Newbies 25th Sept - 9th Oct

PEAB · 14 Jul 18, 05:59 PM

Hi All.

We're two adults going to Florida this year between 25th September and 9th October (2 weeks). I last went about 20 years ago, and wasn't the organiser, and my friend coming with me has never been. We're not likely to make it back for the foreseeable future so I'm trying to cram but not overdo it.

Just to add that we have 14 day tickets to everywhere so we're pretty free to move about (probably wasn't financially the best way but we'll have the freedom and this is a one-off trip). I have a booking for Wilderness Lodge for one night on 26th September so we can fastpass at 60 days. We also have a one night stay at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort on 1st October to get express passes so our two days at Universal are fixed. We also intend to watch Tampa Bay Lightning on 6th October so that day is also fixed.

Neither of us are bothered by shopping. I realise Halloween stuff will be going on but I'm actually doing my best to avoid it as we're happy to just take in the parks as they are for this visit (hence we're at universal on non-Halloween nights). I haven't done any dinning reservations as we're happy to mostly eat off site or at the villa we have.

Here are the plans so far. Your thoughts please. I've tried to use the Busy Day Guide and make it so that a late night isn't followed by an early start. I've also tried to leave the last day or so free for repeat trips to anywhere. Although I do feel I need to fit in a night visit to Pandora - I'm just not fussed about watching Rivers of Light. Please feel free to suggest any improvements or make any comments. Thanks.

Tues 25th - Arrive 5.15pm. Go to accommodation. Bit of food shopping.

Weds 26th - Hollywood Studios (early)
Fastpasses: Slinky Dog Dash (if possible), Tower of Terror and Rock 'N' Rollercoaster
Evening: Food shopping if not done fully the day before.

Thurs 27th - Animal Kingdon (early)
Fastpasses: Flights of Passage (if possible), Kilimanjaro Safaris, Expedition Everest

Fri 28th - SeaWorld (Early)
Evening: Fantasmic at Hollywood Studios (maybe some rides first)

Sat 29th - Magic Kingdom (Early but shorter day)
Fastpasses: Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain

Sun 30th - Kennedy Space Centre

Mon 1st - Universal Studios
Express Passes
Evening: Universal Cinematic Celebration

Tues 2nd - Universal Islands of Adventure
Express Passes

Weds 3rd- Typhoon Lagoon

Thurs 4th - Magic Kingdom (early)
Fastpasses: TBC

Fri 5th - Epcot
Fastpasses: Test Track, Mission Space, Spaceship Earth

Sat 6th - Busch Gardens
Evening: Tampa Bay Lightning Ice Hockey

Sun 7th - Epcot (afternoon)
Evening: Illuminations

Mon 8th (Columbus Day) - Revisit favourite
Evening: Happily Ever After

Tues 9th - Revisit favourite
Evening: Leave 7.50pm.

cam6278 · 19 Jul 18, 08:11 AM

Wow... that looks like an amazing time will be had.
I can't think of anything to change or add in

johnandmaz · 23 Jul 18, 05:10 PM

Decent balanced plan tbh. Looks like you've not planned every minute so gives you a bit of flexibility with that much needed downtime.

First Friday may be a challenge. Early on in your holiday, so you'll still be a little jetlagged and you have an all day plus an evening at Fantasmic. We've learnt to leave the later evenings - fireworks, light shows etc until the second week and have lazy mornings when doing them. Appreciate time is a constraining factor though.

The DIBB has an excellent little vacation planner on the menu at the top. Drop down menus let you add parks, FP+, ADRs etc. Go as in depth or sketchy as you want. All memebrs in your group can view on iphones etc.

Mainly use ours to ensure lots of R&R in between the parks as my old bones struggle with long days now. Here's ours as an example.

http://www.thedibb.co.uk/forums/plan...ew.php?p=30083

Used it on our last few visits and it's worked wonderfully to get that rest balance.

Good luck with your Fastpasses. If you're going for rope drop, plan them in from about 10am onwards. You'll get some rides in whilst quiet before needing them.

johnandmaz · 23 Jul 18, 05:11 PM

And add a holiday countdown on the menu on the right. Look at mine every day.

Toryn · 23 Jul 18, 09:43 PM

Going exact same time as you and count down is 63 days .Were flying 1o�clock virgin .Were also doing Loews Pacific But not sure when .Have a great time your itinerary looks brill

7SeasSailor · 23 Jul 18, 10:35 PM

You have left Happily Ever After until the last evening. I would move it to the first week or early in the second. If it gets rained off on that last night then you have lost it.

VS075 · 24 Jul 18, 10:16 AM

Looks great - enjoy!

PEAB · 24 Jul 18, 07:03 PM

Thanks everyone for all your comments!

Originally Posted by johnandmaz

First Friday may be a challenge. Early on in your holiday, so you'll still be a little jetlagged and you have an all day plus an evening at Fantasmic. We've learnt to leave the later evenings - fireworks, light shows etc until the second week and have lazy mornings when doing them. Appreciate time is a constraining factor though.

Hmm something I hadn't really given too much thought to so far! Thanks for the share of your planner. Good to get some insight as to how others do it.

Originally Posted by Toryn

Going exact same time as you and count down is 63 days .Were flying 1o�clock virgin .Were also doing Loews Pacific But not sure when .Have a great time your itinerary looks brill

Spooky! The 1pm from Gatwick?! See you on it! I'll be the 6ft 5 guy crying out for legroom.

Originally Posted by 7SeasSailor

You have left Happily Ever After until the last evening. I would move it to the first week or early in the second. If it gets rained off on that last night then you have lost it.

Again that is something else I stupidly hadn't considered. I've actually had to swap a few shows around since doing this as I naively assumed they would stay the same in September / October as they are currently but obviously they don't. You make a very good point about possibly missing out though which would be gutting so I'll definitely consider re-planning that.

Thanks all!