Lots of help needed...1st timer itinerary *Revised plan 2nd page*

[mummybear]

Hiya, this is my first attempt at an itinerary with adrs...would love some opinions and advice as I feel like I'm going round in circles...

We are going next April for our first time! We are 2 adults and 2 children 7 and 12 staying onsite in POR and 1 night at universal to get FOLP passes.

Sat - Travel day and late arrival so no parks
Day 1 - Sunday - MK - Crystal palace 8am breakfast - snack - qs dinner
Day 2 - Mon - AK - Tusker house 8am breakfast -snack - Rainforest cafe dinner
Day 3 - Tues - Blizzard beach- qs lunch - ? dinner
Day 4 - Weds - HS - QS lunch - Mama melrose Fantasmic dining package
Day 5 - Thurs - Universal and 1 night stay...Bubba gumps for dinner
Day 6 - Fri - Universal then back to disney hotel at night
Day 7 - Sat - Epcot - qs/snack breakfast - garden grill lunch? Via napoli dinner?
Day 8 - Sun -MK - snack - qs lunch - BOG evening meal
Day 9 - Mon - TL waterpark - T-Rex at disney spring for dinner
Day 10 - Tues - AK - later start - Tusker house River of light dining package
Day 11 - Weds - Epcot - Coral reef dinner?
Day 12 - Thurs - HS - Hollywood and Vine dinner
Day 13 - Fri - MK - ?
Day 14 - Sat - park in morning before heading to airport

Thanks for any help

[pad406]

Wow, that's quite a hectic schedule

Understand that you want to get as much done as possible but you may want to think of some down time as well. Maybe after BB and TL and 1 other afternoon?

Rainforest and T-Rex are quite similar, maybe try Boma for the AK day, a family favourite for us.

In HS I'd recommend trying 50's Prime Time, good food and great fun. As long as you're not shy.

For Epcot maybe try Teppan Edo and Chefs de france. Le Cellier is very good also, but a bit pricey.

Flame tree BBQ in AK is great for a snack (well a big snack)

If you want a 2nd meal in Universal try Mythos (IOA) or The Kitchen (in the Hard Rock)

Would also suggest Hoop Dee Doo, great fun show and good food.

[mummybear]

Thanks for your advice. I was thinking if we booked evening ADR's for around 6pm we could leave the park early afternoon if needed and chill at pool or in room and then head back to the park for food, or if not tired then we could stay and eat before leaving and have an early night.

Will have a look at the restaurants you have suggested, thanks! We have some fussy eaters in our family so need to make sure there is some plainer food on the menus.

Thanks again

[loldis]

For your question mark dinners, take a look at the options in DS since it's really easy to get to from POR. Homecomin' is getting a lot of great reviews for TS, Blaze Pizza and Wolfgang Puck Express are good QS options.

Comments on specific days...

Day 1 - Sunday - MK - Crystal palace 8am breakfast - snack - qs dinner

If you want to "rope drop" the park, CP is not a good choice for an 8am reservation. It's a good choice for a leisurely first morning though, just know you'll be behind the crowds once you exit. But not a major issue IF you're not heading for Fantasyland first - book FPs for those rides instead.

Day 2 - Mon - AK - Tusker house 8am breakfast -snack - Rainforest cafe dinner

ATM, Mondays have morning EMH at AK and I expect that to still be the case in April as they don't change these often. So I wouldn't book TH for then as you'll waste that hour. As you've got TH later in the trip anyway, I would just grab a snack breakfast at POR then have one of the good QS options in AK (e.g. Satu'li, Flame Tree, Yak & Yeti QS) for an early lunch.

Day 7 - Sat - Epcot - qs/snack breakfast - garden grill lunch? Via napoli dinner?

I'm guessing you don't want to do both of these, so it's questioning which one. My choice would be Garden Grill, although I prefer the breakfast there. This would actually be a better option for an 8am start to get into the park early, as weekends during festivals will be busy at Epcot.

ETA: Don't forget about the F&G food booths. Look on the Disney Food Blog for this year's menus, it should be reasonably similar next year. Almost everything (except alcohol) costs a snack credit on DDP.

Day 12 - Thurs - HS - Hollywood and Vine dinner

This gets a lot of negative reviews, just FYI, but more recent ones seem to have improved a bit. Can't comment first hand as we don't do buffets. There's some fun options in HS (e.g. Sci Fi) or you can head out onto the Boardwalk (e.g. Beaches & Cream - not my favourite, but very popular) as an alternative.

Day 13 - Fri - MK - ?

If you have the credits spare, maybe a Cali Grill dinner for this last night? It's a Signature so you'll need 2 TS each, but view and food are both great.

[jemima2]

Hi! Just saw your reply on my thread . Its like an annoying jigsaw puzzle isnt it?! I have been experimenting last few days with a first itinerary..and realised we had too many later nights with the wee one..also i have factored in much more down time than you. The kids just cant manage full days in parks so i have a lot of shorter visits and rest time! Re adrs i have on the list crystal palace, tusker house, bog dinner, trails end, chef mickey, plaza mk, rose and crown epcot, house of blues and raglan rd at d springs. We wont use all our ts credits and will probably convert a few over to qs/ snacks. Dont fancy any 2 credit meals. I am also not sure whether to try emh at mk. Def not keen on emh at other parks ...at the minute i am avoiding them altogether but that may change also. Plans will be rejigged about a hundred times before we go!

[mummybear]

Originally Posted by loldis

For your question mark dinners, take a look at the options in DS since it's really easy to get to from POR. Homecomin' is getting a lot of great reviews for TS, Blaze Pizza and Wolfgang Puck Express are good QS options.

Comments on specific days...

Day 1 - Sunday - MK - Crystal palace 8am breakfast - snack - qs dinner

If you want to "rope drop" the park, CP is not a good choice for an 8am reservation. It's a good choice for a leisurely first morning though, just know you'll be behind the crowds once you exit. But not a major issue IF you're not heading for Fantasyland first - book FPs for those rides instead.

Day 2 - Mon - AK - Tusker house 8am breakfast -snack - Rainforest cafe dinner

ATM, Mondays have morning EMH at AK and I expect that to still be the case in April as they don't change these often. So I wouldn't book TH for then as you'll waste that hour. As you've got TH later in the trip anyway, I would just grab a snack breakfast at POR then have one of the good QS options in AK (e.g. Satu'li, Flame Tree, Yak & Yeti QS) for an early lunch.

Day 7 - Sat - Epcot - qs/snack breakfast - garden grill lunch? Via napoli dinner?

I'm guessing you don't want to do both of these, so it's questioning which one. My choice would be Garden Grill, although I prefer the breakfast there. This would actually be a better option for an 8am start to get into the park early, as weekends during festivals will be busy at Epcot.

ETA: Don't forget about the F&G food booths. Look on the Disney Food Blog for this year's menus, it should be reasonably similar next year. Almost everything (except alcohol) costs a snack credit on DDP.

Day 12 - Thurs - HS - Hollywood and Vine dinner

This gets a lot of negative reviews, just FYI, but more recent ones seem to have improved a bit. Can't comment first hand as we don't do buffets. There's some fun options in HS (e.g. Sci Fi) or you can head out onto the Boardwalk (e.g. Beaches & Cream - not my favourite, but very popular) as an alternative.

Day 13 - Fri - MK - ?

If you have the credits spare, maybe a Cali Grill dinner for this last night? It's a Signature so you'll need 2 TS each, but view and food are both great.

See more...

Wow thanks so much for taking the time to reply in full!

I thought I could book crystal palace for breakfast at 8am and be in the park before it opened at 9am which would give us a head start?

Didn't realise EMH were a monday in AK, still not sure where I should be checking that? I will change that then as obviously dont want to waste EMH!

Okay have changed day 8 to Garden grill breakfast so we can get in early and leave early if it gets too busy.

Will rethink our eating plans in HS. Is the boardwalk attached to HS?

Thanks for your help, I'm finding it quite stressful trying to get my plan together so all help is appreciated!

jemima2 - I know it looks a busy plan but if we are tired/hot we will probably leave the parks in the afternoon and head back to the hotel to play in the pools or rest in the room etc and then go back to the park for food/evening.

Can I ask why are you avoiding EMH? I thought it was better to use them and get rides done early before park opens?

I can't relax until my plans have taken some sort of shape so I'm keeping at it!

[jemima2]

Hi ! Yes people do say to utilise emh. I have found emh at hs and epcot pretty useless. However we probably will attend mk emh ...for evening emh we found it good if we arrived really late. And probably will try one morning one.

[prugone]

One of the biggest mistakes first timers make is to try and do everything in one visit! With the heat, humidity and long days you will be 'park'd out' by the beginning of the second week, especially children. If you're staying on Disney it's much easier to cope with by breaking up the occasional day, spending say a morning in a park, afternoon back at the resort then back to a park in the evening. Save some attractions for another trip because invariably once experienced you'll be saving for the next trip!

[loldis]

I thought I could book crystal palace for breakfast at 8am and be in the park before it opened at 9am which would give us a head start?

The MK opening procedure changed earlier this year. With a 9am open, the gates open around 8 and all guests are allowed onto Main Street right up to the front of the castle. All of the lands are roped off. Since CP is (sort of) on Main Street, the crowds that build up in the hub waiting for rope drop will be in front of you now.

If you want to do a PPO breakfast at MK to beat crowds, the place to go is Be Our Guest since it's in Fantasyland. You'll be behind the ropes and can get onto (or at least into the queue of) some of the popular rides before the crowds can get through.

Didn't realise EMH were a monday in AK, still not sure where I should be checking that? I will change that then as obviously dont want to waste EMH!

The official park/EMH hours for April won't be out until October, I'm using the current EMH schedule as a guide as they tend to stick to the same pattern for as long as it's working.

Will rethink our eating plans in HS. Is the boardwalk attached to HS?

The Boardwalk/Epcot area resorts are just down the river from HS, you can either walk (15-20 minutes) or catch the boat from just outside the park entrance. There's a few decent options there if you don't find anything else at HS. Worth a trip down there though, it's a fun area.

[Guest]

Originally Posted by mummybear

Hiya, this is my first attempt at an itinerary with adrs...would love some opinions and advice as I feel like I'm going round in circles...

We are going next April for our first time! We are 2 adults and 2 children 7 and 12 staying onsite in POR and 1 night at universal to get FOLP passes.

Sat - Travel day and late arrival so no parks
Day 1 - Sunday - MK - Crystal palace 8am breakfast - snack - qs dinner
Day 2 - Mon - AK - Tusker house 8am breakfast -snack - Rainforest cafe dinner
Day 3 - Tues - Blizzard beach- qs lunch - ? dinner
Day 4 - Weds - HS - QS lunch - Mama melrose Fantasmic dining package
Day 5 - Thurs - Universal and 1 night stay...Bubba gumps for dinner
Day 6 - Fri - Universal then back to disney hotel at night
Day 7 - Sat - Epcot - qs/snack breakfast - garden grill lunch? Via napoli dinner?
Day 8 - Sun -MK - snack - qs lunch - BOG evening meal
Day 9 - Mon - TL waterpark - T-Rex at disney spring for dinner
Day 10 - Tues - AK - later start - Tusker house River of light dining package
Day 11 - Weds - Epcot - Coral reef dinner?
Day 12 - Thurs - HS - Hollywood and Vine dinner
Day 13 - Fri - MK - ?
Day 14 - Sat - park in morning before heading to airport

Thanks for any help

See more...

I was thinking you have some long days in there, like Tusker House breakfast and then staying for Rainforest Cafe dinner? You might not feel like going back and forth.

Also on your Fantasmic day you mention QS lunch, however Mama Melrose is likely to be early as they up the dinner slots for the package, they are trying to fill the restaurant at quieter times of day.

I would probably want at least one rest day, other than that looks like a fun trip.