Last minute tips...4 kids 12/26-1/3

[NYteacher]

8 days!!! Can't believe it is coming so quickly. As a teacher, I have been swamped as the vacation approaches, but I was hoping for any 'clear-headed' advice from veterans. We have all the basic stuff covered with our rental confirmed, hopper passes, some Priority Seating ressies for NYE, and a few Q+C vouchers. Our first day is planned for Sunday the 27th. Anything we should do first as we hit the first park? Any recommendations for which park would be the best on Sunday? I haven't even had time to really think through a schedule other than that we are planning Epcot on NYE. I've got both the official and unofficial guides and was going to follow the plans there, but not sure what order to do the parks. Thanks for your tips...even suggested daily park visits!

 

[bobcat]

One more day till Christmas break!!!! Can you tell I'm a teacher too LOL! Wish I could go to WDW next week but I'll have to wait until summer.

The unofficial guide is great but their touring plans will run you all over the place. In the Christmas crowds that might be hard to do. Use Fast Pass as much as you can. Start the day off by gettting a FP for a ride and then riding another ride while you are waiting for your FP time. Pick up a new FP before you ride the current FP ride. This will maximize your ride time. I also always get a FP before we eat and our ride time is usually near when we finish our meal.

Mk will be packed no matter which day you visit, but traditionaly the begining of the week is usually more crowded. Animal Kingdom or Epcot might be a good choice for your first park.

Have a wonderful vacation!

 

[NYteacher]

Thanks BobCat. Anyone else with their 2 cents? The kids are 14,12,10,8.

 

[lentesta]

NYTeacher, drop me a line and I'll give you the "Christmas" version of the Magic Kingdom touring plan from the Unofficial Guide. Let me know whether you're splitting that park into two days.

Bobcat, I don't think it's true to say that the Unofficial Guide touring plan, in particular the One Day MK Touring Plan for adults, requires you to "run around." For one thing, every time you leave one land in that touring plan, you're headed to an adjacent land (e.g., from Tomorrowland to Fantasyland). The only exception to this I can see is when we say to take the WDW Railroad from Frontierland to Toontown. But you're riding the train, not walking, so that's different.

There are times in the touring plan when you'll re-visit certain lands. Tomorrowland, for example, gets visited twice. The reason for that is that your morning touring time is best spent on attractions other than those left for afternoon (e.g., the TTA).

The general rule of thumb we have in the touring plan computer software for leaving a particular land is that we don't leave a land if we've not visited all of the attractions unless we can save more than 20 minutes waiting in line by going to an adjacent land. So, for example, by leaving Tomorrowland in the morning and going to Fantasyland, we're saving more than 20 minutes of standing in line by deferring some Tomorrowland attractions to the afternoon.

We also save more than 20 minutes by seeing only "high-priority" attractions in Fantasyland before heading to Liberty Square. If you look at the number of times we do this, those 20-minute savings start to add up. Especially if you consider that it's three or four minutes of walking for that 20 minutes in line.

Regarding the difficulty in walking around the parks during Christmas, I think the worst area is around Peter Pan in Fantasyland, which is a choke point because of strollers. One option there is to either break the MK tour into two days. But I think NYTeacher is only going to go through there once or twice, so it might be ok just to deal with it.

As you're both teachers, let me know if you'd like some background material on the math involved in creating touring plans for the Guide. I've had a couple of papers published in academic journals as part of my grad school work, and I think I can summarize it for kids fairly well.

Sincerely,

Len

 

[Deb & Bill]

I'd do the parks in the order you like. If you are staying onsite, take advantage of the Extra Magic Hour. If not, move your schedule either one day ahead or one day behind. Get to the park when it opens and do as much as you can early in the day. By noon, it gets pretty busy with all the late sleepers. Use FP as much as you can for those must do rides. If you have park hoppers, move around and take a break during the mid day. Don't waste time waiting in lines unless you really want to do that ride (90 minutes is a big chunk of time to just be waiting). Plan to do those things you really want to do as early as possible. But if there are long lines, keep the size of the attraction in mind. Some, like theater events, move lots of people at one time. Some, like Dumbo, will be S-L-O-W. Try to do those early. Peter Pan always has a line, try to do it early.

Plan any meal times for other than normal eating time. Since you have some PS that should help. But you may still have to wait for those as well. If the weather is cold or wet, lots of people stay inside the restaurants for longer times, so the tables get cleared a lot slower.

And, you don't have four kids, you have three adults and one kid. Have a great time!!

 

[sdamico71]

Disney parades are awesome. All ages will love them, even if they don't like parades at home. My suggestion is to have one person save parade "seats" and have the rest of the group ride the rides up until the parade will start (give yourself a few mins to get back to your seats).
Always opt for a later parade, and ride the rides during the 1st parade (if they still have two parade times/fireworks times)
Use fast pass as much as possible! Get fast passes for all park passes, even if not all in the party will be riding the ride. We did this for rides that only a few in our group wanted to ride. Our kids were able to use the 1st fast pass and get on the ride. Then go back to the fast pass line with the 2nd group of tickets. So even if the parents don't want to ride the ride, or the little ones won't care for it, get a fast pass for everyone. Also, watch the times on the fastpass. If you are trying for 6 fast passes, it isn't uncommon to have 2 different times (10-20 mins apart) on them. It depends on the number of people getting fast pass tickets the same time as you. CMs won't let us in as a group until the lastest time on the ticket.

 

[NYteacher]

Thanks to all for your input. We are staying off-site (had to find a reasonably priced place for a family of 6) so we will be avoiding the early entry parks. I am planning on following the Unofficial guide touring plans, but I would certainly welcome any special 'Christmas versions'. This board is so great, especially for late planners like us!