Thoughts on our rough plan for parks, dining, and other special items

[MrVargas]

I am going to Disney World in July with my wife and 2 kids (girl age 6 & boy age 8). We are staying for 10 days From Tuesday July 9th to Thursday July 18th. We will be staying at the Caribbean Beach resort. This is the first time we go. I would like some opinions on my rough idea of how each of the 10 days will go. I will be able to do ADR's next week so I wanted a rough plan.

Few notes about us:
- My family does much better on vacations with mid-day naps. We plan to do this everyday. In order to get enough park time, we plan to be at the park at rope drop and stay until around 1:30 , go to the Resort and be at the same park for Dinner at around 5pm. Then spend the rest of the evening until the park closes (or we run out of energy).
- We have the dining plan so we're shooting for about one table service meal a day.
- We like waterparks so we plan to do both waterparks.
- I am trying to avoid early magic hours to avoid the increased traffic that those days bring.

My plan:

Day 1 (Tuesday) - Arrival - Unpack, explore resort activities, chill at the pool, eat dinner at the resort.

Day 2 - (Wednesday) Magic Kingdom - My dream would be to get a reservation at Bibbidi Bobbity Boutique before the park opens, then have breakfast at Cinderella's royal table. Quick Service for Dinner (Gaston's Tavern? Not sure yet). If I can't get the Cinderella's Royal Table for this day I will try for the last day of the trip (With the 180+10 add

Day 3 - (Thursday) Hollywood Studios - I would like to do the Fantasmic Character Breakfast Package at Hollywood & Vine. The kids get the meet & greet, we get reserved seating at Fantasmic, and we can also get into the park early so we can ensure a spot for Jedi Training. Quick Service for Dinner (Woody's Lunch Box? Not sure yet).

Day 4 - (Friday) Epcot - Breakfast in the hotel, Dinner: Chip n' Dale Harvest Feast at the Garden Grill.

Day 5 - (Saturday) Typhoon Lagoon / Disney Springs - We get to avoid the major Saturday crowds by being at a water park all day. After our afternoon break I was thinking we'd go to Disney Springs, get dinner at Wolfgang puck express, check out the stores and catch Toy Story 4 at the AMC in Disney Springs.

Day 6 (Sunday) Resort Day / Hoop Dee Doo Revue - Being another weekend day, I was thinking this would be a good day to enjoy our resort and any activities they had planned. In the evening I was thinking of doing the Hoop Dee Doo Revue Dinner Show. I hear it's great but since it takes so much time to get there I was thinking it would be good for a day where we weren't focused on rides.

Day 7 (Monday) Animal Kingdom - I would like to do Donald's Dining Safari at Tusker House for either breakfast or dinner.

Day 8 (Tuesday) Blizzard Beach/Date Night(Highway in the Sky)/Pixar Play Zone - I was thinking we could check out Blizzard beach for a few hours and then drop the kids off at Pixar Play Zone at the contemporary while my wife and I do the Highway in the Sky dining package which also starts at the contemporary at the same time.

Day 9 (Wednesday) Magic Kingdom - I'd figure it would be appropriate to end our trip with one last day at Magic Kingdom. I'm thinking Be Our Guest for Dinner or Cinderella's Royal Table if we don't get the reservation earlier.

Day 10 (Thursday) Departure Day - Pack up and hang out at the resort. Perhaps do a nice breakfast somewhere.

 

[Shouldigo12]

Which dining plan do you have, the regular or the deluxe?
Edit- Also, just because this is something a lot of people don't realize, you know that the dining plan gives you credits based on how many nights you're staying and not how many days and that not every restaurant is eligible to use credits?
Last edit, I promise. So if you have the regular dining plan you only have 9 ts credits if my math is correct. You have about 10 ts credits that you plan to use (if dinner on your first day or breakfast on your last are going to be ts) since CRT and HDDR dinner show are both two credit meals. If you have the deluxe plan, you have I believe 27 meal credits total (3 meals for 9 nights). You would use around 15 based on your planned meals. You dont mention eating breakfast or lunch a couple days though and I'm going to guess that you plan to do that haha. Either way, I would examine how you're using the credits because with the deluxe it doesn't look like you're eating enough and with the regular you're eating too much.

 

[thomas998]

Which dining plan do you have, the regular or the deluxe?
Edit- Also, just because this is something a lot of people don't realize, you know that the dining plan gives you credits based on how many nights you're staying and not how many days and that not every restaurant is eligible to use credits?
Last edit, I promise. So if you have the regular dining plan you only have 9 ts credits if my math is correct. You have about 10 ts credits that you plan to use (if dinner on your first day or breakfast on your last are going to be ts) since CRT and HDDR dinner show are both two credit meals. If you have the deluxe plan, you have I believe 27 meal credits total (3 meals for 9 nights). You would use around 15 based on your planned meals. You dont mention eating breakfast or lunch a couple days though and I'm going to guess that you plan to do that haha. Either way, I would examine how you're using the credits because with the deluxe it doesn't look like you're eating enough and with the regular you're eating too much.

I'm also not sure if he even has table service on the dining plan. If the OP is getting the free Disney dining then I believe the Caribbean Beach resort comes with the quick service plan not a table service plan... So OP if you are doing this with the "free" dining then you''ll need to upgrade it to get table service from it.

 

[thomas998]

I am going to Disney World in July with my wife and 2 kids (girl age 6 & boy age 8). We are staying for 10 days From Tuesday July 9th to Thursday July 18th. We will be staying at the Caribbean Beach resort. This is the first time we go. I would like some opinions on my rough idea of how each of the 10 days will go. I will be able to do ADR's next week so I wanted a rough plan.

Few notes about us:
- My family does much better on vacations with mid-day naps. We plan to do this everyday. In order to get enough park time, we plan to be at the park at rope drop and stay until around 1:30 , go to the Resort and be at the same park for Dinner at around 5pm. Then spend the rest of the evening until the park closes (or we run out of energy).
- We have the dining plan so we're shooting for about one table service meal a day.
- We like waterparks so we plan to do both waterparks.
- I am trying to avoid early magic hours to avoid the increased traffic that those days bring.

My plan:

Day 1 (Tuesday) - Arrival - Unpack, explore resort activities, chill at the pool, eat dinner at the resort.

Day 2 - (Wednesday) Magic Kingdom - My dream would be to get a reservation at Bibbidi Bobbity Boutique before the park opens, then have breakfast at Cinderella's royal table. Quick Service for Dinner (Gaston's Tavern? Not sure yet). If I can't get the Cinderella's Royal Table for this day I will try for the last day of the trip (With the 180+10 add

Day 3 - (Thursday) Hollywood Studios - I would like to do the Fantasmic Character Breakfast Package at Hollywood & Vine. The kids get the meet & greet, we get reserved seating at Fantasmic, and we can also get into the park early so we can ensure a spot for Jedi Training. Quick Service for Dinner (Woody's Lunch Box? Not sure yet).

Day 4 - (Friday) Epcot - Breakfast in the hotel, Dinner: Chip n' Dale Harvest Feast at the Garden Grill.

Day 5 - (Saturday) Typhoon Lagoon / Disney Springs - We get to avoid the major Saturday crowds by being at a water park all day. After our afternoon break I was thinking we'd go to Disney Springs, get dinner at Wolfgang puck express, check out the stores and catch Toy Story 4 at the AMC in Disney Springs.

Day 6 (Sunday) Resort Day / Hoop Dee Doo Revue - Being another weekend day, I was thinking this would be a good day to enjoy our resort and any activities they had planned. In the evening I was thinking of doing the Hoop Dee Doo Revue Dinner Show. I hear it's great but since it takes so much time to get there I was thinking it would be good for a day where we weren't focused on rides.

Day 7 (Monday) Animal Kingdom - I would like to do Donald's Dining Safari at Tusker House for either breakfast or dinner.

Day 8 (Tuesday) Blizzard Beach/Date Night(Highway in the Sky)/Pixar Play Zone - I was thinking we could check out Blizzard beach for a few hours and then drop the kids off at Pixar Play Zone at the contemporary while my wife and I do the Highway in the Sky dining package which also starts at the contemporary at the same time.

Day 9 (Wednesday) Magic Kingdom - I'd figure it would be appropriate to end our trip with one last day at Magic Kingdom. I'm thinking Be Our Guest for Dinner or Cinderella's Royal Table if we don't get the reservation earlier.

Day 10 (Thursday) Departure Day - Pack up and hang out at the resort. Perhaps do a nice breakfast somewhere.

Okay... I see you've got the Cinderella breakfast on there. Be warned, it is the worst food you'll find at Disney. I know people love to do it and I've done it twice because of daughters that wanted to be in the castle, and each time we ended up having to get them food later after we left because they couldn't choke down enough of the garbage they served for breakfast in the castle to fill them up until lunch time.... But I understand sometimes you go through things just because of your kids, been there and done it. But assuming you are dead set on doing it, consider having either just your wife or you take your daughter. It isn't an experience your son will likely want to experience... and if you are set on having both of them eat there, then set up two different reservations, your wife with one of the kids and you with the other kid because each reservation will only get one free photo (not free because this is a very pricey meal) per table. So if you all go there even though they will take a photo of each child separately with Cinderella they will only give you one for free and charge a lot for the second one... but if you have two reservation so that each parent is going with one child then you would get two free photos one for each of the kids.

Now for your bibbidi experience, know that it can get very pricey from 65 up to 450 depending on which package you get. If you want to save some money then get your daughter a princess dress prior to even getting there as you can find better dresses for less money outside Disney and if you don't have a dress your daughter will probably be wanting one when she sees the other little girls wearing them. Also note whether your daughter can handle a tight bun or not... The last time we did it with out youngest they put her hair up into a very tight bun to the point that she said it was hurting too much and took it all down about 30 minutes after we finished, so a lot of money for a hair styling that didn't even last an hour.

Now I enjoy Hollywood and Vine for lunch, but for breakfast be warned that the character are Doc McStuffin and Sofia the first, we found out about that change of character the hard way because we didn't check what the characters were prior to going there and they had changed from earlier times. To that end I would suggest you find out which character are going to be at each of your character meals to make sure that it makes sense... I notice you've got a lot of them on your list, but the question you need to ask yourself is whether you want to spend the extra time it always takes at character meals and whether your kids are really fans of the characters that are at them. You've got Mickey, Pluto, Chip and Dale at the garden grill... and Mickey again at Tusker House along with Donald, Daisy and Goofy. So you're getting two Mickeys when you'll also have the option of seeing Mickey at a park meet and greet... You might want to check out a list of meet and greets and decide if you want to spend money on a character meal to meet characters you can see at other places for free vs a character meal where you will see character that are not available at meet and greets.... Which also brings up something you might want to add to your packing list, autograph books, given the number of character meals your doing I'm going to assume you are going to want autographs, unless you don't mind paying a big Disney premium get your book before you get there because they aren't cheap in the parks, if you want one with a Disney flair to it then stop at Walmart in Orlando and you can get Disney autograph books for about 2 bucks vs the 10 or more Disney will charge.

Hoop Dee Doo... it is a risky thing... A chance your kids will hate it or you'll hate it. I would suggest you pull up some youtube videos of it and decide if it is really something you want to do. It is pain to get to if you have a car, if you are using Disney buses then god only knows how long it will take you to get there. We did it when we were staying in the cabins one year and it was a pain getting there from the cabins so I can only imagine the pain it will be if you are CBR. One of my kids liked it the other thought it was horrible, to my wife and I it was just okay.

One thing to consider is whether you are going to have your own car with you or not. If you have your own car it is much easier to do the afternoon naps, when you are stuck with Disney bus service you'll probably waste at least an hour each day vs the time you would spend if you had a car.

Your plan for a water park on Saturday to avoid crowds will put you in a water park when it is probably as crowded as you'll see it. We've found water parks tend to be more full on weekends than during the week and since they are smaller than the parks like MK you might be better off swapping that day for a park and doing the water park on a weekday when it is less crowded. Also measure your kids prior to going so you will know which slides they can and cannot do. I think the cut off is 48 inches for 2 of them at Typhoon and for 3 of the ones at Blizzard.

 

[LUVofDIS]

I would add that breakfast at Disney is one of the worst values. Dinners are much better. This is my opinion. We normally order from a grocery and have things like avocado, bananas, etc for breakfast in our room.

We love the dinner at Holllwood and Vine, but we only do it on our Christmas visit. The food may be different in July.

Be Our Guest dinners are now a prix fixe menu, and we find it to be very good. The dessert is okay tasting but the presentation is awesome. Also try to get the West Wing or Gallery, we find the Ballroom to be too loud and we like the theming in the other two rooms much more. Though you will have to request this when you arrive and it could add to your wait. Last December it added a half hour to our wait, but other times only ten to fifteen minutes.

We have tried every QS at the Magic Kingdom and Gaston's would not be on our list as favorites. Though their desserts (Cinnamon roll and chocolate croissant is good) are fairly good. We would choose Cosmic Rays, Pecos Bill or Columbia House over it.

For Hollywood Studios, Woody's is probably the best there as of now for QS, good choice.

My wife and I love the Hoop Dee Doo. We went with our nephews years ago when they were 13 and younger and they enjoyed it. So I think this will depend on what your family enjoys. As Thomas998 stated, watch some YouTube, though that could dull some of the newness when experiencing live for the first time.

At EPCOT, I would say the Garden Grill is one of the best dinning experiences there. The few that we like better are both of the Moroccan sit downs, Teppan Edo and Biergarten.

 

[MrVargas]

Which dining plan do you have, the regular or the deluxe?
Edit- Also, just because this is something a lot of people don't realize, you know that the dining plan gives you credits based on how many nights you're staying and not how many days and that not every restaurant is eligible to use credits?
Last edit, I promise. So if you have the regular dining plan you only have 9 ts credits if my math is correct. You have about 10 ts credits that you plan to use (if dinner on your first day or breakfast on your last are going to be ts) since CRT and HDDR dinner show are both two credit meals. If you have the deluxe plan, you have I believe 27 meal credits total (3 meals for 9 nights). You would use around 15 based on your planned meals. You dont mention eating breakfast or lunch a couple days though and I'm going to guess that you plan to do that haha. Either way, I would examine how you're using the credits because with the deluxe it doesn't look like you're eating enough and with the regular you're eating too much.

We have the regular dining plan. Thanks for the nights tip, I didn’t know that. We should be fine though because I plan to pay out of pocket for HDDR because I want the best seating and that is not available on the dining plan.

 

[MrVargas]

I'm also not sure if he even has table service on the dining plan. If the OP is getting the free Disney dining then I believe the Caribbean Beach resort comes with the quick service plan not a table service plan... So OP if you are doing this with the "free" dining then you''ll need to upgrade it to get table service from it.

I upgraded to the regular.

 

["El Gran Magnifico"]

Good pace. Only comment I'd make is on the EPCOT day. Switching Chip N Dale to a breakfast and Via Napoli for dinner. A MezzoMetro pizza and a couple of appetizers should do it and are reasonable compared to other WS restaurants (Biergarten isn't a bad option either). - Or, you could always escape through IG and hit Boardwalk. A few good options there as well.

You can still get the mid-day nap in. Just hit FW in the am - bus it back to CBR - and hit WS when you return. You can easily spend 2-3 hours in FW after breakfast (with your FP and the character M&G that are available). EPCOT is a "divide and conquer" type park.

 

[Storm]

You are actually really awesome at planning things out , it all sounds really good and reasonable to me time wise , kudos to you i wish i was able to plan everything that way !

 

[Yaya]

Edit- Also, just because this is something a lot of people don't realize, you know that the dining plan gives you credits based on how many nights you're staying and not how many days and that not every restaurant is eligible to use credits?

I didn't realize this either.. We're checking out Friday from our room with free dining package and moving to another resort. Can I use my dining package through Friday or only through Thursday??

 

[Shouldigo12]

I didn't realize this either.. We're checking out Friday from our room with free dining package and moving to another resort. Can I use my dining package through Friday or only through Thursday??

So if I understand, you booked a room with free dining from whatever date to this Friday, with Thursday being your last night? I believe you can use your credits on Friday. Your credits are calculated based on how many nights you're staying, but you can still use them checkout day.

 

[Yaya]

So if I understand, you booked a room with free dining from whatever date to this Friday, with Thursday being your last night? I believe you can use your credits on Friday. Your credits are calculated based on how many nights you're staying, but you can still use them checkout day.

Oops. Check out *on a* Friday. I wish we were there now but unfortunately, not until September. good to know though.

 

[Maddad]

Just remember to roll with it. Mike Tyson once said “Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth. “ Not everything you plan will work out. Be willing to roll with the punches and enjoy the moment. Your plan looks great. A lot of times the unexpected things that happen are the moments you remember most.

 

[correcaminos]

I'm going to comment on the Day 2. Lines are shorter in the morning and while experiences are nice, I think you are trying to cram too much in to one morning there. Skip something. Also since you are doing the dining plan, don't do breakfasts. They are a sure fire way of losing out big time on the plan.

 

[Shouldigo12]

I'm going to comment on the Day 2. Lines are shorter in the morning and while experiences are nice, I think you are trying to cram too much in to one morning there. Skip something. Also since you are doing the dining plan, don't do breakfasts. They are a sure fire way of losing out big time on the plan.

I agree, that does sound like a lot for the morning. MrVargas, maybe you should do the breakfast before park opening and then try the boutique later in the day, or even skip it and just buy your daughter a dress before the trip? You can make it a special day out or something if you want her to have the "Princess treatment".

 

[JillC LI]

I am trying to avoid early magic hours to avoid the increased traffic that those days bring.

We have always found that LATE EMHs bring many more crowds than EARLY. We always attend Early EMH if possible because people like to sleep late, and you can get soooooo much done early in the day.

 

[tsaintc]

I would plan for at least 1.5 to 2 hours of just travel time (round trip) for each of your afternoon return trips for naps. The parks are very busy this time of year, and this impacts everything.

Also, I might recommend cutting the amount of total sit-down meals in half. Based on your kids' ages, this may be overload. This is just a biased opinion based on my own experiences.

Finally, I would avoid Disney Springs from Friday-Sunday. Words cannot convey how terrible the crowds can be on weekends, especially near a holiday.