By the co-author of The easy Guide to Your Walt Disney World Visit 2020, the best-reviewed Disney World guidebook series ever.

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Disney World Itineraries

By Dave Shute

WALT DISNEY WORLD ITINERARIES BY ARRIVAL WEEK

I have retired all my previous itineraries and created a set of  new ones to optimize a week-long visit in the new era of Walt Disney World.

This page provides below links to Walt Disney World itineraries by arrival week. Each itinerary includes links to daily guidance and a to-do list.

Itineraries are released as Disney releases its calendar—which it currently usually does weekly, providing it for about the next ~2 months.

DISNEY WORLD ITINERARIES BY ARRIVAL DATE

For later arrival dates, use the Genie+ with Tron Itinerary for planning, but come back here ~60 days before to double check.

 

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282 comments

1 Ashley { 03.02.20 at 2:20 pm }

Hi Dave, I know it’s not quite March 6th yet, but would love to hear your initial thoughts on what parks to see on which days for our trip (9/4-9/12) as I’m working to finalize a plan for dining before our ADR date

2 Dave { 03.03.20 at 12:26 pm }

Hi Ashley!! The official calendar is out through 9/9:

9/4 avoid Epcot; avoid MK unless you are EMH eligible and committed to arriving at least 30 minutes before they begin
9/5 No great choices
9/6 avoid HS and MK
9/7 avoid AK
9/8 avoid Epcot
9/9 avoid MK

After 9/9, a tad more provisional but 90% likely to be right:

9/10 avoid Epcot
9/11 avoid Epcot; avoid MK unless you are EMH eligible and committed to arriving at least 30 minutes before they begin
9/12 No great choices

3 Lori { 01.09.21 at 1:53 pm }

Hello Dave!
I would love your opinion on which order to visit/avoid parks March 9-18 2021
Thank you!
Lori

4 Dave { 01.11.21 at 10:18 am }

Hi Lori! It’s too early for me to have much guidance, but if I had to decide today, all parks except Hollywood Studios are bad over weekends and better on weekdays. HS is about the same every day. That suggest seeing it on the weekend, saving the other parks for weekdays.

5 James { 04.12.22 at 8:26 am }

Hi Dave, when do you expect mid-July 2022 information to be available? (park hours, emh / late hours for deluxe hotel?)

I know F&W festival starts July 14th, and we’ll be arriving on July 15th, so I’m trying to plan around that.

6 Dave { 04.13.22 at 9:41 am }

Hi James, its been about 60-70 days lately, so early to mid-May.

7 Joseph Sysling { 05.24.22 at 10:04 pm }

My wife and daughter are planning a trip Dec. 1 2022
Day 1 arrive
Day 2 MK
Day 3 Rest
Day 4 EPCOT
Day 5 Hollywood Studios
Day 6 travel home

What would be the best Itinerary for their adventure while at the park?

8 Dave { 05.26.22 at 1:25 pm }

Hi Joseph, I don’t right now have any one day itineraries, but let me know how old your daughter is, and I’ll help

9 Danielle { 07.11.22 at 5:18 pm }

Do you still recommend doing the half day Epcot afternoon on a Saturday during Food and Wine? Thanks.

10 Dave { 07.14.22 at 10:40 am }

Danielle, while weekends can be quite crowded during Food & Wine, ride waits are not much affected by it, so yes.

11 Jill { 08.03.22 at 10:23 pm }

Hi Dave – My husband and I are planning our first ever Disney trip 3/9/23-3/16/23. Our kids will be 3, 5, 6, 8. I would love assistance planning our days, well, because I am overwhelmed and have no idea.

3/9 would be a travel afternoon get settled.
3/10-3/15 Park days
3/16 travel home

Thanks in advance. I’m terrified this is a bad idea without extra adult help.

Think an off duty cast member wants to assist with kids on rides so less waiting to get each kid to ride, child swapping, etc?

12 Dave { 08.07.22 at 5:58 pm }

Hi Jill, I can certainly help with planning your days, once the dates get closer.

Not sure what you mean by “Think an off duty cast member wants to assist with kids on rides so less waiting to get each kid to ride, child swapping, etc?” Where you think of basically hiring a helper?

13 Ricardo { 11.20.22 at 8:29 pm }

I know the weeks can change at the drop of a dime on Disney’s end and so finding an itinerary for June 17-24 is tough. Looking at your crystal ball what’s your best guess of what that week might look like? Also, do you have an itinerary sample that can be downloaded and changed on our end?

14 Dave { 11.25.22 at 12:06 pm }

Ricardo, the itinerary in the link at the end works right now pretty much all the time. But there’s much uncertainty about changes to the parks with the CEO change, so keep checking back with me! https://yourfirstvisit.net/2022/03/24/disney-world-genie-itinerary/

15 Kelly Widener { 04.09.23 at 10:43 am }

Hi Dave, we are finalizing our itinerary so we can make dinner reservations and would love your thoughts. We are arriving 6/15(thursday) and departing 6/21 (wednesday) staying at a deluxe resort with 3 kids between 8-11.

16 Dave { 04.10.23 at 9:51 am }

Kelly, first visit or a returning visit?

17 Kelly Widener { 04.11.23 at 3:35 pm }

First visit!

18 Kevin { 02.19.24 at 5:06 pm }

Hey Dave, family is going May 5 – 14, and would love your thoughts and which parks for those dates! Reading HOURS here on the website, I surmise, it might be as follows:
5/5 MK
5/6 HS – Avoid MK
5/7 HS or MK – Avoid AK
5/8 Epcot or HS – Avoid AK
5/9 AK or Epcot (Pretty slow overall day)
5/10 AK or MK – Avoid Epcot
5/11 AK – Avoid Epcot
5/12 MK – Avoid HS
5/13 HS or Epcot – Avoid MK
5/14 MK or HS – Avoid AK

Would love to hear your thoughts!

19 Dave { 02.22.24 at 1:23 pm }

Hi Kevin!

It’s a little hard for me to respond specifically, as I’m not sure what hours you are looking at, but a couple of observations:

If your goal is to avoid crowds, then the trick is to figure out what attracts or is convenient for “average people,” and then do the opposite.

So weekends are busiest at all the parks, and after that Monday and Friday, because they are the most convenient days for all types of visitors. Tues, Weds and Thurs tend to be the lightest days.

However, compared to the other parks, Hollywood Studios is busy every day. This suggests seeing it on weekends. You won’t see much higher crowds there on a weekend vs a weekday, and by going there on a weekend you avoid going to another park on a weekend when you could visit it on a lower crowd day instead.

In the past, morning Extra Magic Hours were also a big draw. Offered in the old days most commonly at each park just once a week, the EMH park would see high visitation on its EMH day, and lower the day after. However, under the new Early Entry program (https://yourfirstvisit.net/2021/08/28/disney-worlds-early-theme-park-entry-program/ ) each park opens early every single day, so we no longer see an ebb and flow in daily crowds based on this.

Finally, people are drawn to days at a park when it has longer hours, and avoid parks on days they have shorter hours. Because they avoid parks on shorter hour days, it usually pays off to visit parks on days when they have shorter hours unless the closed is wildly early (e.g. 4p).

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