FastPass+ Itinerary for Lower-Crowd Weeks
By Dave Shute
Update October 2015: For travel in 2016, I’ve published a revised itinerary for the lower crowd weeks in January through May that works better than this itinerary. The new itinerary is here.
Below is my FastPass+ based Disney World itinerary for lower crowd weeks.
It does not work all dates, and some dates that it mostly works it needs some little adjustments. Check your week here.
The recommended FastPass+ that make it work are in the To-Do List, so you can book them at the 60 day window for FastPass+ sign-ups. Daily agendas are in the links:
Thanks are especially due to Josh from easyWDW. With his permission, I picked the targeted park days based on both my own practices and his daily park recommendations.
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155 comments
Shannon-
We went in December with two 2yr olds and a 6 yr old…
Enchanted Tales w/ Belle, Little Mermaid ride, and Princess Meet & Greet (StoryBook Hall) are great bets for your princess! FP+ all of them and if stand-bys aren’t so bad, then do the ride/experience multiple times or switch to another FP+ choice at the kiosks.
I cannot put into words our experience at Enchanted Tales with Belle. All the adults in our group cried (even the men) watching our kids interact and become a part of the show. True Disney magic!
Thanks KE!!
Excellent site Dave. I have our first family visit to Disney from UK this October, arriving Tuesday 7th October in the evening and leaving on Wednesday 15th October (to go to Clearwater for a few nights recovery!). Given jet lag we’ll go straight to bed on Tuesday so Wed 8th will be our first day. 3 kids – boys aged 8 and 6 and girl aged 4.5yrs. No dining plan since I found a great deal on conciege at Grand Floridian so will do breakfasts and mid-afternoon rests/snacks there and choose where I spend $$ on other dining. Have 8 day park hopper tickets including water parks (since we will do that at least once I suspect). My questions are which 2 or 3 dining experiences would you focus on securing 180 days out with this family/trip set up? Also anything to avoid planning wise (suspect we’ll do at least 2 days and possible one evening at MK, 1 day AK, 1 day HS and some time at Epcot and try and rest in afternoons so we get some evenings without the kids (and us flaking out). Much appreciated. Mark
Hi Mark and thanks!
With those ages I’d aim for the classics–some or all of Chef Mickeys, Crystal Palace, Hoop Dee Doo Revue, 1900 Park Fare at GF.
The key your dates is that while overall resort crowds are low, Epcot and MK can be wildly crowded on certain days. See this for why and how to avoid such crowds: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2012/04/30/crowds-and-walt-disney-world/
Hello Dave,
Our first visit is Oct 11-18th, kids 5&8 (boy/girl). We do plan to do the Not so scary Halloween as that is a fav holiday and we usually do a family dress up every year. I looked at your itinerary. We will swap the Tues/Thurs as you recommend, and I think we will put the Halloween party in on Monday the 13th. Do you think that is an issue to have our first time at MK at the Halloween party?
We are there 7 nights, so I have to cut a day off the itinerary as well. With the ages above what would be better the Hoop-Dee-Doo review or the Crystal Palace?
Lastly, have you updated the 7 day itinerary to FP+ yet?
Thank you for all your help in my planning of this trip, I really appreciate it!
Stephanie
Hi Stephanie, it’s fine to see MK at a Party for the first time!
The 7 night FP+ itinerary is here https://yourfirstvisit.net/2014/01/16/seven-night-fastpass-lower-crowd-itinerary-saturday-arrival/
Note that as it does not have you going to Fantasmic on Thursday, there’s no need in it to swap Tues and Thurs!!
Hi Dave,
Love your site it has been very helpful in planning our very first trip to Disney world. We are planning on August 17 til 24, 2014. Your itineraries start on a Saturday but we aren’t arriving until Sunday how do you revise the itinerary to accommodate the Sunday arrival?
Thank you for advice
Lorraine
Hi Lorraine, see this https://yourfirstvisit.net/2014/01/16/seven-night-fastpass-lower-crowd-itinerary-sunday-arrival/
Hiya Dave,
We are arriving at night Oct 9th and departing Oct 19th, we have two boys ages 6 and 9. We will be doing fast pass and dining with our package. The catch is two of our days we will be at the Universal parks (Oct 14 and 15th likely when there’s no Halloween nights but not completely sure yet) so which itinerary would you suggest we follow? We will be doing MK, Epcot and HS. No AK or water parks. We would like to have one night in MK for Halloween and one night for Wishes and the parade. Thank you so much, your reviews and website are amazing!!!
Stacey
Hi Stacey and thanks! As you note, I don’t have anything that’s a good match. Suggest you pick your park days and then use Josh’s cheat sheets to build daily itineraries. His cheat sheets are here: http://www.easywdw.com/category/cheat-sheets/
You’ve got lots of options for your days. In general, avoid parks on EMH days, and avoid MK during the day on nights it has Wishes and the evening parade. You can see the specifics here: http://media.disneywebcontent.com/StaticFiles/ParkHours/WDWTravelAgent_october.pdf
Hi Dave,
My family and I are arriving on Monday, November 10 and leaving Saturday, November 15th. We were planning to do a half day on the 10th and 15th with travel. We have 2 girls, 2.5 and 4.5 year old, and this is our first visit. We are booked at the Polynesian, which we were warned will be under construction. Do you have any advise on which days we should visit which parks? We are interested in the Christmas party, but I’m not sure which day would be best for that. I would appreciate any help that you can give.
Hi Krystal! The 10th is good at MK and Epcot. The 11th, avoid MK and Epcot. The 12th, avoid AK–and this is the best day your dates to see the evening events at MK. Avoid MK the 13th, Epcot the 14th–a good MK day–and avoid HS the 15th. The best MVCMP date during your visit will be the 13th.
Thanks Dave! That’s very helpful. You recommend avoiding MK on the 13th, but that’s the best day fro MVMCP. We weren’t planning to purchase a hopper. Would we be able to enter MK for just the party with the party ticket and visit another park during the day?
Also, based on your recommendations I’m thinking the schedule below. Any specific character events/meals we should schedule given the girls ages and the specific parks? I’ve heard a lot about Be our guest and the Hoop dee doo, but unsure since we’ve never been before.
10th (half day) – MK
11th – AK
12th – MK
13th – HS or Epcot followed by MVMCP
14th – MK
15th – (half day) AK
Krystal, yes you can use a regular day ticket at another park the 13th, then go to the part yon that ticket later that day! The rest of your schedule looks great!
Hi Dave, my husband and I are going to Disney Nov 9-16 (7 nights) I was looking at your schedule and I am not sure how to adjust for one less night. Any suggestions?
Hi Katie!! USe this one, but swap Tuesday and Thursday, as there’s no Fantasmic Thursday night that week: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2014/01/16/seven-night-fastpass-lower-crowd-itinerary-sunday-arrival/
Hello, We are planning to visit WDW arriving late 9/12/14 and leaving 9/20/14. We have a 4 day park hopper with water park option (military salute). What parks should we visit on which days? We have an 8 yr old and a 5yr old. Thanks!
Hi Vanessa! Here’s parks to avoid those dates:
9/12 avoid AK
9/13 avoid HS, MK
9/14 avoid HS
9/15 avoid all but Epcot–a good water park day
9/16 Avoid Epcot
9/17 Avoid Epcot
9/18 Avoid Mk
9/19 Avoid Epcot, AK
9/20 Avoid Epcot, HS
HI Dave, Thanks for all your hard work on the itineraries! We are visiting Oct. 26th to Nov 3rd. I have mostly followed your lower crowd itinerary, however I have a concern around my 2nd sunday. Wondering what your thoughts are on this? I know weekends at Epcot can be crazy during F&W, but I really want 2 days at Epcot. So my thinking is we would do mostly F&W on the first EPCOT day and focus elsewhere on the Sunday Epcot day. My current plans are below and would like to hear your feedback.
Mon. 10/27 – Epcot
Tue. 10/28 – Blizzard Beach
Wed. 10/29 – MK
Thur. 10/30 – HS
Fri. 10/31 – Free Day – Kids do pirate cruise
Sat. 11/1 – MK
Sun. 11/2 – Epcot
Thanks!
Kelly, I think your approach to Epcot will work just fine. I’m more concerned about your MK days, as you have chosen a couple of really busy ones. MK will be much better Tuesday or Thursday than Weds or Sat…
Thanks for the feedback. I could switch Tuesday and Wednesday no problem. I’m think at that time of year it probably won’t matter what day we hit BB. What would you suggest for Saturday if I try to move MK away from that day? Thanks again for all your help!
Kelly–moving one should be fine, especially since the reason these dates are busy is because they have the evening program, whihc is still worth seeing! Saturday arrive befroe open, target your FastPass+ for late morning/early afternoon, take a nap, and return for the parade and fireworks.
Hey Dave!
I asked before about this, so at the risk of appearing OCD: I’m getting antsy about Sunday 9/14. I had originally planned HS, but when they switched EMH to that day I swapped HS with AK on 9/16. We have an ‘Ohana reservation on 9/16 which fits perfectly with the closing time of AK. Leaving HS early that day to get to Poly is d0-able, but less ideal than just leaving AK when it closes.
Anyway, as always I’m overthinking it, but Touring Plans is still listing a crowd level of 1 for HS on 9/14 despite the EMH, and I’m tempted to just go with it since it’s a (relatively) low attendance period anyway. What’s your experience with Touring Plans crowd levels? Is it still too far out to trust the current prediction?
As always, thanks for the advice!
Jeff—see this: http://www.easywdw.com/category/calendar/09-september-2014-crowd-calendar/
Hi Dave
Thanks so much – your website is great!
My husband and I are going to Disney January 23rd-31st. How do I adjust the Jan 24th itinerary for the Friday arrival and Saturday departure? Do I still swap the Sunday/Monday?
Thanks again for your help – love, love, love your site.
Cheers
Hi Pauline–first, ignore swapping Sunday and Monday, that was a mistake and I’ve taken it off! I bet you love me less now…
Do what the itin shows for first Saturday on Friday. Do what it shows for Weds as your first Saturday. Do Sunday-Tuesday as written. Wednesday do what it shows for Friday, do Thursday as written, Friday do what it shows for Second Sat, and second Sat do what it shows for Second Sunday.
Dave,
Nope, still love you!
Cheers,
Pauline
🙂 Pauline
Dave,
My family is going to Disney October 7 through October 12. Hoping to take advantage of the low crowds. I have a 4 year old and 7 year old. We get up no later than 6:30 am 🙂 I really want to do the Halloween party, which is on the 9th and 10th. Would you recommend going to Magic Kingdom that whole day on the 9th? (possibly going back to the hotel at 12:30-1 for a quick nap before the party).
Here is what I thought
Tues evening: Epicot?
Wed: Animal Kingdom
Thursday: Magic Kingdom
Friday : Hollywood Studios
Thanks so much for your direction.
Hi Kim! Epcot has EMH Tuesday, and MK Thursday, so I can’t recommend those parks those days–especially since there’s little at Epcot for a 4 year old anyway. Since there’s not much at HS either, I’d do HS the evening of the 7th, AK weds as you have it, the party Thursday night (you can enter with your party tix at 4p, so just take the earlier part of the day off) and MK again on Friday.
Dave,
Your website is awesome! We are going September 6-13th and staying off property in a house 2.5 miles from Disney. I would love your imput on some schedule and Fast pass ideas. We are arriving mid afternoon on the 6th, so we figured the day would be off unless there is a reason to go later in the evening. I had been told that when you stay off property that you don’t get to stay as late in the parks? Our kids area 7 and 5. We have only bought the not so scary disney park pass for Tuesday, September 9th so far. Our flight leaves early on Saturday the 13th. We had considered just a 4 day pass but one of the days was going to be the not so scary Disney. So, that leaves 3 potential full days. We had decided we would probably skip Epcot and we had originally thought we might use one day for going to Cocoa beach….but it is not a definite. Being off Disney propery 2 1/2 miles away what would you recommend for the ages of our kids and time there, should we do 5 days at Disney and skip beach? Are eligible to have early morning hours if we don’t stay at Disney? So many questions I have…..anything you can advise is greatly appreciated.
Melinda, first yes you can’t go to morning or evening extra magic hours. See this for an example of how those worked last year (this year will be a little different–it’s just an example) https://yourfirstvisit.net/2013/09/06/next-week-september-7-through-september-15-2013-at-walt-disney-world/
But I don’t particularly recommend these EMH , so there’s no real loss there.
The parks take 6+ days to fully see (4+ excluding Epcot, which is a fine thing to exclude at those ages…) so I would skip the beach. You can find beaches elsewhere…
You want two days at MK and one each at HS and AK. MK will be quite crowded the 7th and 10th so aim for your second day (treating the party, which you can arrive at at 4p despite your tix saying 7p) as one of your days) the 8th.
The 7th will be much better at Disney’s Hollywood Studios than at AK, so go there then. And go to AK the 10th.
One more thing, my kids are girls, tall for their age and love great rides….any that they are Allowed to do including roller coasters. I think I read somewhere in all your info about taking them to be part of a show…maybe beauty and the beast???
Melinda, the height requirements are here: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2010/04/21/ride-height-requirements-at-walt-disney-world/ and the scoop on Beauty and the Beast here: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2012/12/26/review-enchanted-tales-belle/
Hello Dave! I am a frequent visitor to your site for all the latest info! Much appreciated! I am a 2-time WDW visitor; once with my husband only, and then with my 2 year old son in 2011. We are planning an early 2015 trip for at least a solid week; either end of February (we were there early Feb over Valentine’s Day in 2011, and early September when it was just the two of us) or sometime in April, after the Easter weekend the 4th/5th. As they have not yet released discounts (dining or room), we are having a hard time deciding when the cheapest option would be for us. Do you suggest calling and booking a bunch of weeks, or waiting for the online booking to become available? Do you know when this should be? I like to compare and see numbers for myself. We are interested in Mod-Deluxe resorts; having stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge 1st, and Port Orleans 2nd. Don’t think we’d be happy at a Value?? Any suggestions or info would be very much appreciated! Thanks for laying it all out there!
Hi Andrea and thanks!!! First I don’t expect any dining deals in 2015 until August or so. Room rate deals are likely for each of your periods, but won’t be announced until much later, perhaps December. 2015 prices and on-line booking should come out soon–perhaps as soon as Weds–it came out the Weds after the 4th the last two years. So I’d wait, as you’ll get real info soon enough. Booking now will not affect your ability to try for a discount if one is announced later.
Honestly, unless you can’t stand the thought of full-sized beds or the absence of a coffee maker, I’d try a value. Since hotels are the main manageable cost in a stay, it’ll be good for you to know if such will work for you or not. If doing so seems risky to you, then do a split stay–start in a value for a couple of nights, then switch to a deluxe or mod for the second half. (Don’t reverse the order, or the value will suffer too much from comparison.)
Both your date targets are fine. The difference will be that April will likely be warmer and prettier, in the full bloom of spring…
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