MK Ride Order Thoughts...

[buyerbrad]

Will be attending MK on a level 9 crowd day. It will be myself, wife and 2 daughters ages 4 & 6. This will be our first of 2 days. I have the following planned:

MK Morning #1 (9am opening)
Peter Pan
Pooh
Meet Ariel
Barnstormer
Dumbo
Meet Characters (Minnie/Daisy/Pluto/Goofy – opens at 10am)
Little Mermaid
Enchanted Tales FP+ (11-12)
Lunch @ Pinocchio
Small World (12:30-1:30pm)
Speedway FP+ (1:30-2:30pm)
4th FP+ Buzz/TeaCups/Monsters Inc.

Here is where I got thinking. I know a common strategy is to do Peter Pan at Rope drop. However, would it be far less stressful/rushed and possiblt even faster with 2 young kids to possibly do the unthinkable and Rope Drop Small World first? I could then get a Peter Pan FP+ where we currently have Small World scheduled.

MK Morning #2 (9am opening) looks like this...

Big Thunder
Splash Mountain
Pirates
Magic Carpets of Aladdin
Meet Jasmin and Aladdin
Jungle Cruise FP+ (10:15-11:15am)
Lunch at Pecos Bills
Swiss Robinson Tree House
Move It, Shake it (12:30)
Mickey’s Royale Friendship Faire (1pm)
Haunted Mansion (1:00-2pm)
Muppets 2:05
Parade 3pm
Meet Princess FP+ Cinderella and Elena (2:45-3:45pm)
4th FP+

 

[only hope]

You need to book fp from around 9-10, 10-11, and 11-12. After 9:45 or so nearly everything will have at least a 20mn line on a normal day. To wait the least amount of time, book fp early so you can start booking 4th+ early. There’s no point in waiting in lines when you can get fp. I do suggest being at the daisy etc line at about 9:50. Lines build quickly for that. Use rider swap too if theres something both/either of the kids doesn’t want to do and both you and your wife want to ride.

Peter Pan isn’t as hard to rd with a short wait as 7DMT, but you would still need to be on the left side of the castle as far up as you can get by about 8:40. You would also need to be ready to very quickly leave the stroller in the designated area. I would suggest standby as the queue is very cute with some interactive portions. You don’t see any of it with fp.

 

[Wild4Walt]

Your ride order looks good - I would recommend getting a FP for either Peter Pan or Winnie the Pooh though - both are slow loading rides and the wait times build fast. As @onlyhope said Peter Pan's line is pretty fun so if I had to be stuck in one of the for an hour it would be that one.

 

[CastAStone]

I find it unlikely you’ll get a Peter Pan FastPass day of, unless you have one ahead of time. If you can get the Peter Pan FP ahead of time, I think it’s actually probably worth it to switch, given the kids and the stroller. If not, stick with the plan to RD it.

 

[Delirium]

I think your original plan is excellent. Do not rope drop Small World. It is a ride that takes about 15 minutes to experience, and the lines will be building elsewhere while you are on the ride. Peter Pan is an excellent rope drop because it is so short. However, it is critical that you are at the park early and waiting near the front ot the rope when it is dropped.

I also think your fast pass times are really good. We take the same approach with ours. Rope drop a lot of mid-priority attractions and then use fastpasses late morning and early afternoon when crowds have built. Sure, booking them earlier may allow you to snag more fastasses, but stressing about extra fastpasses is not my idea of vacation. Plus, I find that people who chase fastpasses tend to criss-cross the park more. It rarely works out that the FP you get is for the attraction right next door to where you are standing.

We went over Thanksgiving last year, never used early morning fastpasses, and still never waited over 25 minutes for any ride. And, we rode everything in all the parks. I think our longest ride wait was actually a FP for Toy Story Mania.

A good plan is better than extra FPs, and you have that.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

This is fine, although in my opinion, I'd skip the Speedway entirely.

 

[Klayfish]

You need to book fp from around 9-10, 10-11, and 11-12. After 9:45 or so nearly everything will have at least a 20mn line on a normal day. To wait the least amount of time, book fp early so you can start booking 4th+ early. There’s no point in waiting in lines when you can get fp. I do suggest being at the daisy etc line at about 9:50. Lines build quickly for that. Use rider swap too if theres something both/either of the kids doesn’t want to do and both you and your wife want to ride.

Peter Pan isn’t as hard to rd with a short wait as 7DMT, but you would still need to be on the left side of the castle as far up as you can get by about 8:40. You would also need to be ready to very quickly leave the stroller in the designated area. I would suggest standby as the queue is very cute with some interactive portions. You don’t see any of it with fp.

I agree with this. If you can, switch your FP+ times. No reason to wait, and I definitely wouldn't space them out like you have in option 2. You can get a 4th FP+ for pretty much anything in MK with a bit of patience. And ignore the hogwash "crowd calendars", don't let the prediction of a 9 (whatever that actually means) scare you.

 

[Raven01]

I find it unlikely you’ll get a Peter Pan FastPass day of, unless you have one ahead of time. If you can get the Peter Pan FP ahead of time, I think it’s actually probably worth it to switch, given the kids and the stroller. If not, stick with the plan to RD it.

This. I never did find a good Peter PAn FP+. We had a BOG PPO, two did 7DMT, and I did rider switch, so I took the DD2 to PP. by the time 7DMT was done, the PP had built FAST. We went to Small Word instead (which was better for DD2, who couldn’t see from the boat in PP anyway.

Either RD PP or use a FP. I did the refresh method and got multiple FPS for MK - so the earlier the better.

 

[TheSouthernBelle]

I agree with this. If you can, switch your FP+ times. No reason to wait, and I definitely wouldn't space them out like you have in option 2. You can get a 4th FP+ for pretty much anything in MK with a bit of patience. And ignore the hogwash "crowd calendars", don't let the prediction of a 9 (whatever that actually means) scare you.

I am in the opposite camp on this. It's a waste IMO to book FP+ early when waits are short, take advantage of being in the park early for shorter wait times, utilize the FP+ when others are waiting in long lines and hope for the best with your subsequent FP+. You have two days in MK, if they don't get stellar FP after you use the third, it's not the end of the world since you have an additional day. I will say you have a lot of attractions/character meetings before your first FP+, you may not hit them all but again you have two days.

I would try to move up your princess meet and greet on day 2, that is sort of late. I like to wrap up our 3rd FP+ around lunch or shortly after. And as others have said, disregard the crowd calendar, it will be crowded but if you you have a plan, which it appears you do, you'll be fine. On Day 1 after you meet Ariel, maybe just do the Little Mermaid while you are right there too.

On day 2, maybe do the tree house after JC since you are right there. No sense in walking to Pecos from Jungle Cruise just to turn back around to go do the tree house.

Also, definitely do mobile order at Pinocchio and Pecos Bill, that's a time saver.

 

[suemom2kay]

Is there EMH on either of your days? If so, that can throw a BIG WRENCH in your RD plan for PP.

 

[buyerbrad]

I guess my question is - If your not in the first 100-150 entering the Peter Pan ride line, would it not take just as long to experience Small World by the time you waited in line to actually ride Peter Pan?

 

[Klayfish]

I guess my question is - If your not in the first 100-150 entering the Peter Pan ride line, would it not take just as long to experience Small World by the time you waited in line to actually ride Peter Pan?

Probably be relatively close. If you're the first 100 in the line, you may wait 5-10 minutes, but it's a very short ride. You'd probably walk right on Small World, but it's a longer ride. PP line gets long fast, IaSW doesn't.

 

[suemom2kay]

I guess my question is - If your not in the first 100-150 entering the Peter Pan ride line, would it not take just as long to experience Small World by the time you waited in line to actually ride Peter Pan?

No. IASW is not as popular ride and loads faster I believe.