The Welte's At Disney: Our Itinerary

Today is THE DAY that we fly to the most magical place on Earth! I cannot wait to see our girls' faces when they realize that we are getting on a plane and heading to Disney World! 

We've been talking about going for a few weeks now, but the girls haven't known when we were leaving! We've wanted to keep the trip a surprise as best as possible, but I'm not very good at keeping secrets, and I really wanted Gretchen's input on a few things!

We'll check in to our hotel this afternoon and we'll have dinner at Chef Mickey's.

I plan on getting to bed as early as possible since we won't be getting much sleep this week! 

Today, I'm discussing our park days! I've spent some time on Facebook groups, blogs, Pinterest, and Disney's website, and talking with our travel agent about what we wanted to do and see.

Once I selected our Fast Passes, I googled for the specific Park Maps, and started planning each day. I figured out the times that each park opened and closed; read advice on the times to arrive, which direction to head first, and which were the most popular rides, that we might want to hit earlier in the day.
I also looked into which characters we would be meeting at our meals, which characters are specific to each park, and which characters we might want to skip. We plan on skipping characters at the parks that we know we will be meeting at meals. For example, we will be eating at Cinderella's Royal Table, so we will be skipping a few princesses at the parks)

You can click on each photo to enlarge it. Once I researched Hollywood Studios, I figured out the time we needed to arrive, and the time the park opened. From everything I've read, you want to be there before each park opens! Our Hollywood Studios day will start around 9. We grabbed fast passes for the Disney Junior Live on Stage show. I figured that once we got in to the park, took a few photos, that we'll head to the show first thing. After the show, we'll have time for a few rides. I considered the proximity of each ride, and wrote down the height, so I can figure out before hand if both Gretchen and Megan will be able to ride. We have a lunch scheduled at Hollywood & Vine, and I wrote down the characters that we should be meeting there. We have another Fast Pass scheduled right after lunch, then we'll walk across the park and try to complete the activities we have planned for that area. Our last Fast Pass is for the Frozen Sing Along, and then I figured we would grab a quick dinner, try to do a few more activities, the parade, and then head back to our hotel.

Hollywood Studios is more shows and less rides. I don't think the big girls will be too exhausted, but if we need to skip the parade, we will and head back to the hotel early. I also planned that we'll need at least 1-1.5 hours for each ride or show. Most of that will be wait time. And, I realize, we probably won't get to ride everything or see everything that we want to. I wrote down the highlights for our family and what we would really want to try to do! If we can't do it, then we will just move on to the next and go with the flow!

I also don't plan on telling the girls that we're doing "such and such" event next. That way, if the line is to long, we can skip it and no one will be sad. 

DJ and I really wanted to go to Epcot! Most people say that it's not a park for kids, but after looking at everything there is to do, I think we'll have a lot of fun! I was really surprised by the amount of characters that we'll actually get to see at Epcot! We will arrive early in the morning, and head straight to Spaceship Earth. Now, most sites that I visited suggested to NOT visit Spaceship Earth first! Since it's the first thing you see when you walk in, that's what most people go toward. However, it was our dedicated Fast Pass time and we could not change the time due to how Epcot's Fast Pass system works (It's a tier program.) We don't have another Fast Pass until 1:30, so we'll take that time to tour all of the countries. I am hoping that we can fill up on snacks and have a late lunch! I wrote down what each "country" was famous for, and I thought it would be fun to sample that as we go along! Mexico has Churros, Germany has candy, and there's a wonderful bakery in France! As we go along, we should be able to meet many characters too! After our tour of the countries, we'll head to The Seas w/ Nemo & Friends (Fastpass) and then to Soarin (Fastpass). Megan and Adalyn won't be able to do Soarin, so DJ or myself will take Gretchen and then whoever has the little ones will find something to do. Once Soarin is over, we can catch dinner and head back to the hotel!

 

Most people have said that you can really only spend about a half day at Epcot, but with how our fast passes lined up, we'll spend a full day there. I would love to head back to the hotel afterwards to let the girls swim or play on the playground or atthe splash pad at our resort, but we'll also need to get to bed super early, because Magic Kingdom will be the very next day!

Magic Kingdom has totally overwhelmed me! Now that I've planned and really looked into actiivities, I wish we would have added an extra day so we could do MK twice. There's just so much to do! I decided that since Hollywood Studios has shows, and Epcot has several characters, that MK will be focused on rides!

 

MK opens at 7 am, and we'll be able to take advantage of the extra magic hours since we are staying on property. I know that the only way to get everything done that day, we'll have to arrive early! Now, most websites I read, say to enter MK and head to your left. Most people naturally head to their right. Someone had commented on this particular facebook post, that it's the way we drive. People from England, will head to the left at the park, and Americans head to the right. (Since that's the side of the road we drive on.) I really wanted to take this advice and head left, but once I started looking at the park map, we'll head north east. I'm also hoping that since we are taking advantage of the magic hours, we'll miss the long lines. My planned first stop is the castle (as this will be the least crowded time to get pictures) and then to head toward the teacups and Dumbo. Those are classic rides, and we don't want to miss! I'm hoping that we'll be able to squeeze in at least two more rides, before we have to be at our first fast pass stop. (The 7 Dwarfs Mine Train.) After that ride, we should be able to ride It's a Small World (another classic) or Peter Pans Flight before we head to our lunch reservation at Be Our Guest.

 

After lunch, we'll head toward Tomorrowland, hit two rides (Buzz Lightyear- Fast Pass) and then we'll try to hit Space Mountain. I'm thinking that DJ or myself will take Gretchen on this one, while the other one darts across the park with the little girls to play on the Swiss Family Treehouse and maybe meet Tinkerbell. Finally, we'll hit Frontierland. Again, one of the adults and then Gretchen can ride the two rollercoasters located there, while the other one takes the little girls to Tom Sawyer's Island.

 

We'll meet back up to head to meet Anna & Elsa (Fast Pass) and then we'll rush to appointments at Bippiti Boppiti Boutique. We seriously have 20 minutes to see Anna & Elsa and get to our appointments on time! I'm a little (okay, a lot) nervous about this!

 

Once we get finished at BBB, we'll have about one hour before our dinner reservations at Cinderella's Royal Table.

During that hour, we'll either catch a parade, or hightail it over to Toontown Fair to play in Mickey and Minnie's houses.

 

After we eat, we'll very likely head back to the hotel. I would love to stay and watch the parade at 9 that night, but we'll have had such a long day that we'll need to guage it on how the girls are feeling.

 

Listen, I know that we have A LOT on our list! We very likely won't be able to get even half of it finished! (especially our MK day!) But, we'll be flexible and go with the flow and change off as needed. The great thing about our trip is that the girls literally have no idea what will be coming next! They have no expectations other than, we are going to Disney World at some point. They have no idea that it's this week!

 

Once we get back, I'll update this list and let you know how much we were actually able to accomplish and how realistic you'll need to be. Obviously, I dream BIG!

 

Looking back, I already wish we had scheduled two days for Magic Kingdom. However, I know that we'll one day return, and the things we weren't able to do, we can do then! If Gretchen finds out she's terrified of roller coasters on day 1, then we can cross the rest of them off our list. If we happen to miss a Fast Pass, then we'll miss it and move on with our day!

 

The important thing is that we will be totally unconnected with the rest of the world and be together as a family! Isn't that what vacations are about?!?!