Hi all, thanks so much for your help over the past few months - it has been a bit of a marathon, planning for this trip. At least compared to our trips to DL, where the most I've ever really done by way of planning is to make sure we are the park before the gates open! I have been reading on the TourguideMike website, and using my unofficial guide, and having taken the advice of all of you fine folk, have settled on the following plan and ADRs. We leave for NYC lunchtime Friday (where apparently its minus degrees celcius and snowing - couldn't really be more of a change because last week we had four 40+ days; it's hard to pack for snow when you are wearing a teeshirt and jandals), getting there finally on Friday afternoon after 24 hours in the air/ports - the whole time difference thing working in our favor on the way over. Then its down to Orlando on tuesday morning!

Tues 29th: after check in at the WL, and an early CS lunch at the resort, we will head to AK - probably getting there around 1.30ish. See the Parade at 4pm, and then home to crash - we are being picked up at 4am for the flight from NYC so I am guessing an early night will be called for! We have an ADR for Whispering Canyon but may not be up for it.

Wed 30: RD MK, til midday. We have a 1pm ADR for Mama Melroses at HS, and hope to collect a FP before lunch and have a gentle afternoon checking out some of the shows. Maybe dinner at the Boardwalk - don't have an ADR. Early night.

Thur 31st: RD Epcot FW. 1pm lunch at Rose and Crown. Afternoon back at the WL to rest. We have a 5.45 ADR at the Plaza in MK and want to see Spectromagic at 7pm.


Fri 1st: 7.45am Segway tour, then the rest of the day off. Maybe DTD for dinner and a movie.

Sat 2nd: RD AK, finishing around lunchtime. Afternoon off, back to Epcot around 6pm for dinner (CS in WS) and Illuminations 9pm.

Sun 3rd: RD Epcot FW - wind up around noon. Afternoon to rest. Dinner at Tony's at 7pm, EMH at MK - open until midnight.

Mon 4th: Day off - maybe do some shopping, check out the monorail resorts, rent a bike and cycle around the lake? 5pm head to HS to pick up some FPs and have a CS dinner; 6pm queue for 7pm Fantasmic. It's EMH here tonight - open til 10pm so we can use any FPs we collect before Fantasmic.

Tue 5th: This day is all open, we can (or not do) what we want. We might do a morning at HS because its the one park we have not had a RD at, but having been there the night before... like I said, this day is wide open.

Wed 6th: Universal Studios day; car picking us up at 8am. US closes at 6pm, so hopefully an earlyish night.

Thur 7th: 8am EMH at MK, planning to leave late morning when the crowds get bad, then the rest of the day free. Most likely we will head here in the evening for the Wishes firework - nice way to end the trip - but if we liked Illuminations then we could head to Epcot - we will have a couple of chances to see the MK fireworks but only have one Illuminations planned.

Fri 8th: use the resort checkin and then free until the car arrives to take us to the airport at 11.30am. maybe breakfast on main street but totally depends on how we are feeling. We arrive LAX at 4pm - transfer to DLR and hopefully we will arrive in time to dump our bags at the hotel and go see the Electrical Light Parade in DCA at 7.45pm - we have never seen it before, so very exciting.

Sat - Mon DLR/LA fun, and then we fly home very late Monday night.

any constructive feedback that won't put me in a spin with 4 days to go?

thanks!!!


Sat 9th:

It sounds like a great plan, you seem to have built in plenty of down time to keep you from wearing yourselves out. We have found on past trips how useful the downtime can be.

The only thing that seemed it might be a problem is landing at LAX at 4 and watching the Electrical parade at 7:45. While nearly 4 hours seems like enough time, you might not be out of the airport before 5:00, and taking into account Friday afternoon rush hour traffic, and if you have to wait for your transportation (rental car or shuttle), hotel check in, etc. It is definitely possible, but it might be a challenge.

Good Luck, have fun, and enjoy!

The only thing that seemed it might be a problem is landing at LAX at 4 and watching the Electrical parade at 7:45. While nearly 4 hours seems like enough time, you might not be out of the airport before 5:00, and taking into account Friday afternoon rush hour traffic, and if you have to wait for your transportation (rental car or shuttle), hotel check in, etc. It is definitely possible, but it might be a challenge.!

OK, that is good to know. always important to manage expectations! if we make it, it will be a bonus, if not we will enjoy the fireworks and plan for EP on saturday night instead. It is so great that it is on for the 3 nights we are there - we added this part on to our trip because we were so keen to try out the new Nemo ride and see the changes to HM, but I am way more excited about finally getting to see EP!!

It takes a little bit of time to get from MK to the Studios - so you might want to see if you can change your Mama Melrose's to a little bit later. You may not get 'enough' touring time in the MK before you have to leave to make your lunch ADR. (Unless MK opens really early, and then never mind)

And good call to go by ear on your evening meal the first night. You might be too tired, but you might not, and since it's in your resort, it's not like it's a ton of energy to get to it (or to get back to your room after, so you can go eat and then just crash).

Yeah! All that planning and it's almost time! Have a great trip!

It takes a little bit of time to get from MK to the Studios - so you might want to see if you can change your Mama Melrose's to a little bit later.

OK, that is good to know. Is it realistic to think I could change my ADRs at this late stage? I don't want to ring disney again (I have had to do it twice and the bill was HUGE because of all the time I spent on Hold) but I could ring and change it from NYC on friday. Maybe if we plan on a snack on the run in the morning, and plan for a very late 'lunch' - say 3pm - then we can do a few ride s and collect some fastpasses at HS when we do arrive, before having lunch. Does that seem more plausible?

Also, on this vein; what happens if we miss an ADR - I understand that if we change our plans the courteous thing to do is to call and cancel, but what if a morning gets out of control and we simply don't make it? I'm guessing that as I have not provided a CC number, there are no financial consequences - is there anything else I need to worry about???

thanks again for your help!

Emma

I would wait until you get to New York - if you leave the airport. (I think you're just changing planes in New York, if I read correctly.) The extra time you'd gain if you call from the airport, vs taking care of it after you get to your resort is not worth the long distance call (though not as long as from home!), and trying to find a phone, etc.

Since you're going in late January, I'd say you should have a decent chance of being able to make the change you want. Just go to Guest Services at your resort and ask them if they can take care of it for you. They can also print out all your ADRs for you, so you can double-check everything.

You have it correct on missing an ADR for any location you haven't pre-paid or provided a credit card number.

hi again - thanks for this. in fact, we have 4 delicious days in NYC - can't wait! hopefully the jetlag will not be too bad and we'll be all recovered from the 24 hours of travel by the time we fly down to orlando on tuesday. but i will just leave it until we get there and take our chances.