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
I see this is for Sept-13 and on. But What if I arrive Spet 15-22? Please help.
Amanda your trip is for a day shorter and different days, so the itinerary isn’t really adaptable to that.
Instead, use this one as your starting point https://yourfirstvisit.net/2014/01/16/seven-night-fastpass-lower-crowd-itinerary-sunday-arrival/
but
1. Do what it shows for the first Sunday on Monday 9/15
2. Do Tuesday-Saturday as written
3. Do what it shows for Monday on 9/21
4. Do what it shows for the second Sunday on 9/22
Good Morning Dave. I really appreciate all the work you’ve put into this fabulous website. You mentioned that the itineraries avoid EMH. For the week of Jan 24th, touringplans is showing EMH at HS on the first Sunday and MK for the second Saturday – is this correct?
Cheers,
Pauline
Pauline, you are right!! Here’s the scoop: effective July 19, 2014, the routine night for MK evening EMH has shifted to Saturdays (altho there’s still some variations.) See this for more: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2014/07/10/assorted-disney-world-updates/ I’m not gonna change the itineraries, though, as I put people in MK on Saturdays in almost all my itineraries for multiple reasons!
Hi Dave,
Great website and looking for some specific advice.
We arrive in Orlando at 2pm on Friday, November 14th and fly out early morning on Monday the 24th. We have a Kidani Village 1 bedroom through DVC for 6 nights (14th through 20th) so have three nights left to book and were leaning towards using Starwood points on one of their properties such as the Swan. We are staying at the airport the night of the 23rd.
Haven’t bought park tickets yet but I can redeem AirMiles (up here in Canada) for 7 day passes for the family (5 of us total with kids ages 10, 7 and 3) and wondering if that would suffice, or if not, how we could add a couple days onto that if even possible.
I see you also recommend we swap a few days in the itinerary the week of the 15th – is that to accommodate fireworks and/or the Christmas options? I’m not sure what to do with us arriving a day earlier as well.
We are first time visitors so your guidance would be hugely appreciated!
Thanks!
Greg
Hi Greg and thanks! The swapping of days is to avoid higher crowd days becasue of changes in the “usual” operating patterns that week. Seven days is fine, although my itineraries are for longer, so that you can relax more. Because sometimes there are restrictions on tickets sold through “alternative” means, I can’t really comment on the AirMiles tix and whether you can extend them on site like you could a ticket that you bought directly from WDW.
With seven days and those ages I’d do three days at MK, two at Epcot, and one each at HS and AK. With one more day I’d split HS into two days, and with a ninth day I’d spit AK.
My itinerary isn’t really revisable inot fewer days, but you can still target the parks on the days I suggest (including the swapping) and you can find mix-and-match daily itineraries in my book The easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit.
Hi Dave,
Im trying to plan a visit for my family in october 2015. Ive been checking the disney site daily, but no dates for 2015 are available for booking yet and no one can give me a straight answer when i ask. Any idea when these 2015 dates will be released?
Hi Allison, I keep hearing any day now…
Hi there,
We are planning to visit Disney from November 9-16, 2014. We have booked a condo a few minutes from Disney. We will be travelling with my husband, two children (1 and 3), my parents, my brother, his wife and their two kids (6 and 10). I see that there is a deal now where you can buy four days and get one for free. Should we purchase the Park Hopper or just purchase the regular tickets? Any other suggestions for our first trip? We are planning to go again when our kids are a little older, but doing this more as a family gathering.
Thanks!
Katherine, you can usually make a trip work fine without the extra expense of a park hopper. Five days in the parks is thin, and not a lot of what I have will help much. I’d suggest getting my book and using the itineraires in it The Easy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit
Just to add to my note above, we were thinking of purchasing a 5-day pass (including the free day special that’s currently on) and adding the Water Park option instead of the Park Hopper. Is the weather in mid-November still good for the water parks? We are from Canada so we are used to the cooler weather 🙂 Do you think this would give us enough time at the parks?
Katherine, no. Five days in the parks is really the minimum, and weather in November can be nice or very cool. See this for November https://yourfirstvisit.net/2014/04/15/november-2014-at-walt-disney-world/ and this for how long to stay https://yourfirstvisit.net/planning-your-first-family-trip/how-long-to-stay/
Hi Dave,
Any advice?
My wife & I are staying @ CSR September 7th thru the 13th 2014 with the dining plan.
We have no children, and have dinner reservations each night.
Since that week in September is generally a “Slow” month for Disney,
does it make sense to even do Fast Pass for any of the rides? or to avoid any Parks on certain days?
I am just praying for a nice Disney vacation with no crowds & decent weather.
Thanks,
Wayne
Wayne a “slow” week at Disney is slow compared to other weeks…it’s not no-wait. It can still have 60 minute+ waits, and they can be much longer if you go to the wrong park on the wrong day. See this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2012/04/30/crowds-and-walt-disney-world/ So yes, you need to pick your park days carefully and still use FastPass+
Dave,
Unfortunately, I found your website after a number of our arrangements have been made. Also, we are going to Orlando because of another event and so have limited flexibility. This will be our first trip to WDW, although we go to Disneyland regularly. My biggest question is how to use this itinerary with our first day in the park being Monday and our last day being Saturday. We also have to be absent from the park on Thursday. Epcot is really our highest priority since Disneyland has many of the Magic Kingdom and Hollywood Studios features. We will be staying at Pop Century and heading on to a Disney Cruise on Sunday. Thanks for any help you can give.
Michelle, the itineraries don’t bend that much. Suggest you check out the park plans in our book, which are much more flexible!! The aasy Guide to Your First Walt Disney World Visit
BTW I’d also add Animal Kingdom to your must-see list, as it too is very different than DLR!
Also, it is a party of four adults. No kids!
Thanks, Dave, I was planning on getting it.
Hi Dave
We are a family of 3, with an 8 yr old daughter. It´s our first disney trip as a family. We will be at pop century from monday sept.8 til fri. sept 19. We have the dinning plan. I used your itinerary to make our dinning reservations and day´s at the park. We got a 8 day ticket with water park. My question is as we are staying a few extra days beyond your 8 day itinerary, how would you go about the days, starting early and water park in the afternoons or waterpark in the morning and amusement parks in the afternoon? Just bought your book to support the site since I used it so much in planning our trip, but have just started reading it. Looks great.
Hey Keith thanks!! In my itinerary days are days–e.g. “Monday” is Monday, not day three. For longer visits just swap days for days– e.g a Monday for a Monday –to create some full days off. Lines can build quickly at the waterparks so then use one of the days you’ve thus freed to get to it before it opens up…
Dave,
This site is just fantastic. So much information and advice, especially for those of us who are newbies who are planning a one-and-done trip to WDW. Thank you.
But here’s my question. We are planning a trip for late October of 2015 (largely because of your crowd calendar). We are a large-ish group – 12 people total, covering 3 generations ages 5-72 – so I am having trouble figuring out where to stay. We would like to be somewhere in the high value-to lower moderate range for pricing, and are looking for a place that can accommodate a family of five in relative value while still offering the level of comfort that the grandparents will want. Do all resorts have the option for adjoining rooms? I know they are not guaranteed, but in low season our chances are better, right?
Also, the one requirement we got from my brother is that we include a day (or half day) at a water park. What do you suggest? Is any one day better than the others? Morning vs. afternoon?
Thanks in advance for your advice. It is a year away and I’m already getting overwhelmed by all the options!
Hi Frances! First, low season affects much more the offsite hotels. Disney hotels are often sold out during the lower crowd periods, as that’s when savvy travelers (who prefer DIsney hotels) come…
All Disney hotels offer connecting rooms. There is right now exactly one hotel that sleeps 5, is less expensive, and offers grandparent comfort–that is the ALligator Bayou section at Port Orleans Riverside. See this: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2012/11/19/review-port-orleans-riverside-alligator-bayou-rooms/
Dave,
We are planning a short, kind of last minute trip to Disney in October. Arrival is October 20 and departure is October 24. We have three children 4, 7, 9. Any ideas on what parks to hit? and which to avoid since we obviously can’t do everything in this short trip.
Megan, the two younger kids will get little out of Epcot, odds are, so I’d aim for two-three days at MK and one each at AK and HS.
Those dates, avoid MK and AK the 20th, avoid Epcot the 21st, avoid MK and Epcot the 22nd, avoid MK the 23rd, avoid AK the 24th.
We are planning on traveling to disney either the first or second week of May next year. We will have 2 two yr olds with us, so it won’t be an action packed trip. Having said that, is there anything we should absolutely get a fast pass for?
Thanks!
Well, Melissa, since there isn’t anything in particular for 2 year olds, anything you do will likely be popular with other kids and families, and hence see long lines if you don’t use FP+…
We are going to Magic Kingdom for two days the week of September 28-Oct 5. Which two days would be best out of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday? We are avoiding the MNSSHP and don’t want to go two days in a row so we get a little rest. Thanks for your help, love the site!!
Kim, MK is best on the days with 7p closes. That means, though, that you miss the evening fireworks and parade. Among nights where the parade and fireworks is on, you want to look for a couple of day in a row, and pick the second. Your dates aim for Tuesday or Wednesday for the later close. I know you don’t want two days in a row, but I can’t recommend either Monday or Saturday…
Dave.. We just secured our vacation dates to WDW. We arrive late Sunday the 8th of Feb, and are park bound the 9th -12th, and checking out the 13th. We have the Dining Plan, No Hopper.
We are taking a 12, 11, 10,9, year olds.
We want to try 2 character meals, and the luau dinner show. We plan on visiting MK x2, AK, HS. We think we would have more fun skipping Epcot and keeping the kids in MK for an extra day. With these dates can you suggest Character dining experiences? and advice on which days to maximize our park experience and where?
Thanks
Yo Brian. The 9th avoid MK and HS. The 10th is good at all your targets. The 11th avoid AK. The 12th avoid MK. This puts your best MK days as the 10th and 11th, and by sophisticated algebra yields AK the 9th and HS the 12th!
I can’t really recommend the Luau, certainly not for two credits and not really for cash either. Hoop Dee Doo is a much better show. See https://yourfirstvisit.net/2012/04/24/review-the-hoop-dee-doo-musical-revue/
You have three basic character meal choices: princesses, Mickey, something other than that (e.g. Pooh.) Guide me on what’s your priority and I will suggest the best!!
Hi Dave, we’re planning our first family trip to WDW and would love to get some ideas. We’re arriving Jan 24th and staying 7 or 8 nights. Our children will be 5, 2, and 9 months–all early risers with mid afternoon naps. We plan to stay at Shades of Green for at least the first half of the trip and possibly one of the Port Orleans resorts for the later half. We’re thinking a day off after every two days at the parks would probably be good (plus my sister just moved to Orlando!) We’re thinking MK will be the biggest hit, but can you provide any suggestions for itinerary–which parks on which days, incorporating some character meals, etc. Thank you!
Liz, all my stuff is for much older kids. Sorry…
Hi Dave, we are staying offsite and planning to come October 24-31 with the 24 and 31 as travel days. Which parks do you recommend to visit on those days the 25-30? We are getting 5 day base tickets and then plan to purchase the additional tickets for Mickey’s Not So Scary Party for Tuesday the 28th. Thank you in advance.
Hi Vickie! The 25th, avoid all but AK. The 26th avoid HS. The 27th avoid MK and AK. The 28th avoid Epcot. The 29th avoid MK and Epcot. The 30th avoid MK
Hi Dave,
Love your site, you are the best with all this amazing advice!
Hey just quick question we are on free dining plan at WDW in a few weeks time. We have booked all our lunches/dinners ages ago obviously. Just wanted to know re counter service meals though as have heard they are huge and too big for one. Is it true that you can split the counter service meals into two and share them? If we did this we could do breakfast and lunch at counter service each day followed by table service dinner. However, how quick is counter service breakfast when our priority is to get out quickly in the morning to the theme parks? Any recommendations?
Cheers
Hi Becs! Some, but not all, counter service meals are quite large. You only pay/use credits for those you get, and can then split them how you choose. Breakfast almost always works better as parties and juides in your room rather than at the resort food courts. And don’t spend credits on breakfast–lunch is almost always more expensive, so if you are paying cash for one or the other, pick breakfast for cash.
Dave – when you commented on Vickie’s questions with specific dates and sites to avoid, were you referencing the days or both day and night? In other words, when you say to avoid MK on 27th and 29th, do you mean avoid day and night or just day?
Kevin I mean the entire date.
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