Critique Our Plan? 2 Day Park Hopper Eat Your Way Around Disney Trip

[zKatze]

Only about 10 weeks to go until our Disney Trip! Ours is a Mother/Daughter trip (she'll be months shy of 18). Our main objectives are nice food (vegetarian/vegan), Star Wars and the World Showcase at Epcot. We will have access to a car, but my track record of driving around disney has not been great (I've gotten turned around and "lost" more than once even with the help of Google Maps).

We're planning a total of 3 days at WDW with a 2 Day Park Hopper ticket. The main thing I'm struggling with is how to get from point A to point B...whether Disney Transportation is an option or if driving is our only option.

Day 1 HS/Explore Wilderness Lodge-Fort Wilderness/Epcot Preview
8:00 - 8:30 Hotel Check-in (POR)
8:30 - 9:00 Travel to HS
9:00 - 10:30 HS: Star Wars Launch Bay/Star Tours
10:30 - 11:00 Walk to Beaches & Cream
11:00 - 12:00 Beaches & Cream (11:05 res)
12:00 - 2:30 Hollywood Studios
2:30 - 3:15 Walk to Boardwalk Resort/Take Bus to MK
3:15 - 3:45 Ferry to Wilderness Lodge
3:45 - 5:15 Explore Wilderness Lodge/Salaat
5:15 - 5:45 Walk to Fort Wilderness
5:45 - 6:55 Explore Fort Wilderness
7:05 - 9:00 Dinner @ Trail’s End
9:00 - 9:45 Bus to Epcot
9:45 - 11:30 World Showcase
11:30 - 12:30 Bus to Resort (POR)

Would you drive to HS or take the bus considering that we're planning to have dinner at the Trail's End and want to take the ferry from Magic Kindom? With the park open until 11pm will it be easy to catch a bus from Ft. Wilderness to Epcot? If our car is at HS will it be a problem for it to be there until 11:30 or so even though that park closes at 9pm?

Day 2 Epcot/HS
7:00 - 7:15 Travel POR to Boardwalk Bakery
7:15 - 8:15 Boardwalk Bakery ($20)
8:15 - 9:00 Wait for Rope Drop - International Gateway
9:00 - 12:00 Future World
12:00 - 1:00 World Showcase or HS
1:00 - 1:30 Walk to Sci-Fi Drive-In
1:30 - 3:00 Sci-Fi Drive-in
3:00 - 5:30 HS or Epcot (move car elsewhere if necessary)
5:30 - 7:45 World Showcase
7:45 - 9:30 Tokyo Dining
9:30 - 11:00 Magic Kingdom or Dessert @ Ample Hills & Bus to POR

Our first challenge is getting to the Boardwalk early enough to have breakfast there before rope drop. We can drive, but if we finish up our day in MK, getting back to our car at HS could be an issue.

Is it even feasible to get to Magic Kingdom after dinner at Epcot? We should be finished around 9:00pm -- if are car is parked at Epcot or HS, would we be able to get back to it using Disney transportation (both parks close before MK)? Should we take the car back to the hotel in the middle of the day and bus it back to the park?

Day 3 Explore Monorail Resorts/Lunch @ Tea Room
9:30 - 10:00 Check Out
10:00 -10:30 Bus to MK
10:30 - 11:30 Explore Polynesian & Grand Floridian
11:30 - 2:00 12:05 Garden View Tearoom
2:00 - 2:30 Back to POR
2:30 - Depart for Home

 

[LSUfan4444]

nice food (vegetarian/vegan)

Well, I'm out. I've got nothing.


Just kidding (not really)...

12:00 - 2:30 Hollywood Studios
2:30 - 3:15 Walk to Boardwalk Resort/Take Bus to MK

Why not take the bus from HS to MK?

12:00 - 2:30 Hollywood Studios
2:30 - 3:15 Walk to Boardwalk Resort/Take Bus to MK
3:15 - 3:45 Ferry to Wilderness Lodge
3:45 - 5:15 Explore Wilderness Lodge/Salaat

If your goal is to get from HS to Wilderness lodge why not just take a bus from HS to Wilderness Lodge? Is it simply to take the ferry? Personally, I wouldn't sacrifice that much time to take a ferry ride.

But if the ferry is the objective you'd want to rely on disney transportation for the day otherwise you're going to end up having to either drop the car off somewhere in the morning or going back to get it at some point.

Our first challenge is getting to the Boardwalk early enough to have breakfast there before rope drop. We can drive, but if we finish up our day in MK, getting back to our car at HS could be an issue.

Id just take the Disney bus to Hollywood Studios and walk from there.

Is it even feasible to get to Magic Kingdom after dinner at Epcot? We should be finished around 9:00pm

Parking at the TTC is going to cost you alot of time. I'd just stick to disney transportation or uber to contemporary

 

[zKatze]

Why not take the bus from HS to MK?

I thought there were no Park to Park Busses....that's why we were walking to the resort to get to the other park.

If your goal is to get from HS to Wilderness lodge why not just take a bus from HS to Wilderness Lodge? Is it simply to take the ferry? Personally, I wouldn't sacrifice that much time to take a ferry ride.

But if the ferry is the objective you'd want to rely on disney transportation for the day otherwise you're going to end up having to either drop the car off somewhere in the morning or going back to get it at some point.

Yes, the ferry is part of the objective. She wants the experience of the ferry ride.

Id just take the Disney bus to Hollywood Studios and walk from there.

We can't take the Disney bus in the morning because it doesn't run early enough for us to get there for breakfast before rope drop.


Thanks so much for you input!

 

[LSUfan4444]

I thought there were no Park to Park Busses.

There are...you can get to MK from HS via bus

We can't take the Disney bus in the morning because it doesn't run early enough for us to get there for breakfast before rope drop.

You will have plenty of time. Busses will be running shortly after 7 am..you could be at HS before 7:30, be at Boardwalk Bakery by 7:50 and be at the IG no later than 8:20 (conservatively) if you don't want to take the car

 

[zKatze]

There are...you can get to MK from HS via bus



You will have plenty of time. Busses will be running shortly after 7 am..you could be at HS before 7:30, be at Boardwalk Bakery by 7:50 and be at the IG no later than 8:20 (conservatively) if you don't want to take the car

I'm not sure why I was thinking there was no bus between parks...holiday overload maybe...

I'm still undecided about our morning plans though. I'd prefer to reach the HS by 7:00am for a morning walk on the boardwalk...maybe we'll try uber

 

[zKatze]

Take 2 on our touring plan (revised to get more out of our Park Hopper tickets):

Day 1 HS/Epcot Preview/MK
8:00 - 8:30 Hotel Check-in (POR)
8:30 - 9:00 Travel to HS
9:00 - 10:30 HS: Star Wars Launch Bay/Star Tours
10:30 - 11:00 Walk to Beaches & Cream
11:00 - 12:30 Beaches & Cream (11:05 res)
12:30 - 2:30 World Showcase Preview
2:30 - 3:15 Monorail to MK
3:15 - 5:15 Magic Kingdom
5:15 - 6:00 Ferry to Ft. Wilderness
6:00 - 6:55 Explore Fort Wilderness
6:55 - 9:00 Dinner @ Trail’s End
9:00 - 9:45 Bus to Epcot
9:45 - 11:30 World Showcase
11:30 - 12:30 Bus to Resort (POR)


Day 2 Epcot/HS/??
6:45 - 7:15 Uber POR to Boardwalk
7:15 - 8:15 Boardwalk Bakery ($20)
8:15 - 9:00 Wait for Rope Drop - International Gateway
9:00 - 12:00 Future World
12:00 - 1:00 World Showcase or HS
1:00 - 1:30 Walk to Sci-Fi Drive-In
1:30 - 3:00 Sci-Fi Drive-in
3:00 - 6:00 Park Change or Resort Break
6:00 - 6:30 Back to Epcot
6:30 - 7:45 World Showcase
7:45 - 9:30 Tokyo Dining
9:30 - 11:00 Magic Kingdom or Boardwalk at Night


Day 3 Explore Wilderness Lodge/Lunch @ Tea Room
9:00 - 9:30 Check Out
9:30 -10:00 Bus to MK
10:00 - 10:30 Ferry to Wilderness Lodge
10:30 - 12:15 Explore Wilderness Lodge
12:15 - 1:00 Ferry back to MK
1:00 - 1:30 Monorail to GF
1:30 - 3:00 Garden View Tearoom
3:00 - 3:30 - Bus Back to POR (from MK?)

 

[DizzneyDi]

Just one thought, isn't Trail's End buffet pretty meat-heavy for vegan/vegetarians?

 

[zKatze]

Just one thought, isn't Trail's End buffet pretty meat-heavy for vegan/vegetarians?

Our understanding is that there are vegetarian items on the buffet (vegetarian is actually pescetarian) and they will accomodate the vegan and that we shouldn't shy away from Trails End because of this.

 

[DizzneyDi]

Our understanding is that there are vegetarian items on the buffet (vegetarian is actually pescetarian) and they will accomodate the vegan and that we shouldn't shy away from Trails End because of this.

I'm sure that any Disney restaurant can accommodate vegetarians or vegans, but you're paying a premium price for the buffet and essentially getting a salad bar, maybe one or two fish choices and some veggie sides. Fort Wilderness is nice but if it were me I'd grab dinner elsewhere.

 

[zKatze]

I'm sure that any Disney restaurant can accommodate vegetarians or vegans, but you're paying a premium price for the buffet and essentially getting a salad bar, maybe one or two fish choices and some veggie sides. Fort Wilderness is nice but if it were me I'd grab dinner elsewhere.

Thank you for your input. We appreciate it. I've shared your comments with my daughter and she assures me that she's done her homework on the restaurant and this is where she wants to eat.