Please critique my August plans!!

[Daisy7425]

When you do that do you do quick service dinners? When you have table service lunch and dinner on the same day, how many hours do you try to put between them? Enjoy your trip!

We have only been once, so I'm not an expert. We had the meal plan for that trip, so we would do do a snack for breakfast, quick service lunch and sit down dinner (usually). We still thought that was too much food (and we love to eat). The sit down meals are sometimes like attractions themselves (if characters are there or if its a unique setting) and they can literally take HOURS. Take Chef Mickey's for example - leave our hotel room at 11:30, arrive at 12:00 (even though we were next door at the Polynesian), check in a little early for a 12:15 reservation, seated at 12:30, 90 minutes to see all characters and eat and then time to pay the bill and then transportation back. From our hotel room door and back it would be probably 11:30 - 2:00/2:30.

So to answer your question, I personally would not do table service lunch and dinner on the same day. If I had to, then I would space them out as far as possible. I guess you could do an 11:00 lunch and a 7:00 dinner. If I had to do two table service meals, then we would do breakfast and dinner, but we almost always rope drop, so that would throw a wrench in those plans.

A regular adult could happily survive all day on snacks - sleepy hollow waffle with Nutella and berries for breakfast, turkey leg for lunch, bacon Mac and cheese fries from Casey's corner and throw in a dole whip - 4 snacks and probably 3 days worth of calories.

For our next trip, we will definitely skip the meal plan and just focus on enjoying the parks more. Everybody has their own way of doing it though, and so many people love two sit down meals and

 

[20yBWDW]

I would personally love this itinerary, but my kids at 8 and 10 would have had a mutiny. They were (still are) all for the parks, with pool in second place, and restaurants way, way down (though they all did and still do have restaurants they love and want to visit every time). This seems to have the reverse priority (restaurants, then pool, then parks).

If that is an accurate reflection of what your family wants, great. But pointing it out because I think it's also possible to get caught up in restaurant planning, underestimate how long each experience will actually take, and not realize how much you lose in park experiences by not taking advantage of the first 90 minutes.

I have found my kids did and best with a few hours in the morning of short lines, many rides, followed by pool time in the hottest part of the day, then a nice meal and flexible evenings. And of course a sleep in day every few days.

That may not be your family at all, but mentioning because I hear the same from other families with similarly aged kids.

Bottom line: only you know what will make your family happy. But dont underestimate the value of early morning park time or the amount of time the meals will take. Or the mid-day heat.

ETA: in fairness, I may be bringing a bias here. My family does not love Epcot rides and shows the way they do the other parks, so that influenced my view of 4 Epcot days vs 2 days in MK, etc. But maybe your family just loves Epcot attractions.

 

[Dee Hill]

My kids are currently 8, 11, and 13
I know this has already been stated, but I highly recommend being at the park before rope drop. Whenever we go, our mornings are crazy. If you are waiting before rope drop you can hit a bunch of rides with no lines. I was at MK a couple weeks ago just for the day (we recently moved to FL). I planned my trip the day before I went, so fastpasses weren't great. I rode 6 rides from 9-11:30 with only one line (20 minutes for Belle's Storytime). I walked right onto the others.
Try to get lunch or dinner TS reservations.
When we plan big family trips, we go back to the hotel after lunch to chill at the pool everyday. You don't realize how overstimulated you and the kids can be until you walk into your room. This refuels everyone. We try to book our fast passes for when we return to the park after the hotel "refueling" session.
The last big trip we had was in September... it was hot. One TS meal was enough. My kids wanted a lot snacks and water (don't use your snack vouchers on water).
It is great that you get to focus on what your family wants this time. Have a wonderful time!!!!

 

[DeluxePrincess]

I went in August last year. The heat will be your number 1 concern. If I were on the Dining Plan Plus, I would probably do Breakfast or Early Lunch and Dinner at the Table Service Restaurants. I would avoid the parks from noon to about 5pm. That was our nap/relax/swim time. It worked really well. August 16 seems like a lot of time at AK. That place is so hot and it was rather difficult to find a place to sit down and cool off at. So many people were just lounging at the Quick Service restaurants to get some time out of the heat.

 

[Karnor00]

For the Friday when you move from AKL to Yacht Club you might be better going to the park that day and having a pool day another time.

I say this because your Yacht Club room won't be ready until the early afternoon so you would have nowhere much to put stuff when you arrive.

Instead if you head out to a park after breakfast, then the hotel services can take care of moving your luggage between the resorts. Then by the time you finish in the park you can just head to Yacht Club by which time your room should be ready and your luggage (hopefully) arrived - although it might be worth taking swimsuits in a bag to the park (put them in a locker) in case your luggage gets delayed.

 

[BeckyEsq]

Yak and Yeti is great for lunch. It's in a good location midway in the back of the park right when you really need a break from the heat.

My DD would complain about that much pool time. She would be clamoring to go "ride something!" Plus that's a lot of sun exposure at that time of year (it's worse in the water).

I would not do a leisurely morning on AK day -- it's brutally hot there and you need to use the early morning hours when you can. I've gone in August many times. Take the breaks in the afternoon.