Touring Plan or Walking Order

[Shoshannah]

Is it worth doing a touring plan and doing twice the amount of walking compared to just hitting the attractions in walking order with probably longer waits and guessing at fast passes for when you would be in that area? We'll be going at a slower time of year (around Jan 20). We have never been to the parks and will be doing each one plus one day for BOTH universal parks. If it was just a couple of days, I would think our feet could handle it. I'm just now getting worried that we'll get too worn out towards the end.

 

[Corbinator]

I vote a combo with a lean toward touring plan. I used a bunch of their strategies from the unofficial guide book and it worked. We're more likely to go in walking order at rope drop and stick to a section, but by the afternoon we were all over the place due to meals and shows and parades. We actually found we had more energy towards the end of the week because we knew how to anticipate distances, times, waits, etc. In fact our second MK day (day 6 of 7) we crossed the park constantly! We were able to get FP+ #4 for Mine Train if you can believe it and ran from Aladdin straight there. Scarfed down a dole whip on the way and didn't get tired at all! You can do the same at HS. Epcot is another story...not sure about AK or Universal. Someone else will have to chime in.

 

[Tomh]

Touring plans can help a LOT . . . however, with the advent of FP+, if you plan well, you can avoid nearly all of the criss crossing of the park, do things in a relatively neat order, and still get a lot done in one day.

My best pieces of advice: 1) get comfortable shoes, get them early, and make sure they are broken in. 2) Walk walk walk NOW . . . get used to walking. Typically at Disney, we will walk 6+ miles a day, sometimes more like 10 or even 12. At home, I try to keep in that 10 to 12 mile a day range so that Disney doesn't kill me.

 

[Accident]

My style of touring the parks is basically a touring plan that I make up as I'm going around. There are rides and areas of the parks that are always less crowded. the crowd tends to start together and stay together but a little before or after the crowd and there is an empty spot. A touring plan will help you sort that out.

you'll also run into all these little things that disney has going on "in the streets". I find I miss 90% of what's at disney to make it great these days if I'm just staying with the crowd. there is all types of little touches, the latest I ran into was random costumed people walking around like they were members of the court taking a stroll around their hometown of fantasyland. interacting with some meet and greets, just randomly meeting people. no specific character just the royal court taking a stroll around near the castle... I've been surrounded by all the bears in fronteirland just out having a good time with everyone and not for a meet and greet. There's a lot of disney that nobody ever runs into just staying in 1 area..

I also agree with get some good shoes. I find light running shoes to actually work better for me than walking or sports sneakers. Also if you have a favorite shoe or want to be more matching and stylish, go onto the dr schools website and find the location near you that has the machine for the the custom inserts. stand on it and it'll tell you exactly what insert to buy to give you the proper support in the right spot so you can be on your feet much longer and walk more with no extra effort. it will change your life, not just your disney visit.

I'm also a huge supporter of walking before you get there.. you can ease into the distance at disney slower. you do some sore nights before you get there and before you know it, 5-8 miles a day is nothing. In fact your body will start to crave it when you don't do it for a couple days.. it's really helped to start drop some weight for me.

 

[Nancyg56]

I agree with the others when it comes to walking and good walking shoes. Get in walking shape now, and make sure you leave the brand new shoes home.

When it comes to touring plans, I always suggest that folks make them, but mostly so they can get used to the layout of the parks. The parks are deceptive so knowing the general area attractions and restaurants are situated in will make a huge difference when the visit occurs. Since this is your first visit, spending time on touring plan sites can be a huge help.

As to how to tour, we tend to stay in one area at a time. I make FP to coincide to the park we are in and where I think we should be at that time. I have never been a fan of criss crossing parks even when for legacy FP.

I think that because you have never been, and because you have a lot crammed in to your trip, it may be a good idea to temper your expectations. There is a lot to do in every park, and there is no way to get it all in, even during a relatively slow time of year. Make a list of must do things in each park, and work around them. One day in each park may mean that you need to make some hard choices, especially in terms of evening entertainment vs Rope Drop. In your case, FP is going to be important.

I have never been to Universal so I cannot help there. You did not ask, but to be honest, on a first trip I would not go to both parks. I would save Universal for when I could spend at least two days there, and add another Disney parks day on to the scheduled trip. The MK is at least a two day park IMO, as is Epcot. I dont know what DAK will look like in January, but if there is evening entertainment there, you will want to spend a full day there as well. If DHS adds the Star Wars fireworks display again, well between Fantasmic and the fireworks, you need a full day there too.

 

[BlueFairy]

Try touringplans.com to get a sense for what you can squeeze into the time you have. Set the "walking vs waiting" setting to "minimize walking." That will keep you in one area longer. Then add attractions and "optimize". Do that a few times and you'll start to get a sense of what's reasonable to expect to get done. You'll also be able to dump things in the plan that don't make sense to you and "Evaluate" to see how that affects your wait times.

If nothing else, this will help manage expectations. You can always throw out a TP at any time and go rogue.

 

[loves to dive]

We are the no plan type people. We do sort of start going in one direction and hit the rides in that direction and work our way around but about 3 hours in, we will decide we want to ride x, which is on the opposite side of the park, head over there and then decide there was something we wanted to ride back on the other side or a shop we wanted to go in. We've been known to cross the park back and forth 4 or 5 times. I don't do any extra walking before I go but I work out at least 5 days a week at home and still get up and do a half hour walk early in the morning at WDW as well (and no I'm not a young person, closer to 60 than 59). Make sure to take more than one pair of shoes as well. It seems to help to switch them out and you never know when one pair is going to get soaked. I tend to take 3 pair and never wear the same pair two days in a row.

 

[seelyt2]

Touring plans can help a LOT . . . however, with the advent of FP+, if you plan well, you can avoid nearly all of the criss crossing of the park, do things in a relatively neat order, and still get a lot done in one day.

^ This!! Plus we rope drop (especially in MK) to ensure that we get the hot spots done by 10:30/11:00 a.m. because after that it's a mad house and then wander to attractions, in our surrounding area, with lower wait times. I know the OP said they're going in January - but MK is always crowded throughout the year, I feel.

 

[Scalemaster34]

Plan... but be flexible.

One thing about the new FastPass System that I like.... I'm not running across the park to get a paper FastPass to use later in the day and then running back across the park to return to out scheduled "plan". But yeah between FastPasses and Rope drop you should be able to do most of the E-Tickets pretty easily, leaving you to be able to take the rest at your own time. Only thing is how you schedule those FastPasses.... we like to do them starting about 11AM, and then get them all done so we can try for an extra. But that usually means crisscrossing the parks, so a walking order doesn't really work for us.

 

[Tomh]

Agreed on rope drop, or very close to it. If you aren't in the park within the first 15 minutes or so, you are really giving up a great opportunity. First fast pass scheduled either for 9:30 - 10:30, or 10:00 to 11:00. Generally, we will visit that first FP+ attraction towards the end of it's window, so either around 10:15, or around 10:45, giving us a full hour, to hour and a half in the park to take advantage of short lines, then we will do the first FP+, generally a potty break, and then right to the second FP+. At that point we are around 11:00 - 11:30, and we've already hit most of the really popular stuff. We then fit a few more rides in, looking for stuff with short lines, and working our way towards the location of our 3rd FP+ ride, which we get on at the very beginning of our window. After that, we will try to draw a 4th FP+, and then have lunch.

 

[rwdavis2]

Glad I cam across this thread. Made me stop and think about our trip next week and first time using FP+. I've been wondering how to fit in things between fastpasses. I realized that by printing maps (using easywdw cheat sheet maps), writing the times over each FP attraction for that park I can get an idea what's nearby and what might be done where between fastpasses.

 

[Accident]

Glad I cam across this thread. Made me stop and think about our trip next week and first time using FP+. I've been wondering how to fit in things between fastpasses. I realized that by printing maps (using easywdw cheat sheet maps), writing the times over each FP attraction for that park I can get an idea what's nearby and what might be done where between fastpasses.

Some tips about this..

- fp+ is advertised as an hour to get into the ride starting at the fp+ time. In reality, it's 5 minutes before the start and 15 minutes after that hour to get into line. you can be creative with when you actually need to get to it and not rush if you just remember the end time.
- as soon as you've scanned the band at the ride, you no longer have that fastpass. This means you can modify the upcoming fastpasses and shift them closer or move them around if they didn't line up with how your in the park.
- and last, look at the wait times. I can't tell you how many people I overhear waiting around to use a fastpass longer than the standby line is. jump in the standby if your just lingering around and when your done, if you want to do it twice you have a fp+ that's ready to jump into that line.

 

[rwdavis2]

Some tips about this..

- fp+ is advertised as an hour to get into the ride starting at the fp+ time. In reality, it's 5 minutes before the start and 15 minutes after that hour to get into line. you can be creative with when you actually need to get to it and not rush if you just remember the end time.
- as soon as you've scanned the band at the ride, you no longer have that fastpass. This means you can modify the upcoming fastpasses and shift them closer or move them around if they didn't line up with how your in the park.
- and last, look at the wait times. I can't tell you how many people I overhear waiting around to use a fastpass longer than the standby line is. jump in the standby if your just lingering around and when your done, if you want to do it twice you have a fp+ that's ready to jump into that line.

I've considered the first point. But I had not realized the second one. Good thing to keep in mind. Same for the third point. I know I have fastpasses for a few things that I don't expect a wait for but took them just to use up the third one.

One thing Josh on easywdw recommends is always scouring MDE for 1 or 2 people FPs as he thinks they pop up frequently during the day.

Thanks!!!!

 

[Accident]

One thing Josh on easywdw recommends is always scouring MDE for 1 or 2 people FPs as he thinks they pop up frequently during the day.

same day fastpasses are plentiful in the afternoon the last couple months.. I've been loving getting the hardest to get rides while at work and then hitting them after work even got an FEA once.

 

[rwdavis2]

same day fastpasses are plentiful in the afternoon the last couple months.. I've been loving getting the hardest to get rides while at work and then hitting them after work even got an FEA once.

Very cool!

 

[Tomh]

rescheduling fast passes on the fly may work well right now. I doesn't work so well during busier times. We tried that with very limited success in August. Generally, it was a no go.

 

[Shoshannah]

Wow! So many great responses. Thanks everyone!

- as soon as you've scanned the band at the ride, you no longer have that fastpass. This means you can modify the upcoming fastpasses and shift them closer or move them around if they didn't line up with how your in the park.

So you don't have to use all three fastpasses first? Very cool to know if the times are available!

I find light running shoes to actually work better for me than walking or sports sneakers.

Great! I was kind of worrying that all the cushioning in my walking tennis shoes would get compressed by the end of the trip.

 

[Accident]

So you don't have to use all three fastpasses first? Very cool to know if the times are available!

you only need to use all 3 to get more. you can modify the first ones all you want, even change them. tier system still kicks in though so using FEA won't let you modify another to test track for example but you can adjust times and eligible rides all you want. best part is the hour that the other fp+ hogged up is no longer in use to pack them tighter.

 

[2pinwheels]

I am going to try (again) to pace myself.

I'm not going to go to everything in Epcot on day 2, for example. It's just too much, and it negatively impacts day 3. It's tempting because on day 2 I feel invincible.

I like staying in an area instead of crisscrossing. I've planned FP accordingly.

 

[Babs1975]

I generally am an orderly tourer. I don't criss cross the park. I think about where we start at rope drop and then where we'll be at a given time and plan the fps for that general time. Works really well for us.