How Do You Plan Out Your Disney Week?

[PacMan2006]

If you travel to Orlando every year, or every other year, or even every few months...how do you plan your Disney week?

Do you have any rituals? Do you ALWAYS go to a certain park on Monday, a certain park of Tuesday, etc? If so, which parks and why?

Do you always eat at a certain restaurant? Do you rent the same kind of rental car? Do you stay in the same kind of hotel?

Do you go with the same people?

When you hit the parks, do you always hit a specific ride first?

 

[se8472]

its so random for me I can't even comment here.

But I can say, that when its MK day, space is almost always first. Why would one go to the same ride the work at? Good question!

 

[barnum42]

Last couple of trips I had delays on the outbound trip so arrived late in the evening. Before that I usually headed to Epcot in the evening.

First full day would be at Animal Kingdom. Other than that I just see how I feel on the day as to where I will go. Tend to avoid Magic Kingdom at the weekends.

 

[Buzzes Dad]

We do a couple of rituals when we first get there, these include:

We always arrive on Sat. afternoon, so we go to MGM ride some of our favorite rides, watch Fantasmic and retire early for the evening.

Sunday we always go to MK for the day

the rest of the week we just do what we want when we want.

 

[disgolfer]

The only thing that has to happen first at WDW is before I ride anything else on the property, I must ride the People Mover (TTA) first.

 

[tigsmom]

Well, we always have to go to the MK on the first day and we always have dinner at the Concourse Steakhouse the last night. Other than that, its catch as catch can... :wave:

 

[ogryn]

depending on which day we arrive, we goto the parks that are historically less busy for that day, always working clockwise around that park.

We eat when we are hungry, and vary rarely make a PS.

 

[brkgnews]

I base which parks I go to mostly on park hours for the specific days (mainly, just to determine if they're going to be closing obscenely early for some reason). I usually don't worry too much about whether or not they're offering early entry that day, but now that they have the new evening extra magic hours (three extra hours), I'm starting to figure it in.

My rituals are as follows...
1) AK- Hit first thing when it opens an hour early to do a couple of ridethroughs on the Safari while the animals are most active.
2) MK- hit tomorrowland first (usually the peoplemover/TTA).
3) MK- Always have to have the pot roast for lunch at Liberty Tree Tavern.
4) MK- Always have to have lunch at Cosmic Rays (sitting outside in view of the castle and the ducks).
5) MK- Get a hot dog at Casey's, take it to the hub, and have a miniature picnic dinner while securing a spot for Spectromagic and Wishes.
6) EP- Always have to have dinner at Biergarten in Germany.
7) EP- Until recently, always had to have Chicken Parmesean and Key Lime Pie at Sunshine Season Food Fair in the Land
8) EP- If I'm there for rope drop, head straight for Test Track while everybody else is fighting for Mission:Space; otherwise, ride Spaceship Earth right away.
9) MK- Ride monorail (preferably up front) from MK to EP, taking the route around Spaceship Earth.
10) EP- After Illuminations, take a nice leisurely stroll around World Showcase while everyone is leaving.

 

[Lilo]

My first two trips to WDW I used to plan everything right down to the restaurant, the park of the day, which rides next, etc. You get it - I was crazy. Well guess what??? It doesn't always work especially with young kids. I figured out the only thing I could plan was the restaurant for the evening and Chef Mickey's or Cape May Cafe in the morning for character breakfast. That's it, the rest was 'whatever'. :lol: Just have a great time and the only advice maybe is which park of the day do you want to do first(maybe it will work for you :brick: ).
Have a great time :sohappy:

 

[barnebd5]

We try to stay true to a plan we lay down but we always end up improvising once we get into the parks, but most of the time we stay on point.

 

[Kingdom Konsultant]

Hoope de doo on my first night there. It is a family ritual and it gives us some disney magic without having to use our passes for the parks.

Pam

 

[got2lovedisney]

I try to base our daily itinerary on EMH and with the new program, I'll have a "wait and see" til the March park hours come out.

MK hop the train to Frontierland and grab a FP for SM & ride BTMR then SM. Hop back on the train and go ride Buzz & Space Mountain. Always eat at Columbia Harbor House. In the evening...make a mad dash for the last ride on Space Mountain. While the crowds fight for the monorail we take a walk over to the Contemporary and let the kids play in the arcade while I prop my tired feet up at Outer Rim with a drink.

EPCOT Always eat at Electric Umbrella. We ride SE in the morning and before leaving.

AK & MGM play it by ear

On our last day, we always hit Downtown Disney before the drive back to Miami.

 

[estherhead]

fantasyland

The last couple visits we have done MK first and run to Dumbo first thing, then the carousel. That is because if you hit it really early there are no rides and I have small kids who have to ride it. This time, though, I think we are going to chaneg that up and do Tomorrowland first and then go to the rope drop at 10 am with Goofy to ride that Barnstormer. We've never done that before and my sister says it's awesome to walk with the characters to the little kid rides.

Our Epcot routine is going to change this year too. We normally go on our first day after MK & a nap at the hotel, then we ride Test track and just wander about the countries and eat somewhere. But I think this time we are going to spen at least one entire day and a half a day and do absolutely everything there. It's been so long since I've done that and I have old enough kids to enjoy it with me.


Oooo, this thread is getting me so excited and I have an ENTIRE year still to wait! Curses!

Esther

 

[Pippa]

Every night is spent at the Adventurers Club of course!!!

During the two weeks we are there we always to do (in no particluar order)

Le Cellier
Nine Dragons
Reflections Of Earth
Fantasmic
Have a slice of pizza from the Boardwalk window

 

[waltdisny]

If you travel to Orlando every year, or every other year, or even every few months...how do you plan your Disney week?

Do you have any rituals? Do you ALWAYS go to a certain park on Monday, a certain park of Tuesday, etc? If so, which parks and why??

Since we usually drive, we arrive in the afternoon. First thing we do after checking in is to play a round of putt-putt at Fantasia Gardens.
We schedule the parks for a day-on day-off cycle. This gives the kids a break.

Do you always eat at a certain restaurant? Do you rent the same kind of rental car? Do you stay in the same kind of hotel??

We usually stay at Port Orleans, but that's not a hard and fast rule.
We always eat at Cosmic Ray's, and Ghiridelli Ice Cream.

Do you go with the same people??

Oh yes. The wife and kids!

When you hit the parks, do you always hit a specific ride first?

Nope! But we do try and hit the Safari early-on.

 

[wannabeBelle]

If you travel to Orlando every year, or every other year, or even every few months...how do you plan your Disney week?

Do you have any rituals? Do you ALWAYS go to a certain park on Monday, a certain park of Tuesday, etc? If so, which parks and why?

Do you always eat at a certain restaurant? Do you rent the same kind of rental car? Do you stay in the same kind of hotel?

Do you go with the same people?

When you hit the parks, do you always hit a specific ride first?

I plan all of my Disney trips the same way. I use an Excel spreadsheet, input the dates I am going to be there, the hours of the parks and parades and fireworks etc. I then figure out which parks I Am going to on what day, Make priority seatings as needed, input those on the spreadsheet and viola!!! Trip on one sheet of paper!! I know people who also use a Word baed format but the idea is the same.
Rituals, no not really I do schedule in things I want to do on certain days but these can change trip to trip.
I eat at a lot of the same restaurants but only because I love them and cant get the same type of thing here in NYC. I try to add a new restaurant or two each time though. Belle

 

[Lauriebar]

Hoope de doo on my first night there. It is a family ritual and it gives us some disney magic without having to use our passes for the parks.

Pam

This is exactly what we do!! :wave:

 

[jordanyosh]

I plan all of my Disney trips the same way. I use an Excel spreadsheet, input the dates I am going to be there, the hours of the parks and parades and fireworks etc. I then figure out which parks I Am going to on what day, Make priority seatings as needed, input those on the spreadsheet and viola!!! Trip on one sheet of paper!! I know people who also use a Word baed format but the idea is the same.
Rituals, no not really I do schedule in things I want to do on certain days but these can change trip to trip.
I eat at a lot of the same restaurants but only because I love them and cant get the same type of thing here in NYC. I try to add a new restaurant or two each time though. Belle

I cannot believe you made no mention of Off Kilter in your regular planning.....

I usually go with my cousin and her husband and kids as they are DVC owners. My cousin and I are best friends and Disney nuts (she way more than me). However, this Jan/Feb I am going with my roomies and a good friend of mine(alas platonic).

I always plan...I too have used an Excel spreadsheet that AkiraRaptor has used...but I usually just do a Word based itinerary..We use the itinerary as a guideline, but always are willing to deviate and adjust once we are on property.

MGM: always ToT and RnRC first. Out of 10x at WDW, we've eaten at Prime Time 9 times.

AK: Safari is first. Although this last time, we saw more animals late afternoon during a second trip. We try and eat at the Tusker House.

I am a sports nut. I spend alot of time at the ESPN Club.

 

[wannabeBelle]

I cannot believe you made no mention of Off Kilter in your regular planning.....

I usually go with my cousin and her husband and kids as they are DVC owners. My cousin and I are best friends and Disney nuts (she way more than me). However, this Jan/Feb I am going with my roomies and a good friend of mine(alas platonic).

I always plan...I too have used an Excel spreadsheet that AkiraRaptor has used...but I usually just do a Word based itinerary..We use the itinerary as a guideline, but always are willing to deviate and adjust once we are on property.

MGM: always ToT and RnRC first. Out of 10x at WDW, we've eaten at Prime Time 9 times.

AK: Safari is first. Although this last time, we saw more animals late afternoon during a second trip. We try and eat at the Tusker House.

I am a sports nut. I spend alot of time at the ESPN Club.

I did!!!! You just missed it!! I was trying to be subtle. Although with me seeing Off Kilter so regularly we are getting to know some of the substitute musicians who spell the regular guys when they are on vacation etc. who play elsewhere in Disney as well. At the rate I Am going I may end up being familiar with a lot of the musical acts in a few other parks. next on the hit parade for me is an act in MGM Called Mud, Sweat & Shears. I Am not quite sure of the rest of the lineup but the two guitarists ( I am not sure if there are two guitarists in the show or they switch off) have both played with Off Kilter!!!!!! Happy now?? Belle

 

[jordanyosh]

I did!!!! You just missed it!! I was trying to be subtle. Although with me seeing Off Kilter so regularly we are getting to know some of the substitute musicians who spell the regular guys when they are on vacation etc. who play elsewhere in Disney as well. At the rate I Am going I may end up being familiar with a lot of the musical acts in a few other parks. next on the hit parade for me is an act in MGM Called Mud, Sweat & Shears. I Am not quite sure of the rest of the lineup but the two guitarists ( I am not sure if there are two guitarists in the show or they switch off) have both played with Off Kilter!!!!!! Happy now?? Belle

I am now happy and can continue with my day.