How do you tour?

[tinkerbella16]

We rope drop every day, take a midday break at the resort each afternoon when the park is most crowded and hottest, and then head back to the parks at night. This has been our touring style for quite a few years now and we feel so much more relaxed with that break in the afternoon to swim, nap or just relax and enjoy the resort. We always have park hoppers but never really hop from park to park... we like having the option of doing 1 park in the morning and going to a different park at night or even the same park again.

 

[glamdring269]

I’m usually up at 430 during the week and 6 on the weekends so my body will naturally wake me up. There is no real benefit to sleeping in. Oh and we really dislike long lines for 60 second rides. Therefore...

Rope Drop

Out of the park by around lunch time.

Pool time, nap time, resort hopping time, Disney springs, etc in the afternoon.

Back to another park in the evening. Our upcoming trip is in a few weeks so will be doing f&w.

Frankly I find it interesting how folks can tour so differently. Some have no interest in RD and what I find funny about that is when we leave at around noon we’re asking ourselves ‘how can all of these folks just now being arriving??’

 

[disneycountrygirl]

Since we are on the west coast and about as far from WDW on the mainland USA as one can get, we only go every few years and tour commando style every day. For rest and recovery, we book TS ADRs for most days and get to parades or fireworks early to hold perfect viewing spots (gotta have a great view when you see it so rarely). We rope drop every day I can handle it. If I can't do another early morning, I sleep in (with whatever kids need to) while hubby rope drops with whatever kids want to join him. We will wait up to 2 hours for headliners (we waited 3 for FOP and it WAS worth it!). Hubby will also stay out as late as park hours will let him...he's a no sleep at Disney sort of guy. I can't keep up with his pace, but it's incredible what we are able to pack into a 6 park day trip sometimes!

 

[solfan68]

Someone already said it, there is no wrong answer on how to tour. The secret is knowing your crowd. My family has owl-based genetics. We love the parks at night. Shut them down all the time. If I were to try and strong arm my family into trying to make a rope drop it would put everyone into such a foul mood, the day would really be a disaster. So... we get up when we do, go find some brunch and then make our way to the parks. If its crazy-hot, we come back for some downtime at the resort, and then return for more late night hijinx. We'll actually be staying offsite for the very first time this Fall. It will be interesting to see how our style changes not being able to rely on Disney transportation at the end of a full, rich day!

 

[MrsDuck]

We are early risers with a todder. That's important to note!

We typically rope drop every park every day and then head back to the resort from 12:30-3ish given our 2yo's nap. Sometimes we go back to a park; other times we stay at the resort and swim or just relax. We typically miss fireworks/nighttime events as its past our little guy's bedtime and I'm a stickler for his schedule. Plus, I'm sleepy, too.

As others have said, you have to do what works best for your family.

 

[Beer Me]

I’m all about not spending too much time in lines.

Generally we rope drop a headliner and take advantage of whatever shorter wait times we find in the morning.

Another big part of my touring style is using MDE to book and modify FPs in a pretty aggressive manner. I make the first 3 as early as possible (realize there are different schools of thought on this) and try to get as many extras as possible. I don’t mind crossing the park for a good FP.

I prefer an afternoon resort break but it doesn’t always happen.

We always park hop and book a TS meal every day usually somewhere different than we started the day which breaks things up.

After dinner is totally relaxed, maybe plans to watch a nighttime show and whatever happens, happens.

 

[The13thLetter]

For those with young children, I am curious, do you wake them up in the mornings on your trip to rope drop? Or are they already up? The last 2 trips with DS (he was 5 months, then 16 months) we let him sleep as late as he would because at home he wakes up early but in disney with the super dark room he tends to sleep in, which means we get to sleep in also for once in thel ast 2 years. I was tempted to get him up to get to the parks earlier but I dont know if I can turn down our only chance to sleep in a little bit

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

So whats your touring style? For example we have 2 days in each park therefore we want to do a rope drop for every park at least once maybe both days on parks like AK but not surr yet. On ropedrop mornings how do you tour each park? What's YOUR way of doing things? What about days we do not rope drop but arrive at 9 - 10- 11 am instead whats your way of doing those days? I dont want to plan down to the T therefore I would like to get ideas of how everyone does their own thing and incorporate what I think would work for our group. We dont have ADRs So they wont decide how we do things... everyone one usually leaves what we do up to me so I want to make sure we get as much done as possible without wearing ourselves down too much....

On RD days, we go until about lunch'ish time and then we head back to the resort to chill, swim or nap. Then head back to the parks later that day. If we go this route we usually only plan one ADR max since traveling to/from resort will eat some time depending on where we stay. I love our RD days since we usually get so much in. We usually plan our last FP+ around lunch time and then rebook from there or sometimes don't even bother if we hit our must do's already and just chill and relax for the rest of our touring day.

On non rope drop days we hit the park usually in time for our first FP+ and sometimes will stay the whole day and sometimes not. Just depends on crowds and what we have lined up. We (or rather I) are big planners but we do like to not feel rushed or locked into having to do something. But we've found that we can't RD every day of our trips. We don't do super long trips since we are fairly close so our longest trips are 4/5 days so we may only RD 2 out of those visits and relax on other days.

 

[GillianP1301]

We visit yearly for 10 nights each trip and 10 day park hopper passes. I've been over a dozen times and my son has now been 8 times, so we are very familiar with WDW,, what we like and don't like and we know we will be coming back. So our approach is a strange combination of commando and laid back. I put a touring plan together that has us on the go a lot, but we change plans on the fly a lot and have no problem dumping a half day of park time to chill by the pool instead if we find we are more tired than expected.

We don't usually RD, but do like to take advantage of EMM when it's offered. I like the extra ticketed events because I find they help keep my touring more relaxed. However, I did find on our most recent trip that I had too many... 4 EMM, 2 MNSSHP and 2 DAH in 10 days was too much. I underestimated how fatigued that would make us. Next time, I'm cutting that down to 6 events total max.

We like TS dining so our days usually start with a character breakfast (most days that we aren't at EMM) followed by touring a park until early to mid afternoon and using fastpasses. Then we either hop to another park or return to the resort for rest and then hopping to a different park. I like to follow my touring plan for the first portion of the day and then leave the later park more open so I can go wherever there may be a good fastpass or just where we feel like at the time.

 

[Oneanne]

I'm coming from the West Coast and keep early work hours, so my normal 5am pacific wake-up time equates to 8am eastern, and I can get ready and out the door in less than half an hour, so I'm usually at the parks just after rope drop. Getting up before that for morning EMH can be a challenge, but I have done it. I do my FP+ mid-day and take early afternoon breaks back at the resort for some serious napping, and a freshen up. Then around 5pm, like so many others, I head out again. I'm a hopper and usually go to EPCOT in the evenings.

 

[pcoleman]

We are rope drop, park hoping people. No young kids. Like to hit the ground running for major rides we couldn't get a FP for. Usually leave park between noon-2:00. Go back to the hotel, swim and just recharge. We usually go back after dinner to a different park. Our evening tends to be slower paced than am.

 

[mtrib]

Waited for Dehunk to ride auto stinky Rama. Standby people mover and that roof spinner.

Love the ride descriptions. I think this is your calling