9 day WDW Itinerary complete - critique please?

[joejccva71]

I mean it's 9 days + 1 travel home day. Keep in mind that we love food and dining is a big part of our vacation. There are days where we would try to make it so we'd have enough time to do things after dinner.

Example:
On 5/15, having dinner inside Epcot at Teppan Edo so we have enough time to make our way back toward Future World so after Illuminations we can get in line a little faster for Test Track, Soarin, etc.

On 5/17, having dinner at Shula's a little earlier will let us then go to Disney Springs to catch a movie. The new Avengers movie will be out by then. Of course we'll have tickets pre-purchased.

5/14 - DHS day. One of the issues is Fantasmic is at 9pm and Star Wars Fireworks is at 9:30pm so there's no way we can do both, so I picked Star Wars fireworks. Hopefully we'll get a good spot. Not paying for the Dessert thing as it's like $130-160 or something along those lines. Not really worth it.

5/20 - Dinner at Narcoosee's to hop back on the Monorail and jump off at MK to see the fireworks at 9:15pm.


But anyways, feel free to critique. I love to plan and am consistently open to making changes.

 

[Tuvalu]

Frozen Ever After, Soarin’ and Test Track are all Tier 1 fastpasses, meaning you can select only one of them. After you have used your other two fastpasses, you *may* be able to find a 4th FP for a Tier 1 attraction.

Flight of Passage and Na’vi River Journey are both Tier 1, so you will run into the same situation when booking your AK choices. And it is *highly* unlikely there will be any same-day FoP fastpasses after you have used your initial three. Be prepared for long standby waits if you want to ride it multiple times.

And you can watch Happily Ever After from Narcoosee’s....no need to rush through dinner to get to MK.

 

[joejccva71]

Yea I need to clean up the Fastpass entries. I kinda just put stuff in there that I wanted to go to. Thanks for the tip on Narcoosee's.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Just a few...

1. I'm not a fan of complete days off. I get bored by lunch time. You seem to have a good mix of Resort/Rest slots, so I'd consider adding a park on 5/17. Maybe split your Hollywood Studios full day into two half days? That way, you can double the amount of FP+ you're able to get, which really helps with Hollywood Studios' tiers. It would also open up the possibility of seeing both Fantasmic and the Star Wars fireworks.

2. Be Our Guest breakfast is, in my opinion, the worst product of any type in all of Walt Disney World. It's embarrassing what they provide and what they charge. If you're already experiencing BoG for dinner, I don't see any value whatsoever in going there for Breakfast as well.

3. You have a TON of food scheduled. I think you might have a hard time enjoying all the meals you have scheduled on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday in particular.

4. Your local Chinese takeout place has better food than Nine Dragons.

Otherwise, this looks almost exactly like I'd plan a nine night trip.

 

[Weather_Lady]

I like your "park distribution" in terms of the proportion of time spent at each, and it looks like you've got some good flex time built in. You might not find that you want two visits to Disney Springs (but then again, if you enjoy a lot of shoppin'-and-strollin', maybe you will!), and CaptainAmerica is right that you might find you want to visit a park on your "down day," if you feel like it. (The cost to add a days' worth to a multi-day ticket should be negligible.)

We'll be at the Beach Club on May 1-4: if there's anything you'd like us to check out for you while we're "on site," let me know. Since you'll be such an easy walking distance to Epcot, I suggest exploring some of the WS CS places and Flower & garden kiosks, perhaps in lieu of a TS meal on an Epcot day. There's a lot of fun food to be had.

 

[Herdman]

We also try to have a complete down day with no parks about half way through our trip. We rope drop everyday so it's nice to have a day to sleep in some and recharge by the pool. We love going to the beach so spending a day by the pool is no big deal to us. We then go to Disney Springs in the evening.

 

[joejccva71]

Just a few...

1. I'm not a fan of complete days off. I get bored by lunch time. You seem to have a good mix of Resort/Rest slots, so I'd consider adding a park on 5/17. Maybe split your Hollywood Studios full day into two half days? That way, you can double the amount of FP+ you're able to get, which really helps with Hollywood Studios' tiers. It would also open up the possibility of seeing both Fantasmic and the Star Wars fireworks.

2. Be Our Guest breakfast is, in my opinion, the worst product of any type in all of Walt Disney World. It's embarrassing what they provide and what they charge. If you're already experiencing BoG for dinner, I don't see any value whatsoever in going there for Breakfast as well.

3. You have a TON of food scheduled. I think you might have a hard time enjoying all the meals you have scheduled on Monday, Tuesday, and Friday in particular.

4. Your local Chinese takeout place has better food than Nine Dragons.

Otherwise, this looks almost exactly like I'd plan a nine night trip.

Awesome ideas. Regarding your #2, and here I thought Cinderella's Royal Table was probably the worst product put on a dinner table. So BoG is bad? Their dinner is bad too?

For #4, besides Via Napoli (which we're already doing), what other good places are there at Epcot for lunch? I'd like to keep it inside World Showcase for lunch since we're already walking back to Beach Club area for Yachtsman that night.

 

[joejccva71]

We'll be at the Beach Club on May 1-4: if there's anything you'd like us to check out for you while we're "on site," let me know. Since you'll be such an easy walking distance to Epcot, I suggest exploring some of the WS CS places and Flower & garden kiosks, perhaps in lieu of a TS meal on an Epcot day. There's a lot of fun food to be had.

Actually there are a few things I'd like to know:

1. At check-in, did they give you the room you wanted? Not sure which room view you have picked out but I'm curious as to whether or not they give you a nice room or even an upgrade.

2. How many dogs you see running amidst the Yacht Club boardwalk? I know you're staying at BC, but just curious if any owners are walking their dogs ON the boardwalk on the main path.

3. Even if you're not eating at Beaches and Cream, I'm actually curious if the bar is always filled. I've been trying to get a lunch spot there for like almost 2 months and just nothing. But I"m wondering if one day we just pop in and there happens to be two open bar stools cause that would be pretty cool. I know it's kind of a strange request but I'm really curious if that place is always jam packed. lol

 

[Weather_Lady]

Actually there are a few things I'd like to know:

1. At check-in, did they give you the room you wanted? Not sure which room view you have picked out but I'm curious as to whether or not they give you a nice room or even an upgrade.

2. How many dogs you see running amidst the Yacht Club boardwalk? I know you're staying at BC, but just curious if any owners are walking their dogs ON the boardwalk on the main path.

3. Even if you're not eating at Beaches and Cream, I'm actually curious if the bar is always filled. I've been trying to get a lunch spot there for like almost 2 months and just nothing. But I"m wondering if one day we just pop in and there happens to be two open bar stools cause that would be pretty cool. I know it's kind of a strange request but I'm really curious if that place is always jam packed. lol

I'll keep my eyes peeled and report back upon our return! We're hoping to stop by the Beaches & Cream ice cream window (so I'll peek in when we do), and will definitely be spending time out by the pool complex/boardwalk, so I should be able to give an informed answer. (If you're still looking for B&C, I suggest the touringplans.com reservation finder tool. You have to sign up for a free "basic account" to use it, but it's worth it. It's come through for us a couple of time for hard-to-find reservations.)

 

[Tuvalu]

Even if you're not eating at Beaches and Cream, I'm actually curious if the bar is always filled. I've been trying to get a lunch spot there for like almost 2 months and just nothing. But I"m wondering if one day we just pop in and there happens to be two open bar stools cause that would be pretty cool. I know it's kind of a strange request but I'm really curious if that place is always jam packed. lol

Beaches and Cream is tiny. And yes, it is always jam-packed. You can certainly pop by to check on counter seating, but be prepared to wait upwards of an hour or more depending on time of day.

I believe there are 6-8 stools at the counter.

 

[R W B]

Gotta admit, your spread sheet looks like it took a good bit of planning to make. With that said it gives me nightmares lol. I hate making detailed plans for a vacation but my wife insists on making some so we always make food reservations.

With that said, I'll give you a few tips. Beaches n Cream is always a must for us for lunch and in the few cases of us not being able to schedule far in advance we always have been able to get a time either the week before or the week of our trip, people cancel the closer your trip gets and it opens up a lot.

Be Our Guest dinner is great and a must try if you haven't already but I have heard many complain about the breakfast and lunch. Never heard anything bad about dinner though and I've been twice, always great.

World Showcase has plenty of good lunch options, my wife loves Mexico while I like the U.K. but a few other countries have quick service too.

Enjoy the trip!

 

[Smiely]

I mean it's 9 days + 1 travel home day. Keep in mind that we love food and dining is a big part of our vacation. There are days where we would try to make it so we'd have enough time to do things after dinner.

Example:
On 5/15, having dinner inside Epcot at Teppan Edo so we have enough time to make our way back toward Future World so after Illuminations we can get in line a little faster for Test Track, Soarin, etc.

On 5/17, having dinner at Shula's a little earlier will let us then go to Disney Springs to catch a movie. The new Avengers movie will be out by then. Of course we'll have tickets pre-purchased.

5/14 - DHS day. One of the issues is Fantasmic is at 9pm and Star Wars Fireworks is at 9:30pm so there's no way we can do both, so I picked Star Wars fireworks. Hopefully we'll get a good spot. Not paying for the Dessert thing as it's like $130-160 or something along those lines. Not really worth it.

5/20 - Dinner at Narcoosee's to hop back on the Monorail and jump off at MK to see the fireworks at 9:15pm.


But anyways, feel free to critique. I love to plan and am consistently open to making changes.


View attachment 265563

 

[Smiely]

May I ask who helped you with this? I need someone to do this for me as all
Of this is overwhelming.

 

[PrincessJasmyn]

Looks great! Thanks for the idea of how to set mine out!!

 

[joejccva71]

May I ask who helped you with this? I need someone to do this for me as all
Of this is overwhelming.

I did this myself but took a bit of planning and research.

 

[Tinkerbella16]

Looks like an awesome trip you have planned! Have you stayed at Beach Club before? It is our favorite resort... we adore everything about it - the rooms, the pool, the smell of the lobby, the location and walk to Epcot and boat to DHS. There is nothing like walking out those doors facing the Boardwalk and just taking in the atmosphere.

 

[DarthVader]

The only advice I give you is to be flexible, you may not get the FPs that you want when you want. Staying on site gives you the 60 day window which is a plus, but even then its possible, that you must adjust your itinerary.

Good luck

 

[DarthVader]

May I ask who helped you with this? I need someone to do this for me as all
Of this is overwhelming.

That's similar to what I do, though I did take some design cues from the OP, and I'm sure like myself he did all of the grunt work. The nice thing about using a spreadsheet like this, is that it shows any ommissions or over-crowding of your schedule.

For instance, do you really want a dinner reservation at Libtery Tree Tavern (Magic Kingdom) at 6:00, but have a fast pass in Epcot at 5:00pm

One thing I didn't work into my itinerary is a rest day, and I'm re-evaluating what I want to do based on that. Sometimes the kids just want to play in the pool

 

[joejccva71]

Looks like an awesome trip you have planned! Have you stayed at Beach Club before? It is our favorite resort... we adore everything about it - the rooms, the pool, the smell of the lobby, the location and walk to Epcot and boat to DHS. There is nothing like walking out those doors facing the Boardwalk and just taking in the atmosphere.

No I haven't yet. I kept bouncing back n forth between Yacht Club, Beach Club and Boardwalk. Yacht Club was out because of dogs, even though I love dogs. And I wanted the pool so Boardwalk was out.

 

[Tinkerbella16]

No I haven't yet. I kept bouncing back n forth between Yacht Club, Beach Club and Boardwalk. Yacht Club was out because of dogs, even though I love dogs. And I wanted the pool so Boardwalk was out.

Great choice!