last minute trip concerns

[bozley0621]

I've decided at the last minute to go to DLP for the weekend (Saturday and Sunday). This will be my first visit. Ivee been to Disney World twice. Normally I go with a daily itinerary and daily park touring plans complete with reservations. It makes enjoying the parks so much more enjoyable. My questions are:

Any general park touring tips?
What are the normal crowds like for a weekend in January?

 

[Cyrano]

Weekends are generally much busier than week days at the parks.
Best advice I say is get to the park for opening. If you are staying on-site make the most of Extra Magic Hour (EMH) as this will give you the jump on other guests.
Have a great time and wrap up warm

 

[bozley0621]

We are driving in bright and early in time for opening at 10 on Saturday morning, staying at the Kyriad, Disney Village Saturday night, doing the park until closing on Sunday, and then heading back home (3 1/2 hour drive) Sunday night.

 

[miffy7]

our january sunday - the 6th - wasn't toooo bad but the next saturday got extremely busy extremely quickly.
it sounds like a good idea to have an itinerary but what we have found to work is being a little bit more casual - if we pass a ride with hardly any line we get on it - if we have fastpasses we can use we use them to come back later etc. btw if you get two sets of tickets your saturday ones may work for fastpasses on sunday.
there are boards in both parks to give you an idea of the wait times.
i always get a timetable and work out which shows we should go to and work around that a bit. the shows are a good chance to have a picnic and a rest, you see.
you likely will not get to do everything in two days if those days are on a weekend. so relax and don't feel like you have to do everything, is my advice.
if you have a character meal somewhere like inventions after the park closes on the saturday you won't have to worry about meeting characters in the park.
if it does happen it will be a nice surprise.
for us the nice surprises happen in disney studios in the courtyard.
also we eat huge breakfasts so we don't have to have a table service lunch and lose out on park time sometimes.
croissants filled with cheese and ham mainly.
oh how the other guests look on with disdain!
my mum should never have taken me to dunkin doughnuts.

 

[bozley0621]

Thanks Miffy!

I know we won't be able to se and do it all. That's one reason I would like an itinerary, but I will follow your suggestions.

On Dunkin Donuts, I miss it very much while living here in Germany. If you would like an excuse to visit Dubai,DD is the first place I saw in the taxi after leaving the airport Nothing like going to the middle east and feeling like I'm in the U.S.

 

[Ware Bears]

Have a great time, Bethany

If you can, try to make time to look at the Sleeping Beauty Gallery up in the Castle and also the dragon underneath as both are unique to DLRP.