Sample Itinerary??

[FirstTimertoDiz]

DH and I are leaving June 15 for our first trip ever to Disney....these boards have helped a great deal in trying to plan our trip, but I do have a question for anyone who has planned trips before...can you give me an example of what itinerarys your family has used? We are planning on some special events while there besides Disney, like Cirque de Soleil and a magic show, and also Universal and the Holy Land Experience, but now I am worried that I won't fit everything into our 8 days there!!

Any kind of help is appreciated....Lisa

 

[Kermit]

When I make an itenerary, I try to think about what's most important and plan those things first. For example, if you want to see most/all of the nightly parades, fireworks, and other special shows, start there since there are so many of them and you can't catch very many on any given night. Then plan your meals, and the park days will just sort of fall into place. You can decide if you want to spend the whole day in one park or if you want to park hop most days. I like park hopping because it makes it feel like you've done so much more that day.

 

[WDW2002]

A lot of what will be on your itenerary depends on how long your trip is and what is important to you.

We are going for a 14 day trip at the beginning of December. I looked at what others have said about the crowd patterns at different park and went from there. The first four days are 1 park each day

Sat - Epcot
Sun - MK
Mon - MGM/DS
Tues - AK

With one day at each park, I "plugged" in some "other things" like Water Parks, DTD/Cirque, Fort Wilderness for trail ride and campfire. etc. Some days are half park days half other things, some are half rest days have activity etc. Right now I have pluged in 10 days worth of activities, with 4 unplanned days, which I am sure will get filled up the closer we get and after the "schedule" comes out

 

[KJMAX1]

My husband and I went for our first time to Disney for our honeymoon. I have a list of current days on which parks you should be in for low crowds. I must say, we stayed 9 days, and we got up at 11am Est time, (We live in Pacific so it was 8am for us) and stayed out until 2am everynight, and I am telling you, we did not even see half of it. I bought several Disney books and found that when we sat down and decided what each of us REALLY wanted to see, and then placed them in order of where we entered and the course to walk to get to the next thing, it really helped! My husband kept nit picking that I was planning too much, and that it would cause such stress. Do you know the number one thing he kept saying? "Honey, I am so glad you planned, this is my best vacation ever!" We saw and did A LOT. We are both in our 20s so we had the energy as well. I would say get a book, write down the things you want to see according to park, and then land, and then develop a plan. Do not worry if you stop to see something else instead, just keep moving on. It leaves more to be discovered next time. For us, we felt we needed to do each park twice because it was the only way to get things in. The only park we did not return to was Animal Kingdom.

You might consider not going to Universal just because of the amout of stuff they have their. I dont know if you can ever feel like it was worth it and I only say this because its your first time to Disneyworld. I know coming from Seattle and going to Disneyland a ton of times, this is no comparison. In fact, there just isnt a comparison. We were so overwhelmed by the size of Disneyworld, that its just hard to explain. Think of the city of San Francisco, thats the size of WDW (got that out of my guide book). I dont think we ever left WDW except to go to the airport, its just that big.....I dont even see how people do half days at the parks. Maybe after we have gone a few times we can do half days. At any rate, if you want to email me you can. We did Cirque as well and loved it. The last showing was the best in my book. Allowed for a whole park day, back to the hotel to refresh, and then off to the show.

If you go to the HolyLand let me know what it is like.

 

[cindyfan]

Also, going in June the crowds will be getting heavier. and the HEAT will be settling in. Allow time to cool down at the pool in the afternoon.
We always plan a "do nothing" day right in the middle of our trip in order to recuperate from the parks and heat.
That is the day we sleep in and just do the pool, rent boats or bikes and do shopping at Downtown Disney.

But DEFINITELY get some kind of plan down on paper. That way you are not sitting aroung saying "what do you want to do today???" That wastes time.
Plan Animal Kingdom early in the AM. The park gets to be about 15 degrees hotter than the others in the afternoon.
Make sure you pick an evening for the MK parade and fireworks. Check the schedule because they don't have them every night, even in June. I just check for June 6th - 17th and the parade is not running on Sundays or Wednesdays.
Take advantage of the transportation. Example....hopping from MK to Epcot on the monorail to catch the Illuminations. Or take the boat from Epcot to MGM.

Planning the trip is one of the funnest parts for us.
So hope you have a great time!!

 

[Dana_Buckley]

I have been planning our first trip as well, but with 2 yo DS. BTW, we leave Thurs. I have learned a lot from reading the trip reports. You can get an idea of how much you might get done each day.
I think to start planning, plan the evenings first, E-ride nights, the shows, fireworks, parades and any late night dinners. I don't know if you have made any PS yet, but this would be next. Then the mornings/days will fall into place. Last week I posted my itinerary and received some valuable suggestions, such that I changed a few things around. If there is something really out of place, someone will kindly offer an alternative.
I am sure you will have a wonderful time! Relax & take it easy!
I am going to try to!