How important are touring plans in the off season?

[MG3G]

We are heading to DL in 34 days!
I have no plans, should I have some? LOL

I figure because it's the off season we can use fast pass and meander and be ok. I know to get to RRSR right away and same with the A & A meet and greet, oh and I suppose head to the parade what about 30 minutes ahead? Is there anything else I should plan in the off season?

Also I know a LOT of people use wait time aps - are we going to be behind the eight ball without them? Does the park have WIFI? We're from Canada and our cell plans are TERRIBLE so we won't be doing mobile data for sure - is there another option for wait time aps through WIFI?

Thanks so much!

 

[jina]

I've never used the touring plans apps but have looked at them. Generally I'd say they are less important during the less busy times (there is really no off season anymore BTW) but having said that this year there are a large number of attractions closed for refurbishment - 'tis the season, but this year the list is longer than usual. If you find a touring app which incorporates these closures it may be worth using.

Otherwise the approach of
- arrive early
- use FP when it makes sense
- have fun

should be fine.

Specific to RSR, now that their FP system is connected to the others it's not as hard getting a FP but you still want to get one within the first few hours the park is open. Ditto for A&E - now that they've moved the meet & greet to DCA they have double capacity and at least when they first moved them over a couple of weeks ago FP's were still available into the afternoon. The A&E FP as well as Olaf FP's are disconnected I believe so if you are Frozen fans you'd want to grab both at the same time whenever you make it down to Hollywood land.

Re: parades- we've always just found a spot 10-15 min before. It's usually not directly on the street- probably 1 person back but folks always make room for DD5 when the actual parade starts. Xmas was different - we didn't even go near DL during Parade time but we had no problem stepping into a spot for the DCA parade seconds before it made its way past the Bugs Land entrance. For DL last August we were walking out of the park down main street when we heard the frozen pre-parade start so we grabbed spots behind other folks and when the parade arrived seconds later folks openup a spot for DD5 so she could watch. Once folks stand up there's always a little room to fit a small child in for a front row seat. DDH and I were fine standing too. Even if DD5 couldn't see we could have easily stuck her on our shoulders. (although she's now 42 lbs - not sure how much longer we'll be able to do that!)

Oh, no wifi on resort yet (I've heard rumors maybe sometime in 2016 when FP+ is rolled out). I found the wait time apps were not all that useful but I did use them to gauge crowd levels at each park from time to time since we were there during Xmas- that will probably not be something you will care about since you are going during a less busy time.

Have a great trip!

 

[figment_jii]

As the PP said, there really isn't an "off season" per se anymore, but there are more or less busy times. So how important it is to have a wait time app or a touring plan, depends specifically on when you are going. Based on your date, I'm thinking your arriving on Monday, 2/9. This is before President's Day (2/16) weekend, so the crowds should be on the lighter side.

For me, I do have a few of the free wait time apps on my phone so that I can get a sense of the wait times, but I don't rely on them heavily. Most of the apps rely on in-park guests to provide wait times (plus you don't know if people are putting in the wait times on the sign board at the entrance or the amount of time they waited in the line or something else entirely). So, if lots of folks are using the app, it's more likely to up-to-date, but if not a lot of folks are using it, then it might not be as accurate. If someone posted a wait time 15 minutes ago, that might be accurate. If the last data point was from 2 hours ago, that might be less useful. So I use multiple apps to compare and get a sense of the wait times, but I don't rely on them heavily to plan where to go next.

I know to get to RRSR right away and same with the A & A meet and greet, oh and I suppose head to the parade what about 30 minutes ahead? Is there anything else I should plan in the off season?

RSR is a mixed bag and it depends on whether you plan to ride TSMM or not. TSMM does not have FP, so the common advice is to head straight to TSMM at rope drop (assuming it's not an EMH-morning for DCA), then come back for a RSR FP or use RSR's single rider line (SRL) if everyone is old enough and you don't mind riding separately. The RSR FPs now last longer into the day than before because they do not allow guests to line up pre-park opening to get one and they are now connected to the rest of the DCA FP system. If you don't care about TSMM, then heading straight to RSR at opening is a popular plan (try using the wide right technique if you're there pre-opening).

For the parades, that's kind of a mixed bag. I would think 30 minutes should be plenty for the Soundsational Parade. I was stunned to see guests lined up over an hour before the Christmas parade started on a weekday in mid-November (another less-busy period). Still, I think Sounsational is not as popular (because it runs for more of the year), so I would think 30 minutes should be fine.

Does the park have WIFI?

As the PP said, there is no park-wide free wifi. Some locations may be able to pick-up open signals from surrounding businesses, but nothing that I'd consider reliable. If you won't want to use a wait time app, there are the wait time boards in each park (DL's is near Jolly Holiday on Main Street and DCA's is near Carthay Circle on Buena Vista Street). Those will give you the wait times for select attractions in that park.