Later this month, we are traveling to Disney World with my family, as an incredibly generous gift from my parents. It’s a trip that’s a little over a year in the making and I am supercalifragilisticexpialidociously excited!
As a party planner, so much of the fun for me is the anticipation and planning what we’re going to do and wear each day.
Today I’m sharing all about our daily plans. I think it’ll be interesting to return to this post when we’re back to see how different what we’ve planned is from what actually happens. With that in mind, I’ve built some structure but also room for flexibility.
Our travel group is Chelsea, my parents, brother, sister-in-law, four year old niece, two year old nephew, and me.
We are staying at Pop Century for the full duration of our trip. Chelsea and I have stayed at Pop before, and really enjoyed it. I’m excited to be returning and getting a refurbished room this go around. We have three standard rooms, each with a queen bed and a Murphy bed that can be put away to make more space in the room. I used the site touringplans.com to look at views from all the rooms, and then called in a room request for a scenic view room in the 50s section. I can’t wait to see if we end up getting our room request fulfilled!
We will be at Disney World for six days and opted for five day park hopper tickets and one non-park day. We’re doing 2 half days at Animal Kingdom, a full day at Epcot, and one and a half days each at Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom. We have the standard meal plan, which means that per day we get one table service meal, one quick service meal, and two snacks.
Chelsea and I arrive a day early, and after taking the Magical Express to Pop Century, we’ll check-in and unwind. Then we’re going to do a progressive dinner in Disney Springs. I am really excited to sample dishes at several restaurants for a fun date night. I’ll be doing a full recap post on this when we’re back, so stay tuned.
Our first full day will be our non-park day. My brother and his family will be transferring to Pop Century from an airport hotel, and my parents arrive mid-morning. We’re all meeting for brunch and shopping in Disney Springs. For happy hour, we’ll head to the Polynesian, then my parents, Chelsea and I are going to California Grill for dinner. California Grill is one of my faves – the views and the food can’t be beat! My brother and his family will head back to the hotel for an early night to get the kids settled and rested for our first park day!
Our first park day will begin with a morning at the Magic Kingdom. We plan to rope drop lots of kid-friendly rides in Fantasyland, then we have Fastpasses for Peter Pan’s Flight, Space Mountain/Speedway, and Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin. I’m most looking forward to seeing the kids’ reactions to character interactions and their first Disney rides.
After a quick service lunch at Sleepy Hollow, we’ll head to Animal Kingdom for the afternoon. We’ll explore Dinoland and Asia, and hope to pick up some Fastpasses along the way. Just before dinner, Chelsea and I will take the kids back to the hotel, and my brother, sis-in-law, and parents will stay in Animal Kingdom for a double date night at Yak and Yeti and to watch Rivers of Light.
Epcot is our home for our second park day, and I’m excited to take the Skyliner there first thing in the morning. We’ll arrive early for a pre-park opening breakfast at Garden Grill, then hope to rope drop Soarin’. We have Fastpasses for Living with the Land, Spaceship Earth, and Frozen Ever After. We’ll explore all the Epcot Future World pavilions in the morning, then head to the World Showcase to snack around the Festival of the Arts and explore each of the countries for the afternoon. We plan to get the kids a passport to make the World Showcase fun and interactive for them. We have dinner reservations at Nine Dragons, and then we’ll watch the Epcot Forever fireworks show.
Epcot is my favorite park, so I can’t wait to return on this day. A large portion of it is under construction, and Test Track is closed, so I know that’ll change the feel a bit, but I’m excited to see all the plans they have for the future of Epcot.
Day three in the parks starts at Animal Kingdom. I grew to really love Animal Kingdom on my most recent trip because the later hours and addition of Pandora have really added to it. I can’t wait to show my family Pandora on this day and see their reaction to Flight of Passage.
We plan to rope drop Navi River Journey in Pandora, then we have Fastpasses for Kilimanjaro Safaris, Festival of the Lion King, and Flight of Passage. We also hope to see the Finding Nemo The Musical and visit Rafiki’s Planet Watch. We’ll have a quick service lunch at Flame Tree Barbeque before heading to Hollywood Studios for the afternoon.
Once there, we’ll see what Fastpasses we can snag, and we have reservations for Oga’s Cantina in Star Wars Galaxy’s Edge, where we’ll enjoy a snack and cocktail. In the early evening my brother and sis-in-law will take the kids back to the hotel, and Chelsea and I will go to the Fantasmic Dessert Party with my parents after a dinner at The Brown Derby. Fantasmic is my favorite night time show, so I can’t wait for the dessert party!
We’ll spend our fourth park day at Hollywood Studios. Our hope is that we are able to obtain a boarding group for Rise of the Resistance in Galaxy’s Edge at rope drop. I spent the last several weeks catching up on all the Star Wars movies, so I’m really excited to see it all come to life in Galaxy’s Edge.
We have Fastpasses for the Frozen Sing-Along, Slinky Dog Dash, and the Disney Junior Dance Party. We have lunch reservations at Hollywood and Vine so we can meet Minnie and friends. We also plan to explore Toy Story Land and the rest of the park, including a “can’t miss” ride in my book – Tower of Terror! My parents will take the kids back to the hotel around dinner time, and Chelsea and I will attend the Star Wars Dessert Party with my brother and sis-in-law.
Our last park day is a full day at the Magic Kingdom. We will rope drop Fantasyland again, then have breakfast at Be Our Guest. Our Fastpasses are for Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, Haunted Mansion, and Big Thunder Moutain. We plan to park tour all afternoon and pick up other Fastpasses as they’re available, then we’ll end the day with dinner at Skipper Canteen and Happily Ever After Fireworks.
I always like to end trips to Disney World at the Magic Kingdom. Main Street at dusk is my favorite view, and I have so many wonderful memories strolling beneath those twinkling lights.
Chelsea and I catch Magical Express early on our departure day. The rest of the fam will enjoy a late breakfast at Chef Mickey’s before their Magical Express in the afternoon.
The pictures in this post are from a couple of my previous trips and picking them out added to my excitement to see these sites again. If you want to read about my most recent trip, in 2018, check out this post.
So there we have it! Six full, fun days ahead! Have you been to Disney World? What did we miss? Any must-dos we should try to fit in?
Party on!
JW
I love all of your plans and cannot wait to hear all about it and follow along. I think you should plan my next trip!!!
Cannot wait! Great post!
Sounds like a great plan! My husband and boys are most excited to see the new Star Wars area.