Critique my touring plan for MK

[travelfearlessly]

Hi all, I'm planning my 4th trip to Disney for January 2016. It will be for our daughter's 3rd birthday and we have extended family coming with us (8 total so far, more might come). I usually do all the planning and did really well with my last touring plan for Spring Break 2015 (see here).

One thing I try to focus on is not hitting the same sections of the park twice, to avoid too much walking around. I enjoyed the shady spots of Adventureland for the Festival of Fantasy Parade which is why I put that in the afternoon. We're also focusing a lot of time there to experience some rides we haven't done yet, like the Jungle Cruise and the Pirates of the Caribbean.

I'm trying to figure out how best to organize our Fastpasses so we can easily sign up for 4th or 5th Fastpasses for the afternoon. I hear there's a Fastpass kiosk right at the Jungle Cruise ride so it would be GREAT to make that our 3rd Fastpass so I can sign us all up for a 4th Fastpass as soon as we get off the ride. But I'm a little unsure what to sign up for in the morning. From what I remember I can't sign up for 2 Fastpasses in the same 1-hour time slot, so what kind of suggestions would you have?

 

[dkrauss]

I like the idea of using the Train to get from spot to spot! If I would say one thing I wonder if you've got to much here. Are you really able to work this plan in 1/2hour slots as you have above? For example in the 11:30 to 12:00 slot you have the Barnstormer and Dumbo, is it your intention to do both in that time frame? Also I don't see a break for lunch..........is that intentional?

I do realize that this is January (in fact my wife and I arrive the next day )......but unless I'm missing something your schedule seems tight, where one longer wait could through it off........if you're in the wrong spot.

Again just trying to understand how the plan on paper works in the park.

Doug

 

[travelfearlessly]

Well our plan worked this way on our last trip so I'm modeling it after that. And since we're on the dining plan with one Table Service and one Quick Service we are skipping lunch, probably just snacking. We were able to fit 3 or 4 rides into a 1/2 hour slot during Spring Break! You'd be surprised what you can do in the mornings on the less popular rides

 

[Alesia]

You are not leaving enough time for anything. You'll be lucky to get half of that done.

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

With rides, you may be able to get a lot done in the mornings, but character meet and greets, I would plan for 15-20 minute lines. The thing I find with them is that they tend to aim for a 20 minute wait, but if there are less people then the handlers let them meander with the guests longer. YMMV, but that is where I think you are really cutting it close.

Also, double check on touring plans, they have attraction run times, but I think ETWB is around 25 minutes. That's a whole half hour right there.

Why did you Fast Pass small world? I would try to switch that with Haunted Mansion at 2ish. Then when you switch that, you can move your FP for ETWB to an earlier slot and flip flop that with Under the Sea so you aren't back tracking.

Your plan calls for a lot of extra walking. I personally HATE that, so I would be frustrated to go from Haunted Mansion all the way to the Pirate Tutorial.

Have you taken your daughter before? If so, at what age? This seems a little unrealistic with a 2 year old to me, but of course all kids are different. People were shocked that my touring plan went until 11:30, because I have a night owl on a time change.

 

[MinnieSweetheart]

Just realized I missed the fast passes being in the morning. I would still recommend you change it to either Peter Pan (Most sought after, but I'm guessing gone if you didn't have it already) or Under the Sea.

 

[Nancyg56]

Your morning is not going to work, IMO.
I would FP Peter Pan unless you want to see the queue. If so, you need to be there at 9AM. This queue builds quickly.
Meeting Gaston is going to take at least 30 to 45 minutes.
ETWB is at least 25 minutes to complete and that does not include the queue.
Barnstormer and Dumber: I would give at least 20 minutes each. Even with teh double Dumbo's, these take time.
Pirates and Jungle cruise in 30 minutes is tight.

I kind of gave up after this. I think that if you are okay missing thngs you will be okay, but I think that your schedule is going to make everyone who is following it very stressed.


I would book PP, and Pooh as FP if at all possible. Pooh has a long line and is pretty much in FP demand. If you want a 4th FP, I would then get Small World or Under the Sea. These attractions are pretty easy to get on in a reasonable SB time anyway, so they are not as sought after.

I have been in January and the crowds may not be as heavy as they are in Prime time, but they are there. There is no "slow" time that you can count on any more.

 

[MrInfinity]

Too much planned. With a 3-year old and extended family even moreso. Extended families tend to not be as okay with a schedule as your own family. They may be thinking wander around and do whatever while you have every half-hour booked from morning to night. I tend to do my FastPasses in the morning, but then once those are done I'll try to not plan so much after they're used up so people have some vacation time.

Winnie The Pooh, Teacups both in a half-hour at 4:30? You'll be lucky to get thru Winnie. Then the teacups once or twice in the next half-hour but not 3x. Speedway and meet Buzz in a half hour is not likely either. Jungle Cruise and Pirates in a half-hour is not going to happen even with a FastPass... the JC ride alone will take a half hour. And then meet Chip & Dale and do Tom Sawyer Island in a half hour? TSI is a boat ride there and back. Haunted Mansion and the Jack Sparrow Tutorial in a half-hour? You have HM at 2:00 then the show at 2:15 but HM will have a 30-min wait, 10 min ride, and 10 min walk to Adventureland, while the Tutorial is a 20-min show that you should line up 10 min early for. I count 80 min of time needed to do what you have in 30. And squeeze in a a ride on the Riverboat. Even the train ride to get from land to land takes time!

I think you should nix about 1 out of every 2 activities and it'll be doable. Maybe I haven't been in Jan and there are no waits for anything. I would ditch TSI first, cuz it's a lot of time for relatively little return for how busy your day is... and maybe skip the Storybook section altogether, since Dumbo and the Barnstormer will each have half-hour waits at that time. The Liberty Boat Cruise is also somewhat skippable.

Also switch your Small World FP+ to Peter Pan.

Oh, and with that afternoon spent in Adventureland, you left off the Tiki Room! Please tell me you aren't skipping this, it's one of our favorite attractions.

 

[Nancyg56]

Too much planned. With a 3-year old and extended family even moreso. Extended families tend to not be as okay with a schedule as your own family. They may be thinking wander around and do whatever while you have every half-hour booked from morning to night. I tend to do my FastPasses in the morning, but then once those are done I'll try to not plan so much after they're used up so people have some vacation time.

Winnie The Pooh, Teacups both in a half-hour at 4:30? You'll be lucky to get thru Winnie. And then maybe the Teacups after, once or twice in the next half-hour but not 3x. Speedway and meet Buzz in a half hour is not likely either. Jungle Cruise and Pirates in a half-hour is not going to happen even with a FastPass... the JC ride alone will eat up most of the half hour. And then meet Chip & Dale and do Tom Sawyer Island in a half hour? TSI is a boat ride there and back. Haunted Mansion and the Jack Sparrow Tutorial in a half-hour? You have HM at 2:00 then the show at 2:15 but HM will have a 30-min wait, 10 min ride, and 10 min walk to Adventureland, while the Tutorial is a 20-min show that you should line up 10 min early for. I count 80 min of time needed to do what you have in 30. And squeeze in a a ride on the Riverboat. Even the train ride to get from land to land takes time!

I think you should nix about 1 out of every 2 activities and it'll be doable. Maybe I haven't been in Jan and there are no waits for anything. I would ditch TSI first, cuz it's a lot of time for relatively little return for how busy your day is... and maybe skip the Storybook section altogether, since Dumbo and the Barnstormer will each have half-hour waits at that time. The Liberty Boat Cruise is also somewhat skippable.

Also switch your Small World FP+ to Peter Pan.

Oh, and with that afternoon spent in Adventureland, you left off the Tiki Room! Please tell me you aren't skipping this, it's one of our favorite attractions.

I absolutely agree with you. This is a recipe for a mutiny.

 

[Quellman]

You don't have the right places located in cells 13-20. You have adventure land mixed with liberty square. Sure they are close, but the walk from haunted mansion to the pirate tutorial is not short at all. Might need to correct . Fastpass for the jungle cruise is a good use.

 

[travelfearlessly]

Well nobody is interested in Haunted Mansion except me so I might go off and do that alone. The naptime section is just suggestions for everybody else, we have a 6 year old coming with us so he and his mom might go do the Pirate Tutorial while the grandparents do the Liberty Cruise and I do Haunted Mansion while the husband stays with our napping daughter.

I would really like to meet Gaston AND do Enchanted Tales with Belle but as I said, we have a 6 year old boy and a 3 year old girl on this trip and neither is interested in doing the other's activity so our group will likely split for that half hour as well.

I haven't considered adding the Tiki room, I'll have to look into that one. I'll definitely switch the Fastpass from Small World to Peter Pan too.

 

[slickpoetry]

there's a lot wrong as others have said. Meeting chip and dale and going to TSI in a 30 minute span? Impossible. Unless you're going to arrive at the island and then turn around and go right back. Meeting Tiana and riding Peter Pan between 9:30--10:00? You'd have to be incredibly lucky to pull that off.

Cut everything in half. Is there any chance of doing MK over two days for your family? We're going in January and planning on spending 2.5 days there. That's the only way I could get everything done that I wanted to do.

 

[MataHari22]

You forgot to schedule in some bathroom breaks. But seriously, there's no way you're going to be able to get even half of that done. And I write that as someone that goes in with a pretty detailed game plan, but I only have about 10-15 things -I'd like to do- on it per day. You have something planned out every 15 minutes.

 

[Alesia]

Here's my basic rule of thumb: plan on 4 attractions in the first hour that the park is open, 3 attractions in the second hour, 3 attractions in the third hour, and 2 attractions in each hour after that.

You need to allow an hour for Tom Sawyer Island.

Your plan starts to unravel right after breakfast. By the time you get to PP the line will be 30+ minutes.

 

[Nancyg56]

Here's my basic rule of thumb: plan on 4 attractions in the first hour that the park is open, 3 attractions in the second hour, 3 attractions in the third hour, and 2 attractions in each hour after that.

You need to allow an hour for Tom Sawyer Island.

Your plan starts to unravel right after breakfast. By the time you get to PP the line will be 30+ minutes.

We were there the last week in August with moderate to lite crowds. The queue at 9 was pretty quick, maybe 10 minute or 15. Within the first hour it had jumped to an hour. It happened in a matter of minutes. I am not sure how the January crowds will be, usually there are shortened hours, so I figure you are generous in your 30 minutes. You are absolutely right, the plan breaks down right at PP.

 

[travelfearlessly]

Okay, here's an updated itinerary with a little more clarification on our plans. The afternoon looked hectic but that's because our group was splitting up, which I've now indicated on the itinerary. I've accepted the fact that I won't get to meet Gaston AND see Enchanted Tales with Belle so I'm splitting our group up there too. In fact I think me, my husband and our daughter might be the only ones doing that because it seems everyone else wants to ride Pirates of the Caribbean.

So those that don't see Belle will use their 3rd Fastpass for PoC to slim down that wait and then we'll all sign up for the 4th Fastpass. I got rid of the Tomorrowland Speedway which my sister said wasn't really worth the wait, it was just something I wanted to try. We can always save that for another trip. Meeting Buzz is more important anyway

 

[hammie59]

Oh much better! Your first spreadsheet gave me a panic attack, lol. There was just too much planned back to back. This new version looks more doable. Glad you decided to fp Peter Pan.

 

[Alesia]

You need to allow a full hour for Tom Sawyer Island and 30 minutes for the Liberty Belle. They cannot be done in the same 1/2 hour block. It is not possible.

 

[travelfearlessly]

You need to allow a full hour for Tom Sawyer Island and 30 minutes for the Liberty Belle. They cannot be done in the same 1/2 hour block. It is not possible.

I realize that. Our group is splitting up and some are going to Tom Sawyer Island while others go on the Liberty Cruise. Just like those going on Haunted Mansion aren't also going to see the Pirate Tutorial

 

[LiveToTravelNicely]

I'm glad you decided to FP Peter Pan and go to Small World first. That option seems a lot better to me since you can't get to Peter Pan right at 9.