Disney World Lower Crowd Itinerary, Seven Night Variant
By Dave Shute
Below is a seven-night variant of my FastPass+ based Disney World itinerary for lower crowd weeks.
Updated in April 2018, it includes guidance for the new Avatar: World of Pandora at Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and an alternate set of instructions for the to-open on June 30 Toy Story Land at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
- Toy Story Land will be opening at the Studios June 30. Unusual operating patterns from then through the week beginning 8/18 mean the following:
- For visits when your Studios days are before June 30, use the itinerary and To-do List as written
- For visits when your Studios days are between June 30 and and August 25, use the updated FastPass+ instructions and touring plans for the Studios day you will find on this page.
- For Studios days after 8/25, I’ll be publishing an appropriate set of FastPass+ and touring plans shortly
On its first Animal Kingdom day, it uses a Rivers of Light Dining Package to save a FastPass+. Note that this package is available sometimes only 3-4 months ahead, rather than the 180 days ahead that most dining is available.
I’m not keen on this itinerary, as it has little rest time. Moreover, to see both evening shows at Hollywood Studios, you need to add an expensive Park Hopper to your tickets.
This itinerary does not work all dates, and some dates that it mostly works it may need some little adjustments. Use the comment form below to check with me on your dates.
As in all images and tables on this site, click it to enlarge it.
The recommended dining reservations and FastPass+ that make it work are in the To-Do List.
Daily agendas are in the links:
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16 comments
Hi Dave! what a wonderful site.. thank you! It will be our first time this year..thanksgiving.. Sunday 11/19 – Thursday 11/23 (possible Friday departure)… I’ve printed your Basic Decemebr Itin..and Low Crowd Itin Seven night….as reference.. is that right? OR should I save the High Crowd…despite our departure on Thanksgiving day? thank you so much!
Aly, thanks so much for the kind words!! The short answer is none of the above. The basic itinerary is only valid for arrival dates of 11/25 or later. That’s a high crowd week, but none of my high crowd itineraries will match your dates (my itineraries are based on Disney operations and crowding patterns, so in them “Monday” means “Monday,” not “Day 3.”
If you can give me the ages of any kids you are bringing and more precision on your arrival and departure times, I can help, by guiding you to certain parks on certain days and suggesting daily plans from my book to suit.
Your site is great! I’m looking to plan a trip for mid-April. Arrive late on Wed 18th thru to leaving on Sunday the 29th. Any suggestions on the itinerary? Would i just mirror the days from the low crowd itineraries?
Hi John and thanks!!
Because my itineraries are mapped to Disney’s actual operating practices and crowd patterns, in them,for example, Monday means Monday, not Day 3. So they don’t shift well to different days.
I can advise you on which days to go to which parks, but only after Disney posts its calendar for your dates, which will be sometime between a couple of weeks and a month from now.
You can then adapt the itinerary to those days, or adapt the one and two day park touring plans from my book to those days.
So check back after 10/15, OK? That;’s about the earliest April will be out…
Thanks Dave! That’s what I was thinking to match the days with what you had listed (your Thursday itinerary to my Thursday start) – Just wasn’t sure if that would throw off how everything was planned.
I did order your book as well 😉 Thought it would be nice to have something to flip through while planning and not be on the computer.
Thanks again for all the great info.
Great John–let me know if you have any more questions!
Hi! I’m working to finalize my plans and found your helpful site. I love to compare your suggestions to what I have planned and make some adjustments. We arrive on Sunday 4/8 (spending the night before nearby) and depart Thursday 4/11 for universal. We have tickets for 3 park days. Family of four with two boys ages 8 and 11. Staying at Port Orleans Riverside. plannung to avoid HS since we can count on coming back once the Star Wars world is complete. Might also skip Epson this time around. Appreciate any advice!
Hi Anne!
4/8 avoid MK and HS
4/9 avoid MK and AK
4/10 avoid Epcot
We arrive 16th Aug til 30th Aug should I use a mix of higher and lower crowd calendars (higher first week or so) which date would you expect to see crowds start to drop?
Hi Kate, I’ll have a better sense of this as the school calendars come out this summer, but I expect the significant drop to be around 8/25. The dates before will be “moderate” so you can use the lower crowd itinerary as a starting point for all your dates. However, I won’t have a final point of view on this until Disney releases its park calendar for those dates, which it won;t for another four to six weeks, so ping me back then, OK?
Hi Dave, love this site. We just booked Art of Animation (little mermaid rooms) for 8/19/18 – 8/25/18. We are not getting a park hopper and only plan to spend 1 day in each park. Any adivce to give as to which parks to do on which days? Also, should we skip a park and do MK twice? My daughter is 9 and son is 6. Thanks
Hi Eric, and thanks!! As of today, the calendar is out only through 8/13. I can help–but it’s best after the calendar for your dates comes out. So ping me back in a couple of weeks, OK?
I would definitely do two days at MK. While every kid is different, you 6 year old will likely like EPcot the least, so that would be the one I’d suggest skipping.
Dave, I read all the Disney blogs and recommendation sites, and just love yours the most! So helpful, and unbelievably comprehensive! Thank you for the site!
We will be in Orlando Wed 2/2 (landing 3pm) through Wed 2/9 (departing early AM). We have 4 kids (ages 7, 10, 11, 12). They’ve all been to MK a few years ago. We are planning on doing 2-3 park days at Disney only (and probably 1 day at Lego Land because we have free passes from a failed Covid trip). We likely will do 1-2 days at MK, and 1 day somewhere else, probably Animal Kingdom (or maybe Hollywood Studios). We will probably stay on site at Art of Animation for the whole trip. I see the helpful itineraries you posted, but I’m wondering if you might have even more specific recommendations during our week for the least busy and/or preferred days of the week for us to visit MK and AK (or HS). Thank you!
Ryan, these itineraries have been obsolete since Disney closed its FP+ program. I will redo them once we have more experience with Disney’s new Genie+ etc program.
So thanks for the kind words, but my comprehensive advice in many places is sadly out of date…
Similarly, “best parks on best days” has been undermined by Disney’s new Early Entry program. In general, weekends are bad everywhere, and weekdays better everywhere.
Correction. We may end up needing to leave on Tuesday, so that trip would be from Wed 2/2 to Tuesday 2/8 (departing early AM). I’m guessing that changes things as it perhaps would have been nice to go to MK on that Tuesday. I read in various places that Monday is really busy at MK (and Tuesday is the quietest). But maybe Monday’s being busy isn’t a problem in early Feb?
Ryan, following up on my earlier responses, anything written before 10/1/2021 on “best parks” is out of date…
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