Better Lower-Crowd FastPass+ Itinerary for 2016

By Dave Shute

I published this morning a new Disney World itinerary for lower-crowd weeks.

Called the 2016 FastPass+ Lower Crowd Itinerary, it’s appropriate –by which I mean “better” –for all the lower crowd weeks in 2016 from January through May than what I had been suggesting.

(Which weeks you can use it are indicated here.)

My itineraries are based among many things on the patterning of crowds at the parks. One driver of park crowding is Extra Magic Hours. Disney is experimenting with multiple EMH patterns in 2015, but has largely settled on the following pattern for 2016:

• Sunday: Morning HS
• Monday: Morning AK
• Tuesday: Evening Epcot
• Wednesday: Evening MK
• Thursday: Morning Epcot
• Friday: Morning MK, evening HS
• Saturday: Morning AK

There’s big changes here compared to the old patterns my itineraries have been based on, so I’ve been publishing a lot of “swap Sunday and Wednesday”—which helped a lot but didn’t really fix Fridays. Moreover, doing so put the Magic Kingdom earlier in a trip than I think is best.

Meanwhile, there’s some changes coming in 2016 that deserved note. Sometime, I expect, in the spring Rivers of Light will open at the Animal Kingdom, and Frozen Ever After at Epcot. Moreover, Soarin will be closing in January for a multi-month refurb.

So the new itinerary sends you to the right park on the right day and incorporates these other changes as well.  It’s here–the image overview is below.

If you’ve not made your dining reservations yet, it’s easy to convert to the new itinerary.

If you have made your dining reservations based on the old itinerary (following my “Swap Sunday and Wednesday” advice) then stick to the old itinerary…with one exception: follow the new itinerary’s FastPass+ suggestions (changed to your actual park days) if your dates put you in Disney World after Soarin closes and/or Rivers of Light and Frozen Ever After open.

I’m sorry abut the sudden changes.  I publish itineraries 6 months or so in advance so people can make their dining plans.  When Disney makes changes, I ride with them a bit–in case they are temporary.  But now that May is out, this EMH change is solid for five months…so it’s time for an itinerary that incorporates it.

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