Touring Plans - How Do You Do Yours?

[CarolinaGuy21]

Hey Everybody,

My GF and I are making our first trip together in late July. We're doing 5 days/5 nights - arrival day, three park days, and one pool day. I was starting to make our touring plans for the park days (1 MK, 1 AK, and 1 hopper day HS/Epcot) and it was getting really stressful. We are going to be at every park for rope drop so I started thinking that the best strategy may be to just plan out our early mornings to take advantage of the parks before the get busy.

For example, for our MK day we have BOG reservations at 10 am. So, we are going to show up at rope drop (EMH at 8) and try to hit Pirates, Splash, and BTR before we head over to BOG. We will make all our fast passes for after our BOG breakfast and then for everything else we will just be flexible and go with the flow.

Is this similar to how a lot of you guys do your touring plans? I want to have some structure to take advantage of low crowd times but I also want to be flexible and not get stressed once the park starts to fill up. Thanks!

 

[SaharanTea]

My plans are more or less done the way you're describing, but it also depends on the park. HS and AK have quite a few shows, and they require more precise planning. Epcot and MK don't require such strict planning. We try to hit some high wait things early--like you suggest, and then roll through our FPs when the park starts really getting busy. After that, we try for the things that don't have super long waits. There are also times where we're just looking for best available FPs.

We love having a rigid, very well-defined schedule. The key for us is to build in flexibility. Throw in skippable items that can be done later in case you get behind. If you hit a closed ride, understand you can come back to it. If you want to stay in a particular area, don't be afraid to adjust your schedule. Things like that. It kept us focused, moving, and having a blast, but we also didn't sweat it when we got a little behind (or a little ahead) or just wanted to look at something longer.

We went for the first time with my kids last year, and the first time my wife and I had been in over 15 years. I spent a lot of time planning, and it paid off better than I could have imagined. Flexibility and knowledge are the best tools you can have in my opinion.

 

[jsbowl16]

We usually do 9 days every July or August so we can take our time a bit more and do breaks each afternoon with our five year old but before we had kids we would do less days and go all day. The one tip I will give you is to keep an eye on the weather and possibly have some indoor attractions planned for each afternoon during what can be daily thunderstorms. The nice part is thay they dont normally last long but they sometimes show up every afternoon of your trip in those months.

 

[Oneanne]

My normal touring style is close to what you have described: I usually hit RD and then free-wheel it for a while, with FP+ booked later in the morning when the parks get busy (also gives me the option to sleep later if I decide I want to). I haven't done any completely non-park days yet, but I do take a hotel/pool break mid-day. Then I head out again in the evening, and more often than not I seem to end up in EPCOT. I only book ADR's for about half of my days and leave the other days open to whatever suits my fancy at the time.

 

[amberpi]

I don't. I get 3 early morning fps+ 9, 10, 11. I RD, and hit my first one at 10, and then kinda line up the next 3 - immediately see if I can get one for the very near future, or if I could park hop over to a tier 1, or just grab something late in the evening, whatever. I really love when I can grab something pretty soon or even better when I'm at the MK, and see a Soarin' FP at Epcot, so I just pop over there, hit Soarin, grab a drink and bite at SRT and then on to the pool!

I take a break when the park(s) gets crowded, or I think I need more sunscreen (not lugging that around). I like to utilize FP as much as possible, while having enough freedom to bail if a park gets super crowded, or if I just notice particularly low crowds in a different park. I eat late, preferrably after fireworks, but that doesn't work for some folks.

 

[agavegirl1]

I utilize hoppers by going to RD and using the app to check for the least crowded park to hop to if my initial park starts to fill up. Sometimes we stay in the same park, sometimes we hop. I like to get AM FP+ for the first park starting at 10. I have usually ridden two or three attractions at RD then use the FPs.

 

[hammie59]

You may want to include hopping to EPCOT on you AK day as well. Epcot is at least a full day park, if not 2. We always have trouble filling our time at AK, so for us that's our half day park. Just a thought. I know everyone is different.

 

[LoopyDoopy]

Have you thought about using the Touring Plans website?

 

[CarolinaGuy21]

Have you thought about using the Touring Plans website?

Ive looked into it but haven't pulled the trigger on it. Have you used it? Is it worth it?

 

[jimmytammy]

We don't do a lot of planning though we do get 3 FPs most days. I would say save the FPs for mid afternoon when parks are more full. We use Touring Plans and like it though again we don't really pack in a lot in a day. It was great when we took our DSIL for his first trip back in Dec and we revolved around the TP schedule. Got a lot more done than usual.

 

[Micca]

Ive looked into it but haven't pulled the trigger on it. Have you used it? Is it worth it?

Considering it's roughly the price of a popcorn & a couple of Cokes at WDW, I'd say yes! It has some cool features, definitely worth a look.

 

[JadeDarkstar]

plan for nov-dec trip. Rope drop then use express and go do 3 fp at the next park then take an afternoon rest and back to park for night time shows.

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

We always hit RD and any available morning EMH.

We have Park Hoppers/APs so we can hop on out of the park with morning EMH when it gets too busy.

We are usually back in our room for a break midday.

If we make any FPs at all, we make them for the evening /night in a TBD park. We are not big planners - other than morning EMH.