Any Suggestions?

[LukeS7]

I will be going on a 13 day trip starting January 9th, we're staying on-site at Cabana Bay and going to Universal from the 10-13th and then staying on-site at AoA and going to WDW from the 14-20th (flying back the 21st). I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions of things to do/places to eat at either Universal or WDW. We went to WDW back in March for 5 days and we had to constantly rush to see everything (made the mistake of booking 2 ADR's each day). For Disney this is what we're considering at the moment:

• 14th - Epcot
• 15th - MK (Doing Key to the Kingdom Tour in the morning)
• 16th - AK
• 17th - Epcot
• 18th - MK
• 19th - DHS
• 20th - MK/DHS (we want to catch both Star Wars and Fantasmic)

Any suggestions are appreciated

Edit: Should've mentioned, no kids (thank god, don't need them at 23), just 2 adults

 

[epcotisbest]

I will be going on a 13 day trip starting January 9th, we're staying on-site at Cabana Bay and going to Universal from the 10-13th and then staying on-site at AoA and going to WDW from the 14-20th (flying back the 21st). I was wondering if anybody had any suggestions of things to do/places to eat at either Universal or WDW. We went to WDW back in March for 5 days and we had to constantly rush to see everything (made the mistake of booking 2 ADR's each day). For Disney this is what we're considering at the moment:

• 14th - Epcot
• 15th - MK (Doing Key to the Kingdom Tour in the morning)
• 16th - AK
• 17th - Epcot
• 18th - MK
• 19th - DHS
• 20th - MK/DHS (we want to catch both Star Wars and Fantasmic)

Any suggestions are appreciated

Edit: Should've mentioned, no kids (thank god, don't need them at 23), just 2 adults

I am going to give you the best advice we ever got and something that dramatically changed the way we visit WDW, and made our subsequent trips so much better. Two adults, no kids here either. It is also advice I am sure I would have ignored at 23.
OK, here it is...the best thing we ever did when visiting WDW is slow down, stop trying to "constantly rush to see everything" and just enjoy the moment. There is so much to see and do, you can't do it all, so why not slow down and really enjoy all the sights, sounds, rides and attractions you can, really enjoying the moment, instead of rushing to the next moment? We have taken it to the extreme and don't even make ADRs at all anymore. There are plenty of places to eat, you won't go hungry and can sometimes get walk ups at even some of the more popular places. We have had success at walk up in places as varied as Cali Grill, LeCellier, Sanaa, Boma and yes, one time at BOG. Even if you can't score some of the more desirable restaurants, there are plenty of quick service places. We don't do the meal plan, so that makes a difference with ADRs as well. I just can't imagine planning my day around dining reservations, but lots of people do.
Like I say, once we learned to slow down and really enjoy, our trips got so much better. Yes, it is easy to worry about missing out on something. But, and here is the kicker, if you are really enjoying and savoring what you are doing when you do it, for us at least, that worry went away. Did we complain about not doing as much as possible? No, we actually made better memories and enjoyed the things we did do much more.
Less is more, at least for us. I just wish I had figured out this strategy many years before we did.
Good luck.

 

[graphite1326]

We once booked a trip with free dining offered. We had two sit down meals per day. I will never do this again. It was so hard to plan around our ADRs. Now, of we get the meal plan, it is QS. That way we can eat wherever we happen to be. However, we always book one nice sit down dinner in a nice restaurant.

 

[LukeS7]

I am going to give you the best advice we ever got and something that dramatically changed the way we visit WDW, and made our subsequent trips so much better. Two adults, no kids here either. It is also advice I am sure I would have ignored at 23.
OK, here it is...the best thing we ever did when visiting WDW is slow down, stop trying to "constantly rush to see everything" and just enjoy the moment. There is so much to see and do, you can't do it all, so why not slow down and really enjoy all the sights, sounds, rides and attractions you can, really enjoying the moment, instead of rushing to the next moment? We have taken it to the extreme and don't even make ADRs at all anymore. There are plenty of places to eat, you won't go hungry and can sometimes get walk ups at even some of the more popular places. We have had success at walk up in places as varied as Cali Grill, LeCellier, Sanaa, Boma and yes, one time at BOG. Even if you can't score some of the more desirable restaurants, there are plenty of quick service places. We don't do the meal plan, so that makes a difference with ADRs as well. I just can't imagine planning my day around dining reservations, but lots of people do.
Like I say, once we learned to slow down and really enjoy, our trips got so much better. Yes, it is easy to worry about missing out on something. But, and here is the kicker, if you are really enjoying and savoring what you are doing when you do it, for us at least, that worry went away. Did we complain about not doing as much as possible? No, we actually made better memories and enjoyed the things we did do much more.
Less is more, at least for us. I just wish I had figured out this strategy many years before we did.
Good luck.

That's what we're attempting to do this time around (hence the trip length). Planning everything around 2 ADR's each day was our biggest mistake with our last trip. We definitely want to take things more slowly this time around, even if it means missing some things. We only have one ADR each day, (one is BOG which was our favorite meal of the entire trip last time, one is Crystal Palace lunch, and another is dinner in the castle, so mostly ones you should have a reservation for)

 

[LukeS7]

We once booked a trip with free dining offered. We had two sit down meals per day. I will never do this again. It was so hard to plan around our ADRs. Now, of we get the meal plan, it is QS. That way we can eat wherever we happen to be. However, we always book one nice sit down dinner in a nice restaurant.

We didn't do the dining plan but we made the same mistake in March, never doing that again