9/22/18 Update: Updates to the map, touring strategies, FastPass+ priority, and touring plans.

The information below is available in an easily printable PDF here. Consider downloading it to your smart device for easy referencing.

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General Touring Philosophy: The opening of Pandora – World of Avatar complicates touring, but it’s still possible to experience most or all of Animal Kingdom’s attractions in one day. How you go about your day basically comes down to whether you can acquire FastPass+ for Avatar Flight of Passage, which are typically not available 59 or fewer days from a given date. That means little or no availability for those staying off-site or planning a trip fewer than 60 days in the future.

If you are able to acquire Flight of Passage FP+: With one day, the easiest way to do most everything is by arriving at least 30 minutes before open and heading straight to ride Na’vi River Journey in standby. After, head to priority attractions outside of Pandora where waits will be short. If you can’t arrive that early and can stay late, get in line for Na’vi River Journey about five minutes before park close. If neither is possible, ride River Journey sometime between 1pm and 5pm when waits are actually shorter than the early morning or evening. Use FastPass+ at Flight of Passage and other priority attractions in the late morning and afternoon. With two days, book FastPass+ for Flight of Passage on one day and Na’vi River Journey on the second, in addition to two other selections each day.

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9/21/18 Update: Updates to the map, touring strategies, FastPass+ priority, touring plans, etc.

The information below is available in an easily printable PDF here. Consider downloading it to your smart device for easy referencing.

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General Touring Philosophy: Because of its massive size and the long length of many of its attractions, Epcot is best experienced over two days, particularly now that Frozen Ever After is such a high priority. Most visitors will want to use FastPass+ at Frozen on at least one day and otherwise keep mostly to one side of the park. This way, you cut down on the amount of walking necessary and you won’t run into waits longer than a few minutes all day. On your Test Track day, visit Future World East and the World Showcase Pavilions from Mexico through the U.S, riding Frozen with FP+ in the early afternoon. On your Soarin’ day, hit Future World West and the Pavilions from Canada through Japan, using FP+ again at Frozen or elsewhere.

With just one day, things are more complicated if you want to try to do Soarin’, Test Track, Frozen, and IllumiNations. The best way to accomplish that is to ride Test Track at rope drop, use FastPass+ at Frozen, ride Soarin’ around 7pm, and then see IllumiNations. If you’re willing to forego seeing IllumiNations, Frozen typically has an actual wait under 30 minutes at the very end of the night, but the ride may not be operational. If you’re willing to risk it, ride Test Track or Soarin’ first thing, use FastPass+ at the other, and get in line for Frozen about five minutes before park close. Those skipping Frozen can also do this and instead enjoy IllumiNations. Test Track single rider is a viable option with actual waits typically under 20 minutes all day.

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9/21/18 Update: Major update to map, FastPass+ priority, touring plans, etc.

The information below is available in an easily printable PDF here. Consider downloading it to your smart device for easy referencing.

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PDF: Here.

General Touring Philosophy: Most guests arriving prior to park opening will want to begin their day in Toy Story Land with Slinky Dog Dash, Alien Swirling Saucers, and Toy Story Mania, which are relatively easy to ride back to back in standby. FastPass+ can then be utilized at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror. Thrill seekers may elect to begin the day at Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster, where it’s possible to ride in standby a couple of times and use FastPass+ at a Toy Story Land attraction later in the day. Starting with Rock ‘n’ Roller Coaster is also less stressful because far fewer people are headed in that direction. A typical problem is trying to see all of the scheduled shows, most of which take 40 to 60 minutes to experience, in a single day. With one day, you may need to prioritize several of the lengthy shows that appeal to your group while skipping others – there just isn’t enough time.

Continue reading “Hollywood Studios – Touring Plans, Rope Drop, Wait Times, and FastPass+ Priority”

9/21/18 Update: A major update to the map, touring plans, etc.

The information below is available in an easily printable PDF here. Consider downloading it to your smart device for easy referencing.

Larger: Here.

PDF: Here.

General Touring Philosophy: With 60+ attractions, Magic Kingdom is best toured over two or more days. The best plans compartmentalize the park by visiting two or three Lands each day. Visit the character and attraction priorities in one Land before moving on to the next. Have lunch and then head back to the same Lands visiting the “anytime attractions.”  This minimizes both waiting and walking. One-day touring will require more walking. You can still accomplish a lot by touring intelligently, but some attractions will need to be skipped.

Characters: Home to about 40 characters at any given time, the princesses are typically high priorities, whether it means meeting them early in the morning or with FastPass+ to avoid long waits. Check the My Disney Experience app or https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/entertainment/magic-kingdom/ for times and locations.

Rope Drop: With a 9am open, Disney lets guests enter the park around 7:45am. Most of Main Street is open, including Guest Relations, stroller/ECV rental, most stores, and Starbucks. Guests are held in the Hub area in front of Cinderella Castle with ropes blocking access to the other Lands. At 8:55am, a 4-minute opening show featuring Mickey Mouse welcomes guests and then the ropes are dropped and guests are free to visit the attraction of their choice. For Seven Dwarfs Mine Train, arrive no later than 8:15am and position yourself on the walkway to the right of Cinderella Castle heading towards Mad Tea Party. Get as close to the rope as possible. For Peter Pan’s Flight or Princess Fairytale Hall, position yourself in front of the Castle at the rope leading up through the Castle. For other attractions, there is much less of a rush and you can enjoy the Welcome Show front and center in the Hub. On morning extra magic hour days, the Welcome Show still starts five minutes before regular park open. For regular 8am opens, guests are allowed inside Magic Kingdom at 7:45am with the Welcome Show at 7:55am. Arrive by 7:20am for Mine Train or 7:40am for other attractions.

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“You could have fooled me,” but apparently autumn officially begins this weekend, so I thought it would be prudent to return to our analysis of Walt Disney World wait times and see if our expectations about summer crowds proved true or if we ended up being far off base. Spoiler: If I was wrong, I probably wouldn’t be writing this.

Our discussion began in earnest earlier this year, primarily in “When is the Best Time to Visit Walt Disney World Based On A Lot of Wait Times.” At this point in the year, our discussion takes over 500,000 individual wait times into account. Obviously, the posted wait times at the attractions are not always accurate, but we’re largely interested in exploring the trends we see from day to day, week to week, and month to month. With the website’s vast catalog of “data,” we can hopefully come to some conclusions about how crowd patterns have changed at Walt Disney World and Magic Kingdom in particular. Of course, don’t let that stop you from tweeting me about that one day you saw that one wait time at that one attraction at that one time in March. We both know you’re right and I’ll delete this article posthaste. The majority of our discussion will focus on the summer months and how crowds have shifted away from June, July, and August. We’ll also spend some time talking about whether or not there really is a “best” day of the week to visit Magic Kingdom. That discussion goes back to this post.

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