General Flow of my day? Thoughts?

[MrVargas]

I'm in the early stage of my planning my first trip to Disney World. I am 35 years old, married with two kids and my son and daughter will be 8 and 6 at the time of the trip.

Usually we go on big vacations with extended family which always made organization a hassle and lots of compromises on what to do and lots of arguments and back and forth, etc. Last summer we did a cruise, just the 4 of us and we loved it. Key things to us liking it so much:
- I planned every day so we always knew what we were doing. (excursions, activities, etc.)
- We took a nap every day so we were able to stay up late and not be crabby
- We were not stressing about money because almost everything is prepaid.

I am trying to incorporate as many of these elements as possible.

We are going for 10 days in July, we are staying at All-star movies in a preferred room and we will have the regular dining plan and I'm imagining a daily flow like the following:

7am-8am - Wake up/get ready
8am-9am - Breakfast in the food court and catch the bus to that day's theme park.
9am-3pm - Attractions/Rides and either split a lunch or use snack credits for small lunch in between
3pm-5pm - Back to the resort for a quick nap
5pm-10pm - Nice sit down dinner and then the theme park for the rest of the night. When at all possible I want to book dinner at the park we are in (I've researched the best places in each park)

On Water park days (I want to visit Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon) I won't return to the resort and instead I'll do the dinners that I want to try that are not at a theme park (Maybe Ohana or Hoop-Dee Doo Musical RevueO and then we can explore something outside the parks (Disney Springs Area, ESPN, Miniature Golf, carriage rides/horseback riding, etc.) in the evening.

 

[mekay1012]

We always try to be at the bus stops between 7-8 for a 9 am opening. If you can be at the park for rd, you can get a lot done in that first hour. 3-5 isn’t a very long break. It could possibly take up to an hour to get back to your resort if you are using the buses.

 

[Spunky946]

That is not enough time for a nap. I wouldn’t leave the park for two hours. It could take you an hour to get back to your resort. I always leave myself four hours for a break time.

 

[Nancyg56]

I am not sure you have allowed for travel time in your planning. If you leave the parks daily and want to rest or to swim, 2 hours is not going to be enough time. I know it may not always take an hour, however you should budget that amount of time both to and from your destination. Especially in the morning, if you want to hit a park at 9 AM RD I would be at the bus stop by 8 AM the latest.

Look at schedules because I am not sure all day in a park would to take a toll on the family. If we are planning an later night in a park, we start later in the day. For instance, if I want to close a park to see fireworks, we start later in the morning and hit the park later in the day.

I also would keep in mind the size of the parks, and all the walking there is. Personally, I would be sure to schedule a down day mid trip.

 

[Spencer Wright]

That is not enough time for a nap. I wouldn’t leave the park for two hours. It could take you an hour to get back to your resort. I always leave myself four hours for a break time.

I agree. I would advise maybe having the break start at about 1pm. It can make it seem like not a lot of park time on paper; but this is how we have always traveled and it works out well.

 

[glocon]

If you really only want to budget 2 hours of down time, don't use the buses, use uber.

 

[disneydreamer1980]

First of all, I’m assuming your talking about July 2019? I hope so! I’d do a quick grab-n-go breakfast (maybe from your room or using snack credits at food court) and do a QS lunch in the park, they’ll enable you to get to the park earlier. If possible, get there for rooe drop and you’ll be able to get a lot done before your break. I’d do rides from RD til about 11:00, eat and go to room. Come back around 4 or 5 and continue touring park. That’d just me though.

 

[No.1000]

The food courts are really busy that time of morning and you will miss the shortest wait times of the day if you are not at the park at rope drop. We usually grab a snack in the room, then a snack in the park later. Have fun!

 

[winnieofpooh]

I agree with everyone else, extend the break time and try to get to the parks earlier! The cafeteria at AS will be insanely crowded in the 8-9am period. If the park opens at 9, I'd try to grab breakfast at 7:30 and then head to the bus, and try to be at the park by 8:30. I'd also take my break around 1, especially since AS isn't really close to any of the parks, except maybe AK. The evening plan seems good though!

 

[Mome Rath]

I'm in the early stage of my planning my first trip to Disney World. I am 35 years old, married with two kids and my son and daughter will be 8 and 6 at the time of the trip.

Really good ages for a first time trip for the kids!

- I planned every day so we always knew what we were doing. (excursions, activities, etc.)
- We took a nap every day so we were able to stay up late and not be crabby
- We were not stressing about money because almost everything is prepaid.

The planning is definitely great and is a necessity, and yes, if the nap scenario worked well, plan for that to make things go smoother.

We are going for 10 days in July, we are staying at All-star movies in a preferred room and we will have the regular dining plan and I'm imagining a daily flow like the following:

7am-8am - Wake up/get ready
8am-9am - Breakfast in the food court and catch the bus to that day's theme park.
9am-3pm - Attractions/Rides and either split a lunch or use snack credits for small lunch in between
3pm-5pm - Back to the resort for a quick nap
5pm-10pm - Nice sit down dinner and then the theme park for the rest of the night. When at all possible I want to book dinner at the park we are in (I've researched the best places in each park)

On Water park days (I want to visit Blizzard Beach and Typhoon Lagoon) I won't return to the resort and instead I'll do the dinners that I want to try that are not at a theme park (Maybe Ohana or Hoop-Dee Doo Musical RevueO and then we can explore something outside the parks (Disney Springs Area, ESPN, Miniature Golf, carriage rides/horseback riding, etc.) in the evening.

Well, since you are there for 10 days you will have a lot more flexibility, so that's good. I would guess that you may find this schedule will work some days, but perhaps not others (in other words, plan but don't freak out if you want to tweak plans). As other's have already pointed out; this schedule will put you at the busiest time for the food court and that is significant at a value resort because it can get really hectic. If a hot, full breakfast is a must then I would perhaps go a bit earlier, or you'll be headed to the parks at the busy morning rush. Another idea is to have things in the room to munch on, head to parks, ride a few things and then grab something then.

Many people find they can either get up early or stay up late, but not both, simply because of the heat, sun and walking (and putting up with other humans in mass crowds), and that's even with a nap. If you stick with buses, average about an hour for travel each way. Sit downs are a good break, but they do take up more time and the portions are pretty big... meaning you may find you don't want a back-to-back sit down restaurant every day (others love having at least one sit down every day, but our crew doesn't enjoy that), esp. where there are so many QS restaurants to try (like at EPCOT).

 

[greg9x]

Agree with what most are saying... I'd move your morning schedule up at least 30 minutes so get to breakfast at 7:30 if really want to do that. Try to catch bus around 8:15 for 9 park opening, still probably cutting it close even then, but you don't have to be in right at RD if you don't want.
I also agree that it is timelier to eat a light breakfast in the room and then a snack or early lunch at park. And an earlier lunch will help beat the crowd there.

For afternoon leave around 1 and head back around 5:30.

Yeah, the bus time can add up.. you may get to stop right when bus does and have a 15 minute ride, or it could be 45 minutes to an hour if have to wait.

 

[Deanie1]

I cannot stress enough how important rope drop is in the morning. You can get so much done in that first few hours without lines. This is what I do and it has always served me well:

- Have clothes laid out the night before and bags ready to go. If you prefer not to sleep with your magic bands on, have them on top of your bag where you can’t miss them. We have a quick breakfast in the room. I usually take instant oatmeal and have it with milk that I have bought at the food court.
- Get to bus stop by 7:50. I have noticed that a lot of buses come at 8am (for 9am park opening) and I want to be there BEFORE the bus gets there.
- I generally start booking my 3 fastpasses around 10am for MK and AK and earlier for Epcot but I am no expert on this as I have only done it once. As soon as those are done, I start looking for more.
- We are usually hungry so we eat around 11:30 for lunch. I have a regular sized lunch.
- I agree that the break time needs to be longer and you will need a break if going in July.
- For our family, we usually do 3 park days followed by a water park day. Since the water park opens a bit later, we have a bit of a sleep in, get to water park upon opening, knowing where we plan to park for the day. We love the water parks so we stay until 4pm or so. Then we go to the resort, have dinner somewhere and get to bed early, ready for the next park day.
- I always have a plan for the day which I follow until around 1pm and then we sort of wing it. Enjoy! Don’t forget to stop and smell the roses and allow for spontaneity. I also go for 10 days each visit.

 

[dreamit]

Since you're getting up early anyway, I'd absolutely use the time to your advantage by rope-dropping the parks, eating a light breakfast in your room or while traveling to the parks. On some days, consider a TS lunch versus dinner. It's a welcome break from the heat and crowds. I agree with what @Mome Rath said about most not doing both late nights and early mornings. We begin our trip with rope-drops, some TS lunches, and back to the resort near dinnertime. Mid-trip, we have a day away from the parks. Then the second half of the trip we have some later starts and stay later at the parks. We only do mid-day breaks when we're at Magic Kingdom and are staying at the Polynesian. We find that we otherwise spend too much time traveling to and from the parks. I've followed advice on the boards and found our trips to be so much more enjoyable when I'm not trying to overplan our days. Though, I go in with a plan-- I'm just fine if we stray from it.

 

[Alesia]

I would skip breakfast in the food court -- yourey not going to get to the parks until about 10 am. At that point, lines will already be building. We get to the bus stop at least an hour before the park opens bring snacks to eat while we're waiting.

2 hours is not enough time for a nap. By the time you get to your room, it'll be time to turn around and head back.

Preferred rooms are generally pretty noisy. Bring earplugs.

 

[NewCrew42]

It's July and it is going to be hot. We generally pick up Cliff bars or something easy to eat for breakfast in the gift shop when we arrive. We usually eat our breakfast in the room while getting dressed. The earlier you get the park, the cooler the temperature will be.

As others have said, transportation to and from the resort will take around an hour each depending on how lucky get with catching a bus. If you only have two hours, basically, you would take the bus to the resort then catch one back to the park.

If we stay late in the park in the evening, we plan to arrive later the next day. If you have a late night, have a late morning the next day. If you go back to the resort early in the evening, arrive to the park early the next day.

 

[jaletu2000]

Well, it's been 10 years since I did this! But I remember we ate breakfast in our room - early! Of course we drove and so we packed breakfast items and a cooler. If you are flying, I would definitely use the resort food court. If you get up and going early, you can get fed and still catch the bus. Try it one day and see how it goes. Then if you find you are wasting time, you can perhaps buy snacks in the park for breakfast. We found that two meals a day and maybe a snack was more than enough! It's just so exciting to be there! I really envy you and your family this first time trip. You will make great memories!

 

[Deanie1]

We fly and we still eat in the room. It might be worth your while to get a grocery order (get a case of water bottles too) delivered to your resort. We have never done it but I would have when our kids were travelling with us, had I known. But we can get by with a muffin, fruit, and milk/coffee. We are usually ready for lunch by 11:30 though.

If we are doing a TS, we often do it for lunch. It is a nice break with AC. You will have fun, whatever you do.

 

[slpeters]

We did pretty much exactly this type of schedule for a week last November and it worked great. I would concur about waking a little earlier and taking a longer break. We did EMH each day and opened and closed a park each day with a break in between. Because of the EMH we were usually in a park by 7 or 8 in the morning and staying until 10-12 at night. We usually left the first park some time between 1 and 2 and then left the resort for the second park some time between 4 and 5. I know the 1:00 looks early to leave but we were arriving at either 7 or 8 most days and the morning TP usually had 10-14 steps. By 1:00 we were ready to sit on the bus for a while and ready for that nap--and despite not having any children we actually took that nap. On a sidenote we used Disney transportation and didn't find it to be a problem at all--for us it was part of the break. After 3 hours or so we were ready for another 5-6 hours in the evening park. For us opening and closing a park each day wasn't a problem, but we actually took the naps--and there weren't any kind.

I was a little surprised how relaxing the whole hyper-planned vacation was. I wasn't sure how my husband would feel about that, but when I asked him about it he pretty much said: "Yeah, it's really relaxing I mean we take a nap each day. We don't even do that in Puerto Vallarta." Plus it was sort of like we could turn off the adult portion of our brains. We didn't drive, worry about how much stuff cost, worry about what to do next or how to get there. I think you're going to have a great trip!

 

[rentayenta]

I agree with the PP that said 2 hours is not enough for a nap; 2 hours once you get to your resort but getting to your resort could take 30-60 min depending on variable factors. Also getting back to the park will take some time. I plan on 4 hours min for midday breaks to include travel to/from.

 

[skramer100]

If you are into planning, do rope drop everyday. Get the big rides done quickly in the AM. Pack a breakfast and some water/juice for kids. Have lunch at park or go back to resort for nap/pool. Head back around 4-5 pm for dinner and more rides. Living in Florida for the last 23 years, 2-5 pm in July is up there with 3 hours in hell. It is either gonna be hot and humid as heck, or it will be hot, then pour for 30 minutes, and get humid as heck. Avoid those hours like the plague. If you plan everything out, you can get most of the rides done by 1. My wife is a project manager and we are done with rides early, head back for pool/rest, then go back at night for casual rides/fireworks. Very nice way to do it.