Which touring strategy?

[NYCANC]

Help! We are going in the beginning of October and we have two kids- 9 and 7.
At this point, I want to start to plan my touring strategy but not sure what to do.
I know what days we will be in what parks.

I am unsure about rope drop vs. closing the park? My DD is slower to get going in the morning- 8ish. My son usually gets up early- by 7.
But they are both night owls.

We do have an ADR at Tusker House before park opening. Of course with AK, we are planning to be there early with or without the ADR.

But what about the other 3 parks?

My DD is a tomboy so we do not need to be in the park early for any Princess M&G.

We are going for 7 days.
We are staying at the CR so plan to do some hopping too. Will go to MK a few times to ride a few rides more than once if possible.
We do have one night planned for the Halloween party.

2nd question- what website should I use for touring plans? I used Josh's website for the crowd calendar.
Should I pay for touring plans? Or use the free ones?

Thanks!!!!

 

[sharonabe]

Josh has touring plans too, so I would probably take a look at his first since you're using his crowd calendar. I think he calls them cheat sheets.

If you want to keep to their normal sleep preferences, I would plan on closing down the parks instead of rope drop. Personally, I think rope drop is less crowded than the late night last hours, but if you have cranky kids, those lower crowds would not be pleasant anyway.

 

[MataHari22]

You can use either one. I have used bits and pieces of Josh's cheat sheets in prior trips. This time I'm using Touring Plans. You can use Touring Plans, too, and you do not need to pay for the subscription. You must register, but then you do not need to pay. See Jennytoon's post (#19) on this page and she explains it. I also thought that I needed to pay, and I did, but that's ok.

http://www.disboards.com/threads/touring-plans-itineraries.3414547/#post-53764184

And if your kids are really night owls, and cannot stand mornings (I was one of those kids), let them be night owls and you can stay late. You want it to be fun for them and not stressful or have them cranky. No point in getting a lot done just for the sake of getting it done and they're not enjoying it. I wish the person I travel with was a night owl like me. I hate rope drop, but I do it. Lol. Soooooo not a morning person.

 

[Lucius Best]

I am unsure about rope drop vs. closing the park? My DD is slower to get going in the morning- 8ish. My son usually gets up early- by 7.
But they are both night owls.

The lines are shortest the first hour the park is open. Rope drop is definitely worth it, you can get so many rides done that first hour. When we go to WDW, I'm paying a lot of money, I want to maximize the amount of rides I do, so our motto is "you can sleep when you get home". 7yo niece who likes to sleep late at home had no problem getting up to go to a Disney park. Note that if going in October, that's a relatively low crowd period, meaning the parks do not stay open late (AK closing 5-6pm, HS 7pm, Epcot 9pm, MK 10pm).

 

[drmartin1998]

We just returned from a 9 day trip and I paid for the customized plans at touringplans.com. They worked great and were spot on. We were splitting the parks up in ways they didn't account for in their stock plans. With the custom plans you can enter when you will arrive and depart, put in specific breaks and it will optimize your day based around crowd patterns at specific times. Since you may be touring later in the day you may want to pay for this service to help you optimize your time there. The best way to avoid long lines is to hit the park at rope drop. Long lines may make for cranky kids as well, if your kids handle long waits then you may be good for late nights and skip rope drop. Just be prepared for that.

 

[NYCANC]

Thanks everyone!
Think I will plan on combo early mornings and maybe one or two later evenings- depending on park closures.
I will also get the customized touring plans. I looked at the ones on the basic page and none really seem to fit well.