ONE DAY AT MK... Tell me your thoughts on how I should proceed EDIT: FINAL PLAN UPDATE

[tortilla24]

Hey all -

I've got a party of 4 and we have just one day at the Magic Kingdom (June 14th). I will also preface with this: the 2 boys (ages 14 & 9) don't necessarily have connections to some of these characters (Pooh, Peterpan, Dumbo, Ariel) or to "ride nostalgia." We're offsite so I booked FP+ 30 days out as follows:

Space Mountain, 10:25 - 11:25
Splash Mountain, 11:35 - 12:35
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, 12:35-1:35

I'm thinking our plan may go like this:

As we plan on making it for rope-drop, I think we may head to Fantasyland first and if the line looks manageable, do Mine Train. If the line is crazy, we'll do Peter Pan, It's a Small World and Mickey's PhilharMagic. Since Magic Kingdom extended their evening hours to 11pm now, we may just try to do 7DMT later in the day - maybe even try to snag a FP+ for it on the phone.

Then head to Tommorrowland for our first fast pass at Space Mountain. While still at Tomorrowland we will do the Speedway and Buzz if its not too crowded at that time.

Then head to Frontierland for our second fast pass at Splash Mountain. We'll let the boys let out some energy at Tom Sawyer island before our third FP+ for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

At this point it'll be lunch time and we will probably take the monorail at eat at a resort's food court and enjoy some AC. We will look up times to see what else we can get a FP+ on upon our return.

The plan will be to be back at MK by 3:30pm (if we get back sooner, we can try to see some Festival of Fantasy parade). We'll do the rides we didn't get to earlier in the day.

We'll head to Adventureland for Pirates and then Liberty Square for Haunted Mansion (hoping we will manage to snag a FP+ for one of these). We can then do any other rides/shows the kids show interest in - maybe Barnstormer, Aladdin's carpets, Monsters Inc laugh floor, Jungle Cruise, Peoplemover, Carousel, etc. OR we can ride any repeats if they want to wait in line for them. If we didn't get to do 7DMT, we will likely try to do it here, around 5pm-ish - is this doable?

Then grab dinner around 7:30pm.

Catch the Electrical Parade at 9pm, Wishes at 10 and then outta there! I have a feeling the kids will be exhausted and can't make it to 11pm or else I'd do Wishes and then MSEP at 11.

So... tell me what you think! Am I expecting to be able to do too many rides before 1:35 on a June day? Would you plan the tour differently? Any help is appreciated - I haven't been to MK since 20 years ago! Please let me know if I should move this thread to the main board.

 

[hiroMYhero]

Hey all -

I've got a party of 4 and we have just one day at the Magic Kingdom (June 14th). I will also preface with this: the 2 boys (ages 14 & 9) don't necessarily have connections to some of these characters (Pooh, Peterpan, Dumbo, Ariel) or to "ride nostalgia." We're offsite so I booked FP+ 30 days out as follows:

Space Mountain, 10:25 - 11:25
Splash Mountain, 11:35 - 12:35
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, 12:35-1:35

I'm thinking our plan may go like this:

As we plan on making it for rope-drop, I think we may head to Fantasyland first and if the line looks manageable, do Mine Train. If the line is crazy, we'll do Peter Pan, It's a Small World and Mickey's PhilharMagic. Since Magic Kingdom extended their evening hours to 11pm now, we may just try to do 7DMT later in the day - maybe even try to snag a FP+ for it on the phone.

Then head to Tommorrowland for our first fast pass at Space Mountain. While still at Tomorrowland we will do the Speedway and Buzz if its not too crowded at that time.

Then head to Frontierland for our second fast pass at Splash Mountain. We'll let the boys let out some energy at Tom Sawyer island before our third FP+ for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

At this point it'll be lunch time and we will probably take the monorail at eat at a resort's food court and enjoy some AC. We will look up times to see what else we can get a FP+ on upon our return.

The plan will be to be back at MK by 3:30pm (if we get back sooner, we can try to see some Festival of Fantasy parade). We'll do the rides we didn't get to earlier in the day.

We'll head to Adventureland for Pirates and then Liberty Square for Haunted Mansion (hoping we will manage to snag a FP+ for one of these). We can then do any other rides/shows the kids show interest in - maybe Barnstormer, Aladdin's carpets, Monsters Inc laugh floor, Jungle Cruise, Peoplemover, Carousel, etc. OR we can ride any repeats if they want to wait in line for them. If we didn't get to do 7DMT, we will likely try to do it here, around 5pm-ish - is this doable?

Then grab dinner around 7:30pm.

Catch the Electrical Parade at 9pm, Wishes at 10 and then outta there! I have a feeling the kids will be exhausted and can't make it to 11pm or else I'd do Wishes and then MSEP at 11.

So... tell me what you think! Am I expecting to be able to do too many rides before 1:35 on a June day? Would you plan the tour differently? Any help is appreciated - I haven't been to MK since 20 years ago! Please let me know if I should move this thread to the main board.

I think it looks good because you have some alternate plans in place in case Standby waits are long.

Moving this to the main TPAS board for you as you've already booked your FPs...

 

[scrapquitler]

Hey all -

I've got a party of 4 and we have just one day at the Magic Kingdom (June 14th). I will also preface with this: the 2 boys (ages 14 & 9) don't necessarily have connections to some of these characters (Pooh, Peterpan, Dumbo, Ariel) or to "ride nostalgia." We're offsite so I booked FP+ 30 days out as follows:

Space Mountain, 10:25 - 11:25
Splash Mountain, 11:35 - 12:35
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, 12:35-1:35

I'm thinking our plan may go like this:

As we plan on making it for rope-drop, I think we may head to Fantasyland first and if the line looks manageable, do Mine Train. If the line is crazy, we'll do Peter Pan, It's a Small World and Mickey's PhilharMagic. Since Magic Kingdom extended their evening hours to 11pm now, we may just try to do 7DMT later in the day - maybe even try to snag a FP+ for it on the phone.

Then head to Tommorrowland for our first fast pass at Space Mountain. While still at Tomorrowland we will do the Speedway and Buzz if its not too crowded at that time.

Then head to Frontierland for our second fast pass at Splash Mountain. We'll let the boys let out some energy at Tom Sawyer island before our third FP+ for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

At this point it'll be lunch time and we will probably take the monorail at eat at a resort's food court and enjoy some AC. We will look up times to see what else we can get a FP+ on upon our return.

The plan will be to be back at MK by 3:30pm (if we get back sooner, we can try to see some Festival of Fantasy parade). We'll do the rides we didn't get to earlier in the day.

We'll head to Adventureland for Pirates and then Liberty Square for Haunted Mansion (hoping we will manage to snag a FP+ for one of these). We can then do any other rides/shows the kids show interest in - maybe Barnstormer, Aladdin's carpets, Monsters Inc laugh floor, Jungle Cruise, Peoplemover, Carousel, etc. OR we can ride any repeats if they want to wait in line for them. If we didn't get to do 7DMT, we will likely try to do it here, around 5pm-ish - is this doable?

Then grab dinner around 7:30pm.

Catch the Electrical Parade at 9pm, Wishes at 10 and then outta there! I have a feeling the kids will be exhausted and can't make it to 11pm or else I'd do Wishes and then MSEP at 11.

So... tell me what you think! Am I expecting to be able to do too many rides before 1:35 on a June day? Would you plan the tour differently? Any help is appreciated - I haven't been to MK since 20 years ago! Please let me know if I should move this thread to the main board.

If I were on a one day plan, I wouldn't bother leaving the park to grab a quick service lunch at a resort, even if it were a monorail resort. Instead, I'd just grab lunch somewhere in the park and relax there. Our favorite QS for resting is upstairs from Columbia Harbor House.

The rest of your plan sounds fine to me with all your options and flexibility built in. I think chances of getting a 7DMT FP+ as your 4th are slim, so don't count on that.

 

[BrianL]

It sounds like a very solid plan. I'd try to FP Pirates over HM as HM moves a bit faster. I would also probably eat lunch in the park.

Have fun!

 

[tortilla24]

I think it looks good because you have some alternate plans in place in case Standby waits are long.

Moving this to the main TPAS board for you as you've already booked your FPs...

Thank you!

 

[tortilla24]

If I were on a one day plan, I wouldn't bother leaving the park to grab a quick service lunch at a resort, even if it were a monorail resort. Instead, I'd just grab lunch somewhere in the park and relax there. Our favorite QS for resting is upstairs from Columbia Harbor House.

The rest of your plan sounds fine to me with all your options and flexibility built in. I think chances of getting a 7DMT FP+ as your 4th are slim, so don't count on that.

Thank you- we may consider that! We were hoping to escape the crowds for a bit by getting on the monorail. But we may end up staying in the park. Thanks for the restaurant rec!

 

[tortilla24]

It sounds like a very solid plan. I'd try to FP Pirates over HM as HM moves a bit faster. I would also probably eat lunch in the park.

Have fun!

Thanks! That's definitely the type of advice I need. Will try to make Pirates a priority over HM FP+ wise!

 

[Thumper1066]

Hey all -

I've got a party of 4 and we have just one day at the Magic Kingdom (June 14th). I will also preface with this: the 2 boys (ages 14 & 9) don't necessarily have connections to some of these characters (Pooh, Peterpan, Dumbo, Ariel) or to "ride nostalgia." We're offsite so I booked FP+ 30 days out as follows:

Space Mountain, 10:25 - 11:25
Splash Mountain, 11:35 - 12:35
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, 12:35-1:35

I'm thinking our plan may go like this:

As we plan on making it for rope-drop, I think we may head to Fantasyland first and if the line looks manageable, do Mine Train. If the line is crazy, we'll do Peter Pan, It's a Small World and Mickey's PhilharMagic. Since Magic Kingdom extended their evening hours to 11pm now, we may just try to do 7DMT later in the day - maybe even try to snag a FP+ for it on the phone.

Then head to Tommorrowland for our first fast pass at Space Mountain. While still at Tomorrowland we will do the Speedway and Buzz if its not too crowded at that time.

Then head to Frontierland for our second fast pass at Splash Mountain. We'll let the boys let out some energy at Tom Sawyer island before our third FP+ for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

At this point it'll be lunch time and we will probably take the monorail at eat at a resort's food court and enjoy some AC. We will look up times to see what else we can get a FP+ on upon our return.

The plan will be to be back at MK by 3:30pm (if we get back sooner, we can try to see some Festival of Fantasy parade). We'll do the rides we didn't get to earlier in the day.

We'll head to Adventureland for Pirates and then Liberty Square for Haunted Mansion (hoping we will manage to snag a FP+ for one of these). We can then do any other rides/shows the kids show interest in - maybe Barnstormer, Aladdin's carpets, Monsters Inc laugh floor, Jungle Cruise, Peoplemover, Carousel, etc. OR we can ride any repeats if they want to wait in line for them. If we didn't get to do 7DMT, we will likely try to do it here, around 5pm-ish - is this doable?

Then grab dinner around 7:30pm.

Catch the Electrical Parade at 9pm, Wishes at 10 and then outta there! I have a feeling the kids will be exhausted and can't make it to 11pm or else I'd do Wishes and then MSEP at 11.

So... tell me what you think! Am I expecting to be able to do too many rides before 1:35 on a June day? Would you plan the tour differently? Any help is appreciated - I haven't been to MK since 20 years ago! Please let me know if I should move this thread to the main board.

We use a popular touring plan generator. and it tells us how much we can get done in the time we have available. There are several out there some cost a little, but they are worth it. I think the rules won't let me tell you exactly. But you can google it.

 

[hiroMYhero]

We use a popular touring plan generator. and it tells us how much we can get done in the time we have available. There are several out there some cost a little, but they are worth it. I think the rules won't let me tell you exactly. But you can google it.

If your "touring plan" generator is Touring Plans, it is most definitely allowed!

 

[Tondee]

Another thing to consider-lines you hate to wait in. I would rather wait in Pirates and FP Jungle. The JC line always seems so hot.

 

[Accident]

What PP said about what lines you don't want to wait in. All are not indoors and a/c also with the exception of the coasters the rest aren't very long lines really early and really late if you concentrate on knocking them out without fp+ doing your lines with a/c in the middle of the day..

I also don't see a reason to leave the park just for quick service lunch. There is much more quick service options in MK than the resorts. Of course if you have other reasons like scouting out possible resorts or just seeing more than mk, getting a ride on the monorail, I understand and get it

 

[tortilla24]

We use a popular touring plan generator. and it tells us how much we can get done in the time we have available. There are several out there some cost a little, but they are worth it. I think the rules won't let me tell you exactly. But you can google it.

Hmm... I just don't know if a 1 day at a Disney park (we're not doing anything but the 1 day at MK) would be worth it. And I have no clue when I'll be back next.

Another thing to consider-lines you hate to wait in. I would rather wait in Pirates and FP Jungle. The JC line always seems so hot.

Thanks! Are there other not so great lines to wait in?

What PP said about what lines you don't want to wait in. All are not indoors and a/c also with the exception of the coasters the rest aren't very long lines really early and really late if you concentrate on knocking them out without fp+ doing your lines with a/c in the middle of the day..

I also don't see a reason to leave the park just for quick service lunch. There is much more quick service options in MK than the resorts. Of course if you have other reasons like scouting out possible resorts or just seeing more than mk, getting a ride on the monorail, I understand and get it

Is there a list somewhere of the lines with a/c? Would love to follow that as a guide too!

Thanks! I still haven't decided if we'll actually get on the monorail for lunch or not. I guess it will depend on crowds and things. But I'd love for my crew to experience the monorail so it would also depend on what happens from the parking lot and whether we take the ferry or monorail into MK that morning.

 

[scrapquitler]

Thanks! I still haven't decided if we'll actually get on the monorail for lunch or not. I guess it will depend on crowds and things. But I'd love for my crew to experience the monorail so it would also depend on what happens from the parking lot and whether we take the ferry or monorail into MK that morning.

When we drive and park at the TTC, we always make a point to take the monorail and the ferry, one in each direction so that we don't miss the fun of either.

 

[missangelalexis]

It sounds like a good plan, definitely doable! The only thing is trying to do SDMT at around 5pm. I definitely don't think you will find a short wait at this time. Since you don't have a FP, I would really try and do it at rope drop. The only other time I would recommend doing it standby is at the very end of the night, which you said you probably won't make it until. Also, I wouldn't spend morning time doing Philharmagic- save that for the afternoon as there is never a long wait for it!

I also agree with previous posters about doing a meal in the park vs going to a hotel. There are lots of QS options or if you want something more sit down but not too expensive, The Plaza is a nice option.

 

[SeeDisney]

Skip branstormer, and perhaps Alladin.... your boys are too old. Definitely get to MK by 8:30 a.m. to enjoy the morning show which will start actually 8:45 a.m., Definitely just stay in the MK park for lunch, dinner, lots of quick service restaurants to choose from. Another idea is Tom Sawyer island, if you have time, you yourself and sit and rest on the rocking chair while your boys go exploring on the neat island. After wishes, most of the crowds will leave and then you can have lots of walk ons for any missed rides. Enjoy!!!

 

[redsbe]

Getting both 7DMT and PP at RD is going to be a challenge, if your kids enjoy more of a roller coaster ride and have no real interest in PP, I would aim for 7DMT at RD keeping in mind PP likely to be busy rest of the day until right before closing and that getting 4th FP for 7DMT and PP is highly unlikely. Very possible you will not be able to do both and avoid 1 hr plus wait during the day.

 

[jvattes]

I just don't know if a 1 day at a Disney park (we're not doing anything but the 1 day at MK) would be worth it

Hands down the $10 I spent at touringplans is the best money I have ever spent in planning any vacation, especially to WDW. You're spending so much on tickets, what's $10 more to ensure a great time! The only day we have not had a stellar time is the one day in four trips that we did not follow a plan. Just my 2cents

 

[The Sasquatch]

Hey all -

I've got a party of 4 and we have just one day at the Magic Kingdom (June 14th). I will also preface with this: the 2 boys (ages 14 & 9) don't necessarily have connections to some of these characters (Pooh, Peterpan, Dumbo, Ariel) or to "ride nostalgia." We're offsite so I booked FP+ 30 days out as follows:

Space Mountain, 10:25 - 11:25
Splash Mountain, 11:35 - 12:35
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, 12:35-1:35

I'm thinking our plan may go like this:

As we plan on making it for rope-drop, I think we may head to Fantasyland first and if the line looks manageable, do Mine Train. If the line is crazy, we'll do Peter Pan, It's a Small World and Mickey's PhilharMagic. Since Magic Kingdom extended their evening hours to 11pm now, we may just try to do 7DMT later in the day - maybe even try to snag a FP+ for it on the phone.

Then head to Tommorrowland for our first fast pass at Space Mountain. While still at Tomorrowland we will do the Speedway and Buzz if its not too crowded at that time.

Then head to Frontierland for our second fast pass at Splash Mountain. We'll let the boys let out some energy at Tom Sawyer island before our third FP+ for Big Thunder Mountain Railroad.

At this point it'll be lunch time and we will probably take the monorail at eat at a resort's food court and enjoy some AC. We will look up times to see what else we can get a FP+ on upon our return.

The plan will be to be back at MK by 3:30pm (if we get back sooner, we can try to see some Festival of Fantasy parade). We'll do the rides we didn't get to earlier in the day.

We'll head to Adventureland for Pirates and then Liberty Square for Haunted Mansion (hoping we will manage to snag a FP+ for one of these). We can then do any other rides/shows the kids show interest in - maybe Barnstormer, Aladdin's carpets, Monsters Inc laugh floor, Jungle Cruise, Peoplemover, Carousel, etc. OR we can ride any repeats if they want to wait in line for them. If we didn't get to do 7DMT, we will likely try to do it here, around 5pm-ish - is this doable?

Then grab dinner around 7:30pm.

Catch the Electrical Parade at 9pm, Wishes at 10 and then outta there! I have a feeling the kids will be exhausted and can't make it to 11pm or else I'd do Wishes and then MSEP at 11.

So... tell me what you think! Am I expecting to be able to do too many rides before 1:35 on a June day? Would you plan the tour differently? Any help is appreciated - I haven't been to MK since 20 years ago! Please let me know if I should move this thread to the main board.

Wow, I am shocked by the number of people that agree with this plan. The commandos are in the house!

I think your FP are way too aggressive and on opposite sides of the park. I would try to pick which side you are going to start on and work your way around in logical order and space out those FP's. You are leaving zero time to take it all in and enjoy Magic Kingdom. What about stopping in stores, taking pics, grabbing snacks, etc? Forget about trying to get all the attractions in. All of these plans you have in the middle of your FP's have lines and ride times and you have zero time built in.

Lets say you get to space mountain at 10:25 and it takes 10-15 minutes to get on the ride, 5 minutes to ride, a few minutes to walk through the gift shop or out of the attraction it will put you at like 10:50am at best. Now you want to get in Speedway and Buzz before your FP in Frontierland on the extreme opposite side of the park? June is going to be fairly busy so I would expect 30-40 minutes to get each of those done in Tomorrowland.

Having Splash and Thunder FP close together is fine, I just think you should adjust that Space to either allow time to do other things over there or do it later at night.

Tom Sawyer island can take 1hr+ to take the raft over and explore. Sometimes you cant even take the first raft back because of the crowds.

For a nice lunch in the a/c, try the Plaza on Main St. Awesome place!

its a long day but definitely "do-able". I am just not convinced your back and forth between lands, resorts, parades, fireworks, etc is going to get it done.

I would try and do the lands clockwise or counterclockwise and hit all the things in between you listed.

For example

At rope drop, hit adventure land and do jungle cruise, aladdins, pirates. Then move into Frontierland to hit Splash and Thunder. Do Tom Sawyers and then onto Haunted Mansion etc.

I just think that puts you in logical order and you can do all the things in the middle and enjoy your day.

No matter what you do, dont ruin your time by running around crazy. Enjoy yourselves!

 

[tortilla24]

It sounds like a good plan, definitely doable! The only thing is trying to do SDMT at around 5pm. I definitely don't think you will find a short wait at this time. Since you don't have a FP, I would really try and do it at rope drop. The only other time I would recommend doing it standby is at the very end of the night, which you said you probably won't make it until. Also, I wouldn't spend morning time doing Philharmagic- save that for the afternoon as there is never a long wait for it!

I also agree with previous posters about doing a meal in the park vs going to a hotel. There are lots of QS options or if you want something more sit down but not too expensive, The Plaza is a nice option.

Thank you! Definitely the kind of advice I'm looking for - will not waste morning time on Philharmagic. And I think the new plan is to just rope drop 7DMT. I would wait until the end of the night but my crew will be probably be jet lagged, so thanks again! Will look into Plaza as well

Skip branstormer, and perhaps Alladin.... your boys are too old. Definitely get to MK by 8:30 a.m. to enjoy the morning show which will start actually 8:45 a.m., Definitely just stay in the MK park for lunch, dinner, lots of quick service restaurants to choose from. Another idea is Tom Sawyer island, if you have time, you yourself and sit and rest on the rocking chair while your boys go exploring on the neat island. After wishes, most of the crowds will leave and then you can have lots of walk ons for any missed rides. Enjoy!!!

Thanks! Tom Sawyer island is a recommendation I've heard a lot and definitely part of the plan! And I appreciate the advice re Barnstormer and Aladdin - neither are high priorities at all anyway.

Getting both 7DMT and PP at RD is going to be a challenge, if your kids enjoy more of a roller coaster ride and have no real interest in PP, I would aim for 7DMT at RD keeping in mind PP likely to be busy rest of the day until right before closing and that getting 4th FP for 7DMT and PP is highly unlikely. Very possible you will not be able to do both and avoid 1 hr plus wait during the day.

Yes, I realize we may not be able to do both. 7DMT is much more a priority than PP so we will definitely aim for that. My crew will definitely not be heartbroken over not doing PP.

Hands down the $10 I spent at touringplans is the best money I have ever spent in planning any vacation, especially to WDW. You're spending so much on tickets, what's $10 more to ensure a great time! The only day we have not had a stellar time is the one day in four trips that we did not follow a plan. Just my 2cents

Wow! Sounds terrific! I'll have to look into it

 

[redsbe]

Personally I would not spend the money, even $10 for touringplans, as much of the advance planning is common sense and can be learned here on this blog! $10 touringplans no matter how detailed and planned can not assure you a great time as many variables simply are out of their control (crowds, weather, unexpected ride closures). If you use crowd calendar, research meals and venues, prioritize attractions and events, schedule effective FP times and attractions, you can pretty much organize the day as best as would be possible by anyone. Then keep an open and flexible mind during the day to change and adapt as needed.