First Disney trip in several years - critique my itinerary!

[WawaCoffee]

My girlfriend and I will be visiting Disney from January 7th-11th. For both of us, the last time we visited Disney was during the 1990s. We wanted to stay longer than just the 7th to the 11th, but this is the only time we were both able to get off of work at the same time. She tasked me with all of the planning, as I enjoy being "in control" of this sort of thing. I haven't been to Disney in a long time (what seems like forever), so any critiquing of my itinerary is greatly appreciated!

Note: Due to a physical injury, my girlfriend cannot go on any rides with sudden twists/turns/drops. This mainly means roller-coasters and rides such as Tower of Terror.


January 7th

• Arrive at Port Orleans Riverside (Royal Room w/Garden View) by 12PM. Leave luggage at front desk and head to Hollywood Studios (this is the park I have very little knowledge of, critiquing is appreciated)
• Grab a quick service lunch
• Fast Pass for Toy Story Mania
• Fast Pass for Star Tours
• Dinner at Sci-Fi (ADR confirmed for 6PM)
• I will possibly jump on line for Tower of Terror and ride solo, if the wait time is short
• Fast Pass for Fantasmic

January 8th (Extra Magic Hours at night for Epcot)

• Breakfast at Garden Grill (ADR confirmed for 8:30AM)
• Fast Pass for Soarin
• Jump on Living with the Land, assuming the line isn't too long and we have enough time
• Fast Pass for Spaceship Earth (we definitely want to ride this twice for nostalgia purposes; once in the afternoon, and once again before exiting the park at closing)
• Grab a quick service lunch
• Fast Pass for El Rio Del Tiempo
• Browse World Showcase, I will possibly jump on single rider line for Test Track if wait time is low
• Dinner at La Hacienda de San Angel (ADR confirmed for 6:15PM)
• Find a good spot for Illuminations at 9PM
• Enjoy more of World Showcase, possibly ride Journey w/Figment, and Spaceship Earth one last time

January 9th (Extra Magic Hours at night for Magic Kingdom)

• Breakfast at The Plaza (ADR confirmed for 9:25)
• Fast Pass for Winnie the Pooh
• Fast Pass for Haunted Mansion
• Grab a quick service lunch
• Fast Pass for Pirates
• Ride Carousel of Progress, People Mover, get Fast Passes for whatever is available
• Dinner at Skipper Canteen (ADR confirmed for 5:30PM)
• Get a nice spot for Happily Ever After
• Enjoy the extra magic hours with whatever rides have the shortest lines

January 10th

• Breakfast at the Plaza (trying to find an ADR for CRT) at 9:15
• Fast Pass for Meet Mickey at Town Square
• Fast Pass for Dumbo
• Grab a quick service lunch
• Fast Pass for It's a Small World
• Find a good spot for the parade at 3
• Meet characters and take it easy until dinner at 6PM
• Dinner at Be our Guest (ADR for 6:30PM confirmed)

January 11th

• 7AM flight from MCO

I feel like I have gone a bit crazy doing all of this, but since we will only be in the parks for 3.5 days, I want to make sure we spend our time wisely, while still having downtime to relax and enjoy our vacation. Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[absolutmey]

Hi! I'll be there that same week.

For HS on 1/7 - If you can pick up a FP for something else, maybe do that. FP for F! aren't great like they used to be. From what I understand, they've cut down the section and there isn't a bad seat in the place.
I'll also be at MK on 1/10 and I'm expecting some heavier crowds because of WDW Marathon participants and their families. Looks like you have your plan and FP, so you should be good.
Other than those two things, your plans look good to me Hope you have a great trip!

 

[DaisyDuck001]

I don't think fastpasses are offered for El Rio del Tiempo, and anyway it usually has a short wait.

But mostly the rest of your plans look pretty good!

 

[dakotix]

Have you considered park hopper tickets? I am assuming you don't have that based on your itinerary. We find it difficult to stay in a single park for an entire day. Usually we go to one park in the morning then go to a second park later in the afternoon. The time between is spent either at the resort to recharge or having lunch at one of the resorts. This is just us and how we like to do things..we go just about every year and so that may factor in to why a whole day at a single park is difficult for us.

Consider doing one of the Disney tours. They can be pricey but there are more affordable ones like the "behind the seeds tour" which isn't too expensive and is a nice break from the walking and rides.

For your first day I would say your fastpass for Fantasmic is not really necessary. We've seen this show a number of times and have never felt the need for a fastpass in order to get a better seat. Its really enjoyable no matter where you sit. Just get there a little early if you want a seat in a more central location.

For your second day you should be able to sail right through the line for Spaceship Earth if you go on this ride at rope drop. We love Epcot at opening because the crowds are really light so you can really enjoy being there before it gets too busy. If you aren't sure what quick service lunch to get, try Norway. We love to do QS lunch there because the food is soooo good. A good spot for illuminations really depends on each individual. We like Canada for that just outside the main store. Everything else looks pretty good!

 

[WawaCoffee]

Thanks for all the advice! We ended up extending our vacation by one day to enjoy two full days in Epcot. This park holds a lot of nostalgic value for us both, so we don't want to miss a single thing. Also, I didn't realize El Rio didn't have a Fastpass line.. whoops! We will definitely be trying Norway for QS lunch one day, and Electric Umbrella the second day (we both ate here as kids).

 

[mustinjourney]

January 7th

• Arrive at Port Orleans Riverside (Royal Room w/Garden View) by 12PM. Leave luggage at front desk and head to Hollywood Studios (this is the park I have very little knowledge of, critiquing is appreciated)
• Grab a quick service lunch
• Fast Pass for Toy Story Mania
• Fast Pass for Star Tours
• Dinner at Sci-Fi (ADR confirmed for 6PM)
• I will possibly jump on line for Tower of Terror and ride solo, if the wait time is short
• Fast Pass for Fantasmic

Drop the FP for fantasmic. Add one for TOT. Once you've used your FP for TOT, you can likely add a FP for F! as your 4th FP.

I'm assuming you're flying in based on the fact you're flying out the last day -- count on it taking 1.5 hours or more from the time you land until when you arrive at your hotel. I would likely start your day with the FP for TOT, then go to TSMM and then ST right before dinner.

January 8th (Extra Magic Hours at night for Epcot)

• Breakfast at Garden Grill (ADR confirmed for 8:30AM)
• Fast Pass for Soarin
• Jump on Living with the Land, assuming the line isn't too long and we have enough time
• Fast Pass for Spaceship Earth (we definitely want to ride this twice for nostalgia purposes; once in the afternoon, and once again before exiting the park at closing)
• Grab a quick service lunch
• Fast Pass for El Rio Del Tiempo
• Browse World Showcase, I will possibly jump on single rider line for Test Track if wait time is low
• Dinner at La Hacienda de San Angel (ADR confirmed for 6:15PM)
• Find a good spot for Illuminations at 9PM
• Enjoy more of World Showcase, possibly ride Journey w/Figment, and Spaceship Earth one last time

Protip -- you should be able to get into breakfast prior to 8:30 -- show up early and hope they seat you right at 8 am. If they do, you can finish breakfast prior to official park opening and be first in line for Soarin'. I would drop that FP and choose Frozen instead since it's a fun ride and very difficult to pick up the day of.

I would also skip living with the land in the morning -- that ride is long, so you're wasting precious early morning time when other rides are shorter.

There is no El rio del tiempo -- I'm assuming this is the boat ride in Mexico? It's now the three caballeros. No FPs for this ride -- and you won't need one.

You might want to consider Mission Space as well.

January 9th (Extra Magic Hours at night for Magic Kingdom)

• Breakfast at The Plaza (ADR confirmed for 9:25)
• Fast Pass for Winnie the Pooh
• Fast Pass for Haunted Mansion
• Grab a quick service lunch
• Fast Pass for Pirates
• Ride Carousel of Progress, People Mover, get Fast Passes for whatever is available
• Dinner at Skipper Canteen (ADR confirmed for 5:30PM)
• Get a nice spot for Happily Ever After
• Enjoy the extra magic hours with whatever rides have the shortest lines

I'd drop the FP for winnie the pooh. If you want to ride it, you can do it in the AM when everyone is standing in line for seven dwarfs mine train. You may or may not enjoy enchanted tales with belle -- if that is something you'd like, a FP for that ride is useful. Also -- I'd trade the FP for pirates for peter pan if you like that ride...it's a tough FP to get. Pirates is pretty easy to get day of. For the fireworks, do not get too close to the castle. You want to be closer to right where the hub meets main street for best viewing.

January 10th

• Breakfast at the Plaza (trying to find an ADR for CRT) at 9:15
• Fast Pass for Meet Mickey at Town Square
• Fast Pass for Dumbo
• Grab a quick service lunch
• Fast Pass for It's a Small World
• Find a good spot for the parade at 3
• Meet characters and take it easy until dinner at 6PM
• Dinner at Be our Guest (ADR for 6:30PM confirmed)

Sign up at touringplans.com and they have a reservation finder thing that you can use to try and book CRT. It's a great tool and has worked very well for me.

IASW does not likely need a FP -- so if there's something else you'd like to do (BTMRR? or Space) I would suggest either of those. Splash mountain? Is that drop too much for her?

January 11th

• 7AM flight from MCO

If taking the bus, you'll be leaving at 4 am -- so I would suggest moving your flight back!

 

[mustinjourney]

Thanks for all the advice! We ended up extending our vacation by one day to enjoy two full days in Epcot. This park holds a lot of nostalgic value for us both, so we don't want to miss a single thing. Also, I didn't realize El Rio didn't have a Fastpass line.. whoops! We will definitely be trying Norway for QS lunch one day, and Electric Umbrella the second day (we both ate here as kids).

electric umbrella might be the worst food option in the entire park.

 

[WawaCoffee]

electric umbrella might be the worst food option in the entire park.

Yikes.. didn't realize it was that bad. We will probably skip it now . Thanks for the heads up!

 

[disneydreamer1980]

I’d also skip the FP for Soarin since you have a PPO breakfast at GG, you shouldn’t need it.

 

[glassslippergirl]

Yikes.. didn't realize it was that bad. We will probably skip it now . Thanks for the heads up!

Consider snacking/drinking around World Showcase for lunch.

Also, I think the rides close when Illuminations starts, so if you watch Illuminations (which I highly recommend), you will not be able to hit Spaceship Earth on the way out of the park at close. Just try to hit it a second time through the day.

 

[WawaCoffee]

I’d also skip the FP for Soarin since you have a PPO breakfast at GG, you shouldn’t need it.

I was honestly torn as to whether I should pick up a FP for Soarin. Our ADR is for 8:30 and the park opens at 9. We wanted to take our time and enjoy breakfast with the characters, so we estimated getting out of breakfast around 9:45. Since the park opens at 9, we weren't sure if there would already be a line for Soarin when we got out of our ADR.

Consider snacking/drinking around World Showcase for lunch.

Also, I think the rides close when Illuminations starts, so if you watch Illuminations (which I highly recommend), you will not be able to hit Spaceship Earth on the way out of the park at close. Just try to hit it a second time through the day.

There are Extra Magic Hours (9PM-11PM) for this night, so I'm assuming Spaceship Earth will still be open?

 

[bopper]

• Fast Pass for El Rio Del Tiempo
• Browse World Showcase, I will possibly jump on single rider line for Test Track if wait time is low
• Dinner at La Hacienda de San Angel (ADR confirmed for 6:15PM)

Do you need a fast pass for El Rio? But why do you want to go to Mexico, make your way around the world, and then go back to Mexico?

 

[BillyRay_Omaha]

You have a plan and that's all that really matters, so many people I talk to go down with no real plan and end up having a poor experience.
Only thing I can tell you since you seem to really know what your doing is watch the Illuminations show in Germany right next to the boat dock kind of on the left. Perfect I mean Perfect view and best of all it's not crowded.

 

[WawaCoffee]

• Fast Pass for El Rio Del Tiempo
• Browse World Showcase, I will possibly jump on single rider line for Test Track if wait time is low
• Dinner at La Hacienda de San Angel (ADR confirmed for 6:15PM)

Do you need a fast pass for El Rio? But why do you want to go to Mexico, make your way around the world, and then go back to Mexico?

We originally didn't realize that El Rio doesn't have FP After Spaceship Earth, we will browse World Showcase counter-clockwise until dinner in Mexico.

 

[mustinjourney]

I was honestly torn as to whether I should pick up a FP for Soarin. Our ADR is for 8:30 and the park opens at 9. We wanted to take our time and enjoy breakfast with the characters, so we estimated getting out of breakfast around 9:45. Since the park opens at 9, we weren't sure if there would already be a line for Soarin when we got out of our ADR.




There are Extra Magic Hours (9PM-11PM) for this night, so I'm assuming Spaceship Earth will still be open?

get to park at 7:45 and they will let you in early. Garden Grill typically will seat you when you get there -- it's unlikely they will make you wait until 8:30.

 

[mustinjourney]

I was honestly torn as to whether I should pick up a FP for Soarin. Our ADR is for 8:30 and the park opens at 9. We wanted to take our time and enjoy breakfast with the characters, so we estimated getting out of breakfast around 9:45. Since the park opens at 9, we weren't sure if there would already be a line for Soarin when we got out of our ADR.




There are Extra Magic Hours (9PM-11PM) for this night, so I'm assuming Spaceship Earth will still be open?

If there are EMH the night you are there -- you can honestly do everything in future world in 2 hours. Test track is often a walk on (especially single rider) -- mission space is a ghost town. Spaceship earth will definitely be a walk on at 9:30 pm and nemo, land and figment are all walk ons at that point. You can do all of those and then hit soarin' at 10:45 pm easily. I've done it several times. Not hard at all.

 

[GillianP1301]

Jan 7 - looks good to me, I wouldn't change anything
Jan 8 - I would drop the FP for Soarin' and check into your ADR closer to 8am. You will be done before the RD crowd make it to that ride. I've used this strategy several times and works like a charm. You could then FP Test Track for yourself for later in the day. Since there is no FP for the Mexico ride, you could try the Frozen Ever After ride instead. I'm not a huge fan myself, but the line is always long and it's worth experiencing once, even for a non Frozen fan.
Jan 9 - looks good to me
Jan 10 - Small World and Dumbo would not be my first picks for fastpasses, but because all the mountains are out for you, then you really are choosing between the secondary rides (as far as popularity). If you want to ride Jungle Cruise, you may want to consider that for a fastpass, it always seems to have a long line when I'm there. And for sure if you want to ride Peter Pan (for nostalgic reasons most likely) then for sure you want to fastpass that one.

 

[MomOTwins]

Here are a few thoughts:

EMH: Not sure if you are aware, but generally parks that have EMH are the most crowded for the day. I would normally recommend avoiding EMH days, and more so for your because you can't ride the coasters.

Animal Kingdom: Since you haven't been to WDW in a while, I wanted to note that Animal Kingdom is now more of a full day park due to the addition of Pandora World of Avatar. Since you mentioned you added a day, it might be worth switching one of your EP or MK days (maybe the day with EMH so you can avoid it) to see AK.

HS: HS is notorious for having terrible quick service, so maybe you would be better off eating at the hotel quick service before heading out to the park.

EP: Frozen Ever After might be a good use of your third fast pass. It has one little drop, but comparable to the Pirates of the Caribbean which you said you were going on, so I'd assume it should be fine for your girlfriend.

MK: I second others that that I would drop the fastpass for Pooh, Dumbo and Small World. You can almost certainly get all three as a fourth fastpass. I would suggest Peter Pan, Jungle Cruise, and Buzz Lightyear as good choices instead.

 

[DisneyBelle27]

Just another plug for getting a park hopper, but since you have limited time you are leaving out an entire park (one of my faves!), and a park that would be entirely new to you if you haven't been to WDW since the 90s. Just a thought, but if you got a hopper then maybe one of the 2nd full Epcot or MK days you could actually rope drop Animal Kingdom, and get to experience FoP, which I haven't been on yet (have fp's for my Dec trip) but have heard is the best ride currently in WDW. It's also just an absolutely beautiful park, I find the attention to detail stunning, and if you love animals that makes it even more awesome. Festival of the Lion King is probably the best stage show in all of the parks, Killimanjaro Safaris is fantastic, and seeing the level of detail sculpted into the Tree of Life is really impressive.

Anyway, don't want to throw a monkey wrench into the plans, just wanted to throw an additional option in there, and throw some love AK's way, lol.

 

[DisneyBelle27]

Animal Kingdom: Since you haven't been to WDW in a while, I wanted to note that Animal Kingdom is now more of a full day park due to the addition of Pandora World of Avatar. Since you mentioned you added a day, it might be worth switching one of your EP or MK days (maybe the day with EMH so you can avoid it) to see AK.

Great minds think alike, lol. We posted at almost the same time.