Rethinking November plans

[Momma of 4]

Me and DH, and kids 10, 8, and just turned 5 year old twins will be staying at WL in a Deluxe club room from Nov 12-19. We have six park days and I am constantly rearranging them! We are hoping to check in early, about 9am that morning and hit a park (definitely won't make rope drop though). As of now we don't have hoppers, but I'm wondering if we'd do better to add hoppers or add an extra ticket or just keep it as it is. Plan so far:

11/12 Saturday-check in, Animal Kingdom (debating this plan as safari especially is best done earlier in the day)
11/13 Sunday-DHS
11/14 Monday -MK
11/15 Tuesday - off day, Ohana scheduled at 11:40
11/16 Wednesday- Epcot, Chef Mickey at 12:25
11/17 Thursday- Epcot, Space220 at 6:40
11/18 Friday- MK Hoop Dee Doo Revue at 4
11/19 Saturday- check out and drive away around 2-3.

We are more casual park goers, the kids don't love "thrill" rides, so we generally stick to the no height required ones. I had imagined taking mid day breaks but I also know that my kids don't do well staying up late, so they might still crash early. I definitely worry that one day, especially a short day, at AK isn't going to be enough, as my kids love the wilderness stations and meandering around, but I don't know if we want to skip a rest day. Any thoughts on our plan? I don't want to move the reservations around much, except Chef Mickey's was a last minute add on and a potential skip, or we could try for a different day (thinking check out day maybe).

 

[coasternut22]

Your two scheduled MK days are on party days. You don’t have an evening scheduled at MK. I would make your arrival day MK and make AK on Monday. On your arrival day, it will be a short boat ride to MK. You can go for a few hours, go back, take a break, and go back for fireworks. Or just stay the whole time with a late arrival. Plus everyone loves starting their trip at MK. This will give you a whole day at AK. Your Epcot days will be good for taking mid day breaks. Take the Epcot and resort monorail to chef mickeys, then walk to MK to take a boat to WL. Then a bus back to Epcot later for the evening. Thursday could be a sleep in day as well. I don’t know what your family likes, but two full days in Epcot can be boring for kids, and if it’s really just one day spread out over two days with big breaks, that should be fine. However, with kids, and not needing to do World Showcase, I’d prefer to do Epcot in one day with a combination of rope dropping test track, skipping frozen, and doing all of future world before biting the bullet and standbying Remy. You can get this done by 6pm before Space 220. This would free up another MK day. On Friday, after HDDR, without a park hopper you really have no park to go to. If you don’t plan on a midday break, Wednesday would be an ideal MK day with lunch at Contemporary. But if you don’t care about being at MK at night, then a party day would be ideal.

 

[Momma of 4]

Thanks! We picked non party days in purpose, my kids don't handle late nights well, nor do they enjoy fireworks from up close, we plan to watch from our resort one night.
I am not sure if we will take mid day breaks or end the days early, we tried the end the days early last time and that worked great but the kids are older so I was hoping to maybe get a bit of the evening in a park this time, but will do however the kids handle it best. We definitely aren't park commandos. Then there's also pool time, Disney springs, food and hopefully a few resort Christmas decorations.....there's just never enough time!

 

[leebee]

I would swap 11/12 and 11/16, and skip Chef Mickey's.

 

[Momma of 4]

I would swap 11/12 and 11/16, and skip Chef Mickey's.

So I was actually thinking this as well, but I'm worried about Epcot crowds on a Saturday my kids really enjoy the kidcot thing, and I don't want to fight crowds for that. Any insight on how crowded the not world showcase areas are on a Saturday afternoon/evening?

 

[leebee]

Good point. I think F&W is still running then, so it might be a bit busy. Honestly I've never found this to be a huge problem (I'm actually going to be there on 11/5, flight lands at 1pm so I'll get checked in and go to Ep for dinner at F&W) and I've also never run into the issues of "too much partying" that people report- even when I was taking young kids with me. Seeing as you have another Epcot day planned later in the week, I would think you'd be OK. I LOVE Animal Kingdom so I personally would want a whole day there, if possible.

 

[Redbudlover]

I agree with those that suggest EPcot for Saturday. Even arriving at noon would give you a lot of time for rides and Kidcot activities. AK closes earlier than the other parks so make that a park to go to early and spend a whole day. Safari is also excellent in the late afternoon when they put out feed for all the animals and you see a lot of them. I love AK myself - love the Gorilla trails and the Asia trails and love the trails around the Tree of Life. Enjoy the performers and the dancing! Go on safari twice. See the bird show - really fun for kids. Spend a bunch of time in Pandora! Lots os little special places to play the drums or make the tree horn bellow. Just wandering around there you can immerse yourself in that world. Watch the Lion show and the Nemo show. Watch the character parades on the water. There is so much there for kids....

 

[Momma of 4]

Yes, our arrival day is the second to last weekend of food and wine. I agree that there is so much to do in animal kingdom I know we could spend a full day there. Maybe Epcot Saturday morning wouldn't be so bad, I would just hate for our first day to be a crowded mess. Or maybe we just need another park day

 

[stinkpickle]

... We picked non party days in purpose...

I'm confused. You picked non party days? or party days?

 

[Momma of 4]

I'm confused. You picked non party days? or party days?

We picked party days you're right