Help me plan: 3 MK days

[Shrill]

Hi everyone! We are going to WDW for the first time at the end of August/ beginning of September. Staying at POR. Myself, DH, and DD7.

I have set aside 3 MK days. DD is character obsessed but also adores rides. Our first MK day is the day after we arrive and a Saturday so probably a bit busier than the other days. We will also be going on the Thursday (morning EMH) and the Friday.

It is the first MK day that I am trying to figure out. I have 2 ADR's for that day: Be Our Guest for lunch and CRT for dinner, with probably a trip back to POR in the afternoon to have a swim. The CRT reservation is fairly late (6:45) and we have decided against Wishes on this night as we have a late night the next day and also figure that it will probably be less crowded later in the week. If I can't get a FP+ for Anna and Elsa, we might consider going to see them immediately after dinner while the parade is on, or maybe Rapunzel (as DD loves her and we are giving her a Rapunzel dress that day for CRT), or even Merida.

Since it is our first day ever of MK, I don't want to be rushing around the park and I also don't really want to be waiting in huge lines much if it can be avoided. We will be there for rope drop, but I want to be able to enjoy the opening show (DD also loves trains and I think that will be a wonderful intro) and then walk at a reasonable pace by the castle as it will be the first time seeing it, not run to a ride. Ideally, I'd like for us to just take it all in, set up some great fastpasses, maybe do some other rides that we will enjoy but won't have huge lines.

Thoughts? What would you see on that first day? Recommendations for the other days also very welcome!

Thanks!

 

[Lucius Best]

easywdw.com is a good planning site, they have lots of good information on rides, wait times, Fastpass, etc:
http://www.easywdw.com/cheatsheets/mk_cheatsheet_v3.pdf

Since you're going to be at MK 3 separate days, you don't need to see everything in one day. If you don't want to race in on Day 1, I would get the 3 FP for A&E, 7DMT and whatever else looks good (Cinderella? Belle? Ariel?) with approximate return times 10am/11am/12pm (depending on when your BOG ADR is). If you book your FP 60 days in advance, you should be able to get A&E and 7DMT no problem, those are the two big ones. Note that FP have one-hour return windows that cannot overlap, but they can overlap ADRs.

Note that rope drop on 9am opening day might be closer to 8:45am. After rope drop, and getting your Castle pictures, go to Peter Pan first, then spend morning riding everything in Fantasyland area (Pooh, Dumbo, Barnstormer, Mermaid, Teacups, Small World, Haunted Mansion, etc) in between using your Fastpasses. After lunch and using your 3 FP, you can get an additional FP at kiosks for ride later in afternoon/evening. On our last trip with 7yo niece, we usually didn't take a pool break on MK days, just because there are so many rides. But we planned our days to use our 3 FP and see lots of attractions in morning, so we always had the option after lunch to either stay, or leave to hit the pool.

Note that MK parade those days is probably 9pm. If you don't want to be out late the first day, you might want to leave after dinner so you can get out of the park before parade totally clogs Main Street. After pool break and before CRT, you can use 4th FP you booked earlier and/or hit some of the rides that typically have no waits (Philharmagic, Carousel, Railroad, Wedway, etc).

An idea for the morning EMH MK day would be straight to 7DMT with the crowds at rope drop, then do some Fantasyland rides until 9am when Frontierland opens. You could have FP for Splash/Thunder/whatever(7DMT? Jungle Cruise?) with return times around 9:30am/10:30am/11:30am. Go to Thunder/Splash at 9am, you'll be able to ride both multiple times standby and using FP, before working your way back (Pirates, Jungle Cruise, Aladdin, Haunted Mansion). When we were there at a relatively slow time end of April, we found it very easy to get additional FP at kiosks after we used our first three. Tom Sawyer Island is good for afternoon when crowds get heavier.

 

[Shrill]

This is so helpful: thank you so much!

 

[GWhitten98]

With three days, I would concentrate of a different land or set of lands(fantasy day one, adventure/frontier day 2, tomorrow/favorite re-ride day 3) each day. Fantansy land would be my natural first choice based on your ADRs. I would say get there for rope drop, but not necessarily super early(maybe 30-40 min before) that way you can strategically position yourself a the center for a good view of the opening show. Here is good link to show how the rope drop crowd can grow...

http://www.easywdw.com/uncategorize...ng-plan-with-lunch-at-pinocchio-village-haus/

From there hang back so you don't get caught in the mass going down main street or go ahead and get through the tunnel and immediately pop into see tinker bell (go through the tunnel on the right). You could easily spend all day in Fantasy land, especially with two meals and taking a break b/t lunch and dinner.

 

[shortnsassy730]

Also, check out Kennythepirate.com. He is the top character expert of WDW. He will tips for best times, who you can expect to see where, tips for best interactions, etc. He was a lifesaver when I took my niece!