Chapter 3 – How to plan a balanced schedule
I'm back with part 3 - where I will go into details of planning a magical vacation for a 4 year old boy and a go with the flow wife.
A WDW nut
In case you hadn't already notice, I'm the Disney obsess person in my relationship. My wife loves the movie and the universe related to it, however she's not in love with it. She wants to see different things and it isn't in her nature to want to see the same things over and over again. Not that I don't like seeing what the world (yes, the real world) has to offer, but there is something about WDW that makes want to come back every year and see different things and redo the same things over and over again.
Luckily for me, it has been almost 6 years since our last visit, and a lot has change in THE world and in our life, so my wife was happy to come back and experience the magic once again, especially to see it for the first time through our son's eyes. But there is a but...
Once we had agreed on when to go, the budget, and which resort to stay at, she didn't want to know anymore of it. She didn't want to discuss the planning, the various ADR's, the FP I would book or anything else that is me talking about the trip or WDW. Fortunately I have this board to help me get it out of my system - but I still let some stuff fly at home... and I always get the look from DW, and she tells me everytime : "AGAIN?!"
So to simply put it, I was alone to plan this trip and it had to be perfect, and not too restrictive (if that's even possible). Because if the planning is off, I will certainly hear about it - since I'm suppose to be the expert... And expert I am not. This is our second Disney trip and a lot has changed in the last few years, so I had to relearn how to proceed and adapt a new strategy.
As you have learned in the previous chapter, I had to unfortunately start my planning with the ADR's since we were already late in the game. This dictated, at least at first, the schedule for the week. However, as I started to build the plan, I was moving ADR's around and finding better times or better restaurants, this was helping craft what I believe is a good plan.
Afternoon breaks - more than an option
My son still takes an afternoon nap, they are not as long as before but I'm pretty certain that when May roles around and he's being overstimulated, he will require 1 or 2 hours of afternoon sleep. We rented a stroller through Kingdom Strollers to assure us that we always had a stroller at our disposal, whether we always need one or not. This will also help in him not getting too cranky in the late mornings or when we want to stretch out the evenings to see the shows.
When we visited in 2011, DW and I thought we were invincible. We were young and full of energy and never thought that we would have to take a break in the middle of the day to regain energy. So every morning we set out, sometime for rope drop, but most times about 30 minutes or an hour after the parks opened. We didn't have a clear plan, we knew which park we were going at, a few of the rides we wanted to experience and which ADRs we had. So with no plan in hand, we wandered from side to side in every park we went and walked more than we should have, which meant we were more on our feet doing "nothing" than doing rides, eating and seeing shows. Which often meant that by 3 or 4pm each day we would be tired as hell, so we would head back to our resort just before dinner. The problem with that is all that travelling takes time, and our ADR's weren't early enough to tough it in the parks but not lates enough for us to go to our room, relax and go out again. Safe to say, we missed about half of our dinner reservations. Also our bad planning made us miss things we wanted to see, and eat meals much too close to one another.
So back to the present!
This time I knew taking afternoon breaks wasn't an option. So all my days were gonna be planned the same way: breakfast, go to a park for rope drop, eat lunch, go back to the resort, go to a park, have dinner, see a show, and finally go back to the resort.
Built to succeed
I have always been a fan of the park hopper, it allows me to see two parks a day, and makes it easier for ADR flexibility. So in the mornings, we plan on seeing park 1 and then in the evening seeing park 2. In theory, this concept works perfectly, in reality it's a little more complex. First we had ADR's spread out across the map, then we wanted to see each park in the morning and the evening at least once (even AK since the new ROL as arrived), then we didn't want to do the same park back to back, and then we needed to figure how much time at each park.
Luckily for me, the way the ADRs were initially spread out, left me with something to work with, not something great, but at least something. So slowly I started crafting my schedule, and slowly I got to moving things around. It's never easy to cancel an ADR that you booked and wanted to do but didn't fit, even when you find something great to replace it. But after a good 2 weeks of fiddling with my schedule, I thought I was set - although not completely satisfied.
For instance, we weren't visiting EPCOT during the day, only in the evenings due to 3 ADRs. Also we were doing DHS back to back, which is not the greatest idea. Luckily by booking a few new ADRs, cancelling others and shuffling 3 half days around, I was done and extremely happy. Until...
The Touring Plans
My schedule was set until I found the Touring Plans. I had heard of touring plans back in 2011 while ready the
Unofficial guide to WDW but I thought it was too much trouble, and that I was smart enough to get by on my own, and from what I told you, I was wrong. This year, once again, I read the
Unofficial guide to WDW and the
Unofficial guide to WDW with kids - I suddenly saw more the value of touring plans. However, I wasn't ready to follow a daily plan that someone else had dictated as the right choice - especially for a family that doesn't ride rollercoasters!
Again, this forum came to my rescue. While discussing the plans, I was made aware of the fact that you could make custom plans and let them optimize it or analyze it only. This seamed like a great solution
So I signed up, for only a few dollars, and go to entering my trip details and the attractions and shows we wanted to see. It was WONDERFUL - I actually managed to fit more rides than I thought, I switched some ADRs around to take advantage of Tusker House ROL packages. I was able to maximize my days but without sacrificing our rhythm and our tastes.
I had even prepared my list of FP for the 60 days mark, and with the Touring Plan I was able to better optimize them and get the ones I really wanted.
The only down side, which isn't really related to the Touring plans, is that I measured DS this weekend to see if we would be able to do 40" and up rides, and sadly we won't... he's just about to cross the 38". So I had to accept that we won't do Soarin as family, nor will we do Test Track or Star Tours. I might however try Test Track and Soarin as a single rider
The Plan
Without waiting anymore, here is our schedule for the week. Which I hope doesn't change after your feedback
Friday May 19th
Drive from Gatineau to Montreal - we are staying at an hotel beside the airport. They offer parking for the 7 days, which is perfect, as well as the shuttle to the airport.
Saturday May 20th
Flight from Montreal to Orlando at 7:40am
Arrive at resort by noon
Quick lunch and then off to MK for the afternoon.
Return to room for a quick wardrobe change
Off to T-Rex at DS for a 6:15 reservation
Sunday May 21st
Rope drop at MK
QS lunch at BOG
Resort break in the afternoon
AK in the evening
Tusker House reservations and ROL show!
Monday May 22nd
Before rope drop breakfast at Hollywood and Vine with Disney Jr characters
DHS in the morning with QS lunch
Resort break
Epcot in the evening
Chef de France dinner with Illuminations
Tuesday May 23rd
MK at Rope Drop
Lunch at CRT
Resort Break
Evening at DHS
Dinner at Mama Melrose and Fantasmic (might try to get the Star Wars fireworks
)
Wednesday May 24th
Rope drop at AK
Lunch at Rainforest Café
Resort break
Evening at MK (EMH)
QS dinner and the new Happily Ever After fireworks!!!!
Thursday May 25th
Rope drop at EPCOT (EMH)
QS Lunch
Evening is open depending on our mood
Dinner reservations at Kona Café!
Friday May 26th
Flight from Orlando to Montreal at 11:45
I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Next update will be in about two weeks for the FP+ (wish me luck)
