Feedback on my planned August trip

[NeXuS1000]

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

 

[sirjohnly]

 

[NeXuS1000]

Hehe!

Oh, also, I did some more research yesterday, this time on best and worst days historically to visit the parks, and I discovered I made some huge mistakes to my plans, especially going to Magic Kingdom on a Monday. I thought I had been smart by not visiting it in the weekends (assuming that would be the worst time), but in fact, Monday should be the worst, as many people arrive on the Sundays and kick off their Orlando vacation with Magic Kingdom.

So I have now changed it to Sunday instead, and moved Blizzard beach to Monday (waterparks should be the worst in the weekends, apparently).

I also switched around Epcot and DHS, as that should also be more optimal. In general, I read that it's recommended avoiding the parks on days of EMH, since it drives a lot of on-site resort guests.