Disney World Trip Itinerary

[1mom2dylan]

Could you look over my itinerary and let me know if there is anything I should change. I tried to base which parks we went to on the specified days based on the crowd calendars. We are not usually early morning people and getting on rides is not a priority. So far my son (4 y.o.) has refused to get on any rides so we don't plan on waiting on any long lines. He likes Star Wars, legos, animals, Wall-e, Robots) I bought 5 day park tickets ( not park hopper). Any advice on what I should add/remove would be appreciated. We are staying at the Polynesian. We are going 8/18-8/25

Sunday –
arrival- 10 am
Check out Downtown Disney
Garden Grove Buffet Character Dinner – 5pm (Swan Hotel)


Monday-
Hollywood Studios
– Jedi Training
Play ‘n Dine Lunch -1:40 pm (Hollywood & Vine – Echo Lake – Hollywood Studio’s)


Tuesday-
Magic Kingdom Rope Drop
Buffet with Character Lunch 2:35 at The Crystal Palace



Wednesday-
Epcot- The Garden Grill - Future World 4pm Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Harvest Feast Dinner –
Illuminations at Epcot


Thursday-
Animal Kingdom- Kilimanjaro Safari –
Rainforest Cafe lunch 1:45 pm


Friday-
Contemporary Resort - Chef Mickey's Fun Time Buffet 11am
then Magic Kingdom
-wishes


Saturday-
Blizzard Beach
Ohana Dinner 5:15 pm Poly Resort


Sunday-
Ohana’s Best Friends Breakfast w/ Lilo & Stitch 10:25 am
Departure 4pm

[egoldber]

So when you say he doesn't like rides, what types of rides are we talking about? Very few rides at WDW are fast, thrill type rides. Even the gentle, experience rides can have a long wait time.

To best enjoy the MK, I would absolutely get there as early as you can. I would move all your meals on MK days to be in the park and for a late lunch or early dinner. Truly, the difference between morning at the MK and afternoon is astonishing.

I also can't imagine staying in a monorail hotel and waiting a day and a half to go to the MK.

You say boat to the Boardwalk. Do you mean a bus?

I would get 6 day tickets if not longer. The cost differential from 5 to 6+ is very small and that way you can go into the MK or another park on your arrival and departure days.

The Lego experience at DD is just a Lego store. I wouldn't plan a whole day there. I would consider going to a water park and then DD for dinner.

[megs4413]

Sunday –
arrival- 10 am
Garden Grove Buffet Character Dinner – 5pm (Swan Hotel)


With such an early arrival, I would suggest planning something out for this day. your room may not be ready for a while so you could explore the resort or check out downtown disney. Once you've got your room you can swim. Just a thought. :)

Also, as a general note, if your son doesn't like rides, you might consider doing some pin trading. That's a very fun activity that isn't ride or line dependent.



Monday-
Hollywood Studios
– Jedi Training
– Star Tours
Play ‘n Dine Lunch -1:40 pm (Hollywood & Vine – Echo Lake – Hollywood Studio’s)

If you think he'll be willing to ride star tours, there's no reason to think he won't ride other things. Toy Story Mania is by far our favorite ride (family-wise) in all of Disneyworld. It's not scary and is really more of a game than a ride. If I were you, I'd consider sending someone to grab fast passes for it.

If he's not into rides there are lots of other things at DHS to enjoy:
-the magic of disney animation: take a class where you learn to draw a disney character. if you head there at the right time of day, they bring out characters for meet and greets. It's not really publicized, so the lines are usually pretty short. I want to say it was right around noon, but I will have to look it up to be sure on my old touring plans from our last trip. it was very worth it for us. we saw characters that are unusual including pinocchio and gepetto (sp?)
-Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular: this is a fun show. my kids LOVED it the first time we went, but DS found it scary the second trip. don't know why. the good thing is that you can exit during the show if you need to. Consult the times guide on the park map for performance times.
-Muppet vision 3D: this is a movie sort of presentation. my kids loved it. 3D glasses and some other effects in the theater. not scary.
-Honey I shrunk the kids playground. It's a playground made to look like the sets from the movie. beware: there is some water play.
-Disney Junior live on stage. it's just what it sounds like.
-Lights, Motors, Action stunt show
-Studio Backlot Tour
-we love the parade at DHS. it's a must-see for us.


Tuesday-
10 am Ohana's Best Friends Breakfast w/ Lilo & Stitch) at Polynesian Resort –
then Magic Kingdom in afternoon
– Wishes at MK


Again, if you're not looking for much in terms of rides, here's what I would make sure to hit:
-sorcerers of the magic kingdom: beware, this is addictive and requires a lot of walking. we spent 4 days playing this game all over MK the last time we went. you could do it more low-key than we did. it's a good bit of entertainment if you're not riding rides.
-Tom Sawyer Island
-Mickey's Philharmargic (we LOVE this show)
-Casey Jr splash and soak station (a water play area)
-Tomorrowland Speedway: technically a ride, but your'e driving little go karts, which he might like a lot. they give the kids a mickey driver's license and my son still talks about that.
-Monster's Inc Laugh floor (a comedy show with the Monsters Inc crew)
-Country bear Jamboree

I'm sure there's more than that, but that's off the top of my head. I'd just work my way around the hub, hitting the things you're interested in



Wednesday-
take boat to Boardwalk,
Epcot- The Garden Grill - Future World 4pm Chip ‘n’ Dale’s Harvest Feast Dinner –
Illuminations at Epcot

I'm not sure what you mean here by take boat to boardwalk. You mean you want to enter through the international gateway? I am not aware of a boat launch from the poly that takes you to the boardwalk. your quickest route from the poly to epcot is to take the monorail.

non-ride stuff at epcot to enjoy:
-Agent P missions in world showcase
-i highly recommend either making ahead of time or purchasing at the park a passport to take through the world showcase. my kids LOVED this. they are available in the park at most of the stores and they're not too pricey. if they take it to the staff person at each kid station in the world showcase, the person will stamp it and write a small message in the language native to that country.
-the seas with nemo and friends: there is a ride, but if your son won't want to do it there are plenty of other indoor activities and also turtle talk with crush
-Innoventions (tons of stuff to do in both east and west innoventions)
-Living with the Land-this is kind of a ride, but not exactly. my kids really liked it.



Thursday-
Animal Kingdom- Kilimanjaro Safari –
Rainforest Cafe lunch 1:45 pm

so on this day, you are going to need to go straight back to the safari when you get in the park. if the wait is an hour or less, ride. if not, get the fast pass to return later.

non ride stuff:
-lion king live
-carnival games in dinoland usa
-it's tough to be a bug (movie, too scary for my kids)
-character trails
-boneyard playground




Friday-
Contemporary Resort - Chef Mickey's Fun Time Buffet 11am
then Magic Kingdom

since you have two MK days, I would split the park in two: Adventureland/frontierland/liberty square one day and tomorrowland/fantasyland/main street the other. you could potentially do it all in one day, but it would be tiring.



Saturday-
Afternoon in Downtown Disney (Lego Imagination Center)
Ohana Dinner 5:15 pm Poly Resort

Did you look into the pirates' league?



Sunday-
Ohana’s Best Friends Breakfast w/ Lilo & Stitch 10:25 am
Departure 4pm

that should be awesome!

[megs4413]

So when you say he doesn't like rides, what types of rides are we talking about? Very few rides at WDW are fast, thrill type rides. Even the gentle, experience rides can have a long wait time.

To best enjoy the MK, I would absolutely get there as early as you can. I would move all your meals on MK days to be in the park and for a late lunch or early dinner. Truly, the difference between morning at the MK and afternoon is astonishing.

I also can't imagine staying in a monorail hotel and waiting a day and a half to go to the MK.

You say boat to the Boardwalk. Do you mean a bus?

I would get 6 day tickets if not longer. The cost differential from 5 to 6+ is very small and that way you can go into the MK or another park on your arrival and departure days.

The Lego experience at DD is just a Lego store. I wouldn't plan a whole day there. I would consider going to a water park and then DD for dinner.

this is all great advice.

[TwinFoxes]

I think you've received excellent advice. I do think you may find your DS is more into rides than you think. Things like Dumbo really appeal to kids. My DDs have never seen the movie, and hadn't even read the book yet. One look at a baby elephant flying, and they were hooked. He also might like the Jungle Cruise. Even the steamboat is fun for kids. It's funny you mention Star Tours, that's the only ride I refuse to go on at Disney! And I did Mission Space! It makes me motion sick, too enclosed.

If you wait until afternoon to hit MK in August I think you will hate it. Everything will have a line, not just the popular rides.

Has anyone recommended "The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World" to you yet? It's a great book for beginners, and for "pros". There's also an Unofficial Guide....with Kids. It gives you great info on attractions that are worth seeing, and ones that you might want to skip. It's well worth the money.

[1mom2dylan]

I'm hoping he'll be willing to at least try the rides and shows. He's never been to an amusement park, so we'll see. He's gone to the Lego Discovery center and refused to ride their ride and watch the movie. He did like all the hands on stuff. He's been to a 4D movie and freaked out. I only mentioned Star Tours because of his love for Star Wars, but I'll cross that off the list.
I wanted to go to MK on monday but the crowd calendar said it would be busy. I'll change the MK days to morning.
I ordered the Unofficial Guide, Hopefully I won't be so clueless after I read it. You are all giving me great tips, thank you so much!
Disregard my "boat to the boardwalk", I thought I could take the ferry, but I'll take the monorail.
Is there a line to get the fast passes? not sure how that works.
Maybe I'll change DTD to sunday after checkin, and then do Blizzard beach on Saturday?

[megs4413]

I'm hoping he'll be willing to at least try the rides and shows. He's never been to an amusement park, so we'll see. He's gone to the Lego Discovery center and refused to ride their ride and watch the movie. He did like all the hands on stuff. He's been to a 4D movie and freaked out. I only mentioned Star Tours because of his love for Star Wars, but I'll cross that off the list.
I wanted to go to MK on monday but the crowd calendar said it would be busy. I'll change the MK days to morning.
I ordered the Unofficial Guide, Hopefully I won't be so clueless after I read it. You are all giving me great tips, thank you so much!
Disregard my "boat to the boardwalk", I thought I could take the ferry, but I'll take the monorail.
Is there a line to get the fast passes? not sure how that works.
Maybe I'll change DTD to sunday after checkin, and then do Blizzard beach on Saturday?

I think it would be hard to do blizzard beach if you're not in your room yet, so keep that in mind. Star Tours probably won't work for you. If he freaked out at the 4D movie that might eliminate Philharmagic (at MK) and muppet vision 3D (at DHS.) some of the "rides" are really just more slowly moving vehicles that tour through scenes. have you been on it's a small world? pretty much every park has a couple of rides that are very similar. I would try him on something like that and see if he'll do it. i wonder why he didn't want to do the legoland ride.

[spunkybaby]

I would suggest posting your itinerary at the Easy WDW forums. The people there were very helpful when I was planning, and it's much less overwhelming than the disboards, although I spent tons of time there too.

http://www.easywdw.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?7-Itinerary-Planning