How much of a plan do you make for DLP?

[Animagus]

We’ve been to WDW twice and DLP once (7 years ago). Obviously, there’s lots to plan for a Florida trip but I’m not so sure how much or how little is advisable at DLP.
we are travelling May half term Tuesday to Saturday). Unfortunately, there is a French national holiday on the Thursday (which we didn’t know at the time of booking), but we will just have to deal with that.
We are staying Sequoia Lodge GF so will have Early park access.

Any and all advice gratefully received.

[dreamisawish]

I don't plan all that much at all, because everything is so changeable when you have no bookable FPs. If you have dining to book then I'd definitely plan that, but I have never actually been to a table service restaurant at DLP so I can't help.

The things to do roughly plan is what park we are planning for which day/ which rides are a must and which are more skippable and what we need to head to first- i.e. fast pass for peter pan/ ratatouille first thing in the morning when we first get to the park.

[Smilesonfaces]

We just checked opening times, parade times and booked meals online. Other than that we didn’t plan a thing. If you are staying onsite arrive at the gate 30 minutes or so early. You can do a lot of rides during early opening. More open early in the studios than are actually advertised as doing so. We had pretty much done the studios by 11am. If you can make use of the single rider queues that will save a lot of time. To see characters in the studios you need the lineberty app as they need to be booked first thing. You cannot just queue in the studios you need to pre book a time.

[Sarryb]

For me it's plan which park on which day. If we're doing the night show. And meal times, if they're booked.

As we're going in August this time, I've also factored in approximate 'rest' periods for swimming, napping, or just chilling out. That's a lot to do with the fact my Mum is coming this time and she has rheumatoid Arthritis and it's good to plan some down-time. Though obvs she can rest whenever she needs to, it's not like a strict plan! lol!

The only other thing I plan, is when we have to go get the luggage for the return Eurostar. xx

[Animagus]

Thanks everyone. I feel more relaxed about the fact that I haven’t made a plan now. We don’t have a dining plan but want to eat at Captain Jack’s for our anniversary, so I will book that.

We will definitely make use of the early entry and single rider. DD will be 12 so she won’t mind that now.

It will be nice to do things a bit more spontaneously.

[Smilesonfaces]

Originally Posted by Animagus

Thanks everyone. I feel more relaxed about the fact that I haven’t made a plan now. We don’t have a dining plan but want to eat at Captain Jack’s for our anniversary, so I will book that.

We will definitely make use of the early entry and single rider. DD will be 12 so she won’t mind that now.

It will be nice to do things a bit more spontaneously.

See more...

My daughter and I went on ratatouille at least 3 times in succession using the single rider line. We were getting off and then just walking back round again ! We were placed in the same “rat” each time, just one of us in each row rather than sat next to each other.
At early entry you do have to do a bit of power walking !

[sammykitten]

Originally Posted by Animagus

We’ve been to WDW twice and DLP once (7 years ago). Obviously, there’s lots to plan for a Florida trip but I’m not so sure how much or how little is advisable at DLP.
we are travelling May half term Tuesday to Saturday). Unfortunately, there is a French national holiday on the Thursday (which we didn’t know at the time of booking), but we will just have to deal with that.
We are staying Sequoia Lodge GF so will have Early park access.

Any and all advice gratefully received.

See more...

For DLP I don't plan. I prefer not to have a dining plan included in my price for DLP, and there are no table service restaurants on my "must-do" list at DLP, so I don't book restaurants in advance.

The only thing I'd do in your situation (as your dates will be busier from Thursday on) is make sure you do your favourite rides on your first couple of days. Then on your busier days, take advantage of being onsite for EMH, and then in the main park day do the shows if you can't FP a lot of rides (the shows are large capacity so you don't need to worry about queueing for ages for them).

I haven't been to DLP since changes were made to the fastpass system for character meets in the Studios, so you might want to check what the current situation is for those.

eta - love the single rider line for Ratatouille .

[Gill H]

Not so much a plan as a routine - up early and at the gate for the start of EMT and dance down an empty Main Street, then ride Peter Pan while it has a 5 minute queue! Then the other Fantasyland rides which are open (usually Dumbo, Teacups, Carousel) and then through to Discoveryland for Buzz and Space Mountain (for DH anyway, I am a wimp!)

Then straight to Frontierland as soon as it opens to get FP for BTMR. It is really the only one you need to rush for.

Apart from that we really only plan round show times and meals.

[DiszeeBelle]

I have rough idea of park we going into each day and where we have our main meal. Other than that I don't plan at all.

[Animagus]

Originally Posted by sammykitten

For DLP I don't plan. I prefer not to have a dining plan included in my price for DLP, and there are no table service restaurants on my "must-do" list at DLP, so I don't book restaurants in advance.

The only thing I'd do in your situation (as your dates will be busier from Thursday on) is make sure you do your favourite rides on your first couple of days. Then on your busier days, take advantage of being onsite for EMH, and then in the main park day do the shows if you can't FP a lot of rides (the shows are large capacity so you don't need to worry about queueing for ages for them).

I haven't been to DLP since changes were made to the fastpass system for character meets in the Studios, so you might want to check what the current situation is for those.

eta - love the single rider line for Ratatouille .

See more...

Thanks. Great advice here. We will hit our must do rides on the first couple of days. Saving shows till the busier days is a good call and makes sense.

I will download the lineberty app but we are not as bothered about character meets you need to book. Hoping to catch Genie and Marie, any others will be a bonus.