Touring Plan Q...

[putri]

On the EasyWDW website, and other blogs + forums, it's highly recommended that you make a beeline to the rides with no FP, high waiting times and things best done in the morning, e.g. Kilimanjaro.

With more less the same info on different websites, wouldn't that be what everybody be doing? Would one be better off not following the plan and go to Dinosaur first for example since most would either be heading towards Kilimanjaro or Everest and FP those two?

We're going mid July and between the crowd and not used to being under humid and hot weather, I want to try and maximize our time. I am quite happy riding just three rides and spending the rest of the time enjoying all the little side offerings, especially in Epcot, but I like to make sure the girls get enough rides during our time.

Should we try and finish our FP by 1p and then try and get extras as we go? If we get some great and if not, whatever?

Or are only OCD people like us who reads all this planning crap?

 

[Richard M Nixon]

Well, you're making the supposition that everyone in the park uses the touring plans. Reverse psychology will kick in and you'll start acting out the poison scene from The Princess Bride. It might sound logical if (and only if) the majority of people used a given touring plan, then you could beat the crowds by taking the inverse of the plan. However, the authors of touringplans.com address this concern and state that they estimated that a very small population of park visitors actually use their site to generate plans. Remember, you're here on a site dedicated to planning your trip, but the vast majority of vacationers aren't as involved with their planning. Some people will make their own plans, some might have general outlines, but others won't even know which park they will go to until they wake up. You're already running several standard deviations away from the mean by planning your trip in such detail, so you won't have as much competition as you might expect.

Of course, there are still trends for more popular attractions, so you don't need a statistically derived plan to tell you to ride the Mine Train asap if you want to beat the lines.

 

[hopex]

We're going towards the end of July and I'm also thinking we need to just enjoy being there and not get too stressed if it's a lot busier than it has been in the past. I reckon that only a small minority of the people at Disney plan to the extent we do on here, so the majority of the people won't be doing what all the touring plans say (well I hope not anyway!)

 

[Maggie'sMom]

Well, you're making the supposition that everyone in the park uses the touring plans. Reverse psychology will kick in and you'll start acting out the poison scene from The Princess Bride. It might sound logical if (and only if) the majority of people used a given touring plan, then you could beat the crowds by taking the inverse of the plan. However, the authors of touringplans.com address this concern and state that they estimated that a very small population of park visitors actually use their site to generate plans. Remember, you're here on a site dedicated to planning your trip, but the vast majority of vacationers aren't as involved with their planning. Some people will make their own plans, some might have general outlines, but others won't even know which park they will go to until they wake up. You're already running several standard deviations away from the mean by planning your trip in such detail, so you won't have as much competition as you might expect.

Of course, there are still trends for more popular attractions, so you don't need a statistically derived plan to tell you to ride the Mine Train asap if you want to beat the lines.

This! Plus remember that there is also a large portion of WDW visitors that don't like getting up early on vacation. They will never be at the parks at rope drop. So first thing is still the best time to take advantage of short waits because the lines will only build during the day.

 

[LSUfan4444]

The best strategy at rope drop is to hit the attractions that you want to do that day that will have the longest standby times later in the day. Waiting 5 minutes at say Peter Pan is better than walking on the Little Mermaid Ride because the wait for Peter Pan will be mush larger later in the day.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Should we try and finish our FP by 1p and then try and get extras as we go? If we get some great and if not, whatever?

I don't believe so. For the most part, I think the best use of FP+ is for the best three possible attractions for your group, in the right park at the right time.

The accumulation of FP+ does not necessarily mean you will be saving the most amount of time.

 

[putri]

Ok, so that makes sense! We're the minority and that's a good thing

For AK, it's AM Early Hours that day I plan on hauling the kids there, and I have Kilimanjaro FP at 9a, Everest for older dd + my sister at 10a and then River Rapid at 11. I think I have Nemo/Character greeting for little dd and I at 10a but not sure.

Should I not FP Kilimanjaro and just make a beeline at 8a.m. and then FP Everest, Dino and River for dd1 + my sister?

Epcot, same thing. I have FP for all the main long line rides and used up all FP by 1p. Should we instead make a beeline to a hot ride, Soarin for example, and then FP the rest?

MK, we have FP for these:

Anna and Elsa at Princess Fairytale Hall
Enchanted Tales with Belle
Seven Dwarfs Mine Train
Peter Pan’s Flight
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad

All done by 2p I think.

But then you read EASYWDW plan and feel like I am doing it wrong:
Ideal Two-Day Morning Plan Day 1:

Use FastPass+ at Mine Train (12pm-1pm), Enchanted Tales with Belle (1pm-2pm), Anna and Elsa at Fairytale Hall or Alternate (2pm–3pm)

Ride Space Mountain: 9am – 9:20am
Ride Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin: 9:25am – 9:35am
Ride Astro Orbiter: 9:37am – 9:55am
Ride Tomorrowland Speedway (if desired): 10am – 10:20am
Ride The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh: 10:25am – 10:40am
Ride Dumbo: 10:45am – 11am
Ride The Barnstormer: 11:03am – 11:15am
Ride Journey of the Little Mermaid: 11:20am – 11:40am
Have lunch: Use FastPass+ at Be Our Guest Restaurant if possible. Pinocchio Village Haus is closest. Cosmic Ray’s is relatively close.
10. Ride Seven Dwarfs Mine Train with FP+: 12:45pm – 1pm
11. Visit Enchanted Tales with Belle with FP+: 1pm – 1:30pm
12. See Mickey’s PhilharMagic and/or Prince Regal Royal Carrousel: 1:35pm – 2pm
13. Visit Anna and Elsa at Princess Fairytale Hall: 2pm – 3pm

And wondering if his plan is for a slow season or Tomorrowland is generally slow?

This is our first time and I get that you want to use FP for attractions with the longest wait but I read all the plans that says to go to ABC in the morning and then FP after 10 when the crowd is bigger.

Oh, we plan on leaving around 2p and rest and leave the resort again around 5/5:30p. And since we have used up all our FP, I am assuming we can attempt, and not hope to much, to see if there's anything else we can FP.

If nothing, we'll probably try to hit the rides that takes a lot of people in one go. Quick movings queues and other random bits. I'll probably be hunting for characters with younger dd.