Drafting potential one-day MK plan...please advise

[Artygal90]

Hi!

Because planning Disney itineraries is my new hobby, I've been mulling over how to optimize our next trip to the Magic Kingdom, whenever that may be (probably ~2 years from now, TBH).

Last time we rope-dropped Frontierland/Adventureland, had FPs for PP, 7DMT, and Space Mountain, and waited in standby in the late morning/early evening for the rides we wanted to see in Fantasyland. Literally the only thing we did in Tomorrowland was ride Space Mountain with FP, so for the next trip we'd like to really make sure we enjoy Tomorrowland as much as possible. I'd also like to cut down on zig-zagging all over the park, even if that means not necessarily hitting every single ride with the shortest wait times.

With that in mind, how does this hypothetical plan sound? (assume an early May trip, two adults):

- PPO breakfast at BOG, if they're still doing that.
- Ride 7DMT at least once
- PP in standby
- By ~9:30-10 am, hopefully, head to Tomorrowland and do Astro Orbiter, Buzz Lightyear, PeopleMover, and Carousel of Progress. We'll skip Space Mountain and the Speedway this trip. Anything awesome I'm missing in Tomorrowland?
- Starting at 11 am (too optimistic?) - start FPs for our priority attractions in Frontierland/Adventureland
- Lunch ADR at Skipper Canteen, perhaps immediately before or after a Jungle Cruise FP. Should this be an early or late lunch? I'm tempted to say later, once temps peak. But I've never been to Orlando in May.

Afternoon - nap at resort, or drink at monorail bar, or (if we're feeling energetic) work in rolling FPs/Anytime attractions such as Hall of Presidents and Tom Sawyer Island that we missed last time.

Late afternoon/early evening - do Storybook Circus and other Fantasyland attractions, sprinkle in character meet-and-greets.

8 pm - HEA dessert party to see fireworks <- this is dinner

After fireworks - do last couple rides before park close in whatever section of the park we feel like we need to see one last time.

Do you think will the crowds be low enough in that first couple hours (outside of Space Mountain) that we could get our fill of Tomorrowland and then move on to the rest of the park fairly quickly? Ideally I'd like to split up MK into two very relaxed days but honestly Hollywood Studios will probably need 1.5 days to get everything done once GE is open so any extra park time will likely go there...

Thanks!

 

[sharonabe]

As long as the Tron ride or the possible Wreck it Ralph hasn't opened, you aren't missing anything in Tomorrowland except for Monsters, Inc which is funny.

Astro Orbiter line can build very quickly, so that might slow you down a bit. I think you could still do your first FP for 11:00, but you may not hit it until 11:30.

 

[Tomh]

Your morning sounds doable (as the PP stated, assuming that Tron, or the possible Wreck it Ralph hasn't opened yet), and the only thing you are missing that I can think of is Monsters Inc, leading up to your first FP, which is likely going to happen more like 11:30 - 12:00, still probably within your window.

I think that the remainder of your day is a bit optimistic, and you may have a bit of difficulty fitting all of it in.

 

[MomOTwins]

The part that gives me pause is you want to to do peter pan AFTER 7DMT. Even assuming you are able to get ahead of the line for seven dwarves via breakfast(which doesn’t always work since sometimes they let the rope droppers in a bit early with the new in park rope drop system), there is no way you will be at Peter Pan before Rope droppers after riding 7DMT. That could mean a 45-70 minute wait for PP in standby. I think you should get a fastpass for either 7DMT or PP- don’t try to do both on standby

 

[Artygal90]

The part that gives me pause is you want to to do peter pan AFTER 7DMT. Even assuming you are able to get ahead of the line for seven dwarves via breakfast(which doesn’t always work since sometimes they let the rope droppers in a bit early with the new in park rope drop system), there is no way you will be at Peter Pan before Rope droppers after riding 7DMT. That could mean a 45-70 minute wait for PP in standby. I think you should get a fastpass for either 7DMT or PP- don’t try to do both on standby

Hmm, that is something I hadn't considered, that the PP waits could build so quickly right at RD. I think it'll be something we'll have to scope out once we actually get there and see how long the wait will be once we finish 7DMT. If it's 45-70 minutes we'll just move on to Tomorrowland that much sooner. Honestly PP is one we'd be happy to skip, or ride very last thing at night, since we rode it this past trip and liked it but didn't LOVE it.

 

[MomOTwins]

To be honest, we are skipping PP this trip for this reason, and we have always gone once per trip. It and 7DMT are the rides that get the longest line fastest in the morning. You can always check the app to see if the wait is okay before you go there on the day of, and you might get lucky on wait times—you never know.

 

[Artygal90]

Your morning sounds doable (as the PP stated, assuming that Tron, or the possible Wreck it Ralph hasn't opened yet), and the only thing you are missing that I can think of is Monsters Inc, leading up to your first FP, which is likely going to happen more like 11:30 - 12:00, still probably within your window.

I think that the remainder of your day is a bit optimistic, and you may have a bit of difficulty fitting all of it in.

Can I ask what you think is overly optimistic about the afternoon/evening plans? It's all very loose at the moment (really just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks right now) and there's plenty of things we could probably skip - we're not itching to ride Dumbo or the Little Mermaid ride again, for instance. The only hard-and-fast plan would be to do the Dessert Party if we're going to see HEA, and I'd like to do just one character meet and greet. We'll also be staying a value resort, probably, so a nap in our rooms might get cut in favor of drinks at a monorail resort.


Thanks to you and the previous poster for the suggestion about the Monsters Inc show! I had dismissed it but it looks like it might actually be fun!

 

[MomOTwins]

Your afternoon plans sound good to me! Definitely go with Trader Sam’s at the Poly if you do drinks at a monorail resort. Also don’t forget the other MK shows that never have a wait (Tiki room, country bears).

 

[Tomh]

Can I ask what you think is overly optimistic about the afternoon/evening plans? It's all very loose at the moment (really just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks right now) and there's plenty of things we could probably skip - we're not itching to ride Dumbo or the Little Mermaid ride again, for instance. The only hard-and-fast plan would be to do the Dessert Party if we're going to see HEA, and I'd like to do just one character meet and greet. We'll also be staying a value resort, probably, so a nap in our rooms might get cut in favor of drinks at a monorail resort.


Thanks to you and the previous poster for the suggestion about the Monsters Inc show! I had dismissed it but it looks like it might actually be fun!

It might work, I was just figuring that mid day breaks with a nap have to be like a 3 hour long deal, maybe more, so between 12, and 8 there was a table service lunch about 1.5 hours, 3 hour for mid day break (probably not that long if you opt for drinks instead) puts you at 4.5 and then I guess I misread where you said OR rolling FP's / anytime attractions, so I was adding that stuff in, along with Storybook Circus . . . .. so, never mind what I said, I misread what you said.

Reading it that way, where it is either mid day break / nap, OR drinks at a monorail bar, OR extra FP's / anytime attractions, then indeed, I think you will have enough time.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

To be honest, we are skipping PP this trip for this reason, and we have always gone once per trip. It and 7DMT are the rides that get the longest line fastest in the morning. You can always check the app to see if the wait is okay before you go there on the day of, and you might get lucky on wait times—you never know.

Instead of skipping Peter Pan, you may consider waiting until later in the evening when the line is short. On our last visit, the posted wait right after fireworks was 40 minutes but there were actually only about 10 people in line and the wait was less than a minute.

7D also gets a short line as the evening wears on. The longest we’ve ever waited for this one was 20 minutes, and that was during opening week in 2014.

 

[Haley R]

Hi!

Because planning Disney itineraries is my new hobby, I've been mulling over how to optimize our next trip to the Magic Kingdom, whenever that may be (probably ~2 years from now, TBH).

Last time we rope-dropped Frontierland/Adventureland, had FPs for PP, 7DMT, and Space Mountain, and waited in standby in the late morning/early evening for the rides we wanted to see in Fantasyland. Literally the only thing we did in Tomorrowland was ride Space Mountain with FP, so for the next trip we'd like to really make sure we enjoy Tomorrowland as much as possible. I'd also like to cut down on zig-zagging all over the park, even if that means not necessarily hitting every single ride with the shortest wait times.

With that in mind, how does this hypothetical plan sound? (assume an early May trip, two adults):

- PPO breakfast at BOG, if they're still doing that.
- Ride 7DMT at least once
- PP in standby
- By ~9:30-10 am, hopefully, head to Tomorrowland and do Astro Orbiter, Buzz Lightyear, PeopleMover, and Carousel of Progress. We'll skip Space Mountain and the Speedway this trip. Anything awesome I'm missing in Tomorrowland?
- Starting at 11 am (too optimistic?) - start FPs for our priority attractions in Frontierland/Adventureland
- Lunch ADR at Skipper Canteen, perhaps immediately before or after a Jungle Cruise FP. Should this be an early or late lunch? I'm tempted to say later, once temps peak. But I've never been to Orlando in May.

Afternoon - nap at resort, or drink at monorail bar, or (if we're feeling energetic) work in rolling FPs/Anytime attractions such as Hall of Presidents and Tom Sawyer Island that we missed last time.

Late afternoon/early evening - do Storybook Circus and other Fantasyland attractions, sprinkle in character meet-and-greets.

8 pm - HEA dessert party to see fireworks <- this is dinner

After fireworks - do last couple rides before park close in whatever section of the park we feel like we need to see one last time.

Do you think will the crowds be low enough in that first couple hours (outside of Space Mountain) that we could get our fill of Tomorrowland and then move on to the rest of the park fairly quickly? Ideally I'd like to split up MK into two very relaxed days but honestly Hollywood Studios will probably need 1.5 days to get everything done once GE is open so any extra park time will likely go there...

Thanks!

Instead of a ppo breakfast you could go on an emh morning. We did that and were on the first train for 7dmt. We then walked right onto pp. I think we were one step ahead of the pack. We continued with Winnie the Pooh and other fantasyland rides. Then waited near liberty square for that side of the park to open. We fast walked to btmr after the rope dropped and got right on that. By noon, we had done the majority of the park as far as rides are concerned.