Itinerary

[MDJ]

Just wanted to see what everyone thought of our (5 yr. old daughter and myself) itinerary.

Friday Sept. 13
Arrive at Orlando airport around 6 pm, get rental car, go to Kissimmee and get a cheap room, swim, sleep.

Saturday Sept. 14
Go grocery shopping, maybe tour Kissimmee or I-drive, check in to All Star Movies, go to Downtown Disney, eat at Rainforest cafe,maybe try Disney Quest, maybe try to find somewhere to catch fireworks, sleep.

Sunday Sept. 15
Animal Kingdom

Monday Sept. 16
Disney Studios

Tuesday Sept. 17
Magic Kingdom

Wednedsay Sept. 18
Cinderalla's Royal Table for Breakfast
Magic Kingdom

Thursday Sept. 19
Kona Cafe for Tonga Toast
Blizzard Beach/Typhoon Lagoon/Epcot
Whichever she feels like doing.

Friday Sept. 20
Blizzard Beach/Typhoon Lagoon/Epcot
Whichever she feels like doing.

Saturday Sept. 21
Epcot/Magic Kingdom for evening shows and to ride hopefully reopened Haunted Mansion.

Sunday Sept. 22
Pack, head to airport for 3 pm flight back home.

Also planning on heading back to room most days for a swim or nap in the afternoon.

Other misc. activities while we are there: Ride in front of monorail, autographs, and I think she will love the Magical Moments pins.

Anyone have any comments, suggestions, or other things we should plan to try?

Thanks,

Mark

 

[Pan]

It sounds like a great trip. From my own experience, meeting characters and getting autographs will be a highlight for her. Hit Fantasyland or Mickey's Toontown first thing each day at MK. Don't miss Storytime with Belle. Don't take her on Alien! Naps and relaxed pace are key. Everyone has a preference but I would save the fireworks for the last night. It always seems more special that way. You also might want to have a day or two in the middle of the trip where you do absolutely nothing but hang around the hotel/pool and recharge her batteries.

Have a great time!

 

[homer424]

Sounds like a LOT of fun! I hope you both have a wonderful time! If I can suggest a hotel for Friday if you haven't found one yet-I love Holiday Inn Niki Bird on 192-it is literally minutes from the entrance to disney. It is the first hotel you come upon on your left when you exit I-4 onto 192 (I believe it is exit 25b-it has a HUGE sign that says ANGELS-the name of the restaurant and buffet-and it has a big old lobster on the sign.). It is clean and very nice, has a great breakfast buffet and has nightly steak and seafood buffet's too! Anyway, I hope you have a BALL!!

Donna

 

[Disneynutcase]

If it was me, I'd be at a park on Saturday the 14th. I think most of the resort hotels allow for some kind of early check-in and/or luggage drop off. You just might not get your room assignment until later in the day or when you return in the evening. But most hotels are happy to hold your belongings until the room is ready.

But if you're uncomfortable doing that, since you mentioned that you'd prefer to return to your hotel for a swim, why not pack things up into the rent-a-car, head to a park for the AM, then head to All-Stars for check-in around lunch time?

Onto my second suggestion: Having done WDW a few months back with four kids ages 2-8, I can tell you that mid-day breaks only work so well. Even the little ones get wired to go all day.

But we deliberately took a day-off in the middle of our week's vacation and it did wonders for the ol' recharge.

I'd head to MGM or AK bright and early on day one (since they open by 9:00), then cut-out after lunch as the afternoon crowds build and the day get hot. It's not like you don't have some time later to go back if you don't see everything. Plus all the parks except for AK should be staying open late because it's Saturday.

Be sure to check out the parades--Stars and Motorcars, Jammin' Jungle Parade, and Spectromagic were the best! Our kids loved 'em. For character greeting, I see you have Cinderella's Royal Table Breakfast, but have you looked into the other character meals? We found that a lunch at one of these places made great mid-day breaks, offered up plenty to eat, and brought just enough characters to the table so that we could skip many of the meet-and-greet lines in Toon Town and around the various parks.

For optimum character meeting at the parks, skip Toon Town. That's were all the kids who aren't "in the know" go. Instead when you're at AK, head to Camp Minnie-Mickey by 10:30 (characters galore w/ no lines, including Daisy Duck!), and arrive a little before Epcot opens (like 9:30ish) they have a bus load of characters waiting to meet kids at the park entrance. Also look for obscure Disney Characters (Robin Hood and Green Army Men) and around the giant hat @ MK.

Overall, you have a nice itinerary, but I'd highly recommend that you make Tuesday a day off/really slow day. Trust me, your legs and feet will be thanking you!

 

[CAPTAIN HOOK]

A good plan - just one observation to make. MK on two consecutive days - if its her favourite park then ok but my thoughts would be to spread your MK visits over the week. Why not replace : -
Sun 15th : MK
Mon 16th : AK
Tues 17th : TL / BB or Epcot
Wed 18th : MK with breakfast
Thurs 19th : MGM
? Just a thought. Have fun.

 

[MDJ]

I thought about going to the parks on Saturday 9/14, just worried about them being too crowded due to being a weekend. Last time I went during the off season was about 10 yrs ago, and the place was fairly empty wednesday and thursday, but friday it got to the point where it was quite a long wait to get on Splash Mt. I didn't even bother going back on Saturday. How are the crowds on weekends right now?

Mark

 

[Disneynutcase]

Strutter just posted a Trip Report where he/she made claim to doing a similar thing that you're planning--staying 1st night cheap at a nearby motel, then heading to a WDW resort. Strutter claimed that they were able to check into the All-Star bright and early (seemed shocked to do so) and they were off to MK and at the gates before opening.

With that in mind and to answer your question about Saturdays, I'd say head to MK on Saturdays at your own risk because Saturdays are always crowded at MK. Since your itinerary already has you at MK for your last day (a Saturday), I'd stay away from MK for your 1st Saturday.

If you're concerned about crowds, head to Epcot for your Saturday. It doesn't open officially until 10:00am which gives you plenty of time to do the motel switch. Only line you'll get w/in Epcot will be for Test Track (unless bus-loads of tour groups are mysteriously there). So just grab a Fast Pass for Test Track before noon (which will help you skip an hour-long line) and you'll be fine.

In fact, a general rule of thought for Epcot is to actually avoid weekdays since local school groups do field trips there (might be too early in the school year for this, though). When we went to Epcot the Saturday after Easter, you could shoot a cannon off in some areas and not hit anyone. And this was during major peak season.

I've also read plenty of trip reports over this summer that echoed the same puzzling lack of crowds. People just aren't hovering around Epcot like they are at the other three parks.

Just my 2nd two cents on this matter.

But seriously, I think if you ventured to any park other than MK on a Saturday, you should do okay when it comes to crowds.