Having some trouble planning our "7 for 4" trip About This Page:

[Courtney892]

We were originally planning to go during a busier time, so I signed up with TGM and UG to get their specific touring recommendations. We rebooked a different week (March 6-13) and now it isn't a particularly busy time, but I have all this TGM koolaid floating around in my brain making me think that the way we usually do it is "wrong". Sunday and Thurs are listed on UG as "4" for touring, so we want to use those.

We got no expiring tickets, so we only plan to use 4 and save the other 3 days for another trip. We haven't yet added park hopping, but likely we will.

We fly in on Friday, check into POFQ around 2pm, and want a sit down dinner at 'Ohana around 6 and to stay for fireworks. So far can't get in

The tentative plan is to hit big parks Sat and Sun, off Mon, park Tues, off Wed, park Thurs, leave the Disney bubble for flight around 11am Friday

Could do tour Wed and off Thurs to have a relaxing day before heading home. Only thing stopping me from doing that. One guy has a bum knee and I hate to have him tour more than 2 days in a row and I'm already doing that to him on our first two days. We will get a relaxing morning on Friday, and we'd planned to drive originally so it will already be an easier trip than we expected.

Basic background: 5 adults travelling together (Hubby and I who go to Disney a couple times a year, sister who goes every couple of years, and another couple who have injury/energy level issues who almost never travel to Disney and want to hit all the highlights in this trip)

Our general way of touring is to spend as much time as possible in the parks on the days scheduled for touring and spend our other days on downtime, shopping, water parks, resort time, etc. This is my first time using TGM's website, and I like a lot of his suggestions for getting the most out of your days and also the order in which to do things.

I believe the most important thing about Disney is to get there early & to have a fairly structured plan for at least the first few hours. I've never taken a break mid-day other than a sit down meal to recharge (unless travelling with very small children & even then we've never napped at the resort and returned). I know why ppl do it, but I am skeptical about it adding to our experience. I have no interest in leaving the park and then returning a few hours later. I'd rather do everything I want to see, and when I leave, leave for good, even if that meant leaving a few hours earlier than I normally would because of limitations within our group. And we generally don't general tour the big parks more than 2 days in a row, so we don't need a lot of downtime during touring days to avoid meltdowns--we just take the next day off. If we were doing 7 park days then absolutely yes, but I wonder if you think we should do it due to limitations within the group even though we aren't touring all the days. He says he can do anything and she says she can keep up, BUT I have travelled with them before and they are a blast but limited due to injury and energy. They just don't like to face it.

That said I am trying to decide the best day(s) to tour DHS & MK (which is where the group in general wants to do the least amount of time). DHS is my least favorite park although I still like it a lot--I just don't care to go there as much as the other parks. Hubby and I just were at DHS in Sept, so I have very little interst in this park this trip, and no one wants to see Fantasmic. The other couple we're travelling with last went to DHS (several years ago) and saw all the shows, so they want to ride esp the E tickets and mostly avoid shows. My sister hasn't been to DHS in years, but when I ask her what her "don't miss" items for DHS are, she doesn't offer anything.

For those reasons, I consider DHS to be a 1/2 day or at best 3/4 day for at least my husband and I. We can't really use TGM's DHS days because of other plans for those days, so because of having so few rides that really interest us at DHS, I am strongly considering it for Saturday the 7th--our first full day at Disney and a definite touring day. Saturday has early EMH which will allow us to FP and ride Toy Story Insania immediately and get it out of the way as the rest of the group hasn't ridden it yet. We did it twice in Sept and that was plenty. Other than RnR and ToT which will both be fast passed and likely ridden twice, the rest of the things we care about there don't tend to be long lines regardless. I think we'll be done easily by 2pm & should have no issue whatsoever hopping out if iot gets busy. EMHs here have always been very successful for us as it only has 3 big rides and we've always gotten to them quickly with very low lines.

At that point I want to hop to MK. We definitely want to spend *some* MK time this trip, but it is probably the least rated park among the rest of the group. Sister because when she's travelled over the last 10 years to Disney it is always with kids and they always hit the MK. The other couple feels MK is mostly for kids, and Hubby and I love it & have about 10 items on the would-like-to-see list. Spectro (which no one has ever seen but sis and I) will only be Saturday night and Monday night, and we will NOT be going to MK on Mon. So we want to see Spectro, and we want to go to MK for at least a little while, but I don't see anyone wanting it for an entire day.

Saturday touring choices are:

1. DHS all day--probably more time than is needed and we'd miss Spectro @ MK--

2. DHS till 2 and then MK--this is what Hubby and I want to do and the rest of the group has said they think that will work. Drawbacks are DHS might get crowded cause of EMH and MK might get crowded because of Spectro. I was thinking a sit down dinner around 5 and then Spectro and Wishes.

I had tentatively planned MK for Sunday since it looked like a good day there to get everything we wanted to do early and then hop out, but they changed it to EMH now that they cancelled the P&PP, so I wonder if it will be busier now. This means that Sunday will probably also involve a hop--likely to Epcot or all day at Epcot for those who saw enough of MK the night before.

3. MK all day--sounds like too much MK time to the rest of the group

Suggestions?

In case it is needed--tentative plans for the rest of the days are:

MK or E on Sunday, off Monday
AK all day Tues, hop somewhere or have a sit down dinner once it closes, off Wed
E all day Thurs

All suggestions welcome--I think after suffering through the planning of the family trip with me, you know how stressed I get planning for people when I don't really know how they will travel for this length of time. I'm not sure how much pain he'll be in, and I expect at least one energy meltdown out of her. Would love to head both off at the pass.

[lukeandbrookesmom]

I am a loyal TGM customer and follower I believe his plans are the best out there - we never do EMH and always take breaks in the afternoons. Now, that's just us. Various touring plans are personal preferences and what works for one family doesn't always work for another.

[Courtney892]

Various touring plans are personal preferences and what works for one family doesn't always work for another.

I agree with this, and maybe wish they acknowledged it a bit more "over there"
I guess I am wondering why you think it works so well for your family. Do you have more than 4 park days for a weeks visit? Your children are obviously not tiny, but I think travelling with them would be very different than with a group of adults. Do you and your husband feel you benefit a lot from the breaks so that you would take them even without kids?

We are all in our 30s and pretty high energy except for one (and then of course we have an injury among us). I just see me being irritated by leaving my happy parks to go do something else. It might be an experiement to try, but I am just not sure.

[lstigger]

I'm not familiar with the abbreviation TGM -- enlighten me -- planning a trip in early June with teens -- trying to figure where to go -- get their input and decide what to see, what to skip -- I've always done the parks full blast and not taken a break, but then again it's up to the preferences of the group -- last time we were at WDW we had 'young' children (one 5, one 7) and still didn't do the break and nap -- Good luck with your planning.

[lukeandbrookesmom]

We've been taking the kids since they were 2 and 3 years old (6 and 7 years old now) and we've always taken the afternoon breaks. Yes, I would take them even without the kids. We find the breaks a nice time to regroup our thoughts, plans, and relax with each other. All four of us are very high energy and I think without the breaks we would burn ourselves out and not fully enjoy the trip. The breaks force us to slow down and really enjoy all the magic we would otherwise miss. Our trips are 12 days long. We never go to a park on our arrival or departure days. Our arrival day is spent enjoying the resort and settling in after our flight. On our departure day we usually have early AM flights. So, that gives us 10 full days at the 4 parks and DTD. One day in the middle we do not go to any parks either. We visit other resorts and enjoy some down time at our own resort. This is also my laundry day. I find TGM's touring plans and suggestions allow us to get the most out of the time we are in the parks. I also like the way he teaches you how to tour and explains his reasons for why he is suggesting something.

[Colexis Mom]

Another fan of afternoon breaks!! Everyone needs them!!

[chezp]

I'm another fan of afternoon breaks, as it does help us to recharge our batteries.