Ideal Itinerary for High Volume Days

[Stacey Neves]

I know this has been discussed a bit in the past, but I'm curious on what everyone's ideal itinerary is on a busy park day? What are your first FP stops? What non-FP rides do you hit first? Do you have other strategies and tips for maximizing park time (especially if the visit is short)?

I had a major fail during my last visit... We had gotten fast past tickets for RSR that were good toward the end of the park closing (on our LAST park day). DH and I were getting close to the end of the FP time frame but wanted to ride Splash one more time since there was literally no line. We are fast walkers so we figured we could high tail to DCA and make it in time. Well, we didn't account for the wall of people waiting for the fireworks and were literally stuck. Total let down! Can't wait to finally ride it when we go back in February 2017!

 

[SMD]

There really isn't a set pattern for crowds. You have to be flexible and plan around what the queue lengths are for that day and the entertainment schedule. FYI, RSR has single rider. You might want to do that before pulling an FP just to get in one ride first.

 

[agamble]

The busier it is the more flexible you need to be.

At DCA we like to head straight to Toy Story and ride once or twice before a line forms. It's a fun experience, but not something we like to wait in line for and the line gets long. Then usually my DH would run and get us RSR passes that would be ready for 2-3 hours from that time. We feel that DCA isn't a high pressure park and you can be kind of leisurely there and do whatever you're in the mood for.

At DL it would depend on how many days we're there for. We generally hit Fantasyland on our first park day (no MM). We try to ride as many rides as we can without long waits and then head to Toon Town. If it was a second day (or a MM) we would start by going to Adventureland and riding the rides on that side of the park. We generally don't start in Tomorrowland unless we want to ride the subs, and since FP windows are enforced we only grab FP for something if we know we'll be heading that way. If I was pressed for time and it was super busy I would definitely get Space and Splash FP early in the day as we enjoy those rides and don't want to be stuck in the long lines. Indiana Jones is that way too, but it's not my favorite. I feel that Star Tours doesn't run out of FP as early and the standby is usually shorter than Indy or Space and Splash. Big Thunder is another one that is easy to get a FP shortly before wanting to ride.

 

[ehrawn]

The busier it is the more flexible you need to be.

This is the key. First, its important to understand crowd dynamics in the Park.
1. The Park feels most full around lunch and right before the evening entertainment.
2. The Park fills front to back.
3. Guests love queues; when they see a line, FOMO drives them to be like everyone else.
4. Some attractions load faster than others and some never have lines.

Knowing these, be where no one else is. For example, we tend to get to the Park at opening, so we are there before sleepy tourists get out of bed and the locals can commute to the Park. We go to the slowest loading attractions in Fantasyland, skipping any that have a line (i.e. Peter). Then we hit BTMRR, HM & Splash Mountain, which are farther in the back Park. Then we ride some faster loading attractions, like Pirates, and ones that never have crowds, like Tiki Room. During this whole time, we keep an eye on the Disneyland App, as well as peak at posted wait times of attractions that have the longest lines. If there's one that doesn't have a wait, we ride it. This gets us to about lunch time, so we depart. We return a few hours before the nighttime parade/fireworks and ride attractions during that time (you haven't lived until you see the fireworks from BTMRR).