Which to plan around, FP+, ADR, park hrs...?

[bluedolphin32]

I’d love to hear from you expert Disney travelers. Talk me through your planning priorities. We are taking our 3 kids (4, 7, 9 at travel time) on their 1st WDW trip early May 2018. I’m already working with a great Disney planner, so i know she will be helping me with all this, but when you fill in the details of your trip, how do you go about it? Do you decide which parks first, or wait to see which reservations you can get and plan around that? We will have 5 park days with base tickets. I think park hopping will be too much for us. I’m assuming it takes a bit more careful planning to make one park a day work. Looking forward to your thoughts on this. I went to WDW a few times as a child, but this is my 1st adult trip. I am so excited!

 

[pitpat]

I look at a crowd calendar and plan my days around that, then worry about ADRs and eventually FPs.

 

[Queen of the WDW Scene]

I decide which parks on which days based on hours and which have AM EMH because I like going to the parks on those daysif possible.
Then I decide where I want to eat and always have a back up in case I can't get my first choice.
Then I book my FP+ around the rest.

 

[Jessirip]

I might be a little different, but plan based on first day and last day at the Magic Kingdom no matter the crowds. It's just the way we like to start and end. Then I fill in the gaps based on ADRs since those are bookable first, and some are harder to get.

 

[Anabelletoronto]

My kid is 6 so I knew we had to do MK first.
Then I made a tentative plan based on crowd calculators. When we booked ADRs some of it had to change because I really wanted CRT and Akershus for my kid.

 

[Capang]

MK is always crowded. HS is pretty much empty. So I would only look at AK and Epcot crowd calendars or emh. We usually avoid emh but have found that the crowds dwindle by lunchtime with people hopping elsewhere. I make the ADRs based on park hours and FP from there. However we usually use hoppers so if something isn’t working for us we just hop.

 

[hllb]

I look at a crowd calendar and plan my days around that, then worry about ADRs and eventually FPs.

This exactly.

 

[Babsy]

We do a combination of first crowd calendars, then ADR's availability and then add FP+ to the mix.

The first day and last night are always MK. (We use park hoppers.) the last afternoon is usually Epcot.

Everything can change if something is unavailable at the planned time. This can be a problem because Disney requires resorts and ADR;s booked before you can book some tours/ FP+ etc. Also, discounts appear very late in the booking process. Flexibility is often necessary.

Another factor is which resort we are staying at - if MK area first, we try to do MK (and a little Epcot) more from there then do more Epcot/DHS/AK when staying in the Epcot or AK area. Order of resort availability can have an impact on which parks are planned for early vs late in the trip. Of course, all this can change if a good deal comes out later and we have to switch resorts around. Then ADR's, FP+ and other plans all have to be rescheduled. Again, flexibility can be important as changes are frequent. Stalking the MDE website for different ADR's or FP+'s that became necessary long after the booking window opened (usually due to changes in resort or new tour bookings) is standard.

Nothing is carved in stone until it happens or the cancellation deadline has passed.

 

[bluedolphin32]

My 180 day window opens in 2 weeks. Will the EMH be assigned by then? Is that something that Disney sometimes adds more of as it gets closer to your trip?

I look at a crowd calendar and plan my days around that, then worry about ADRs and eventually FPs.

I forgot about the crowd calendars while posting, so thanks for those of you who reminded me. I did take a look at those on Touring Plans. MK looks less busy T, W Th the week we are there. How much of a difference will it make if we go mid-week vs a M or Fri? As much as I'd love to start at MK, I was thinking we'd start at Epcot. Dates are 5/7/18-5/11/18. Based on crowds I was thinking of doing the parks in this order: EP, MK, AK, MK, HS.

I know some touring planning websites suggest putting off MK because some kids will like the other parks less compared to MK if you start there, but when I was a kid I'm pretty sure I loved it all (there were only 3 parks at the time - my last visit was around 1997) and wanted to stay and live there forever! I can't wait to finally see Animal Kingdom.

 

[heather13]

We've only been three times now, but I plan based on crowd calendar but then balance the schedule so we're not doing two long days back to back. Your plan seems great if you don't plan to stay too late at Epcot and only do fireworks one of the MK nights. You probably will find yourselves exhausted by day 3. Even our trip last week, when we took day#3 off, I'd forgotten how exhausting the whole week can be running from one thing to another. If you have a stroller that will fit two kids you'll be much better off.

After figuring out the days I then plan ADRs and then fill in FP (which was a new process to us this year). I tried to have a backup plan in case we couldn't get ADRs we wanted - so I was ready to flip two of our days. It also would have worked if the crowd calendar was adjusted. Our week became much busier as a result of hurricane-impacted vacations being shifted.

 

[BriLovesDisney]

We always plan around ADRs and what park we are wanting to go to that specific day.

 

[chris benton]

Priorities here:
1. AM emh with an exclamation point, and a bullet. AM emh trumps everything. We get hoppers, so AM emh is a no brainer.
2. Park
3. FP
4. Night show
5. ADR. (I can get better food at home at a fraction of the cost, so, adr means fantasmic pkg, or character meal or dining show. We don't stress about food, but we try to eat well.)

In my planning, everything fits like a jigsaw puzzle. We figure out what we want to do, prioritize, and fit it in where it makes sense. We are early risers, so we can get a ton done in the am, then chill in the pool in the afternoon and head to a park in the evening for just a few rides or shows, and then fireworks. We try to zag when everyone else is zigging.

 

[Wubar]

Going through that very process right now. I started with reviewing crowd estimation charts from various sources to find an "average" crowd rating for each day, selecting which park we plan to visit based on that information, and then backfilling with the few ADRs that we wanted. Once 60 day window opens, will call and try and reserve FP+s based on our priorities. Figured there is some flexibility because we have park hoppers, we could also move less important ADRs if necessary, and can rope drop attractions if needed.

Right now we are NOT visiting parks with early EMH, but I suppose that could change. Have read advice advocating each method.

 

[KenHutch]

The first thing I do is plan what parks on what days (we never use hopping). Then at 180 days I plan all of our sit down meals and of course since fast passes are just 60 days out I plan those last around the schedule of parks and meals.

 

[Jenderelly]

I plan our itinerary first based on park hours and EMH. I don't do a lot of planning around crowd prediction charts, no matter how right or wrong they are. I plan for our schedule and if it's busy, then it's busy. After I establish what park on which day, then I figure out ADR's and then FP. We haven't enjoyed park hopping as a whole, so this upcoming trip, we're doing one park per day. Again, if the park is busy, then it's busy. We always try to go in slower times, so we aren't fighting our way through Christmas-level crowds though.