Feedback on my planned August trip

NeXuS1000

NeXuS1000

Well-Known Member
Hi everyone

I'll be going to WDW from August 14th to August 21st with my wife, mother, sister and her boyfriend (i.e. an all-adult, old-children vacation).

We've booked a week at the Yacht Club with a 6-day park hopper and the Deluxe Dining plan; the first time we've bought the dining plan and the first time we're really going to experience the real dining experiences at Disney. So I've been doing quite a lot of researching and planning to optimize the itinerary. But of course, nothing better than peer reviews, so it would be great to get some suggestions on how to optimize our schedule even more!

In general, we have gone for the 1 + 2 strategy, spending 1 dining plan point on breakfast and 2 points on the dinner for that extra experience, thus skipping lunch. With the current plan, we still have 2 points left over pr. person in case we feel extra hungry some days :)

Bear in mind that we will have a car during the week for easy resort-to-resort transportation.

Any cuisine experiences we'll miss that we have to experience? Any flaws in our day-to-day planning? What about the Fastpass bookings - did we choose the wrong rides from a queue-saving perspective? Any kind of feedback is appreciated :)

Day 1 (Thursday 14th) - Arrival Day:
  • Day: Arrive, check-in and stroll around the resort area (Boardwalk etc.)
  • Evening: Downtime Disney
  • Dinner: Rainforest Cafe, DTD (20.30)
Day 2 (Friday 15th) - Epcot:
  • All-day at Epcot (09-23)
  • Breakfast: Captain's Grille (07.55)
  • Dinner: Teppan Edo (17.40)
  • Night Show: Illuminations (21.00)
  • Fastpass+:
    • Spaceship Earth, 11.20 - 12.20
    • Test Track, 12.55 - 13.55
    • Mission Space, 14.00 - 15.00
Day 3 (Saturday 16th) - Disney's Hollywood Studios:
  • All-day at Disney's Hollywood Studios (08-22)
  • Breakfast: Cape May Café (07.30)
  • Dinner: Mama Melrose w/ Fantasmic VIP seating (15.35)
  • Night Show: Fantasmic (21.00)
  • Fastpass+:
    • Indiana Jones, 12.00 - 12.20
    • Toy Story MM, 13.30 - 14.30
    • Tower of Terror, 19.35 - 20.35
Day 4 (Sunday 17th) - Blizzard Beach:
  • Day at Blizzard Beach (09-19), evening at Fort Wilderness
  • Breakfast: Boma (08.00)
  • Dinner/Night Show: Hoop De Doo Musical Revue (18.15)
Day 5 (Monday 18th) - Magic Kingdom:
  • All-day at Magic Kingdom (09-23)
  • Breakfast: Ohana (07.50)
  • Parade: Festival of Fantasy (15.00)
  • Dinner: Grand Floridian Café (17.00)
  • Night Show:
    • Wishes (22.00)
    • Main Street Electrical Parade (23.00)
  • Fastpass+:
    • Space Mountain, 10.55 - 11.55
    • Splash Mountain, 12.55 - 13.55
    • 7DMT, 18.30 - 19.30
Day 6 (Tuesday 19th) - Animal Kingdom:
  • Day at Animal Kingdom (09-19), evening at Polynesian Resort
  • Breakfast: Tusker House (09.30)
  • Dinner/Night Show: Spirit of Aloha (20.15)
  • Fastpass+:
    • Expedition Everest, 11.30 - 12.30
    • Kilimanjaro Safaris, 13.40 - 14.40
    • Festival of the Lion King, 15.30-15.50
Day 7 (Wednesday 20th) - Typhoon Lagoon:
  • Day at Typhoon Lagoon (09-19), evening at Magic Kingdom
  • Breakfast: Kona Café (08.00)
  • Dinner: California Grill (21.30)
  • Night Show:
    • Wishes from Contemporary (22.00)
    • Electrical Water Pageant (22.35)
Day 8 (Thursday 21th) - Departure Day:
  • Day: Check-out, various resort visits and strolls at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot resort areas
  • Breakfast: Trail's End (09.10)
  • Dinner: Flying Fish Café (17.30)
  • Flight Departure from Orlando Airport: 22.00
 
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Tinkerbell 8

Tinkerbell 8

Well-Known Member
Your trip looks great, I'm jealous!!!! I haven't eaten at all of the restaurants on your list but the ones I have (Cape May Cafe, Mama Melrose, Boma, Hoop De Doo, Ohana, Kona Cafe, California Grill and Flying Fish) were all good. Hoop De Doo is one of my favorite things at WDW, always gives me a great laugh. I liked the dinner at Cape May Cafe and Ohana better than breakfasts. Watching Wishes from the Contemporary is one of my favorite things to do, it is amazing to see them from so high up. Seems like you put a lot of time into planning the trip and it looks like it will be a great time for you and your family!
 
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C

CheshireCat12

Well-Known Member
I agree on the hopping- BUT keep in mind if weather is an issue (t-storms especially) they will want to change their plans potentially. Can't swim at the water parks in a storm, and many attractions will shut down (EE, Safari, Kali come to mind). So having the hopper is a good potential trip saver if the weather is bad. I have been at WDW when the afternoon and evening were on/off storms so it really can be disruptive.
Otherwise, I think the OP's plan is AMAZING! Have a great time!
 
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cw1982

cw1982

Well-Known Member
Yeah might as well upgrade to include the water park and more option. On a 6 day ticket, the difference between just park hoppers/just water parks and being able to do both isn't even going to make a dent in the price of the trip. Might as well have both options in case plans change for whatever reason.
 
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NeXuS1000

NeXuS1000

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thanks for the feedback guys!

Yeah, the Park Hopper option is more for in-case scenarios (also, we do have the Water Park included as well). Seeing that we live right by Epcot, for example, we may spend some late nights there in a few instances.

Tinkerbell8, would you recommend any other places for breakfast than Cape May and Ohana?
 
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NeXuS1000

NeXuS1000

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I made a slight adjustment to the schedule for our day in Epcot on Friday 15th:
  • All-day at Epcot (09-23)
  • Breakfast: Captain's Grille (07.55)
  • Lunc: Teppan Edo (14.10)
  • Dinner: La Hacienda de San Angel
  • Night Show: Illuminations (21.00)
  • Fastpass+:
    • Spaceship Earth, 09.25 - 10.25
    • Mission Space, 10.25 - 11.25
    • Test Track, 11.35 - 12.35
Do you think it's a good change? It sounded like La Hacienda in the evening is a good place to watch Illuminations, and also with good food, but I really want to try Teppan Edo, so that was moved to lunch.
 
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ToTBellHop

ToTBellHop

Well-Known Member
This looks wonderfully planned out. Well done. Looks professional. The only recommendation I might make is that, where possible, you have ALL of your Fastpasses as early in the day as possible. This gives the opportunity to maximize use of your "additional Fastpasses." Otherwise, great!
 
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NeXuS1000

NeXuS1000

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thanks a lot! :)

Good tip about the fastpasses, I'll definitely see if I can work that out. The exception would be 7DMT, right? I could only get a late FP for that one, and that's something that's good to pre-book with FP+, right?

BTW, as for Epcot, do you think it's better to get a FP+ for Soarin' or Test Track?
 
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harryk

harryk

Well-Known Member
You said that you selected the Delux Dining Plan. This seems as an overkill with a lot of dining points left 'on the table'. I estimate that you are using about 19 points per person for the 8 days, or am I missing something?
 
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NeXuS1000

NeXuS1000

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
harryk said:
You said that you selected the Delux Dining Plan. This seems as an overkill with a lot of dining points left 'on the table'. I estimate that you are using about 19 points per person for the 8 days, or am I missing something?
Click to expand...

I think with the current plan, we have just 1 point left each :)

You see, we made the strategy of doing just breakfast and dinner most days, but then upgrade the dinners to those that cost two points, such as the dinner shows (Spirit of Aloha and Hoop De Doo) and higher-end restaurants like California and Flying Fish Café.

Trust me, I have a whole excel ark going here calculating available food points and used food points :)

Meal tickets used pr. person: 20
Meal tickets total pr. person: 21
Meal tickets balance pr. person: 1
 
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NeXuS1000

NeXuS1000

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Jennifer66 said:
I was personally not a fan of Mana Melrose. Since you have the DDP, I'd think about the Derby.
Click to expand...

Interesting. What didn't you like about it? We picked it mainly for the Fantasmic VIP seating package, where it's a choice between MM, Hollywood & Wine, and Derby.

I guess we could switch to Derby, and I did consider it, but from the looks of it, it looked a little too cold and elegant for our taste, but that may be the description and images that mislead us. What's your impressions of it?
 
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