What's your favorite strategy for getting the most out of Disney Parks?

[Sarahmiller]

I've noticed that seasoned Disney Parks goers often have their own strategies for making the most of their time in the parks. I'm curious to know what your favorite strategy is for efficiently visiting the Disney parks?

Do you have a specific route that you follow?
How do you plan to use FastPass+ or Genie+?
Which attractions do you visit first?
How do you avoid long lines and crowds?
I will be very grateful for your advice and recommendations. We want to make our next visit the best it can be!

 

[NickC]

Our most enjoyable trip was our first trip. We missed a lot of things, and we could have researched more, but it was an amazing family vacation. The next few years we over-crammed everything. Doing special events within special events and going commando style regardless of how exhausted we were.
I wouldn't say we are 'seasoned' visitors, but we average about once a year for the past 10 years. What we found was that we like to schedule non-sheduled spontaneous time. We generally have a plan from rope drop to lunch, the have some time to do what we want until a scheduled dinner and every once in a while, an evening plan.
Some of our best memories happened while waiting in line, or traveling to and from the parks. It's memorable to eat at Cinderella's Castle, but if the kids are exhausted from running around non-stop for a week, it almost seems 'forced.' I think it was our second year, we had a firework dessert party booked. It sounds lovely on paper. But, we woke up at 4am, flew in, showed up at MK an hour before rope drop. Hit all the big attractions throughout the park. By the time the party started, we were exhausted. We should have gone back to the room hours ago.
We like to hit all the new attractions and restaurants, do parties, etc. But, the most important thing is to be together as a family. If we have to miss something, then we'll hit it next year...or not. But, I can honestly say that the stuff that we bring up in conversation is not how cool a ride was. It's the little things that happen in between.

So, we like to have a plan. But, we also like to have a balance.

 

[wabbott]

Rope drop, every day. Back to the room around 1 pm or so for rest, then return to the parks late for night time activities/fireworks.

 

[2010dvcfan]

Set expectations, your not going to do everything, most likely not even everything you want to do. Don't rush around trying to do "more" be sure to slow down and enjoy what your doing not worry about what you need to do next.

 

[tguz]

Rope drop and then we take a mid afternoon break to rest or swim. We go back to the parks in the late afternoon and enjoy fireworks. If something had too long of a wait during the day, we hop in line just before park closing and still get to ride. Might as well be waiting in a shorter line when the park is closed versus waiting in a longer line using up precious time during the heat of the day.

 

[Gabby01]

My general approach to any vacation is this:

1. Research and make a list of my "must-dos" on the trip.

2. Estimate how long each of those things will take.

3. Group together things in the same area. Estimate how long (1/4 day, 1/2 day, 1 day) that area will take. Where appropriate, group areas into days (for example, two 1/2 day areas can be done on the same day), factoring in transportation time.

4. Draw up an itinerary with all of the day plans, erring on the side of leaving extra time (you can always add things later, but you don't want to run out of time/energy).

5. Book the trip for the number of full days indicated on the itinerary.

In my experience, this is a pretty fail-safe way of having a successful vacation.

To answer your questions:

Do you have a specific route that you follow?
Basically, once I know everything I want to do in a park, and what time each attraction is open, I connect the dots in a single big loop to minimize walking. (Obviously, it's not always a perfect loop, but the point is to minimize backtracking.)

How do you plan to use FastPass+ or Genie+?
I don't use them.

Which attractions do you visit first?
If something on my list is very popular, that's where I start my loop. If there are two such things at opposite ends of the park, then each one is the start of the loop on a different day.

How do you avoid long lines and crowds?
Rope drop.

 

[_19disnA]

Everyone has their own idea how to enjoy Disney, there are no right/wrong ways to approach this. We have NEVER been one to get up early and race off to the parks since we are on VACATION and want to relax & enjoy ourselves. IF your family is the go/go/go type, then likely you will want to be one of the first in line and then race off to your favorite ride when the gates open. Disney parks are HUGE and have LOTS of visitors so part of you planning relates to how long you want to stand in line for any one ride and how crowded the park might be on the day you are there. No amount of advance planning will make the park any less crowded.

If you are a Disney regular, you already know the shows/rides/parks you like best and probably will spend most of your time doing those things you enjoy. We like to do everything in one area of the park and then move to the next. Zig/zagging all over to save a few minutes in some ride line will add a LOT of miles to your visit for little overall benefit. If everyone ends up cranky/exhausted and worn out by the end of the day, then I wouldn't really consider that as an enjoyable experience.

Ride lines tend to be shorter either early or late in the day. Typically, the most popular rides will have the longest wait times. We don't pay extra to buy any of those Genie paid options since we have already paid enough with the daily pass prices.

If you have never been to Disney vs. a frequent visitor makes quite a bit of difference in how you might choose to plan. If your first time, you really don't know those things you will enjoy the best and what some other family might enjoy may not be what yours likes.