Feedback on Feb 2019 Weekend Itinerary

Keckster

Earning My Ears
Joined
Oct 18, 2018
Here's what I have lined up for Feb. 1-4 visit to WDW with just wife, no kids:

Feb 1: Arrive @ MCO airport 2:35p; check-in PO French Quarter resort by 4p and then off to DS; 6p DR @ Ragland Road.

Feb 2: Arrive AK by 8:30a; FP Safari 9-10a, 10a Lion King show, FP Everest 10:30-11:30a, FP Flight of Passage 12:35-1:35p. Bus to visit Grand Floridian for mid-day drinks/snacks/desserts; monorail to MK by 3pm; grab whatever FPs sequence available (most likely take Adventure-Frontier-Fantasyland route); 7p DR @ Plaza Restaurant; 8p Fireworks; Park is open to 11p but not sure we'd stay that long, but probably long enough to avoid the post-fireworks mass exodus.

Feb 3: Arrive EP by 9a; FP Soarin' 9:25-10:25a, FP Spaceship Earth 10:25-11:25, FP Mission: Space 11:30-12:30; World Showcase 1-6p; 7:30p DR @ Coral Reef; probably won't stay for fireworks.

Feb 4: Nothing planned but for breakfast and then off to the airport for 11:10a departure.

This is will be our 2nd visit in the last 6 months (previous was Oct. 2018 with two kids and wife ended up missing most of our EP day--our excuse for going back). We are planner people, but trying to go at a slower pace in Feb. Does it still seem like too much?
 
Not sure if it matters to you or not, but Illuminations is going away, so this will be your last chance to see it. Might want to plan on staying at EP for that iconic evening show. I think your plan seems very relaxed. ENJOY!!

You probably know this, but in case you don't, if you're taking Magical Express to the airport on the 4th, they'll pick you up around 8:00 a.m., so that needs to be an EARLY breakfast.
 
It looks good, except I'd be a bit nervous about the Raglan Road ADR. Because this is a short trip, though, I'd probably risk the $10/person cancelation fee if my flight were delayed a bit.

I hope you enjoy POFQ! It's such a great size. Make sure you grab some beignets. :-)
 
Just my 2 cents that Feb. 2 does not sound like a "slower pace" and I feel like your move to GF and then back to MK might be rushed unless you really hit the transportation jackpot.
 


I think this is a pretty solid plan. On your AK day, Feb 2nd, if your FoP FP ends at 1:35 and you estimate you'll get to GF by 2:15-ish then you'll have less then an hour at GF before you leave for MK. But that's all up to you on how long you spend there or how much it matters to you to fit GF into your schedule. Just seems a little tight for me! Besides that, I think it's pretty good. I hope you enjoy your trip!
 
Looks like a pretty good plan. I hope you plan on hitting a few rides in AK before using that 9-10 Safari FP. You'll basically walk onto anything not named "Flight of Passage" that early in the morning, so I wouldn't beeline to Safari. Better yet, can you change your Safari to 11:30-12:30?
 
Thanks everyone for feedback and suggestions. Feb 2 is kind of packed since we are park hopping between AK and MK. Basically only planning to ride what we have FPs for at AK so hopefully leisurely walks between rides. We're planning to make FoP at the beginning of FP window so we'll have more chill time at Grand Floridian. With MK in the afternoon, we'll just be mainly winging it until dinner and there really isn't any "must do's". We literally crammed all 4 parks-4 days in October + Halloween Party and successfully rode everything we intended (except Test Track). I definitely mastered the art of snagging and modifying those 1 at time FPs after initial 3 via the app.
 


Arriving at the airport at 2:35 and being checked in by 4:00 is very optimistic if using ME. If renting a car or taking Uber it is more realistic. From landing to resort last Sunday was 2 hours and 5 minutes for us.
 
Arriving at the airport at 2:35 and being checked in by 4:00 is very optimistic if using ME. If renting a car or taking Uber it is more realistic. From landing to resort last Sunday was 2 hours and 5 minutes for us.

I agree. If you are driving this all might be doable. If not, be prepared to Uber to Dis Springs to make that ADR
 
I notice you have the safari and Flight of passage as FPs on your AK day... did they take the safari out of tier 1 now??
 
If that was for a family with kids I'd say no way, but for two adults it seems pretty solid to me. Enjoy! =)
 
Arriving at the airport at 2:35 and being checked in by 4:00 is very optimistic if using ME. If renting a car or taking Uber it is more realistic. From landing to resort last Sunday was 2 hours and 5 minutes for us.
We had really good ME experience from Orlando airport to Coronado Springs back in Oct 2018. We arrived 12:25p; on ME at 12:40p; pulled into Coronado at 1:20p. Of course, what do they say when investing... "past performance may not be indicative of future results." Oh, and for those wondering how I recall times from October, it's definitely not a good memory, but picture timestamps (departing plane, sitting on ME bus, and CSR sign as we first pulled in).

I think my biggest concern now is a TSA and Air Traffic Controllers striking for not getting paid if the government shutdown keeps going into February and disrupts flights. I'm going to make it point to thank TSA workers as I go through security. We should know of flight problems by 12:30 in Atlanta. Is modifying a reservation on the day of the reservation subject to $10 fee per person?
 
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Feb 1: Arrive @ MCO airport 2:35p; check-in PO French Quarter resort by 4p and then off to DS; 6p DR @ Ragland Road.

Feb 2: Arrive AK by 8:30a; FP Safari 9-10a, 10a Lion King show, FP Everest 10:30-11:30a, FP Flight of Passage 12:35-1:35p. Bus to visit Grand Floridian for mid-day drinks/snacks/desserts; monorail to MK by 3pm; grab whatever FPs sequence available (most likely take Adventure-Frontier-Fantasyland route); 7p DR @ Plaza Restaurant; 8p Fireworks; Park is open to 11p but not sure we'd stay that long, but probably long enough to avoid the post-fireworks mass exodus.

Feb 3: Arrive EP by 9a; FP Soarin' 9:25-10:25a, FP Spaceship Earth 10:25-11:25, FP Mission: Space 11:30-12:30; World Showcase 1-6p; 7:30p DR @ Coral Reef; probably won't stay for fireworks.

Feb 4: Nothing planned but for breakfast and then off to the airport for 11:10a departure.

So we got back yesterday and here's how it all ended up going down...

Feb 1: Arrived in Orlando on schedule. We would have checked in before 4p, but we were the third stop on ME (Old Key West and Saratoga Springs were the first stops). We were in our room by 4:15. A quick freshening up and walked to catch the boat to DS. We had about 5-minute wait for the boat to arrive, but we hit the dock by 5:00 and transferred to the internal DS boat to get the landing. We checked in to a very busy Ragland Road at 5:45 and still managed to get seated by 5:55. End up taking the bus back as we wanted to get back quicker. We literally arrived at the bus stop as the POFQ bus pulled up. (The first of many perfect timing events with the Disney transportation system).

Feb 2: We decided to catch breakfast at POFQ (Mickey Beignets and coffee) instead of eating at AK, so we didn't actually arrive at the park until 8:50 so EMH rope drop had already occurred and 9a rope drop was about to happen. Did the Safari, and Lion King show, leisurely walked to Asia to knock out Everest. Ate lunch at quick service Yak & Yeti. Leisurely walked over to Pandora and basically killed time taking pictures and people watching as we had about 15 minutes to kill before FoP FastPass window. We scrapped going to Grand Floridian for a mid-day break and went back to our resort POFQ so we could actually lay down and rest for a while. Our bus again had just pulled up when we arrived at the AK bus stop. Got back to resort and in our room by 2:00 and stayed there until 5:00. Headed out for MK and had a slightly longer wait (10 minutes tops) for the bus. Arrived at MK and through security/gate by 5:30. We actually went to Tomorrowland direction and saw Carousel of Progress and did the People Mover then headed over to Mickey's Philharmagic. By this point, the Castle route was closed in prep for projection pre-show and Fireworks, so had an extra long walk through a very tight crowd to get back to Plaza Restaurant, but arrived at 6:50 for 7 reservation. It started to sprinkle rain, but we were seated before it really started to rain. By the time dinner was over, the rain had stopped. We skipped the fireworks show and opted to hit the Pirates (essentially a walk-on) and Haunted Mansion (10-minute wait) as crowds were building after the fireworks had ended. since the only FP I was able to get earlier was an 8:30-9:30 Small World, which we did right have HM. While walking to get in SW boat (post FP scan), I got a Winnie Pooh FP for 9:00-10:00 window. We wrapped up our evening with Pooh and then headed out. Arrived at Bus Stop just as POFQ bus was pulling up (I said to my wife the bus gods are smiling on us). We were back in our resort room by 10:15.

Feb 3: Intentionally had a slower start getting up and out, but again less than 5-minute wait for our bus. Arrived EP at 9:30, but took about 15-20 through security. Rode Soarin' (easily a 15-minute wait even with a FP). Ate late breakfast while still in the Land pavilion. Decided to modify FP for Spaceship Earth to end of our day and leisurely walked to Mission: Space. FPs for Frozen and Test Track already gone. Did the World Showcase tour starting about noon and finished up about 5:30 (which included the Grand Fiesta Tour in Mexico and American Adventure show). Rested and people watched for about 20 minutes near Figment Imagination then headed over to the Seas Pavilion for Nemo, Turtle Talk, and the aquarium. Checked in to Coral Reef Restaurant at 7:00 to see if could be seated earlier. We got in by 7:05 and finished dinner by 8:10. Decided to skip Spaceship Earth on the way out even though we had FP because we were ready to be back to the resort. And for the fourth time, our bus pulled up right as we arrived at the bus stop. We were back in our room by 9:00.

Feb 4: Up, packed and luggage checked in to ME by 7:30. Grabbed a muffin and waited for 8:10 arrival of ME (which was more like 8:20). Made it to the airport by 9:00, took less than 5 minutes to get through security. Departed Orlando on schedule.

So all-in-all, even though we adjusted a few things, we pretty much accomplished almost everything we set out to do, while navigating around the multiple dance teams that invaded the parks (it was dance team competition weekend).
 

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