Schedule tips for the first timer !!!!

[Erik the Red]

Hello all!

New to the forum!

I'm going on my first ever trip this Fall (traveling alone) and could use your wisdom. I've read a lot of threads and am kind of in information over-load. So I'm just going to post my thoughts and hope people can give me some help.

ITINERARY -- So i will be at Disney World a total of 4.5 days this Fall. My understanding is to put the harder restaurants/Fastpass selections on the back-half of your trip for better odds. But also trying to be mindful of crowds -- Magic days? or no? This is what I've got so far....

Sunday, Sept 30 --- Hollywood Studios (ARRIVE AT 2pm) --- hopefully book the Fantasia dinner package.
Monday, Oct 1 --- Animal Kingdom --- Am worried about my odds of scoring a morning FOP Fastpass 60 days out.
Tuesday, Oct 2 --- Magic Kingdom --- And also doing Not so Scary halloween at night.
Wednesday, Oct 3 --- Epcot --- Food and Wine show.
Thursday, Oct 4 --- Magic Kingdom --- do i need two days here? Especially after doing Halloween. Breakfast at Royal Table? Dinner at Be our Guest?

Thought process :

-- I put Hollywood studios on my half day as i read it is a half-day park, but with Toy Story opening it may be the most busy then? Should i move it?
-- Animal Kingdom on the monday as I figured Epcot would be busy cause of the food and wine show -- people turn the monday into a long week-end.
But I'm worried this early in my trip fastpasses will be harder to get cause of Avatar.
-- Magic Kingdom -- This is the only day that can't change because of the Not so Scary Halloween at night.
-- Epcot -- I'm thinking this would be the least busy day. And would make for a nice relaxing day. But Not a Fastpass difficult park.
-- Magic Kingdom -- Heard this is the Park to do twice. Would love to try to score a breakfast at Royal table and dinner at Be out Guest.

-- I plan to rope-drop all the parks. Rides till 1pm - relax afternoon - dinner 4-5pm at the park - rides/shows/fireworks evening.

So what are your thoughts? Should I move Hollywood Studios? Should I swap Animal Kingdom day with Epcot day? Do I need two full days at Magic Kingdom? What about the water parks? Ahhhhhh So confused !

This is my first ever trip. I'd like to do everything I can to get Fastpasses for the difficult rides.

Help! Thanks to everyone in advance.

PS -- I know no matter what I will have a great time!

 

[Fankle]

Welcome to the forum! I'm sure you'll find lots of knowledgeable folk here to help.

It really will depend on your priorities. The Royal Table and BoG are hard to get dining reservations so, if you can score one, you may not get your first choice of date/time. Since the dining reservations open up first, getting a slot for either of these will influence your itinerary if they're what's most important to you.

If you're really keen to score a FoP fastpass, it might be best to have a couple of alternate plans in play. That way you can try to grab a FoP fastpass first (starting with the later days of your trip) then adapt your plans around that. Do you plan to stay onsite? (That will increase your chances of getting fastpass slots for FoP and Mine Train.)

Have you considered what type of ticket you'll get? A park hopper would allow you to switch parks on any particular day (best after you use your 3 fast passes in the first park) This might come in useful if you're trying to fit plans around particular dining or fast-pass reservations. However, personally I'm not convinced of the value of a hopper for a first trip like yours. For a first-timer, every park will have plenty to occupy you all day. Magic Kingdom could easily occupy two full days. EPCOT too is considered to be a two-day park by many.

The Halloween parties have special activities/fireworks/parades. If you want to experience all of these, you won't get many of the regular things done during the party. Bear in mind that since the party is on a separate ticket, even without a park hopper you could go to a different park in the morning, then switch to MK at 4pm for the party.

I would invest in a copy of the Unofficial Guide and look online at descriptions and ratings for the rides in each park to prioritise which ones you really want to do. That might help you decide how much time to allocate to each park.

 

[eliza61nyc]

Welcome Erik, This is a great place to get information.

ok here are my "swear by" tips.

1) DON'T TRY AND DO EVERY THING. this is important. Disney is huge and packed. It's a sensory overload for anyone especially the first timer. The great thing about going solo is that you can really do what YOU want to.

2) I like HS, you are right with toy story land opening it's still up in the air on how that will pan out. Keep posted here, lots of us will be at the world soon (I've got a trip in April and August), when it officially opens you can get a better idea of whether or not you want to switch days around.

3) where are you staying? onsite or off?
4) your plan is exactly what we do (lol except for rope drop) October is still going to be hot so chillin at the resort is a great way to relax. since you are doing that I would probably skip the water parks.
5) if you can throw a few bucks out sign up for either touringplans.com or easywdw for crowd calendars. I like touringplans and I think it was 20 bucks or less.

 

[DryerLintFan]

If Toy Story Land ends up anything like Avatar, you'll definitely want to move your HS day back so you stand a chance at getting a Fastpass to Slinky

 

[yensid67]

Welcome 'Home', Erik! Your 'brothers and sisters' are happy you have finally made it to the boards! We are all family here, when you need help, someone is there to offer a hand! I looked on undercovertourist.com for the crowd calendar>they post what each year, month by month of what the last year crowds were like. Here is what they are saying:

Sep 30-Magic Kingdom; Oct 1-DHS; Oct 2-Magic Kingdom/DHS; Oct 3-AK/Epcot; Oct 4-Epcot/AK

You did not mention where you are staying...on property or off site!? But my advice is simple, if you can afford to stay on property do it. But if you want to save some money, stay at The Clarion Inn Lake Buena Vista on (8442)Palm Parkway! They offer pillow top mattresses, micro-frig-coffee maker, 2 pools, kid's splash zone, convenience store, deli, bar/grille, game room, 24 hour security and NO PARKING/OR RESORT FEES! We got a room for 8 nights with buffet breakfast each morning for $676 for 2. The cheapest hotel on property is the Values and they usually run at least $97/night and that does not include breakfast. Parking at the Values is $13 PER NIGHT. The Clarion is just outside of the Hotel Plaza Blvd gate behind The Crossroads Shopping Center...its so close you could walk to Disney Springs(if you wanted)! When I travel to WDW, I stay off site just for PRACTICALITY...how often are you going to be in your room, unless you plan a resort day? Why not take the practical route and save some money!? Just something to think about!

 

[macefamily]

We have found that if we do Not So Scary Halloween or Mickey's Christmas there's no need to spend an entire day at MK. You can usually do most rides in the evening. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed Not So Scary Halloween last year; it was my first time. We also did Universal Studios Horror Night on a Thursday with the Express passes. That was incredible ! I suggest a weeknight with the Express Passes because then you can do all of the attractions. My nephew went last year on a weeknight with no Express passes and he could only squeeze in four of the houses.

 

[Erik the Red]

THANKS everyone for your advice so far!

I am staying at the Pop Culture Resort during my trip. I really need to take advantage of 180 + 10 for restaurant/tour bookings and the 60 day Fastpass + selections. Is it possible to be on the site as soon as reservations/Fastpass become available and still miss out?

I'm thinking i need to move HS later in the week!

Is the general consensus that I only need one day at magic Kingdom? Or maybe move one of those MK days to the half-day Sunday and move HS into the MK slot?

It would be so much easier to plan days if they didn't do the 180 day bookings for restaurants/tours. Kinda locks you in!

Hmmmmm I'm kinda thinking no right now for the park to park tickets.

I actually did Halloween at Universal before. Even got the RIP pass. Crazy money for it, but worth every penny i thought!

I just bought the Touringplans package! Thanks for the tip!

Great to be home with my brothers and sisters!

 

[slipperalwaysfits]

Here's to a great adventure for you! It's overwhelming, so read your Disney guide and prioritize what you want to do. There's so much to do, you'll just have to make a second trip to DisneyWorld someday!

Yes, 180 locks you in in some ways, but with the exception of some very hard to get dining reservations, you can keep looking and always change your dining reservations. Since FP's are 60 days out, we try to coordinate FP's with our dining reservations that we made at 180. However, since FP's are so hard to get for certain rides, like Flight of Passage (Avatar) ,sometimes, we have to switch our plans to accommodate FP's.

The Food and Wine fest has so many booths, there's no point in doing a dining reservation, with so many options already there!

 

[yensid67]

You are going to have 4 days there why not just plan a day for each park and leave it at that!? It would cut down on trying to plan the perfect trip, which is impossible because there will always be that one thing you didn't get to do Take one day at a time for each park!

 

[Erik the Red]

That was my original plan, but from what I’ve been reading, HS and AK are considered half-day parks by some whereas Epcot and MK are considered 2 day parks.

 

[DarthVader]

Sunday, Sept 30 --- Hollywood Studios (ARRIVE AT 2pm) --- hopefully book the Fantasia dinner package.

The dinner package is mostly a lunch package if memory serves me, as they don't want the dinner to cause you to miss out on the show.

Monday, Oct 1 --- Animal Kingdom --- Am worried about my odds of scoring a morning FOP Fastpass 60 days out.

Its a crapshoot, though the odds may be against you. I failed to get any morning FPs for FOP, but you never know, you could.

Tuesday, Oct 2 --- Magic Kingdom --- And also doing Not so Scary halloween at night.

Keep in mind that MNSSHP is ticket into Magic Kingdom (i think they'll be letting you in at 4:00pm), so why waste one of your regular tickets for MK for that day? I'm not sure if there's a significant cost savings going from 5 day ticket to a 4 day. I think after 4 days the price is really low to add days so I suspect you'll not save money if you were to go that route.

I would invest in a copy of the Unofficial Guide and look online at descriptions and ratings for the rides in each park to prioritise which ones you really want to do. That might help you decide how much time to allocate to each park.

Great advice, and I also recommend this

Thursday, Oct 4 --- Magic Kingdom --- do i need two days here? Especially after doing Halloween. Breakfast at Royal Table? Dinner at Be our Guest?

Are you flying? What time is your flight? This will help dictate whether its something you should try to squeeze in

 

[JillC LI]

I am staying at the Pop Culture Resort during my trip. I really need to take advantage of 180 + 10 for restaurant/tour bookings and the 60 day Fastpass + selections. Is it possible to be on the site as soon as reservations/Fastpass become available and still miss out?

I'm thinking i need to move HS later in the week!

Is the general consensus that I only need one day at magic Kingdom? Or maybe move one of those MK days to the half-day Sunday and move HS into the MK slot?

It would be so much easier to plan days if they didn't do the 180 day bookings for restaurants/tours. Kinda locks you in!

Hmmmmm I'm kinda thinking no right now for the park to park tickets.

My thoughts:
Leave DHS where it is.
Switch your AK and Epcot days if you really want that FOP FP+. Yes it is possible to be online at the moment they become available and not get one because others have purchased longer trips and already booked them a few days before you.
If you are going to the Halloween party, you can get into the park at 4pm even though it doesn't start til 7pm. If you don't have park hopper tickets, then I would consider sleeping in that day or going to a relaxing breakfast or hitting up Disney Springs then arriving at the party at 4pm. Whatever you miss at the MK that night you can do on your second day there.

 

[JD80]

My family is a MK family. So I like to spread out the MK days to the beginning and end with the other parks in the middle. I like to start and end my vacation with the MK.

 

[SAV]

I have never seen Animal Kingdom as a half day park and with the addition of Pandora and Rivers of Light, it is for sure not a half day park.

Overall Magic Kingdom has the most attractions/shows. So you will definitely not see everything, especially only in 1 day.

That being said, as a first timer, everything is new to you. So I would do a full day at each park and take in what you can at each.

I also agree with moving your most coveted fast passes/days to later in the trip. More opportunity to get them.

 

[DarthVader]

I like to start and end my vacation with the MK.

Same here, we love MK, it has so much to offer, though once Disney finishes HS, I'm really interested in seeing that.

 

[JD80]

HS will complicate things. We are big star wars fans too. We'll probably have to have two HS days with our MK days.

Good problem to have!

 

[Erik the Red]

Thanks for everyone's help, not only on my thread, but on other threads that i've read too.

So my trip is 7 days long . I was going to do 4.5 days (4 nights) at Disney and then 2 full days (3 nights) at Universal at the end.

I'm now thinking spending all 7 nights at Disney and Ubering Halloween Haunt at Universal on my arrival day and Island of adventure on day 2. Then Disney for the rest. This will push my tours/fastpass choices later in the week for better odds.

The only reason I didn't do this at the beginning is because i felt Disney would be packed on Fri/Sat.

What do you guys think? Should i swap my Universal days to the start of the trip? And spend all 7 nights at Disney? I know i'll miss out on the early entry at Universal.

I have been to Universal before. But not Volcano Bay.

Thanks!