The Battle Plan - Navigating the Busiest Days

[Plex]

How do you plan for your visits at the busiest times of year? What's your plan? How much do you reasonably expect to get done each day?

[luvdiznee]

If I don't have a dining reservation in a particular park, I plan by EMH. This way you can get up and go early. Even though it is hard for us to do, I have found it is worth it. Or if the park is open later, then we have the chance to get up and go then we like to leave and come back later. If we have a dining reservation in that park, we have to go with doing that park that day. Unless you have the hopper tix then that's a whole new plan.

We don't really go with expectations as far as how much to get done. Since we do try to relax.:mickey:

[AndrewJackson]

We do a few things in order to avoid the crowds, and we typically go during the mreo crowded times of a year.


We get ADRs for a character breakfast at 8:05 at Crystal Palace, and are able to get further back in the park when it opens at 9:00.

We do take advantage of the PM EMH.

We do not go to the AM EMH. We will go to another park, and either get the ADR, or be there for the rope drop at 9:00 - for example Epcot or HS.

It is amazing how much you can get accomplished in the first couple of hours - from 9:00 - 11:00. It is also amazing how much you can get accomplished during the waning hours of a PM EMH. Just the fact that there are less people walking around helps get you from one attraction to another in much less time.

We take full advantage of FastPass. We also don't wait around for our FP's to be good. It drives me crazy to see a group waiting by the FastPass return for their FP's to be good. You get an hour. You don't have do be there right when your window opens. It also causes a bottleneck for those of us that have valid FP's and do not need to wait around.

And last, we eat during-off peak times. If we have eaten a character breakfast buffet, we then do not eat lunch until 1:30 or so. If we did not get a breakfast buffet, we try to eat around 10:45 or 11:00. Then we have a snack in the afternoon, and a light dinner either early (4:30) or late (7:30). We also do not eat at a sit-down restaurant while at the parks. We will save that for a day we are relaxing at the resort.

[kemps@wdw]

We do not usually attend parks w/EMHs. But I cannot stress the importance of arriving EARLY, EARLY, EARLY! As the 1st to go thru the gate, even on the busiest days, we can usually do alll we want by noon-1pm, and head back to our resort for a little "down-time". And then we may come back later or hop to another park for the afternoon/evening! ( not to mention, early arrival may get you chosen as Family of the Day).:thumbsup:

[Ms. Mode]

Figure out which rides are a must and plan your FP with that in mind. Be at the park of your choice at rope drop and go directly to the most important ride to your crew (less wait 1st thing).

Also, there is less wait during parades and shows; just make sure you are in the general area of the ride before the ropes go up and block the path. :thumbsup:

[Soph and Han's Mom]

i agree with getting there early early early!! not only is the weather much cooler which helps stress levels, but you are able to see what you want to see in a reasonable time frame. it's nice being able to leave a park at noon and have most of the day still ahead of you!! that is the 'hot tip' i give to all of my friends visiting disney for the first time.

[tazlikesrobots]

We develop a park strategy (I.e what to do and where to go ) before you arrive. Then we use the three tips below. We were there during the July 4th weekend last year and it worked very well for us. However your milage may vary :)


1. Get there at rope drop

2. Get fastpasses

3. Evening EMH

[LudwigVonDrake]

EMH helps but I usually take a break in the middle of the day. I used to do the commando routine - get there early and don't return to your hotel until park closing but I've learned to relax and enjoy my trip and I'll see everything in due time :mickey:

[eeyorepoohfan]

We get to the parks about 15-30 minutes before they open. On our visit in December we actually saw the rope drop every day at every park, except our last day due to a delayed monorail. We would go hit all the major rides, even riding mulitple times in a row.:cloud9:

EMH!!! We had the hopper option, so we could always end up at the park with evening EMH. Our first day at the parks, EPCOT had evening EMH. It was a drizzly evening. But we were able to ride nearly every single ride in all of EPCOT between 9PM-midnight!!!! Our longest wait was for Soarin (45 minutes). Everything else we literally walked on!!! We didn't do Test Track because the wait time was listed at 90 minutes. We rode it the next morning twice though!:mickey:
EMH (morning) at Animal Kingdom! In that one hour we rode Expedition Everest 5 times and Dinosaur 4 times! The park was very empty for morning hours!

We took a break every afternoon back at our hotel. We recharged our camera batteries and gave ourselves about an hour to rest. Then we were refreshed for the rest of the day!

[bruin1344]

-Skip all parks that have EMH AM unless you use it and skip most of EMH PM parks except MK.
-When arriving early, get fastpass for the attraction you love the most. If its AK, go onto Expedition Everest after getting FP for the ride since that ride is worth riding twice unless its a long wait.
-Skip the parades and go on the big attractions. Usually the lines are reduced during parades.
-Avoid Universe of Energy. Too long of an attraction and boring.

[MarkC]

I am going to give you a little different advice than a lot of the posters. We have gone to early EMH a lot and had great luck, even if you get there a few minutes late unless its peak times like Christmas or Easter. However, never get there late for a regular park opening or be prepared to stand in lines. Like another poster pointed out, use fast passes and do all the major E-ticket rides first. Then you can fill out your day with the other attractions that do not normall have any wait times.

One major piece of advice, especially if you are staying off property, is to go to a park in the morning that had EMH the night before. Most people who have stayed there late are not going right back in the morning. Even if the difference in crowds is small, every little bit helps

[mjm12000]

As most people have already stated get there early and leave parks late using the EMH when possible. Go to your favorite rides first and use the fast pass system wisely. Also lay out your ride plan for the day ahead of time, what rides in what order using fast pass or standby this will keep you from wasting time trying to decide which way to go next, also have one backup for each ride you plan in case it is either not open or too busy.

Also if it rains do not leave the park, buy a poncho and keep doing rides that are open, I am amazed at how many people just leave and it only rains for like 20 minutes but if you leave it can take you an hour to get back to your hotel and then back to a park so wear rain gear and keep on riding while everyone else takes the buses to the hotels.

Ride during parades and fireworks shows.

Ultimately the best way to ensure you get the most done is to plane ahead, know the park layout, what rides have fast pass, where the bathrooms are and how to get from point A to point B quickly, this will save tons of time.