In Park Itinerary Help Please

[simonmunro]

I can get a plan detailed the way I want it with hotel, PS, late night entertainment, etc. I take how many full days and divide into three parts and be sooo proud of it, just know that it's ideal for us, but something is dreadfully WRONG with my in-park, fastpass, shows schedule, where do we find a seat ahead of time for this parade or that show kind of itinerary. It's like a block, I can't organize the notes or feel like it's do-able or if I even forgot something! YIKES. I read your "Commando" style touring threads but only that you did it or didn't do it but not HOW. HELP... Are there any commando tour itinerarys posted here somewhere? I'd love to print some and then revise them for our family. There's not a real good chance I'll aquire the skill to plan in park itineraries on my own before we want to go again. We got fast pass last time but with a couple hour wait we were way far away by the time it was due???

 

[April in Disney]

How many people and ages? How many dates in parks?

 

[mad4themouse]

Regarding the FastPasses: We always sent one member (usually me because I'm a type A, rapid-walking, commando-style person)ahead while the rest of the group took a snack or bathroom break. This person would get the FastPasses and return to meet the group at a predetermined location.

We then continued touring in the area the group was in, working our way towards whatever attraction we held the FastPasses for. By the time we did a few more attractions, we were usually close to our FastPass return time.

For instance, while the family got chicken and burgers at Cosmic Ray's in Tomorrowland, I scooted over to Splash Mountain and got FastPasses for all of us. By the time I returned, the family had gotten our meals and a seat. We ate, worked our way thru Fantasyland and arrived at Splash Mountain within our FastPass return time frame.

It means a little more walking for one family member or another but in the long run, it paid off.

 

[QuickGold]

See if this printable itinerary for the MGM Studios doesn't help you a little bit: http://www.mgmstudios.org/board/viewtopic.php?t=181

 

[Mortlives]

The Unofficial Guide to DisneyWorld contains detailed commando tour plans for all the parks for different conditions (1-day, 2 day, with/wo kids). Your local library may have a copy. The only thing about the schedules is they are very specific, and if you follow them you may feel like you're running a marathon. However, if you're going during peak season, the plans are supposed to be excellent at getting you through the major parts of the parks. If you want to try scheduling yourself, it also contains suggested times for riding each ride.

That said, if you're not going at the busiest time of the year, you may want to schedule lots of time for looking around. There's a lot to see at WDW that isn't an attraction.

Ciao,
Mort.

 

[The Sybah Shelstah]

I wasn't very prepared when we went on our first trip recently, ironically at the busiest time of the year also! I think we did a pretty good job with me just planning the "in park itinerary" the night before (each night). So you're already one step ahead of me there!

I basically made notes of what rides we wanted to be sure to do- and then made note of which ones of those had fast passes- then which ones without FP were NEAR the ones with FastPasses.

We got there early (this was our plan, it might not be yours! It also might not be necessary in less busy times of the year!) and just based where we would start by the FP rides. We did a lot like what mad4themouse said. We'd either all get the fastpass if we were already there and do things/ride rides/eat/bathroom/etc NEAR that fastpass so we'd be sure to be back- or I'd run ahead since I could go faster than all 5 of us with stroller and grab the fastpasses and come back to them- then work our way to the ride.

That is if the fastpass was within an hour or so. If it was longer- we really didn't try to stay right there next to it- just did things around it and kept an eye on the time to work our way back to it in time to use the FP.

I also made notes on my map of which rides some of my children couldn't ride. Just so I'd know in advance which of my younger two wouldn't get to ride it (ofcourse the youngest not riding as much as the 5yr old, the 5yr old not riding as much as the almost 9yr old)

You could aim yourself towards the part of the park you have the rides you MOST want to make sure you ride, then work your way around. At first I was going to just go right or left and work ourselves around the park but I was scared we wouldn't get to ride some rides that way. So we basically just based our inpark itinerary on what we wanted to do the most, which rides had FPs, and then lastly kinda paid attention to who would get to ride what. (which is not an issue for those without very small children)

 

[chi-mom]

Have you checked out www.tourguidemike.com . The site is full of good planning info. It lets you know which mornings are best where, and the same for afternoons. After reading all his info., I now feel I can plan our trip easily

 

[simonmunro]

Thanks for the great ideas everyone.

 

[hipporina]

I give another cheer for the Unofficial Guide. They have several different touring plans outlined for different interests and even have them in the back ready to be clipped out. DH and I went with the rest of my family (parents, 2 married sisters and their DH's, DGM, and 2 kids) in June 2000 and we cut them out and had them laminated. We took them with us and followed them. At the beginning of our trip, everyone thought we were silly, but by the end, they wanted to follow us around. We saw and did more than any of them! It was super easy, but also tiring. It is worth checking out.