If you only had 1.5 days at Magic Kingdom, what would your touring strategy be?

[thelegacy27]

First visit to WDW for my family (me, DH, DDs 8, 6, 3) in early May and I'm torn with how to plan my days.

For background we're arriving at the Boardwalk on Sunday, leaving Friday and plan to visit 1 park each day: M-Epcot, T-MK, W-AK, Th-HS, F-MK

My original plan is to go to MK on day 3 (full day) and departure day, day 6 (half day).

Does this seem ok? If you stick with 1.5 days, how would you split up MK? By lands? Or some other way that I'm not aware of?

Thanks for your help!

 

[chris benton]

Everyone's different.
I only research what my fam would like to do, and eliminate everything else. So, I basically research all of the attractions, street shows/parades and foods, then I figure out my path from there. I also try to do a night "tour" because it's an awesome contrast with all of the lights (and cooler weather.)

Since you're staying on prop, at BW, you have access to magic hours, and also BW is walking distance to TWO parks. Hoppers are made for your situation. You can be at AM emh for HS at EP (if they are offered during your trip) in a breeze OR to hop to after whatever AM park. I stay EP area, and pretty much plan to go to whatever park has am emh, come back to the resort around lunch, then hop to DHS or EP. If DHS or EP has the am EMH, then I hop to MK at night. But for how to tour MK - I just choose what I want to do, and let that be my starting point. I don't break it up into lands, but I do pay attention to my walking paths between attraction - actually, I use Touring Plans - easy peasy.

 

[Hootch]

Take a look at this site.

https://www.easywdw.com/cheatsheets/mk_cheatsheet_fall_2018.pdf

Josh lays out priorities and explains why. I like how he walks his touring plan periodically.

 

[thelegacy27]

Anyone else?

 

[sharonabe]

Anyone else?

Well, the FP+ system kind of changed how I plan because I will now plan where we go at the park according to which FP+ I can get. I still try to stay on one side of the park, so we're not criss-crossing back and forth.

With one full day and one half day, I would want to try to have a 7DMT FP+ for both days (we really like the ride). Other than that, since you have two mornings, starting in Fantasyland or Tomorrowland one day and Adventure or Frontierland on the other makes sense to me. You'll probably want to double up on some of your favorite rides.

 

[hes122]

When I was there in March of 2017, we had 2 full days in MK but easily could've done what we did in 1.5 days. One day 1, we spent the day going through Fantasyland, Tomorrowland, and Liberty Square. On day 2 we did Adventureland and Frontierland and then went back and did some other things a second (or third) time. I put the stuff we did twice in italics.

Day 1: (park opening at 9 w/PM EMH)

Got up early
Took bus to Magic Kingdom
PPO ADR at Be Our Guest
Rode 7DMT PPO
Rode Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Watched Mickey’s Philharmagic
FP Under the Sea- Journey of the Little Mermaid
Rode Dumbo
Rode Barnstormer
Rode Prince Charming’s Regal Carousel
FP Peter Pan’s Flight
Rode It’s a Small World
Ate lunch at Pinocchio’s Village Haus
Rode Mad Tea Party
Rode Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover
Watched Monsters Inc Laugh Floor
FP Space Mountain
Rode Buzz Lightyear Ranger Spin
Rode Carousel of Progress
Rode Tomorrowland Speedway
Ate dinner at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn
Rode Haunted Mansion
Watched Wishes
Rode Tomorrowland Transit Authority Peoplemover
Watched Monsters Inc Laugh Floor
Rode Buzz Lightyear Ranger Spin
Rode Space Mountain
Went back to resort (only stayed about 1 hour into EMH)

Day 2: (park opening at 9 w/AM EMH)

Got ready/took bus to Magic Kingdom (we did not get there in time for AM EMH- it was about 9:15/9:30 when we arrived at the park)
Got breakfast at Main Street Bakery (ate at Casey’s Corner seating area)
FP Pirates of the Caribbean
Rode Magic Carpets of Aladdin
Watched Enchanted Tiki Room show
FP Big Thunder Mountain Railroad
Took boat to/explored Tom Sawyer Island
Got Dole Whip Floats at Aloha Isle
Rode Liberty Square Riverboat
Ate lunch at Columbia Harbour House
Watched afternoon parade
FP 7DMT
Rode Prince Charming’s Regal Carousel
Watched Mickey’s Philharmagic
Walked through Cinderella’s Castle
Rode Liberty Square Riverboat
Watched Country Bear Jamboree Show
Ate dinner at Pecos Bill Tall Tale Inn
Rode Walt Disney World Railroad around the park
FP Jungle Cruise
Rode Pirates of the Caribbean
Got seated for Wishes
Got funnel cake snack at Sleepy Hollow
Watched Wishes
Watched Castle light up show
Went home

 

[NH-to-FL]

For background we're arriving at the Boardwalk on Sunday, leaving Friday and plan to visit 1 park each day: M-Epcot, T-MK, W-AK, Th-HS, F-MK

DW and I have made many vacation visits to the Boardwalk. It is a wonderful resort!

My first question is whether you have considered Extra Magic Hours when choosing your park days. Being at the Boardwalk makes it particularly easy to take advantage of EMH at Epcot. I appreciate that with younger children you might not want to be up extra early or stay up late but it is an on site perk to consider. The alternative is to intentionally avoid parks with EMH. Which it look like you have done.

Are you planning to be at the park at or before opening? Being at the park early and near the front of the crowd at rope drop is a powerful way to get a lot done. You can catch one or two popular attractions without a FP with minimal waits.

Do you have park hopper tickets? Staying at one of the Epcot resorts makes park hoppers almost necessary.

My original plan is to go to MK on day 3 (full day) and departure day, day 6 (half day).

Does this seem ok? If you stick with 1.5 days, how would you split up MK? By lands? Or some other way that I'm not aware of?

I would suggest organizing your MK time by lands as much as possible. For instance with your day and a half at MK you could decide to leave Tomorrowland to the 1/2 day. Of course FP availability can make this hard to execute. At least avoid a plan that crisscrosses the park. Going back and forth between Tomorrowland and Adventureland just takes too much time and effort. At a minimum split the park in half.

Since you're staying on prop, at BW, you have access to magic hours, and also BW is walking distance to TWO parks. Hoppers are made for your situation. You can be at AM emh for HS at EP (if they are offered during your trip) in a breeze OR to hop to after whatever AM park. I stay EP area, and pretty much plan to go to whatever park has am emh, come back to the resort around lunch, then hop to DHS or EP. If DHS or EP has the am EMH, then I hop to MK at night.

Yes! We did the same thing. When we stayed at the BWI we would always chose our park days for the morning Extra Magic Hour. We would get a lot done in that first hour and for the next few hours until the crowds really poured in. Then we would head back to the resort for a break. Then decide what to do in the evening, usually a wander over to Epcot. Since we are not night people we avoided evening EMH.
Wishing you a visit!

 

[thelegacy27]

Thanks everyone!

No park hoppers. I just figured with the ages of my kiddos and the fact that it's our first visit that I should just stick with one park/day.

Haven't really looked into the EMH. My first thought is to avoid them because we DON'T have hoppers but now I'm not so sure.

You guys have really given me a lot to think about. Thanks again!

 

[amylevan]

We avoid EMH with kids. The days are exhausting enough without adding extra longer hours.

We do MK in 1.5 days usually. We tend to use the personalized touring plans on UG touring plans website. It allows you to choose all the attractions your family is interested in, and then organizes them in a way that makes sense. It will even suggest times to aim for which fastpasses, and allows you to add the times for the ones you get.

 

[NH-to-FL]

No park hoppers. I just figured with the ages of my kiddos and the fact that it's our first visit that I should just stick with one park/day.

I understand your logic and it is very reasonable. Keep it simple, especially if you think that this is just your first, not your only, visit.

But be prepared for a bit of pull in the evenings as you are so close to Epcot.

Also, depending on where your room is located, be prepared for some noise from Illuminations. Some of the rooms look out towards Epcot and you will both see and hear the upper fireworks. Some of the air bursts are very loud.

Haven't really looked into the EMH. My first thought is to avoid them because we DON'T have hoppers but now I'm not so sure.

Again, a reasonable plan. Now that we are offsite we intentionally avoid parks with morning EMH. Just make sure to check the WDW EMH calendar before you start booking your FPs.

And remember you can upgrade to hoppers while you are there if you find your family's interest or stamina change.

Sometimes I think with all of the FP+ and ADR planning that we forget that it is possible to scrap the plan and do what interests you in the moment.

Thanks everyone!

You are welcome!

 

[coasternut22]

I have a day and a half planned at MK for our next trip. We are using the strategy of using EMH for Tomorrowland rides, then moving to Fantasyland rides. Our fast passes are Enchanted tales, Winnie, and Peter Pan. We eat lunch at BOG, then head back to Tomorrowland for COP, Transit, Monsters Inc. Using Touring Plans, this puts us at 2pm. So about an hour before the parade and time to start using extra same day fast passes which I will schedule my phone after we ride Peter Pan. Then we use same day fast passes to fill up the rest of the day and spread in shows like the tiki room and philharmagic. Note this plan does not account for character greets which we don’t normally do but may with same day fast passes.

For the half day, we rope drop Adventureland and Frontierland with fast passes for splash, mansion, and mine train. I couldn’t get mine train for our first day and could only get a 1pm for our second. So it’s its jungle, pirates, thunder, then fastpass for splash. We use rider switch for splash and thunder. So that puts us about opening of Tom Sawyer at 11. Then mansion, lunch, mine train, and then we have to leave.

Overall, it’s about 90% of what MK has to offer and pretty much all we want to do.