magic kingdom itinerary question

[alac1980]

hi everyone,

we are tackling the magic kingdom over the course of 1.5/2 days. i copied out a few awesome itineraries online that are going to help me tremendously. however...i'm noticing one common theme...

a lot of them talk about starting at a certain land (ex. fantasyland) but then cutting across to a different land part way through...switching back and forth between lands depending on your fast pass priorities and wait times.

is this practical...or should you do, say, fantasyland and tomorrowland one day...and frontier land and adventureland the second day? without skipping across the parks and jumping all over the place? would you end up wasting time in a lot of lines when you could be at another part of the park on a ride with a short wait? know what i mean? what is your take on this? the problem i'm having is that i've never been to disney so i have absolutely NO concept of how big the place is. i don't know if it's practical to jump between lands within one day, or stick to certain ones each day.

 

[RandomPrincess]

It really depends on what time of year you are going. Low crowd times these kind of touring plans are not needed. We were there last week and the only rides over 30 minutes were TSMM, Soarin' and TT. So there was no need to stick to a plan we did land by land. But during high crowd time touring plans like this can save you tons of time.

 

[luv]

Try the Unofficial Guide or touringplans.com

They have plans for 2 days that cut down a bit on all that running around.

If you want to ride all or most of the the stuff in the MK, you're going to be busy, no doubt about it! The running around let's you get more in.

 

[MerMom1981]

I'm a total Type A, so it pleases me to do one land at a time. Experience everything each area has to offer and soak it in a bit. THEN move to the next land.
All this bouncing around sucks the fun right out of it. Not to mention creates unnecessary stress about "maintaining your checklist"
Try telling a 4y/o who is dying to ride Dumbo "sorry sweetie, but it's a inefficient use of our time. We'll have to come back at the optimum time"
In 1 1/2 -2 days, you'll get to see and do all of MK. Don't fret, that's no fun

 

[ratherbeinwdw]

hi everyone,

we are tackling the magic kingdom over the course of 1.5/2 days. i copied out a few awesome itineraries online that are going to help me tremendously. however...i'm noticing one common theme...

a lot of them talk about starting at a certain land (ex. fantasyland) but then cutting across to a different land part way through...switching back and forth between lands depending on your fast pass priorities and wait times.

is this practical...or should you do, say, fantasyland and tomorrowland one day...and frontier land and adventureland the second day? without skipping across the parks and jumping all over the place? would you end up wasting time in a lot of lines when you could be at another part of the park on a ride with a short wait? know what i mean? what is your take on this? the problem i'm having is that i've never been to disney so i have absolutely NO concept of how big the place is. i don't know if it's practical to jump between lands within one day, or stick to certain ones each day.

It's not like you have one land then you have to walk a long ways to the next land. They run seamlessly right into each other. Each land is not very large at all. If you study a map and learn where you can cut through from one side of the park to the other, then the distance is short. The bridge to the left of the castle saves steps and time when going to Frontierland.

 

[Mukta]

When I got for 2 days, one rope drop morning starts with TL and FL and the next rope drop morning starts with Big Thunder, Splah, Pirates, Jungle Cruise.

 

[Weather_Lady]

It's hard to gauge "mid-level" attractions right now as many of them of are in flux: anecdotal reports say that the Haunted Mansion, it's a small world, and Little Mermaid are seeing inflated (25-30 minute average) wait times due to the addition of FP+.

Still, headliners are headliners and they haven't changed. @Mukta's plan makes the best use of two days.

I'd recommend this rough order (assuming an average crowd level): on day 1, arrive at rope drop and do Big Thunder, Splash, Pirates, and the Jungle Cruise, and then work your way back through Adventureland (Swiss Family, Tiki Room, Magic Carpets), Frontierland (Country Bears) and Liberty Square (Haunted Mansion, Hall of Presidents, Liberty Belle if desired). By then, the crowds will be at their peak: visit Tom Sawyer Island, try the Treasures of the Seven Seas scavenger hunt or see the parade from Frontierland. Ride the WDW Railroad back to the main entrance (to go back to your resort for a nap), or to another land of your choice. Spend part of your evening finishing anything you missed in Aventureland/Frontierland/Liberty Square, and starting to work your way into the lower-priority attractions in Fantasyland (it's a small world, Prince Charming's Regal Carrousel, Mickey's Philharmagic, Mad Tea Party). Save your FP+ to repeat favorite attractions (e.g., Splash, Big Thunder) at the end of the night.

On day 2, head straight to 7DMT (if open), Peter Pan, Pooh, Enchanted Tales (if desired), Little Mermaid, Barnstormer and Dumbo. Work your way into Tomorrowland and do the Speedway (if desired), PeopleMover, Carousel of Progress and Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor (and, if you hate your family, Stitch). Lines for Space Mountain and Buzz may be high by now: try to hit them during the 3pm parade or else FP+ them. Spend the rest of the day revisiting favorite attractions, meeting characters and/or having a nice TS dinner. Watch the evening parade and fireworks.

 

[LucyK]

We always go to MK 3 different times per trip but I know this is not the norm for the average guest. For us what works is determining what is our priority for that day.

Day one we went straight ahead to Fantasyland to do ETwB then we went right and did the rest of Fantasyland and Tomorrowland.

Day two we had a ADR at Crystal Palace before park opening so after eating we went to Adventureland and made our way anti clockwise.

Day three we started at Tomorrowland, skipping Fantasyland.

We take breaks during the afternoon and come back by nightfall (no hoppers) and when we return we either go the same path we took in the morning or cut through Fantasyland to get to where we stopped.

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

We never go by "lands"... we basically hit Space and Big Thunder early in the morning... then check out the wait times and go to which ride has the shortest attraction. We always save splash for a few minutes before park closing that way we get to ride it over and over again and don't have to be wet all day.
We also found on our trip in Sept that Fantasyland was really busy in the morning but completely dead by 6 pm!

 

[Susan Savia]

We begin in Adventureland and work our way around the park, never criss crossing or back tracking. It wastes too much time to do that. In between rides and attractions we visit the stores as we come to them. We're usually over in Tomorrowland by lunchtime and stop at Cosmic Rays for a meal. It's nearing parade time by time we have completed our circle and find a spot to view it and if were not staying that night for the fireworks, shop our way up main street and out of the park. Our visits are in either January or February.

 

[jlsHouston]

It's hard to gauge "mid-level" attractions right now as many of them of are in flux: anecdotal reports say that the Haunted Mansion, it's a small world, and Little Mermaid are seeing inflated (25-30 minute average) wait times due to the addition of FP+.

Still, headliners are headliners and they haven't changed. @Mukta's plan makes the best use of two days.

I'd recommend this rough order (assuming an average crowd level): on day 1, arrive at rope drop and do Big Thunder, Splash, Pirates, and the Jungle Cruise, and then work your way back through Adventureland (Swiss Family, Tiki Room, Magic Carpets), Frontierland (Country Bears) and Liberty Square (Haunted Mansion, Hall of Presidents, Liberty Belle if desired). By then, the crowds will be at their peak: visit Tom Sawyer Island, try the Treasures of the Seven Seas scavenger hunt or see the parade from Frontierland. Ride the WDW Railroad back to the main entrance (to go back to your resort for a nap), or to another land of your choice. Spend part of your evening finishing anything you missed in Aventureland/Frontierland/Liberty Square, and starting to work your way into the lower-priority attractions in Fantasyland (it's a small world, Prince Charming's Regal Carrousel, Mickey's Philharmagic, Mad Tea Party). Save your FP+ to repeat favorite attractions (e.g., Splash, Big Thunder) at the end of the night.

On day 2, head straight to 7DMT (if open), Peter Pan, Pooh, Enchanted Tales (if desired), Little Mermaid, Barnstormer and Dumbo. Work your way into Tomorrowland and do the Speedway (if desired), PeopleMover, Carousel of Progress and Monster's Inc. Laugh Floor (and, if you hate your family, Stitch). Lines for Space Mountain and Buzz may be high by now: try to hit them during the 3pm parade or else FP+ them. Spend the rest of the day revisiting favorite attractions, meeting characters and/or having a nice TS dinner. Watch the evening parade and fireworks.

I'm exhausted now...

 

[Gabe1]

We are a winget family. We land where we do and move on if something is too crowded. Cross back and catch it later. Less stress.

 

[Disney Shib]

I recommend focusing on hitting the attractions you have the most desire to visit first. Yeah hopping from land to land can be tiring but that seems to be what we normally do and it's always been pretty successful.

 

[dopeyz414]

We begin in Adventureland and work our way around the park, never criss crossing or back tracking. It wastes too much time to do that. In between rides and attractions we visit the stores as we come to them. We're usually over in Tomorrowland by lunchtime and stop at Cosmic Rays for a meal. It's nearing parade time by time we have completed our circle and find a spot to view it and if were not staying that night for the fireworks, shop our way up main street and out of the park. Our visits are in either January or February.

I am planning a trip end of January 2015 and I am trying to plan how much time to allot for parks (specifically mk)... There is 5 people in our group... 4yr old, 3-30 somethings and a 70yr. So we want to do it all since there are things that appeal to all of us... I am just wondering what you think is a good amount of time I am thinking 1.5 days?

 

[jlsHouston]

I am planning a trip end of January 2015 and I am trying to plan how much time to allot for parks (specifically mk)... There is 5 people in our group... 4yr old, 3-30 somethings and a 70yr. So we want to do it all since there are things that appeal to all of us... I am just wondering what you think is a good amount of time I am thinking 1.5 days?

Well I only go during crowded times and I never get see and do everything I want to even when I go for 2 weeks. But you should be able to see and do a fair amount at each park if you give a day and a half to each.

 

[smk]

We fly by the seat of our pants basically. I gave up planning years ago when my family revolted and said they were tired of having to be someplace at a specific time. I was afraid the revolt would mean I would never go back, so I gave in and they were right! It works well for us, slower pace, see what we want, eat where we want, and we have just as much fun as we always did. Sorry, not much help on planning, just another way of doing things that works for us.