MK with small kids -- which area to start in first??

[mangosink]

What is the best strategy as far as minimizing wait times?

 

[Miller1412]

We went over spring break with 2 small kids and first of all, took full advantage of morning EMH hours (do it if you can). Get to the MK as early as you can and head straight for Fantasyland. Grab a FP for Peter Pan's flight and do as much in Fantasyland as you can. As soon as you are able to get a new FP, you might want to grab Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin in Tomorrowland. You also might want to consider doing Aladdin's Carpets early in the am, as there is no FP available for it. If you are planning to do Ariel's Grotto, you might want to think about getting there right at opening (for us, it was later than the rest of the park.) That was our longest wait time at 30 minutes. Everything else was walk-on to 10 minutes max.


We actually stockpiled our FP's for the day and rode as many of the non-FP rides as possible. When it got crowded in the afternoon, we started using our FP's. We asked CM's if was ok to go outside of the ticketed time and as long as it was after the start time and on the same day, it was ok.

 

[the kabuki]

I'll second eveything above.
Most Important-get there at park opening and head straight to Fantasyland. These rides are all slow loading, if you get there later, you will regret it. Trust me, I talk from experience. Waiting 45-60 to ride a 2 minute Dumbo ride gets old real fast!

 

[mangosink]

How long is the wait for Ariel's Grotto if you go when the park first opens? Does Ariel's grotto open at the same time as the MK?

 

[Miller1412]

How long is the wait for Ariel's Grotto if you go when the park first opens? Does Ariel's grotto open at the same time as the MK?

When we were there in March, Ariel's Grotto opened about 1 1/2 hours later than the rest of the park...but...they were also running EMH hours starting at 7 am all week. So I don't know if that's the norm or not. We did not make the exact opening time, we showed up maybe 20 min. after the Grotto opened and ended up waiting about 30 minutes. Ariel spent a fair amount of time with each group ahead of us which made for a little bit of a longer wait, but was nice when it was finally our turn (especially since my DD was most excited to see her!) I imagine that mid-day wait times could end up being Huge...