My March Disney World 2018 Itinerary - Looking for critiques and advice!

[inlilyseyes]

Hello all! I am going to Disney World with my family and my boyfriend's family this March. We will be there March 16-20th and will head to Universal after. I haven't been in five years and most of my family has never been so we're all extremely excited! Anyways, I wrote out an itinerary for our four days at the parks and would love to hear your opinions on it. Keep in mind, I know it is extremely unrealistic that we will get everything on the itinerary done and a lot of rides and shows will likely need to be skipped. We are perfectly okay with that. We'd especially love advice on FP selections (we have to choose in a few days since we're staying at the parks) and our "rope drop" choices. Totally cool if you don't want to read through the entire thing and only want to comment on a few things--we are grateful for any help! Thanks in advance!

Magic Kingdom - Saturday, March 17th
no Extra Magic Hours today
-Rope Drop: Haunted Mansion & Pirates of the Caribbean
-FP #1...Seven Dwarfs Mine Train 10-11am
-Journey of the Little Mermaid
-Small World
-FP #2 Space Mountain 11am-12pm
-Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
-FP #3 Big Thunder Railroad 12-1pm
-Splash Mountain if time before lunch
-Lunch: Be Our Guest Restaurant at 1:30
-Country Bear Jamboree (if we have time)
-Enchanted Tiki Room (if we have time)
-Jungle Cruise
-Festival of Fantasy Parade at 3pm (some adults will probably skip)
-Meet Characters/Other rides/attractions
-The Muppets Present-Great Moments in History
-Dinner: Liberty Tree Tavern at 7:15pm
-Happily Ever After Fireworks Show at 9pm

Hollywood Studios - Sunday, March 18th
Extra Magic Hours from 8-9am
-Rope Drop: Rock n' Roller Coaster
-FP #1: Tower of Terror (8:30-9:30am)
-Walt Disney Presents
-Star Wars Launch Bay
-FP #2: Toy Story Midway Mania (9:30-10:30am)
-Frozen Ever After Sing Along at 10:30am
-FP #3: Star Tours (10:30-11:30am)
-Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
-Lunch: 50’s Prime Time Cafe at 1:25pm
-Jedi Training for the kids
-Muppet Vision 3D
-Spend the rest of the day meeting characters seeing other shows if we have time (Disney Junior Live, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and Beauty and the
Beast)
-Dinner: Boathouse in Disney Springs at 6:45pm

Animal Kingdom - Monday, March 19th
Extra Magic Hours from 8-9am
-Rope drop: Na’vi River Journey
-Kilimanjaro Safaris
-FP #1: Flight of Passage (9-10am)
-Dinosaur
-FP #2: Kali River Rapids (10-11am)
-Maharajeh Jungle Trek
-It's Tough To Be a Bug
-FP #3: Expedition Everest (11am-12pm)
-Discovery Island Trails
-No lunch reservations but we are thinking about eating at Satu’li Canteen
-Festival of the Lion King at 2pm
-Gorilla Falls Exploration Trail
-Rafiki's Planet Watch
-Finding Nemo Musical at 4pm
-Dinner: Yak and Yeti at 6:00pm
-Rivers of Light (if we have time to get a spot)

Animal Kingdom is our toughest day to plan for. Another thing we are considering is rope dropping Na’vi River Journey, then immediately heading over to Expedition Everest without a FP, allowing us to make a FP reservation for Kilimanjaro Safaris instead.

Epcot - Tuesday, March 20th
Extra Magic Hours from 9-11pm
-Rope drop: Test Track
-FP #1: Soarin’ (9:30-10:30am)
-Journey into Imagination with Figment
-Living with the Land
-FP #2: Spaceship Earth (10:30-11:30am)
-The Seas with Nemo and Friends
-FP #3: Mission Space (11:30am-12:30pm)
-Innoventions
-Turtle Talk with Crush
-Aquarium Exhibits
-No lunch reservations but we are thinking about eating at Sunshine Seasons
-Explore the World Showcase
-Dinner: San Angel Inn at 6:00pm
-IllimiNations at 9pm
-Frozen Ever After

We were really hoping to do the Frozen Ever After Dessert Party to ensure we’d get on the ride, but it looks like they don’t have it on Tuesdays for some reason. Instead, we’re hoping the lines will die down during the extra magic hours at night. Let me know if I’m wrong though.

Anyways, that's it! Please let me know what you think and how unrealistic it is to get a good portion of these things done (I know we can't do it all unfortunately). It's also pretty much a guarantee that the kids will be exhausted after a few full days at the park and won't make it to rope drop or won't be able to stay the full day. Luckily some of the parents aren't planning on staying the full day as well, so most of us adults will be able to do full days at the park without worrying about taking home the kids. Thanks again!

 

[nickys]

Welcome to WDWMagic!

My first thoughts are that you should now sit down with your lists and look at a map of each park. As you have the sequences now, you are making me dizzy ! On the real plus side, you do seem to have grasped the idea of tiered FPs, with no glaring errors like picking 3 Epcot tier 1 rides for your FPs.

Actually DHS looks OK, it's a fairly small park so no real issues. You mention Jedi Training. There are 2 ways to achieve this, 1. Make a pre park-opening breakfast reservation at Hollywood & Vine, so you can enter the park early and sign up before you eat, or 2. Get to the park before rope drop (30 minutes I believe is recommended) and find the special line for sign-ups. The kids must be with the adult who takes them. Given you are going in March, you may have to go with option 2.

The other parks have some criss-crossing and/or walking round the park twice, maybe more in their current order. You just need to use the maps to work out how to do it more efficiently, especially AK as that park is huge!

I might make a tip for the Touring Plans site, where you can put in what you want to do, how fast you walk etc and either let it come up with a plan showing timings. You can then see your plan on a map. You can then reorganise if you prefer and ask it how long that would take based on predicted wait times.

Anyway, back to practicalities. Just an example, at MK if you rope drop Pirates and HM, then you might as well make your FP for Big Thunder to do after Pirates and Jungle Cruise, and maybe HM. Then go to Fantasyland and do 7dmt as your second FP, and do some of the rides there. Then move onto Tomorrowland.

Are you wanting to do Peter Pan? If so, I suggest an FP for that as well as 7dmt, and maybe rope drop Big Thunder instead. The vast majority of rope droppers head to Fantasyland first. If you did Big Thunder first, then maybe Pirates and JC (that line can be slow later on) and round to HM you wouldn't need FPs for that side of the park. Then move to Fantasyland and then Tomorrowland.


As I say, look at the maps for each park and rejig the order of rides. You do enough walking at WDW as it it, there's no point in walking twice around the park if you don't need to! And the chances of doing everything you want are increased.

When making FPs start with FoP. Day 3 should be doable, but if you can be flexible you might have to try for Day 4. Then do 7DMT. You don't have to make them all for day 1, then all for day 2 etc.

If you haven't made your ADRs yet then I would do that as soon as possible.

 

[monorail_mom]

At first glance, do you think you will have time to ride Mine Train, Ariel, and SmallWorld Within 2 hours, plus walk from Fantasyland to Tomorrow land? I would book the FP in "walking order" and then back track, OR leave plenty of room in between for walking, snacks, and potty breaks! Walking from Buzz to BTMRR is a long trek just for one ride. I recommend starting in one land and going in clockwise order. I see this problem with Hollywood too. TOT all the way over to Star Tours, then back again for TS and Frozen.
You will mostly likely not have time to ride Splash and still make it to BOG without a FP.

 

[Tuvalu]

Magic Kingdom - Saturday, March 17th
no Extra Magic Hours today
-Rope Drop: Haunted Mansion & Pirates of the Caribbean
Jungle Cruise standby lines get long. Rope drop this and then head next door to Pirates. You will be able to do both before a 10-11 am 7DMT FP.

-Festival of Fantasy Parade at 3pm (some adults will probably skip)
Festival of Fantasy is now at 2 pm; you will likely miss this with a 1:30 pm lunch at Be Our Guest

-The Muppets Present-Great Moments in History
Make sure you pick up a Times Guide when you enter the park. This wonderful show has staggered show times with the latest performance around 4:30 pm

Hollywood Studios - Sunday, March 18th
Extra Magic Hours from 8-9am
-Rope Drop: Rock n' Roller Coaster
-FP #1: Tower of Terror (8:30-9:30am)
There are no fastpasses during Extra Magic Hours. The earliest FP for Tower of Terror (or any other ride) will be 9-10 am

-FP #2: Toy Story Midway Mania (9:30-10:30am)
If FP #1 must be 9-10, FP #2 must be 10-11 am

-Frozen Ever After Sing Along at 10:30am
-FP #3: Star Tours (10:30-11:30am)
-Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular
-Lunch: 50’s Prime Time Cafe at 1:25pm
You may be able to get two of these three things done before lunch at 1:25 pm but not all

-Jedi Training for the kids
This is incredibly popular and you must plan in advance if you want your kids to participate (and not just watch the show.)
@nickys has good advice about what to do

Animal Kingdom - Monday, March 19th
This will be a wildcard depending on what time you secure Flight of Passage FPs (9-10 am is ambitious) Unless everyone in your party wants to ride Everest, a better use of the FP would be the Safari and have those who want Everest use the single rider line

Epcot - Tuesday, March 20th
-Rope drop: Test Track
-FP #1: Soarin’ (9:30-10:30am)
-Journey into Imagination with Figment
-Living with the Land
Ride Living with the Land after Soarin, as they are side-by-side. Then do Journey into Imagination

-The Seas with Nemo and Friends
-FP #3: Mission Space (11:30am-12:30pm)
-Innoventions
-Turtle Talk with Crush
-Aquarium Exhibits
Do ALL the exhibits in the Seas when you are in the building (Nemo, Turtle Talk, Aquarium)

And Frozen Ever After will still have a long line during EMH. The reason there is not a dessert party that night is due to EMH.

 

[inlilyseyes]

Thank you all for your replies! Like I mentioned in my initial post, I completely realize that we can't do everything. This was just a loose itinerary of some things we could hope to do in order.

There's a lot of information here and I'm taking all of it into consideration--thank you for taking time to help me out!

 

[dm11]

Magic Kingdom - Saturday, March 17th
no Extra Magic Hours today
* Pirates of the Caribbean are actually closed for refurb until Mar 19. I would substitute Splash Mountain into rope drop (btw, I would do that even if Pirates were open).
* My preference is to do both mountains on that side (Splash and Big Thunder) at the rope drop. No backtracking, they are next to each other and basically impossible to do outside of rope drop without either huge wait or FP+. That way you could save FP+ you earmarked for Big Thunder for something else (I would probably use it on Buzz either immediately before or after Space Mountain. Again, save backtracking and an attraction that will have long lines.
* So my suggestion is to re-work rope drop and first FP+ to something like this:
- Rope Drop: Splash, Big Thunder and Haunted Mansion (in that order)
- FP #1...Seven Dwarfs Mine Train 10-11am
-Journey of the Little Mermaid
-Small World
* I would also add Mickey's PhilharMagic to this block: very nice attraction for all ages and most likely not huge wait (relatively speaking)
* I would actually move lunch to right after this, to avoid backtracking (and you won't be back by 1:30pm anyway )
-Lunch: Be Our Guest Restaurant at 12:30pm
* Now I would move to Tomorrow land and use the other 2 FP+ there:
-FP #2 Space Mountain 1:30pm-2:30pm
- TTA Peoplemover (yes, an addition )
-FP #3 2:30-3:30 Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
* Btw, according to Touring Plans crowd calendar (https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/crowd-calendar) it will be a busy Saturday: 9 out of 10. Expect huge crowds


Hollywood Studios - Sunday, March 18th
Extra Magic Hours from 8-9am
* In addition to what other posters said, I would also recommend Fantasmic! in the evening.

 

[Tuvalu]

* I would actually move lunch to right after this, to avoid backtracking (and you won't be back by 1:30pm anyway )
-Lunch: Be Our Guest Restaurant at 12:30pm.

Be Our Guest requires a reservation. The OP
may not be able to change the reservation to an hour earlier.

 

[Herdman]

Be mindful if you do Kali at 10:00 AM on your AK day you may be soaked as you go to Tough to be a Bug and Everest. If we do this attraction at all anymore we usually do it in the afternoon with time to dry off a little before doing something else. We just don't feel that Kali is good enough to get soaked so we usually skip it now.

 

[inlilyseyes]

Be Our Guest requires a reservation. The OP
may not be able to change the reservation to an hour earlier.

Yes, we have reservations at 1:30pm, and I don't think it's possible for us to change it at this point. Oh well! We are just happy to be in the parks at all.

 

[inlilyseyes]

Be mindful if you do Kali at 10:00 AM on your AK day you may be soaked as you go to Tough to be a Bug and Everest. If we do this attraction at all anymore we usually do it in the afternoon with time to dry off a little before doing something else. We just don't feel that Kali is good enough to get soaked so we usually skip it now.

Good point! Will keep in mind. I'm going to just rework things after I make the FP selections and take it from there. I'm getting a little stressed planning all this when I probably shouldn't be!

 

[inlilyseyes]

Magic Kingdom - Saturday, March 17th
no Extra Magic Hours today
* Pirates of the Caribbean are actually closed for refurb until Mar 19. I would substitute Splash Mountain into rope drop (btw, I would do that even if Pirates were open).
* My preference is to do both mountains on that side (Splash and Big Thunder) at the rope drop. No backtracking, they are next to each other and basically impossible to do outside of rope drop without either huge wait or FP+. That way you could save FP+ you earmarked for Big Thunder for something else (I would probably use it on Buzz either immediately before or after Space Mountain. Again, save backtracking and an attraction that will have long lines.
* So my suggestion is to re-work rope drop and first FP+ to something like this:
- Rope Drop: Splash, Big Thunder and Haunted Mansion (in that order)
- FP #1...Seven Dwarfs Mine Train 10-11am
-Journey of the Little Mermaid
-Small World
* I would also add Mickey's PhilharMagic to this block: very nice attraction for all ages and most likely not huge wait (relatively speaking)
* I would actually move lunch to right after this, to avoid backtracking (and you won't be back by 1:30pm anyway )
-Lunch: Be Our Guest Restaurant at 12:30pm
* Now I would move to Tomorrow land and use the other 2 FP+ there:
-FP #2 Space Mountain 1:30pm-2:30pm
- TTA Peoplemover (yes, an addition )
-FP #3 2:30-3:30 Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin
* Btw, according to Touring Plans crowd calendar (https://touringplans.com/walt-disney-world/crowd-calendar) it will be a busy Saturday: 9 out of 10. Expect huge crowds


Hollywood Studios - Sunday, March 18th
Extra Magic Hours from 8-9am
* In addition to what other posters said, I would also recommend Fantasmic! in the evening.

Thank you for your long post! It was very helpful. It's shame Pirates will be closed, but might make our day a little easier. I don't think I would have known it would be down unless you said it, so thanks for that!

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Thank you all for your replies! Like I mentioned in my initial post, I completely realize that we can't do everything. This was just a loose itinerary of some things we could hope to do in order.

There's a lot of information here and I'm taking all of it into consideration--thank you for taking time to help me out!

I'm not sure, but I think POC will be closed for refurb? We will be there end of FEb thru March 7th and it will be closed then.
Does anyone know when it reopens??

 

[inlilyseyes]

I'm not sure, but I think POC will be closed for refurb? We will be there end of FEb thru March 7th and it will be closed then.
Does anyone know when it reopens??

According to dm11, it will be closed until March 19th. Sad that both of us will miss it!

 

[inlilyseyes]

Another question for the group, if I choose not to rope drop Haunted Mansion or do a FP for it, do you think it's likely I'll be able to get on the ride without waiting in line for hours? What are the lines generally like for this ride and what is the best time to visit? I'm asking because it's one of my favorites and I definitely don't want to miss it.

Thanks again everyone!

 

[Minnesota disney fan]

Another question for the group, if I choose not to rope drop Haunted Mansion or do a FP for it, do you think it's likely I'll be able to get on the ride without waiting in line for hours? What are the lines generally like for this ride and what is the best time to visit? I'm asking because it's one of my favorites and I definitely don't want to miss it.

Thanks again everyone!

Since you are visiting the middle of March, it might be spring break time? I've never been at WDW at spring break, so not sure.
That is why I picked the first week of March, to avoid spring break crowds. It won't be as bad as if it were near Easter, either. I guess that combination is not fun!
We went mid Feb last year and most was a walk on, o r very little wait.

I would guess that if spring break is in full swing, waiting in line will be long. If it's not, then it is doable.
One year we were at WDW during Jersey week, and waited in a long line with several fun people from Jersey. Never even noticed how crowded it was, and the waits weren't too bad. Hope this helps.

And, yes, I am bummed that POC won't be open and we won't get to see the scene they are changing with the red haired lady

 

[Herdman]

Good point! Will keep in mind. I'm going to just rework things after I make the FP selections and take it from there. I'm getting a little stressed planning all this when I probably shouldn't be!

Absolutely don't stress!!! I know you feel a responsibility for everyone's good time, but I find the planning to be a lot of fun! Just relax, realize you may not be able to do everything and you and your guests will have a fabulous time!!

 

[Mainahman]

Ill warm the place up for you! i will be there March 2nd!

 

[inlilyseyes]

Since you are visiting the middle of March, it might be spring break time? I've never been at WDW at spring break, so not sure.
That is why I picked the first week of March, to avoid spring break crowds. It won't be as bad as if it were near Easter, either. I guess that combination is not fun!
We went mid Feb last year and most was a walk on, o r very little wait.

I would guess that if spring break is in full swing, waiting in line will be long. If it's not, then it is doable.
One year we were at WDW during Jersey week, and waited in a long line with several fun people from Jersey. Never even noticed how crowded it was, and the waits weren't too bad. Hope this helps.

And, yes, I am bummed that POC won't be open and we won't get to see the scene they are changing with the red haired lady

Oh wow, now I really wish we could have gone February instead! Unfortunately March was the only month that would work with everyone.

That does help! I think we will may just rope drop Haunted Mansion anyways since we all love it so much though.

 

[inlilyseyes]

Absolutely don't stress!!! I know you feel a responsibility for everyone's good time, but I find the planning to be a lot of fun! Just relax, realize you may not be able to do everything and you and your guests will have a fabulous time!!

Thank you! After so much planning I think I just need to "Let it Go" and let what happens happen. I appreciate the positivity!

 

[inlilyseyes]

Ill warm the place up for you! i will be there March 2nd!

Woohoo! Hope you have a great time!