Hey all! Apologizing in advance for a lengthy post.
So I had a trip this June that I've chosen to push to June of 2021. We are splitting between Universal and Disney for two weeks. Although we're going with a larger group, I'm planning like it is just my husband and I and seeing how we link up with everyone else. I haven't been since 2002 and my husband since 1994! Our dates are pretty set and we will at least plan to go to the same parks on the same days but that's as far as the big group planning goes. Now that we have another year, we added more days compared to what we had this year. Before it was a 4 night/6 night split between Universal and Disney. Now we're going to do 6 nights at Universal at Sapphire Falls (Not worried about Express passes, I'm not big on rides so if my husband needs it we will just buy one) and 8 nights at Gran Destino Tower in Coronado Springs. Now that we have a chance to redo the trip, I want to make sure it is even better and get more advice from experts than I did before! Here is the current idea I have for the Disney portion. This is a super rough draft so I'm open to any suggestions!
I had purchased the 5 day 3 park - park to park Military Universal ticket that Universal is honoring for next year and we have a 7 day Stars and Stripes ticket from Shades of Green. We are flying in from Baltimore and not renting a car. We do plan to use Uber if Disney's transportation isn't to our liking.
6/12 - Move from Sapphire Falls (Will be there 6/7 to 6/12) after check out to Gran Destino. Resort time and dinner at Maya Grill
6/13 - Magic Kingdom; Ride priorities are Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Tomorrowland Speedway (I'd do this one), Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean (I'd do this one). We also want to see the parade and would like to do Be Our Guest for lunch like we had planned for this year
6/14 - Animal Kingdom; Flight of Passage; Na'vi River Journey (I'd do this one), Killimanjaro Safari (Super important to us, we'd both do), Expedition Everest. We would like to do Boma for dinner around 5:30 PM with the group like we had planned for this year.
6/15 - Disney Springs/SW:GE?; This is a break/rest day. We don't think we'll be up very early and if we are we'd move slow. We'll probably redo our reservation for Chef Art Homecomin for around 2:30PM. My husband is an enormous Star Wars fan so we thought about going into Hollywood Studios that night just so he can see Galaxy's Edge before the full park day. Not focusing on any rides but may stay for Fantasmic or the fireworks.
6/16 - Epcot; Definitely redoing Breakfast reservation at Garden Grill (Husband loves Chip and Dale). Ride priorities are Soarin and Test Track. Not sure about any of the new stuff that may be open by then so I didn't include it. We plan on spending a majority of our time in World Showcase. We plan on doing the Frozen Ever After Dessert part with the group that night
6/17 - Hollywood Studios; This is my husband's birthday! I'm just going to assume ROTR will still be boarding groups? So we plan on going early unless that changes. Ride priorities are ROTR (I'd do this), Smugglers Run (I'd do this), Tower of Terror. Going to redo reservation for Savi's Workshop to build lightsabers. Wasn't impressed with the food options at Hollywood so I was wondering if anyone has done a nearby resort instead? Like Beach Club, Yacht Club or Boardwalk? Not sure if it would take away from my husband's time in the park to do a nice dinner for his birthday (was looking at the Flying Fish or Yachtsman Steakhouse?).
6/18 - Free Day/VAH (IF they offer it); We were supposed to do the VAH event 6/19 so we're planning as if it will be available but we know that may not be the case. This is a really really relaxed/free day after going so hard at the parks. My Grandfather passed away last year and we were going to do a lunch at Benihana (His favorite restaurant) while we were down there. This day is the anniversary of when he passed. We plan on going back to the resort to relax in the pool before going to Magic at 7 for the event
6/19 - Favorite Park/Pack up; We plan to visit our favorite park again. Probably sleeping in after being up late the night before. My guess is that it will be Animal Kingdom but we shall see. Wasn't planning on making FP+ but maybe I should? Regardless of where we end up, I want to get back to the hotel in the evening to get ready to leave the next day.
6/20 - Fly home, probably in the afternoon for a late morning Magic Express pick up.
I split the days up in Morning, Afternoon and Evening on my planning spreadsheet. I figured that would give us flexibility but let us still do something every day even if it is small. We are not opposed to mid day breaks at all, I honestly expect us to do it at some point. I don't ride rides much but my husband does (I'm a bit of a scaredy cat and I don't mind just looking around and enjoying). We do want to try to see the fireworks/night time show at each park. We're normally early birds at home so I would imagine we would be at the parks early but I don't think we can make it rope drop to fireworks. We also don't eat much on vacation so I didn't want to make too many dining reservations. Pretty much focused on breakfast and dinner, we mainly snack for lunch. We both haven't been since we were kids so we aren't too sure what to expect as adults. Do you normally rope drop on adult trips or sleep in a little? Our goal for this trip is to go at a slower pace, enjoy without murdering our feet completely and have flexibility to go with the flow as much as we can. We don't want to be stressed and run down.
For FP+, I wanted to try to schedule the 3 in the morning. If I'm not rope dropping, how early do folks normally make them for? I know it is a personal choice/about when you wake up but I'm just curious about what others do! I do have a subscription to Touring Plans for both Universal and Disney and plan to utilize it for this trip once it becomes available for my dates!
So I had a trip this June that I've chosen to push to June of 2021. We are splitting between Universal and Disney for two weeks. Although we're going with a larger group, I'm planning like it is just my husband and I and seeing how we link up with everyone else. I haven't been since 2002 and my husband since 1994! Our dates are pretty set and we will at least plan to go to the same parks on the same days but that's as far as the big group planning goes. Now that we have another year, we added more days compared to what we had this year. Before it was a 4 night/6 night split between Universal and Disney. Now we're going to do 6 nights at Universal at Sapphire Falls (Not worried about Express passes, I'm not big on rides so if my husband needs it we will just buy one) and 8 nights at Gran Destino Tower in Coronado Springs. Now that we have a chance to redo the trip, I want to make sure it is even better and get more advice from experts than I did before! Here is the current idea I have for the Disney portion. This is a super rough draft so I'm open to any suggestions!
I had purchased the 5 day 3 park - park to park Military Universal ticket that Universal is honoring for next year and we have a 7 day Stars and Stripes ticket from Shades of Green. We are flying in from Baltimore and not renting a car. We do plan to use Uber if Disney's transportation isn't to our liking.
6/12 - Move from Sapphire Falls (Will be there 6/7 to 6/12) after check out to Gran Destino. Resort time and dinner at Maya Grill
6/13 - Magic Kingdom; Ride priorities are Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Tomorrowland Speedway (I'd do this one), Space Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean (I'd do this one). We also want to see the parade and would like to do Be Our Guest for lunch like we had planned for this year
6/14 - Animal Kingdom; Flight of Passage; Na'vi River Journey (I'd do this one), Killimanjaro Safari (Super important to us, we'd both do), Expedition Everest. We would like to do Boma for dinner around 5:30 PM with the group like we had planned for this year.
6/15 - Disney Springs/SW:GE?; This is a break/rest day. We don't think we'll be up very early and if we are we'd move slow. We'll probably redo our reservation for Chef Art Homecomin for around 2:30PM. My husband is an enormous Star Wars fan so we thought about going into Hollywood Studios that night just so he can see Galaxy's Edge before the full park day. Not focusing on any rides but may stay for Fantasmic or the fireworks.
6/16 - Epcot; Definitely redoing Breakfast reservation at Garden Grill (Husband loves Chip and Dale). Ride priorities are Soarin and Test Track. Not sure about any of the new stuff that may be open by then so I didn't include it. We plan on spending a majority of our time in World Showcase. We plan on doing the Frozen Ever After Dessert part with the group that night
6/17 - Hollywood Studios; This is my husband's birthday! I'm just going to assume ROTR will still be boarding groups? So we plan on going early unless that changes. Ride priorities are ROTR (I'd do this), Smugglers Run (I'd do this), Tower of Terror. Going to redo reservation for Savi's Workshop to build lightsabers. Wasn't impressed with the food options at Hollywood so I was wondering if anyone has done a nearby resort instead? Like Beach Club, Yacht Club or Boardwalk? Not sure if it would take away from my husband's time in the park to do a nice dinner for his birthday (was looking at the Flying Fish or Yachtsman Steakhouse?).
6/18 - Free Day/VAH (IF they offer it); We were supposed to do the VAH event 6/19 so we're planning as if it will be available but we know that may not be the case. This is a really really relaxed/free day after going so hard at the parks. My Grandfather passed away last year and we were going to do a lunch at Benihana (His favorite restaurant) while we were down there. This day is the anniversary of when he passed. We plan on going back to the resort to relax in the pool before going to Magic at 7 for the event
6/19 - Favorite Park/Pack up; We plan to visit our favorite park again. Probably sleeping in after being up late the night before. My guess is that it will be Animal Kingdom but we shall see. Wasn't planning on making FP+ but maybe I should? Regardless of where we end up, I want to get back to the hotel in the evening to get ready to leave the next day.
6/20 - Fly home, probably in the afternoon for a late morning Magic Express pick up.
I split the days up in Morning, Afternoon and Evening on my planning spreadsheet. I figured that would give us flexibility but let us still do something every day even if it is small. We are not opposed to mid day breaks at all, I honestly expect us to do it at some point. I don't ride rides much but my husband does (I'm a bit of a scaredy cat and I don't mind just looking around and enjoying). We do want to try to see the fireworks/night time show at each park. We're normally early birds at home so I would imagine we would be at the parks early but I don't think we can make it rope drop to fireworks. We also don't eat much on vacation so I didn't want to make too many dining reservations. Pretty much focused on breakfast and dinner, we mainly snack for lunch. We both haven't been since we were kids so we aren't too sure what to expect as adults. Do you normally rope drop on adult trips or sleep in a little? Our goal for this trip is to go at a slower pace, enjoy without murdering our feet completely and have flexibility to go with the flow as much as we can. We don't want to be stressed and run down.
For FP+, I wanted to try to schedule the 3 in the morning. If I'm not rope dropping, how early do folks normally make them for? I know it is a personal choice/about when you wake up but I'm just curious about what others do! I do have a subscription to Touring Plans for both Universal and Disney and plan to utilize it for this trip once it becomes available for my dates!