Touring Plan question about 7 Dwarves Ride

[Kathy Chang]

Hi, I am using touringplans.com to map out our Magic Kingdom day. We are planning on getting there at 8am for EMH. I figured we would head straight to 7Dwarves but the plan is recommending that I do the rides in Tomorrowland in that 8-9am hour and then head over to 7D at 9am. What do you think?

I opted to put 7D first on my list, and the plan now says I'll have a 20 minutes wait. Does that usually happen first thing in the morning? Even for a EMH?

I'm trying to decide if I should just let the Touring Plan schedule everything for me or go to 7D first.

Thanks!

 

[gap2368]

do 7DMT first thing for sure I do not know of a ride that need to be done first thing more then this ride PP comes a close second but still PP is second for me in the times of how fist and long the lines gets.

 

[jade'nsuch]

Perhaps somebody else will be able to offer more insightful tips, but I feel like the line for 7DMT grows super fast. I've seen people literally sprinting to get to the line right after the park opens so I would definitely do it first, that way it's crossed off your list, and then head on over to Tomorrowland.

 

[jwolfpack]

20 minutes seems reasonable to me. Obviously if you can position yourself at the front of the rope drop crowd, it could be shorter. So many people still head to this ride first thing -- we saw the line wrapped back all the way to the Dumbo area just after rope drop several mornings on our recent trip. You will most certainly not see a line less than 20 minutes if you wait until 9am to ride.

 

[rtbreneman]

Agree with what others have said here. What Touring Plans can't really predict is where in the rope drop mob you plan to be. If you are near the front and can go straight to 7 Dwarves and be done in 15-20 minutes, that's a great plan. If you are near the back of rope drop, it makes little sense to wait an hour during EMH for the ride when you could be getting a whole lot else done in that same hour. The line for the mine train is going to be long all day other than that first swarm of rope drop people. If you are going to wait a long time, it might as well be while everything else is long as well...

 

[loutoo]

If your goal is to get the shortest possible line for 7dmt then go there first. If your goal is to spend the least total amount of time in line, then TP might very well be right. Think of it this way. If you have 5 rides you are trying to ride including PP & 7DMT and you go to 7dmt first the wait might be 20-25 minutes, by the time you are done with that 1 ride the wait for each of your other rides might increase by 7 minutes and PP might increase by 20. Giving you a total increase at non 7DMT rides of 41 minutes. That means if you rode 7DMT last and the wait was less than 61-66 minutes you actually saved time.

You get an EMH advantage at every single ride. In some cases it might be 3 minutes, in other cases it could be nearly an hour. Most people will tell you to use that advantage to attack a superheadliner, and often that is the best strategy, but you only get to use that advantage once then. If you insteat use that advantage to tackle four D ticket rides and one E ticket instead of the superheadliner you might save more total time.

Also keep in mind that most of the EMH people are going to 7DMT first causing that wait to increase quickly, but on EMH mornings about 7-10 minutes after RD that will plateau and then, about 10 minutes later, it will slightly decrease because all of the people who wanted to ride it are already in line. I really believe that unless you want to fight to stay in the front of the RD pack your wait will be slightly shorter if you ride it third about 20 minutes after RD on an EMH morning.

In then end though, we are talking about trying to milk maybe 10 more minutes of awesomeness out of a day that is going to be great regardless of which strategy you choose. Don't stress over it. if you end up in line a few extra minutes that's okay. The lines are awesome now. Play the games, soak in the details, have fun with your traveling party that you are vacationing with. Do a little dance, chat with the cast members, look for hidden mickeys. Often the real magic of WDW has nothing to do with the rides themselves.

 

[lentesta]

Three TP users submitted actual 7DMT wait times within 5 minutes of park open yesterday, March 15. Those 3 actual waits were 14, 26, and 35 minutes (they're the green dots on the chart).

 

[chris benton]

^^^

What loutoo said.

TP is using software with historical data to provide you with the best plan for your settings and the criteria you've entered. I saw several examples of the software WAY outsmarting conventional wisdom during our trip. It was actually REALLY cool. That being said, the software isn't always right. You should look over your plan with 7d where YOU want it (and evaluating) vs your plan letting the software optimize everything for you. You might be missing the differences at first glance. Also, the tp site has a forum as well. Lots of "experts" can help you tweak, or try to give you an explanation.

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

When I got to 7DMT last week, it was about 9:30 a.m. The park opened at 9 a.m. The posted wait time was 60 minutes. Good thing I had a fastpass. I highly recommend getting to the park 30 minutes before park opening and just standing in the RD area for Fantasyland. You might not have a great view of the Welcome Show on the castle though.

 

[lentesta]

It doesn't help with the OP's concern about the first attraction of the day, but I'll point out that asking TP to re-optimize your plan after Step 1 will often be an improvement. The wait-time models are updated every 5 minutes once the park is open. A ride whose line is shorter or longer than expected, will get its wait-time estimates updated accordingly.

 

[tjlamphere]

do 7DMT first thing for sure I do not know of a ride that need to be done first thing more then this ride PP comes a close second but still PP is second for me in the times of how fist and long the lines gets.

What is PP short for ?????

 

[AMusicLifeForMe]

What is PP short for ?????

Peter Pan

 

[cigar95]

. . . . That being said, the software isn't always right. You should look over your plan with 7d where YOU want it (and evaluating) vs your plan letting the software optimize everything for you. You might be missing the differences at first glance. Also, the tp site has a forum as well. Lots of "experts" can help you tweak, or try to give you an explanation.

I'll add one additional caution for the less experienced TouringPlans users. Remember that their published plans have gone through a good deal of testing, adjusting, sanity-checking, revising, and re-testing, before they go on the official list. The personalized plans that come out of the algorithm don't have that benefit.
For that reason, it's always a good idea to try tweaking the optimized plans and re-evaluating, especially if something doesn't seem to make sense. (Often they do, for the reasons loutoo mentions.) Sometimes you may come up with a plan version that will work better for you. (Genetic algorithms generally work, but they don't always find the truly best solution to the problem.) You can always go back to Len's plan by hitting optimize again.
And it's also important to check those little sliders above the plan, to select your walking speed and your preference for waiting vs walking. Setting to a slower walking speed allows you to build some slack into your plan, to account for bathroom stops or other minor delays.

 

[mrp4352]

It doesn't help with the OP's concern about the first attraction of the day, but I'll point out that asking TP to re-optimize your plan after Step 1 will often be an improvement. The wait-time models are updated every 5 minutes once the park is open. A ride whose line is shorter or longer than expected, will get its wait-time estimates updated accordingly.

I've found the plan changes throughout the day if I re-optimize after almost every step. For me, I've found the touring plan work best as a guideline, and re-optimize regularly.

 

[JerseyGuy24]

if you wait to do 7DMT until an hour after park opening you will hit at least a 60min wait. You should definitely do 7DMT right when the park opens(just be careful, its crazy over there at park opening with all the sprinters) and then head over to tomorrowland where wait times will still be short

 

[reisdawg]

I thought that their plan for 7DMT included getting a fasspass for it within the first hour. The recommendation for hitting Tomorrowland was related to having this as your first fastpass and I am going to tryin that in two weeks...

 

[Kathy Chang]

Thank you guys for your responses! So much great information for me to think about! I think we will head straight to 7D. I wasn't able to get FastPasses for it.

EMH is at 8am. What time should we plan to get to the park to be at the front of RD? I am quite familiar with RD at Disneyland but not for an EMH. When do they start letting people through the turnstiles for EMH?

We are staying at POR - Riverside. I am thinking of taking an Uber so that we don't have to wait for busses. Does anyone know where the Uber drops off - is it a far walk?

Does Touring Plan have a way to optimize all the steps after Step 1? Or will I need to do that on the fly when I'm actually at the park?

You guys are amazing - thank you!

 

[gap2368]

Thank you guys for your responses! So much great information for me to think about! I think we will head straight to 7D. I wasn't able to get FastPasses for it.

EMH is at 8am. What time should we plan to get to the park to be at the front of RD? I am quite familiar with RD at Disneyland but not for an EMH. When do they start letting people through the turnstiles for EMH?

We are staying at POR - Riverside. I am thinking of taking an Uber so that we don't have to wait for busses. Does anyone know where the Uber drops off - is it a far walk?

Does Touring Plan have a way to optimize all the steps after Step 1? Or will I need to do that on the fly when I'm actually at the park?

You guys are amazing - thank you!

I would try for an hour early so 7/7:15 am or close to it

you do not need to take uber disney busses will be just fine, they start to run about 6:30 and if you get to the bus stop by at lest 6:45 you should be fine

Uber will let you off at the TTC and you have to take the monerril or farey boat over to the MK and this can be a while to get there if you do really want to take e taxi or uber ask to be dropped off at the contperay hotel and just walk the 5 minute to the MK

 

[Kathy Chang]

I would try for an hour early so 7/7:15 am or close to it

you do not need to take uber disney busses will be just fine, they start to run about 6:30 and if you get to the bus stop by at lest 6:45 you should be fine

Uber will let you off at the TTC and you have to take the monerril or farey boat over to the MK and this can be a while to get there if you do really want to take e taxi or uber ask to be dropped off at the contperay hotel and just walk the 5 minute to the MK

That is an amazing tip - I had no idea Ubering would only take us to the TTC. How about getting from POR-Riverside to any of the other parks? Are there any resorts near the other parks we could Uber to and walk from? Maybe I am being too paranoid about the Bus system being slow?

 

[gap2368]

I take the bus all the time I hate to drive and it is fine, Uber will take you where ever you would like to go, but if you say MK then they will take you to the TTC as there is not place for them to drop you off at the MK. but if you take the Disney bus then they will drop you off at the MK ( there is a bus stop there, that only bus can go into.)