In which we show it day-by-day

These are the DisAd14 days in order from beginning to end.

Friday - Arrival at Universal
Saturday – Hogwarts then general Universal
Sunday – Diagon Alley, finish up Universal, transfer to WDW, Coronado Springs.
Monday – MK
Tuesday – Break day. Blizzard Beach, minigolf.
Wednesday – Half day early start at Epcot. Minigolf rematch. La Nouba.
Thursday – AK
Friday – DHS
Saturday – Epcot half day, late start.

That gives us three days in a row of early commando attacks on the parks, a sort of sleep-in day, three more early starts, a final sleep-in day, and then disappear back to the real world. That’s not a bad balance, and there shouldn’t be too much craziness the way the days have been planned. As I’ve said, it’s not the busiest time of the year, and we are equipped with all the tools of the planners trade.

We’ll kick things off with a nice dinner on Friday at Emeril’s at Universal. You wouldn’t expect it to be much more than a noisy theme restaurant with lots of duck fat, but we ate there ages ago and it was top drawer. Universal has a stretch of restaurants and shops outside of its two parks, and we are staying on that property, so my plan is to arrive in the afternoon, lollygag by the pool, stroll the shopping boulevard, eat like a king, then tuck in nice and early for a crack-of-dawn start in the a.m. Staying at Universal means you get first shot at the Harry Potter attractions before the gates open to the hoi and the polloi. It also means front-of-the-line status on, I think, everything else, so aside from hitting the boards early, it will be easy after that. I’m expecting to be able to take a break midday for a quick nap (which those who know me know that I can do standing up while tabbing and doing the crossword puzzle at the same time), then head back for part two of day one.

Sunday is another early start, to the other side of Harry, the new attractions at Diagon Alley, which are scheduled to open in July. Leave after lunch and mosey over to WDW to our hotel, for some more lollygagging.

I’ll be really curious to reactions to Universal compared to WDW for our newbies. Richard, after all, is a total WDW virgin, and JV hasn’t been there since Mickey Mouse was in black and white. Will they feel the immersion in the latter, the total Disneyfication of their inner souls, as compared to the just generally nice collection of rides in the former? We’ll see.