Can you review my itinerary, please?

[KrisM]

Can you experts chime in on what I have for our trip so far? We'll be there Sat. April 5 through Sun April 13, 2014. My kids will be nearly 10, almost 8, and 5.5. They are mostly morning kids, although DD likes to sleep in until 7:30 at times . Regular wake-up times are 6:30 or so, so I'm shooting for mornings over nights.

Saturday: Arrive MCO 2:15. Check in at POR. Go to Epcot. I was thinking a FP + for a couple things, if I can. We'll watch IllummiNations.

Sunday: Hollywood Studios before rope drop. Lunch at Sci Fi. We'll skip Fantasmic and not have a late night.

Monday: Epcot for rope drop. Late lunch at Akershus. Leave the park in early evening.

Tuesday: Magic Kingdom for rope drop. Hoop de Doo for 4pm. Chip and Dale Sing-a-long at 8pm.

Wednesday: open. Or maybe go to Animal Kingdom for Safari and Tusker House breakfast and leave. Then, hang out at the resort and go to Magic Kingdom for Wishes.

Thursday: Animal Kingdom for rope drop. Tusker House for late-ish breakfast. Spend evening at resort. OR, if we do Safari on Wed., we'd sleep in and hit AK later in the day.

Friday: Magic Kingdom for rope drop. If we haven't seen Wishes, see them tonight.

Saturday: Epcot for rope drop. Biergarten for lunch. Or leave it open to see where we want to go back to.

Sunday: Not sure. Maybe Chef Mickey for late breakfast after we check out. Maybe downtown Disney after until we go to the airport.. We don't have a flight yet and it looks like 2pm or 6:40 pm will be our choices. The crowd levels go to 10 this day, because it's the week before Easter.

My brother suggested the alternate AK plan. He says AK very much clears out in mid afternoon, as most people get there early and are done by the parade. He said to go early for Safari and breakfast and then leave and do something else. I like that it would give us a relaxing day and then Wishes at night. Following it by a sleep in day would be nice. But, that one day makes us have to get hoppers. Or we can skip Wishes that night and not get Hoppers and just have a long MK day on Friday.

I can make ADRs in 2 weeks, so I'm trying to get things sketched out enough to do that. I mostly followed the calendar at easywdw.com.

Comments?

ETA: None of the days are currently EMH parks. So rope drop is 9am. We'll likely rent a car and drive to the parks, except MK.

[egoldber]

My brother suggested the alternate AK plan. He says AK very much clears out in mid afternoon, as most people get there early and are done by the parade. He said to go early for Safari and breakfast and then leave and do something else.

Your brother is absolutely right. After the parade at AK, there is a mass exodus. AK is definitely a 1/2 or 2/3 day kind of park.

Why are you waiting until day 4 for the MK? Honestly, my kids would be exploding at that point LOL! Are you going to watch the afternoon parade at the MK that day? It will be hard to make a 4 PM HDDR if you do.

[KrisM]

Your brother is absolutely right. After the parade at AK, there is a mass exodus. AK is definitely a 1/2 or 2/3 day kind of park.

Why are you waiting until day 4 for the MK? Honestly, my kids would be exploding at that point LOL! Are you going to watch the afternoon parade at the MK that day? It will be hard to make a 4 PM HDDR if you do.

I was following the crowd calendars and they say that the other days are days to avoid at MK. The crowds are supposed to be a 5 or 6 all days that week, until Sunday. I'm not sure how busy this really is, so I figured we'd follow their suggestion. I also read that sometimes it's nicer going to Epcot, which might be the least 'thrilling' place before MK so kids find they really do enjoy it. My kids haven't been there, so I'm not sure they have many expectations. DS1 still does not want to go . DD wants to meet princesses, so we did the Akershus near the beginning, and DS2 wants to meet Disney Jr. characters.

Had not thought about the parade at MK.

[egoldber]

My kids love all the parades, so we definitely have to factor those into our plans. But do NOT miss the night time electrical parade at the MK. That really is a must do IMO.

[brittone2]

My kids love all the parades, so we definitely have to factor those into our plans. But do NOT miss the night time electrical parade at the MK. That really is a must do IMO.

I assume you have to be *in* the MK to view the electrical parade there? I know you can catch fireworks, etc. from outside the parks in certain locations, but I haven't gotten to read up yet on whether there are any alternatives for viewing the electrical parade. For some reason I don't think I have this on our schedule right now, but I think that's because of trying to catch wishes and having dinner reservations too close to the electrical parade. Our 2nd day at MK I don't think there's an electrical parade scheduled.

[egoldber]

You must be in the MK to see it. I've never actually seen the night time water parade. Which is on the lake around the MK.

Although you can see things like Wishes from outside the park, it really is an entirely different experience to be IN the park and see it. I don't think you can see much of Illuminations or Fantasmic outside the park at all. I know you can see some of the highest fireworks, but you will not see the vast majority of the shows which take place closer to the ground.

[KrisM]

We can do the night time electrical parade the same night as Wishes. Do you often see the parades more than once on a trip, or is scheduling them once enough?

Should I disregard the crowd calendars and move MK up in the week, figuring it's more important to be there early than it is on the 'right' day?

[egoldber]

Honestly, I've never consulted a crowd calendar. I make a spreadsheet with the park opening/closing times, parade times, and fireworks times. I then loosely plan our days to be able to see all the parades and fireworks. Then I add in a couple meal reservations.

Typically we go at very low crowd level times, so it doesn't really factor into my plans. So I am truly not sure how to advise you in that regard. One reason I like the parkhoppers is we can start the day at the MK, decide it's too crowded, go somewhere else and then head back to MK just to see parades and Wishes if we need to that night.

[KrisM]

Honestly, I've never consulted a crowd calendar. I make a spreadsheet with the park opening/closing times, parade times, and fireworks times. I then loosely plan our days to be able to see all the parades and fireworks. Then I add in a couple meal reservations.

Typically we go at very low crowd level times, so it doesn't really factor into my plans. So I am truly not sure how to advise you in that regard. One reason I like the parkhoppers is we can start the day at the MK, decide it's too crowded, go somewhere else and then head back to MK just to see parades and Wishes if we need to that night.

That makes sense. This was the lowest time we could find to go, crowd-wise. Plus it's our only trip, so I don't want it to be packed. Maybe getting hoppers makes the most sense. Everything I've read says even on the most crowded days, if you get there early and have a plan to hit certain things right away, it's good. It's the early afternoon when things start getting busy at MK and HS, especially. Hmmm. More things to think about!

[brittone2]

I'm planning on us seeing Wishes one night from Ca Grill (mostly because I'd like to eat there, although recent reviews seem not as positive), and then hopefully a 2nd night from inside the park. I need to look at the schedule though as I might have to rework things to make that happen. I don't think Wishes is happening our 2nd night in MK, and right now we are planning to skip park hoppers (may reevaluate that). Maybe I should cancel Ca Grill so we can see Wishes from inside MK.

Since you've been there in the off season, how have you found leaving at night? I expect crazy, but have you found it to be worth the craziness to be there for the fireworks? It sounds like it I've read reviews talking about the massive wave leaving that sound rather intimidating with 3 kids, although 2 will hopefully be in strollers. I am planning for us to see Illuminations from inside Epcot for sure. I worry a little about taking 2 hours to exit afterwards though, kwim? As of now I think we'll rent a car, as the idea of having to find a bus back to POR with major crowds seems unappealing.

Sorry for the threadjack, Kris. I hope it was okay to post as I figure we have some overlapping questions right now. I'll start my own thread for my other questions.