How to Park Hop with little ones? Strategy?

[lyv4him]

Can someone help me and figure out how to park hop with little ones; while considering the older riders? We have never done this before, and are totally lost in how to go about it. We have 2 days.

So far we will start early head to FL, work our way from land to land (not too much zigging/zagging)...but the Fast pass thing also has me confused

Must Dos DL:
As much as FAntasyland
As much as Tomorrowland
All the mountains
Indy
Pirates
Pooh
Blue Bayou ressie 7:10pm
*can skip TT

Must Dos DCA:
Soarin
Bugs Land
WoC
Aladdin
*can skip ToT/Screamin

Thank U!

 

[Lissame]

How many people do you have going, what are their ages (heights I guess is a better question)?

Do you have 2 full days? Which days? Staying close by? Will you be there at opening?

LOL lots of questions.

 

[lyv4him]

How many people do you have going, what are their ages (heights I guess is a better question)?

Do you have 2 full days? Which days? Staying close by? Will you be there at opening?

LOL lots of questions.

5 adults, 1 child 46", 1 child 36", 1 baby
2 full days
Sunday Sept. 26th and Monday Sept. 28
Staying at Courtyard by Marriott Anaheim
Want to be there at opening

 

[lyv4him]

5 adults, 1 child 46" (Correction 44"), 1 child 36", 1 baby
2 full days
Sunday Sept. 26th and Monday Sept. 28
Staying at Courtyard by Marriott Anaheim
Want to be there at opening

Thank you

 

[Lissame]

I'd for sure do Fantasyland on Monday at opening. There's a Magic Morning on Sunday, so Monday will be less crowded (relatively so).

Read through the Fastpass thread and see how to maximize your fastpass collections. You might designate one adult to be your runner and go get the FP for the rest of you. You can also use child swaps on many of the rides.

It's always been a good idea for our group (we have gone many times with a group similar to yours) for half the group to ride Splash while the other part of the group (including the little ones) rides Pooh, and then when they get off, switch and do the same thing again. We usually let the kid(s) that are the right height ride whatever ride it is again unless they are dying to go on Pooh.

If you are diligent about collecting FP for the rides you want to go on, you should have no problem completing your list in the time you have.

 

[goldies 5]

Sounds like you have lots of helpers. I would have whoever is not riding something in FL go over and get FP for Space Mountain to use later in the day. You only need 1 runner.
Don't forget Monsters Inc. at DCA. Everyone can ride that. They will make you turn baby forward on this one. Any adults want to ride TOT grab FP on the way to Bugs Land.

 

[momtotwolittleones]

What two days are you there? Are you doing a magic morning? If you are going to be at DL for a magic morning (getting there by 6:45/7am), then do DL on that day. You'll be able to cover most of Fantasyland and Tomorrowland easily. However, if you're not going to show up until 8am, do DL on the non MM day. It's more crowded on the MM day.

Start collecting FP for the big rides early on - you go to a machine, stick each park pass in, and you get a ticket (FP) for each one. If you have 4 park passes, you can get 4 tickets. There are 3 different times on the ticket, but only two you need to consider. One is the return time for the ride. It will say something like "return between 9:30 and 10:30." Forget the 10:30 - it's irrelevant. This means that you can use that FP to get on the ride anytime after 9:30. Then look underneath, and in smaller print it will say something like "you can get your next fastpass after 9:30." This means that regardless of whether you have used your first fp or not, you can go get another set after that time. In the mornings it's generally about an hour later, but as it gets more crowded it can be up to 2 hours. Before the park opens at 8 you can get FP for space mountain and buzz, but buzz was a walkon for us until at least 10am, so unless your kids are huge fans and want to ride a lot, I wouldn't bother with the FP. I personally think the ride is overrated but my kids love it.

Then head to Frontier/Adventureland - get Indy FP first (their return time gets really late, fast), then Splash (ride Pooh while you're over there), then Big Thunder. If you work quickly, you'll find you will probably be able to double up on many of these fastpasses. Plus, if you use the tickets for the little ones to get FP for the big rides, the older kids can go on twice using their tickets.

Do the other day at DCA, or half and half depending on how tired you all are. Get WOC FP first thing (or just buy the picnic and skip the big line). If you're there early (DL hotel guest), you can get on soaring right away. However, I recommend grabbing a FP for soaring and then heading over to TSMM - the lines will be really long the rest of the day. The first Aladdin show is around 1:30. Bugs Land you can do anytime - it's not crowded. A kid older than 5 will be pretty bored, and you will be done in under 1/2 hour. You could even head back over to DL for the afternoon/evening and then back to DCA for WOC if you want.

You kind of have to play it by ear based on crowd levels and kid fatigue, but that would be my general strategy.

 

[pinktink83]

The way we did it when we went with our kiddos (ages 7 and under) was to spend the entire first day at DL, the next morning at DL, then hop over to DCA when it opened, stayed there until it closed, then hopped back over to DL until it closed. DCA always opens later, and closes before, DL. So it worked out nice. It really didn't take too long to do everything we wanted to do in DCA. One day seems plenty IMO, especially because there's really not a whole lot for kids under 40" to do in DCA, except for A Bug's Land (which goes super quick anyway since its small).

As for fast passes, the only thing you really need to understand is how to collect them in large numbers and when to use them. On the card there will be a "return time" say between 9:00am-9:45am. HOWEVER, you don't HAVE to use it by 9:45am! That is the KEY! As long as you wait until after 9:00am, you can hold onto it for the rest of the day and use it whenever it is convenient for you. So the strategy is to collect as many Fast Passes earlier in the day, so you can use them in the afternoon and evening when it gets more crowded.

The second key piece of information is you can only collect your next set of Fast Passes after the first "return time". So again, the 'return time' is between 9:00am-9:45am. You can collect your next set of Fast Passes for another ride anytime AFTER 9:00am.

So lets say at 8am, you get Fast Passes for Space Mountain with a return time of 9:00am-9:45am. You go ride some other rides in Tomorrowland, then its 9:05, so you stop by Buzz Lightyear as you walk by and get another set of Fast Passes with a return time of 10:00-10:45am. So you go ride some other rides in Frontierland, and at 10:05 you get another set of Fast Passes from Thunder Mountain as you walk by. The return time 11:00am-11:45am, so you go ride some other rides in Critter County, and then at 11:05 you stop by Splash Mountain to get a set of fast passes there. So now you have collected 4 sets of Fast Passes by noon that you can use later in the afternoon or evening when it gets really crowded!

Basically, you work your way around the park, collecting Fast Passes as you go. Then you reverse order and go back the way you came using your Fast Passes along the way! No wasting time! No waiting in super long lines!