Park advice wanted please

[Hal]

I was reading MKingdon's latest exploits and that Soarin' is the top ride to FP at Epcot and I realised that I haven't given any thought to the order to do rides in each park. So, does anyone have advice on which order to do which rides, which to FP etc in any of the parks? All hints and tips gratefully received.

[Helen uk]

Type in this site and you will see lots of route plans which you can use.www,touringplans.com.:wave:

[deano1212]

Get your fastpass for soarin first thing in the morning or you may not get one at all, thats my advice.. . . . . . .

[loadsapixiedust]

As a general rule aim to ride the headline attractions at each park first. On arrival get a Fastpass first for the main attraction and ride another popular one while you wait for your Fastpass time to open up, then you can get another Fastpass.
It is also a good idea to ride while the parades are on as lines will be shorter then.

[Sue]

We were told on the K2K tour by our guide that the majority of people always head for Tomorrowland and then Fantasyland in MK, ie right and then anti-clockwise. So we always go left to Frontierland first and then walk clockwise against the crowds - it helps that Splash Mountain is one of our favourites.
So you can head to Tomorrowland first and pick up FP's if you want and then go diagonally opposite. It's a lot of walking though, we just take it as we find it and see what the queues are like when we get there.

[Jay66UK]

Bear in mind that this advice is from off-peak touring...

First off, get to the park as early as you possibly can. The queues in the first hour for even the most popular rides are manageable.

If staying on site, ALWAYS make use of the morning Extra Magic Hour but...big but...escape that park before midday. This only applies if you want to do any of the rides that are open in EMH (e.g. for me it is a waste of time going to Disney MGM Studios at that time). Evening EMH off peak are fantastic for getting to ride almost everything with few queues.

Know exactly how the FastPass system works. There is loads written, but some things often missed are (as at Oct 05):

o you can get FP for the early Indiana Jones and Lights Motors Action First thing and IMMEDIATELY go get a Tower of Terror etc FP;

o you can get another FP when the ride time on your current FP comes round OR AFTER TWO HOURS...whichever is sooner;

o you can get that second fast pass before surrendering your first one (so go get a Soarin' FP, come back at the alloted time and get another FP, then join the FP line).


Other things...if your kids are likely to want to ride Dumbo and Cinderella, go to Dumbo before ANYTHING ELSE. Then go to Cinderella. The line at Cinderella will have grown, but it rides so many more people at a time.

If you want to ride Soarin' and Test Track and Mission Space, do them in that order. My Epcot morning would be get Soarin' FP, join Soarin' regular queue, ride Test Track, come back get another Soarin' FP, join Soarin' FP queue, ride Mission Space, do other stuff, come back for another Soarin' FP (if there are any) and ride Soarin' again.

[Logan]

Yes, I've started listing must dos in each park and whether they are Fastpass or not. From that I hope to plan a rough order/direction to go in each park.

In MK for example, initial thoughts are to head left and clockwise, making for Splash Mountain, picking up a FP then go to Big Thunder. I think Jungle Cruise is near SM, so when we come back to do SM, we can pick another FP up for JC, if our time window has started. That's the idea anyway, try to stay ahead of things, picking up FPs for popular rides when you can.

With the likes of PhilharMagic, good for a recharging sitdown in air conditioning, I don't know if it is on at certain times, but if so I would try to get one for early afternoon, when the heat, etc is at a peak.

I don't now about crowds going anti-clockwise for the most part in MK, but my natural instinct would always be to go clockwise.

As for big rides in Tomorrowland, if you are nearby at other attractions, you can always send one of the fitter members of the party to get a FP for Space Mountain. :d:

[ashley0611]

OMG - its like a military operation!!1 I am DREADING the planning :omg:

[smiffy33]

Soarin did have the biggest line, the FP where gone by mid day but I didn't rate it, theres better rides but as your there you should try them all, so get the FP for soarin first when visiting Epcot and then go on Test Track and Mission Space. We had a FP for Mission Space but both of these rides didn't have big queues. A must to see is Talking with Crusher, how do they get a cartoon to actually speak to you and answer your questions, very clever.

[TH1]

With respect to the other posters, I beg you not to approach it as a military operation. My suggestion is that, for each park, choose the attraction that you absolutely have to do. When you get to the Park (at opening, of course!) send the fittest member of your party to get fast passes for that ride and arrange to meet him/her at the next "must do" attraction.
If you get to the park at opening, you can fit in 3 or 4 of the big attractions by 10am when the crowds start to build up.

Here are two examples :

Our first day was at Animal Kingdom. When we arrived, we queued to get in (it was Easter!), and we sent our most agile members to get Kilimanjaro Safari fast passes. We wandered through the park (and had a CM tell the 6 and 2 year olds in our party about stick insects) and met the fit people to go on Kali River Rapids. We were offered the chance to go on it twice!!! (which we did). We then used the fast passes and wandered back through the park at our own pace. It was fantastic.
The next time at Animal Kingdom, we headed straight for the characters at Mickey's Jungle Camp. We had them almost to ourselves as the crowds had headed to the Lion King. When we heard the first Lion King show coming out, we lined up for the show.
The next example is from MGM -
We love the New York Set and we always head there on opening to get photos of us in an empty set! One member of the party loves Star Wars...so he heads there and then meets us all at the Muppets. Last time, we followed a squirrel all the way from the New York set to the Muppets.
The moral is - please start with a plan but don't stick to it!

[Hal]

Thanks for all the excellent advice - just what I wanted.

[MattF]

Our first day was at Animal Kingdom. When we arrived, we queued to get in (it was Easter!), and we sent our most agile members to get Kilimanjaro Safari fast passes. We wandered through the park (and had a CM tell the 6 and 2 year olds in our party about stick insects) and met the fit people to go on Kali River Rapids. We were offered the chance to go on it twice!!! (which we did). We then used the fast passes and wandered back through the park at our own pace. It was fantastic.


Was your 2 yr old able to do the Kilimanjaro safari? I thought it was only for those over 5? We are off in August with a 3 yr old and 18 month, who both love animals. (We are annual pass holders at Woburn Safari Park) We'd love to take them on this. :grin:

[jwalowls]

It seems a nightmare all this planning but i know it is needed.

[BarrettFamily]

We have the 'Unofficial Guide to Disney World' book and they have lots of touring plans. We have never followed one all the way through but they do seem to be a good start as you get to do all the headline rides before the lines get too long. I think the same people provide the 'touring plans' web site mentioned above.

Enjoy yourselves whatever you decide to do.