A sorta rookie who is somewhere between a commando and a laid back planner's PTR

[jkluttrell]

Well I wasn't going to post a PTR because I just posted my short itinerary on my blog. But I have several questions about what I have planned so I thought I would just post my plan. Plus I am getting more into this planning than I anticipated and it seems like the thing to do around here, HA!

I will come back and add pictures of our "cast" later. It will be me, my husband John and our two kids, Kaitlyn 10 and Kyle who will turn 7 in a month. We have not been to Disney all together before. I have been once in 1991 (I was in the 9th grade) and then me and the kids went with my in-laws in 2005. But that was a very non-planned trip. I don't think John has been since he was in the 6th grade but he went about 5-6 times prior to that.

I am somewhere between a laid back planner and a commando. I won't be upset if we deviate a little from the plan but I want to have a plan so that we can make the most of our time and make sure to do our top priority things first.


So here goes:

We are leaving on Saturday morning October 16 from Memphis and driving. Hopefully we will leave about 7:00. It will take about 12 hours with no stops (obviously we will stop a few times) and there is a one hour time difference so the plan is to drive to within an hour (or closer) of Disney and spend the night. I figure it will be cheaper to stay outside of Orlando and we will just stay somewhere cheap for the night.

Sunday -- October 17
Drive into to Orlando (or really Lake Beuna Vista). We are staying at the Caribbean Beach resort. I hope to get to the hotel between 9:00 and 10:00. Now I know we probably cannot get into our room at that time but we can still "check in", right? And get our key to the worlds and stuff right?

Then we will go over to Epcot. I hope to be there around 11:00. We want to do the World Showcase first because I don't really want to be in that area once the F&W festival starts (because I figure it will be more crowded, I could be wrong though). So we will walk around, let the kids do their passport books and meet characters. Then we have an ADR at 4:35 for Garden Grill. After eating we will ride Soarin, Test Track, Mission Space, Spaceship Earth and the Nemo thing. We can then head back toward the WS area and get a spot for Illuminations at 9:00. Then head back to the hotel, get settled and go to bed.

Will I be able to see and do the WS before my 4:35 ADR? Can I leave my big suitcases at the front desk and they put them in my room sometime that day so they are waiting for us when we get back? Am I missing anything important on my list of things to do at Epcot?



The remainder of our week is this (to be posted later):
Monday -- Magic Kingdom day
Tuesday -- play at the hotel, pool, then MNSSHP
Wednesday -- Animal Kingdom
Thursday -- Hollywood
Friday -- still up in the air, we have park tickets for the day but we will also check out of the hotel and drive to Panama City to spend the night before heading home on Saturday

 

[jkluttrell]

Monday -- October 18
Magic Kingdom

Arrive at MK for RD at 8:30
Head for Tomorrowland first
*Space Mountain
*Buzz Lightyear
*Speedway

Then Fantasyland
*Peter Pan flight
*Philharmagic
*Winnie the Pooh

Toon Town
*Minnie's house
*Mickey's house
*Goofy's barnstormer

Parade 3:00

Frontierland
*Splash Mountain
*Thunder Railroad

ADR 5:55 at 1900 Park Fare

Back to MK
Adventureland
*Pirates of the Caribbean
*Magic Carpets
*Jungle Cruise

MSEP 8:00
Wishes 9:00

We will stop and eat lunch sometime in there and also stop and see characters along the way. We will also utilize FP's so we can ride these things out of order. And if I can't finish all that before the 3:00 parade then we can adjust or if we can fit in the two rides from Frontierland before the parade then we can adjust there too. This is the part of me that is somewhere between the commando and the laid back person.

Any thoughts on our 1st MK day?

 

[jkluttrell]

Tuesday -- October 19
Hotel and MNSSHP

We will sleep in since our MK day will be a long day. Then let play at the pool at the hotel. Depending on what time we get up or if there is rain we might go to Downtown Disney. I am kinda sad because I didn't really leave time for DTD but I also am trying to plan at least some down time so that we are not completely exhausted by the end of the week.

We have an ADR at Chef Mickey's at 5:20. Then we will head to the halloween party. I want to head straight to get in line for Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs. Then Woody, Jessie, and Bullseye are my other must see characters. We will definitely do the Haunted Mansion this night too.

The fireworks are at 9:30, we will watch the late parade at 10:30. We will try to go to the Villian mix and mingle at 7:45 but if we don't make that one we can go at 11:15.

We will go to the dance parties, trick or treat and meet characters all in between all that.

Any other must do's for MNSSHP?

 

[jkluttrell]

Wednesday October 20
Animal Kingdom

We have an ADR for Donald's Safari breakfast at 8:20. Probably not the smartest move since we will be up so late for the party but oh well. After breakfast we will do the Safari ride, Camp Minnie/Mickey and see the characters, Festival of the Lion King, then ride Everest, then head to DinoLand and do the stuff there. We will watch the parade at 3:45 then leave and head back to the hotel to rest maybe play at the pool a while. That night we have an 8:30 ADR at Ohana.

 

[jkluttrell]

Thursday October 21
Hollywood Studios


Arrive at DHS at 8:20 for rope drop. Ride TSM stand-by then pick up FP's to ride again later. Then:
*Rock 'n Roller coaster
*Tower of Terror
*Jedi Training
*use TSM FP's (hopefully)
*Lights, Camera, Motor Action show
*Indiana Jones show
--stop for lunch
*Beauty and Beast show
*Disney Animation (and all the characters there)
*Block party bash

the rest of this will be on an 'if we have time' basis (and in this order), if we don't get to it I won't be upset (I don't think)
*Backlot Tour
*Great movie ride
*Muppet 3d
*American Idol
*Little Mermaid
*Sounds Dangerous

Then there is a Fantasmic showing at 7:30. I really want to see this. However when my husband finds out that we will need to go over at least 60 minutes before the show to get a good seat I have a strange feeling he will try and veto it. So since this will be later in our week we will have to see how the week has gone so far to see if I pitch a fit for seeing F! or if I give in and we just ride some more.

Back to the hotel for an early bedtime (or early for us at least)

 

[serene56]

Wednesday October 20
Animal Kingdom

We have an ADR for Donald's Safari breakfast at 8:20. Probably not the smartest move since we will be up so late for the party but oh well. After breakfast we will do the Safari ride, Camp Minnie/Mickey and see the characters, Festival of the Lion King, then ride Everest, then head to DinoLand and do the stuff there. We will watch the parade at 3:45 then leave and head back to the hotel to rest maybe play at the pool a while. That night we have an 8:30 ADR at Ohana.

yikes. is there one a little later? (i checked and there is a 10:20 one available. with an 8:20 you wont get to rope drop anyways
we booked the last breakfast of the day- this allows us to grab FP for Kali, ride Expediation Everest and a bugs life.. Passing Tusker House to get FP for Safari to ride it after breakfast== after this we are heading to camp minnie and mickey--seeing the Lion King show.

Not doing dino land- heading out of the park about 2:30 and going back to the hotel- We have an ADR at Ohana for 6:45.

Your kids are older so they might be able to hang some
but this is one very long day right after a very long night.

 

[serene56]

Thursday October 21
Hollywood Studios


Arrive at DHS at 8:20 for rope drop. Ride TSM stand-by then pick up FP's to ride again later. Then:
*Rock 'n Roller coaster
*Tower of Terror

*

if you get a FP for TSM BEFORE you ride-- that will get you a better window for your next FP==

which you get for ToT THEN ride RnR. By the time you are outta the coaster ride your FP time for ToT should be ready.

have you used http://pages.prodigy.net/stevesoares/st/st.htm to find out the show schedules for your shows to see how they wok with your toruing?

We have a 4 year old so we will be missing your shows.. and seeing Disney Playhouse, and voyage of the little mermaid---checking out characters in Animation Building

 

[jkluttrell]

The cast~

I am a little late with this post but here is our family:


My kiddos, Kaitlyn is 10 and Kyle is 6 (but will turn 7 before we go)

Me and My husband

 

[jkluttrell]

have you used http://pages.prodigy.net/stevesoares/st/st.htm to find out the show schedules for your shows to see how they wok with your toruing?

I have looked at that website. But will the times still be the same in October? Do they vary that much? Or can I still use that as a guide?

 

[jkluttrell]

Friday October 22

Undecided

We will have park tickets for this day but this is also our departure day. When I originally started planning I thought we might use this as day 2 at Hollywood but the more I look at it and talk with John, the more I think we might go back to MK so we can end there. I am just going to play it by ear though and let my kids decide which park they want to go to on this day. It may depend on if there was a ride or character they didn't get to do or see the first time.

We are not going to bust out of bed to make a rope drop or anything like that. We will check out of the hotel and load up the car. Then head to whichever park, stay for a little while then maybe head out of Orlando about 3:00-4:00ish. We are going to drive to Panama City (which I think is about 6 hours) to stay the night at a friends condo.

I thought about letting the kids go on the Pirate Adventure from CBR that morning but it may be too much. It will last from 9:30-11:30 and that would put us at the park after 12:00 then if we leave at 3:00 that is not much time. Thoughts on that?

 

[jkluttrell]

Saturday October 23

Beach day

We will be in Panama City staying Friday night at a friends condo which is on the beach. So that morning we will sleep a little later, play for a little while on the beach, maybe try and take some white shirt/khaki shorts family photos (if I remember to pack my big tri-pod) then eat lunch somewhere good and head back to Memphis arriving at home late Saturday night.

 

[jkluttrell]

I snagged us an ADR for the character breakfast at Ohana on Friday morning at 10:00 the other day. We will have to pay out of pocket for this one but I really wanted to do this one. And we might not make our Chef Mickey's ADR (I really wanted to changed that one to Friday morning breakfast) if they let us the park early for MNSSHP so I wanted to have a back up.

 

[jkluttrell]

yikes. is there one a little later? (i checked and there is a 10:20 one available. with an 8:20 you wont get to rope drop anyways
we booked the last breakfast of the day- this allows us to grab FP for Kali, ride Expediation Everest and a bugs life.. Passing Tusker House to get FP for Safari to ride it after breakfast== after this we are heading to camp minnie and mickey--seeing the Lion King show.

Not doing dino land- heading out of the park about 2:30 and going back to the hotel- We have an ADR at Ohana for 6:45.

Your kids are older so they might be able to hang some
but this is one very long day right after a very long night.

I was recently able to snag an ADR for 9:45 for Donald's Breakfast so I had my TA cancel my 8:20 reservation. That should give us at least an extra hour of sleep.

I plan to get FP's for the safari on my way to breakfast. Then go to camp Minnie/Mickey. Meet characters and see the lion king show. Then head over to Everest (why do these things have to be on complete opposite ends of the park?!). Then do dinoland and watch the parade. If we get everything done before the parade then we will leave after the parade, if not then I will have to see how my kids are doing and if they need to leave to go back to the hotel or if they want to ride something.

 

[jackemail]

Love the photo with The Pyramid in the background!

 

[jackemail]

Monday -- October 18
Magic Kingdom

Then Fantasyland
*Peter Pan flight
*Philharmagic
*Winnie the Pooh


Peter Pan is one ride that you can almost always plan on grabbing a fast pass, especially if the wait time is over 15 minutes.

 

[jackemail]

So here goes:

Sunday -- October 17
Drive into to Orlando (or really Lake Beuna Vista). We are staying at the Caribbean Beach resort. I hope to get to the hotel between 9:00 and 10:00. Now I know we probably cannot get into our room at that time but we can still "check in", right? And get our key to the worlds and stuff right?

Then we will go over to Epcot. I hope to be there around 11:00. We want to do the World Showcase first because I don't really want to be in that area once the F&W festival starts (because I figure it will be more crowded, I could be wrong though). So we will walk around, let the kids do their passport books and meet characters. Then we have an ADR at 4:35 for Garden Grill. After eating we will ride Soarin, Test Track, Mission Space, Spaceship Earth and the Nemo thing. We can then head back toward the WS area and get a spot for Illuminations at 9:00. Then head back to the hotel, get settled and go to bed.

Will I be able to see and do the WS before my 4:35 ADR? Can I leave my big suitcases at the front desk and they put them in my room sometime that day so they are waiting for us when we get back? Am I missing anything important on my list of things to do at Epcot?

Love CBR. Bell services at CBR will keep your luggage for you when you check in, if your room is not ready. BUT they will not put them in your room for you, you will have to call ball services to bring your luggage when you finally get into your room. Looks as if that will be late, too.

Make sure to get a fastpass for Soarin' as soon as you get to EPCOT. And as soon as your window opens, get another for Test Track.

The kids will probably enjoy the boat ride inside the Mexico pavilion, and the Maelstrom in Norway.