Help me with my plan please!!!!!

[Dosekies]

Hi all! I am going for the first time over the holidays and am having a tough time finalizing my plans before my fastpass day in a few weeks. I have come up with an idea so far, but am having a tough time finding a good place to fit in time at Disney Springs. I also can't really move any reservations around - I am set at eating at those restaurants and have had a hard time moving them to different days!!

Please let me know what you think and feel free to give me your ideas on what days to visit what parks!!! (ps we do have the park hopper). One thing I am considering is switching MK/EP on Monday and Wednesday since Monday at EMH at night at MK. We arrive on Thanksgiving and leave the following Friday, just two adults

Plan 1

Thursday (Thanksgiving)
-arrive
-dinner at HDDR

Friday
-sleep in
-late afternoon/evening at Epcot

Saturday
-check in at CBR
-morning/afternoon at Epcot
-afternoon/evening at MK
-dinner at BOG at 7:25

Sunday
-AK all day
-breakfast at Tusker House at 10:10

Monday
-Epcot all day
-breakfast at Trattoria al Forno at 10:15

Tuesday
-sleep in
-lunch at WCC at 2:05
-MVMCP

Wednesday
-sleep in
-Ohana breakfast at 11:45
-MK rest of day

Thursday
-MK until close (4:30)
-dinner at Ohana at 4:55

Friday
-MK open to early afternoon
-lunch at BOG at 12:15
-go home

 

[Driver]

Hi all! I am going for the first time over the holidays and am having a tough time finalizing my plans before my fastpass day in a few weeks. I have come up with an idea so far, but am having a tough time finding a good place to fit in time at Disney Springs. I also can't really move any reservations around - I am set at eating at those restaurants and have had a hard time moving them to different days!!

Please let me know what you think and feel free to give me your ideas on what days to visit what parks!!! (ps we do have the park hopper). One thing I am considering is switching MK/EP on Monday and Wednesday since Monday at EMH at night at MK. We arrive on Thanksgiving and leave the following Friday, just two adults

Plan 1

Thursday (Thanksgiving)
-arrive
-dinner at HDDR

Friday
-sleep in
-late afternoon/evening at Epcot

Saturday
-check in at CBR
-morning/afternoon at Epcot
-afternoon/evening at MK
-dinner at BOG at 7:25

Sunday
-AK all day
-breakfast at Tusker House at 10:10

Monday
-Epcot all day
-breakfast at Trattoria al Forno at 10:15

Tuesday
-sleep in
-lunch at WCC at 2:05
-MVMCP

Wednesday
-sleep in
-Ohana breakfast at 11:45
-MK rest of day

Thursday
-MK until close (4:30)
-dinner at Ohana at 4:55

Friday
-MK open to early afternoon
-lunch at BOG at 12:15
-go home

In response to some "Springs " time (a favorite of mine and wife's) if your not too pooped out on Monday evening that might work for ya you mentioned Epcot for Friday and Sat. So by Mon. If you could finish early get a nap/ freshen up and go paint the town at the Springs. There is so much to do there most people shrug it off as an expensive shopping area but there truly is more than that. Especially around the holidays there are so many entertainment choices and most are free.

 

[nickys]

Friday morning seems like the obvious time.

I know you have it as a sleep-in day.... is thee a reason for that? Long flight or time difference perhaps?

My other question would be how important is it to you? It's basically a (much nicer than it was ) shopping area. Is it more important than more time at a park, if not then skip it.

Also I would definitely be looking at the EMH at MK, and swapping those days round. I'm a night owl and love evening emh, especially at MK.

 

[Dosekies]

Friday morning seems like the obvious time.

I know you have it as a sleep-in day.... is thee a reason for that? Long flight or time difference perhaps?

My other question would be how important is it to you? It's basically a (much nicer than it was ) shopping area. Is it more important than more time at a park, if not then skip it.

Also I would definitely be looking at the EMH at MK, and swapping those days round. I'm a night owl and love evening emh, especially at MK.

We are driving from Chicago after work Wednesday, thru Thursday, going for Thanksgiving dinner, and then going to bed! So we are probably going to need a few extra hours of sleep.

My main thing with this trip is really taking in all of the holiday spirit and decorations because I LOVE Christmas and have never been to Disney during the holidays. So I was hoping to have at least part of a day at Disney Springs to take in what they have there and I love shopping at the big store there.

 

[TurboCaroline]

Is there a reason why you're skippping Hollywood Studios?

 

[Dosekies]

Is there a reason why you're skippping Hollywood Studios?

Honestly I've never been a big fan of the park. I have been debating on adding in just a few hours there to walk around and see their holiday stuff, but haven't decided yet.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Keep your plans flexible. I would strongly suggest stopping at the Wilderness Lodge during the holidays. Even if just for a walk around or a drink. Epcot (World Showcase) is great during the holidays.

 

[JIMINYCR]

Christmas at WDW is our favorite, all the window displays, surrounding decorations and the Castle is amazing lit up in Christmas lights. Its also worth taking the time to jump on the monorail and visit the Contemp, GF, & Poly to see their unique Christmas decorations. The Gingerbread house at GF will astound you. Too bad you missed out on seeing the Osbourne display & show.

 

[nickys]

Keep your plans flexible. I would strongly suggest stopping at the Wilderness Lodge during the holidays. Even if just for a walk around or a drink. Epcot (World Showcase) is great during the holidays.

I agree! In fact I would choose resort hopping (GF, WL, AKL, BC/ YC) over Disney Springs. In fact I did chose to resort hop instead of heading off to the malls on NYE in 2016.

However since OP wants to go shopping, this means they'll need an extra day to fit it all in

Seriously though, here's what I'd do:

Swap Mon & Wed. Not only do you have EMH, but also as it stands you have MK for the last 4 days of your trip.

Sat - is this RD at Epcot with fps at MK, or fps at Epcot? No right or wrong answer. You have plenty days at Epcot to get all tier 1 fps if you like, incl. FEA. But you also have lots of time at MK to do the same.

Sun - take a short break to see AKL decorations.

Mon - try and get the late ' Ohana breakfast today. Take a proper break and hop to GF to look at the decorations. Then back for EMH at MK.

Tues - have a leisurely start and a couple hours at DS before getting bus to WCC. I know you have the party but if you want to fit in DS you can either have a sleep in before of after it, not both!

Wed - late breakfast at Trattoria if you can get it, then Epcot.

Thurs - you could head to DS after ' Ohana if shops are open late (I have no idea how late things stay open).


My main concern is FoP. You have AK as your second onsite day. Chances of fastpass are slim to none. You may want to consider if you're prepared to try for a later day,. Possibly even your last day, just for FoP, then hop over for BOG lunch. I tried mentally switching days around but struggled with that one. If shops are open late enough on Thurs evening, you could try for FoP on the morning of the party perhaps? I would give this some serious thought ahead of FP day.

 

[slipperalwaysfits]

Yes, Epcot is doing Holidays Around the World, yes, it is amazing. NO, IT IS NOT WORTH GOING THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING. We tried that once. Think Black Friday --Target 5 am....HECK NO!!!!! FOR your peace of mind, revise your trip so you are in some other park that day, instead of trying to crowd around World Showcase and see everything. That was our mistake the first year. The second year, we spent the day after Thanksgiving in MK, and yes, there were crowds, but it wasn't as stressful as trying to see everything in WS with the massive, massive Thanksgiving crowds.

Also, try to do the Candlelight Processional. My apologies if I didn't see this in your plans already. You can book a meal and it reserves your spot for a CP show that day. The meal isn't on the dining plan, but it was worth it because the CP reserved seating basically came with the price of a very delicious meal. Many Epcot restaurants participate in this, we ate at Via Napoli for our CP meal!

 

[nickys]

You could try for a CP dining package at Trattoria for the Wednesday. There are some openings there if you keep searching.