Today let's talk a little bit about our plans for the trip! My Brother-in-Law and Sister-in-Law gave me the go ahead to plan whatever we wanted. Although there are a few rules :)
1) Nothing to fancy...which works ok for us since DH and I are kind of a meat and potato kind of family
2) My nephew Alec is vegetarian so we need to eat somewhere that can accommodate that
3) POOL time! They aren't interested in touring commando style like the hubby and I like to do!
4) Sister-in-law's request was that she really wanted to see Wishes since she missed it on their last trip (It was only 3 days for our wedding)
To work out a plan for families that have different vacation styles is tough but not impossible! Let's start at the beginning! Planning a vacation for my family is no different than planning a vacation for one of my clients! First thing I do is check out crowd calendars and park hours. For crowd calendars I use a few different resource (www.touringplans.com and www.easywdw.com). I then decide which park we will visit on each day. A few things came into play here:
1) What time were we arriving the first day? Would we have time for a park?
2) Since pool time was requested I wanted to alternate days appropriately so if Hubby and I still wanted to go to the park for the day, his brother's family wouldn't miss anything.
3) I needed to pay attention to special events like Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party since we won't be attending.
When using crowd calendars there isn't one I necessarily stick to 100%. I also use a little bit of common sense and experience. For instance, most of the time I highly recommend morning Extra Magic Hours to my clients at Animal Kingdom and Magic Kingdom although most crowd calendars have you avoid them. To each their own :)
Let's get to it shall we!!!
Arrival Day- We were lucky enough to get direct flights that land fairly early in the afternoon. After we get to the resort and check-in, our plan is to head the Studios for a bit and have dinner at Mama Melroses. We'll call it an early night :)
Day 2- Even though I typically recommend AGAINST going to Magic Kingdom on a Monday, it's hard to start your vacation some where else....I got vetoed on starting at EPCOT :) Dinner is at the Grand Floridian Cafe followed by Main St Electrical Light Parade and Wishes.
Day 3-Animal Kingdom with dinner at Whispering Canyon over at the Wilderness Lodge. I'm excited for everyone to see different resorts throughout our trip!
Day 4-EPCOT! We figured if my Brother-in-Law is ready for a pool day we can take the kids and explore future world in the morning. Later in the evening it will be time for World Showcase. We'll give the kids EPCOT Passports while the adults enjoy some drinks. Dinner is at our favorite place...La Hacienda for Illuminations!
Day 5-Hollywood Studios today! We'll focus a lot on the shows but I'm not going to lie...I'm ready for some Rock N' Roller Coaster!! WHOOHOO! We'll spend the majority of the day here but tonight...we are heading to the Contemporary to explore and have dinner at the Wave! I think this is one of my new favorites and they'll have some awesome vegetarian selection for my nephew!
Day 6- Another EPCOT/Pool Day! We have lunch ressies at Coral Reef because....it's the first day of Food and Wine Festival!! Hubby and I can't wait!!
Day 7- Our last day :( Of course we'll head to the Magic Kingdom. Dinner tonight is at our favorite last night restaurant, Ohana. It's an amazing way to end the trip. Also, back to the Magic Kingdom for fireworks and to say Good-bye :(
Day 8- Back home!
I hope you've enjoyed my brief explanation of our itinerary!! I'll be posting more about each day as the trip gets closer and as always, you'll get live updates via my Facebook page and our new Twitter and Instagram over at the Mousechicks!!
Sounds exciting and I love your restaurant choices Amanda! Can't wait for the photos!
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MapleMouseMama
Great Blog post Amanda! Your trip sounds like so much fun! Enjoy!
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