their last day normally?

Thanks for reading (if you made it this far that is)

[Guest]

Seems fine overall, maybe a bit too slow paced for us, but you know your group best. I would definitely make more of the first two days at RPR with the express pass, I wouldn't waste my time at the pool and I would check out and leave bags with bell services on the second day and spend more time in the parks to really make the most out of it.

If you aren't interested in character dining then I don't think you need to worry about missing out. We are two adults and we usually do at least one character dining just for some photo opportunities, but we don't interact with the characters much beyond that as that is not our personalities. If we did not want photographs, we would not do character dining.

On our last day we ask for a late checkout, hit a park early, then come back, get showered, finish packing, check out and have a final lunch in resort before going to the airport.

[olsmum]

Thank you. I've just found the planner on here so currently adding to that and as I'm adding, I agree, it does seem a bit slow. That being said, how would you pick up the pace, so to speak, hit parks early and do all day into the evening? Or one park morning into afternoon then hop to another park?

I'm loving planning, but it's so hard to know whats doable.

[squishy]

With a 12 year old, you have much greater flexibility. I would be aiming to hit the parks more (we don’t plan free days, but do visit the pool daily - either rope drop until lunchtime and then retreat until mid-late afternoon and back for another go. Or laze about in the morning and hit the parks for afternoon/evening. In 2017, our only ‘rest day’, we shopped and chilled until about 5 when we went and did some fast passes and rides before taking in fireworks (and a dessert party, I think!)

[Ridersmom]

I don't know your 12 year old, but mine would not have been thrilled with waiting to go to the parks in the morning. I would skip the free days and "easy mornings". I would also not spend a morning at the pool. Mornings are the best time to get things done in the parks.

Have you asked your 12 year old what he wants to do? You have way too much free time. I don't know where you are staying but my expeience is a 12 year old will get bored hanging out at the hotel as much as you are.

And it can still be brutally hot in October, so I am not sure how enjoyable sitting at the pool will be for more than an hour or so.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by olsmum

Thank you. I've just found the planner on here so currently adding to that and as I'm adding, I agree, it does seem a bit slow. That being said, how would you pick up the pace, so to speak, hit parks early and do all day into the evening? Or one park morning into afternoon then hop to another park?

I'm loving planning, but it's so hard to know whats doable.

See more...

We are two adults, I never plan totally free days, I wouldn’t have thought that adults and a twelve year old would need as many free days as you have, so I would put something in. It doesn’t mean you won’t have any down time at all, we might take a break for a couple of hours in the afternoon for example and that is enough.

I also never do a single park from morning to evening, I couldn’t stand that actually. We would normally switch parks by at least mid afternoon, we find the change gives us a second wind, I think being in one park the whole time would get tiring or tiresome. However for planning purposes, unless you are going to book an ADR in the second park, you maybe don’t need to think too hard about the second park, it is the park in which you will use fast passes that would need to be planned.