Category — i. Itineraries for Walt Disney World

The following revisions to my Autumn-Winter-Spring Itinerary adapt it to FastPass+ and the coming entire absence of traditional fastpasses.

If you are a Disney World resort hotel guest, you can begin booking FastPass+ 60 days before (sometimes the parades and fireworks shows only become available closer to your arrival date), so you also need to add booking the FastPass+ below to your To-Do List!

See this for more on the upcoming loss of all traditional fastpasses.

First Saturday

As written, you skip Illuminations tonight and see it Friday—so that with Epcot’s evening extra magic hours you don’t have to leave the park—with 20,000 other people—after the show.

Instead, see Illuminations tonight with a Tier One FastPass+. (“Tier One,” where applicable, means from the list that says “select up to one of these.”) The Fastpass+ viewing area is as close as you’ll find to the bus stops and monorail station, so head for them the moment Illuminations ends, walk fast, don’t stop, and you should miss most of the crowds departing Epcot!

This lets you take Friday night off…and by then, you’ll need it…

For Tier Two (“Tier Two”: “Select up to Two of These”) aim for Spaceship Earth and Mission Space Green, planning to see one before dinner and the other after. With your travel arrival schedule, 6.30p dinner time, and Illuminations FastPass+, you might not be able to do both—that’s OK.

First Sunday

As I write this, there are no tiers at the Animal Kingdom.

If this is still true when you book, get FastPass+ for Kilimanjaro Safaris, Festival of the Lion King (if it has re-opened for your dates; book Kali River instead if it hasn’t), and Finding Nemo—The Musical, for 10.30a or later.

If you can, set Nemo for the morning, and the other two in the afternoon. This will lead to less backtracking later!

If Animal Kingdom FastPass+ is tiered when you book it, choose Kilimanjaro Safaris as your Tier One selection.

When the park opens, see Everest first thing, then the rides in Dinoland next. See this for more suggestions on your Animal Kingdom day.

Note that the First Sunday itinerary in addition to the Animal Kingdom also has you going to Hollywood Studios for the evening to see Fantasmic.

If you move seeing Fantasmic to Thursday, you’ll lose an off-day, and have to buy another ticket day, but will avoid having to buy a hopper—and hoppers are much more expensive than added days once you pass 4 ticket days!

If you do this, then book Fantasmic Thursday as your Studios Tier One. This won’t get you better seats—you’ll still need to show up early for good seats—but means you won’t be shut out from the show!

For your Tier Twos on Thursday, pick Great Movie ride (first) and Tower of Terror (later), if you can fit them tightly together around Fantasmic. If you get only one of these, that’s OK.  Getting these for these times will limit your walking—and also make your other Studios Day, Monday, go better!

Monday

Set Toy Story Mania as your Tier One selection, and Star Tours and whichever of Tower of Terror or Great Movie ride you couldn’t book for Thursday (see First Sunday above for why Thursday)—if either–as your Tier Twos.

The next Tier Two priority, if you got both Tower or Terror and Great Movie Ride for Thursday, is Voyage of the Little Mermaid. Target late morning or afternoon for the FastPass+.

Start your day at Rock ‘N Roller Coaster.

Tuesday

As written, you have the morning off and your afternoon is focused in Adventureland and Frontierland.

If there’s no tiering at the Magic Kingdom, book FastPass+ for Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain, and the Jungle Cruise, with return windows beginning no earlier than 12:15 and ending no later than 5.15p.  Book Splash Mountain as late as you can within these windows.

If tiering is on, then you’ll need to lose the morning off, and instead arrive before open.  Book Splash Mountain mid-afternoon as your Tier One, and see Big Thunder Mountain, and then the Jungle Cruise, at open.

Wednesday

This day is scheduled mostly in Fantasyland.  If there’s no tiering, book as your FastPass+ Enchanted Tales with Belle, the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train (if open) and Winnie the Pooh.  Target the times for the afternoon, ending by 4.30p. See Peter Pan at park open.

If there is tiering, then set Seven Dwarfs Mine Train as your Tier One if open (Enchanted Tales with Belle if not open) and see Peter Pan at Park open. With tiering, hold on Enchanted Tales with Belle until Saturday morning.

Thursday

This day shows as your off day, but see First Sunday for the thought of going to the Studios this evening, instead of then.

Friday

As written, this itinerary has you at Epcot late to see Illuminations.  See First Saturday for an approach that frees you up after dinner.

Pick Soarin as your Tier One FastPass+, targeting it for early afternoon.

For your Tier Twos, pick Turtle Talk with Crush, and if you missed Spaceship Earth on First Saturday, pick it. Otherwise do Living with the Land, adjacent to your Soarin time.

Go to Test Track at park open.

Second Saturday

Book your FastPass+ for late morning or early evening so that you have the option of taking the afternoon off…

If you were not able to book a FastPass+ for Enchanted Tales with Belle on Wednesday, and if there’s tiering, have it be your Tier One ride today, and see Space Mountain at park open

If there’s no tiering, set as your FastPass+ Space Mountain, the Main Street Electrical Parade (you’ll also watch the Castle Show Celebrate the Magic and Wishes from this same spot—I got this idea from  Josh), Enchanted Tales with Belle if you haven’t booked that yet, or Space Mountain if you’ve seen Belle. At park open, repeat your favorite ride from what you’ve seen so far!

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: JANUARY 11 TO JANUARY 19, 2014

The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the image, but organized by park, not by topic.

For more on January 2014, see this.

[Read more →]

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: JANUARY 4 TO JANUARY 12, 2014

The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the image, but organized by park, not by topic.

For more on New Year’s Eve at Walt Disney World, see this.

And for more on December 2013 at Disney World, see this, and more on January 2014, see this.

[Read more →]

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: DECEMBER 28 TO JANUARY 5, 2014

The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the image, but organized by park, not by topic.

For more on New Year’s Eve at Walt Disney World, see this.

And for more on December 2013 at Disney World, see this, and more on January 2014, see this.

[Read more →]

(A slightly different version of this first appeared in WDW Magazine.)

This site exists to help first time visitors to Walt Disney World who may never return make great decisions quickly. The home page has a Summary of Instructions built to do just that.

And since I opened the site almost six years ago, the most controversial—and most misunderstand–instruction has been the third one:

“…if this may be your kids’ only childhood visit, consider going when your youngest child is at least 8 or 9, and your shortest child at least 48 inches tall.”

It’s the “who may never return” words that drives this instruction: Will–or might—this be your only Disney Word visit?

So it can be hard enough to plan a first visit to Walt Disney World, and here I am asking you to figure out how this visit might fit into your other future vacation plans too? What’s up with that?

Well, if you want to have the best first visit, it really matters.

There’s an enormous Disney World fan community that can’t imagine going only once.

Yet plenty of families can’t imagine how they could go more than once.

• Some just can’t see how they could afford a return visit.
• Some could afford another visit, but have too many other vacation goals—Yosemite, New Orleans, Cleveland—to see how a return visit could fit.
• Others could afford another visit, and could make the time…but just can’t say before they visit for the first time whether or not they’ll ever return. This group won’t know whether the value is there for a return visit until they go the first time, because—if you’ve never been there—it’s astonishingly hard to imagine the scope and fun of Walt Disney World.

If this might be your family’s only trip, and you want to see all the best of Walt Disney World…well, that has big implications for how old and tall your kids should be, how long you should stay, what you do each day you are there, when you should go, where you should stay, and all kinds of other issues.

For now, let’s focus on how old and tall your kids should be.

If this may be their only childhood visit, wait until your youngest child is around 8, and the shortest around 48 inches tall.

Why? Because Walt Disney World is not designed for children.

It is designed for children and their parents.

Among Walt Disney’s frustrations that led him to the concept of Disneyland—which set the tone for all the other Disney parks that followed—was watching his daughters enjoy rides that were too dull for him.

That lead him to a park design that children and their parents could each enjoy together.

As a result, much of the best of Walt Disney World has a level of sophistication, and of physical and emotional demands, that will escape, or worse, overwhelm, children younger than 8 or so.

Disney World itself is only half of the equation—it requires the other half, your child’s mind, to complete the experience of the place.

The play world of kids is grounded firmly in what they understand of the real world, and a kid with an understanding of the real world below that of the typical eight year old just won’t get as much fun out of Disney World as a more sophisticated and experienced kid will.

Height is the second issue. A couple of Disney World’s best rides require kids to be 48 inches tall, and several more of the best require a kid to be at least 44 inches tall. Some of this is for safety reasons, and some is a way of marking that a ride just isn’t for the littlest kids.

If your kids aren’t this tall, they won’t get to enjoy these rides at all—and if they are tall enough, but aren’t mature enough, then they can ride, but may well not get Disney Word at its best.

Now don’t get me wrong—kids of any age can enjoy Disney World.

But if this may be your only trip, why not wait until they are old and tall enough to fully enjoy all of the best of Walt Disney World?

In contrast, if this is just the first of several trips, then bringing younger and shorter kids makes much more sense. Having things go over their heads is not an issue, because they can see and fully get those attractions on a later visit, when they are older.

But little kids do bring along their own set of issues. You have to match what you do to their interests, stamina, and routine schedules…or tantrums may result!

This tends to lead to much shorter days, and fewer experiences per day, than with older kids. Not an issue if you can catch what they missed later on another visit…but frustrating to the parents—who, since the parks were designed for them too, will want to see and do more than their kids can take!

But if you push your little kids too hard…well, the most miserable people one sees in the parks later in the day at Walt Disney World are the parents of small children, and the second most miserable group is their kids…

If you don’t push them too hard, littler kids who will be returning are also easier to schedule for.

• The first visit can be just a few partial days at the Magic Kingdom.
• A later visit can add to revisiting the Magic Kingdom (your kids will never tire of revisiting the Magic Kingdom) mornings at Epcot, Disney’s Animal Kingdom, and Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
• Still later visits can pick up the more sophisticated rides and shows at all the parks.

So a core question—one that really affects almost everything else—is whether or not you will be able to return.

And that’s why you need to think about this now.

Follow yourfirstvisit.net on Facebook or Google+ or Twitter or Pinterest!!

DISNEY WORLD NEXT WEEK: DECEMBER 21 TO DECEMBER 29, 2013

The material below details operating hours, Extra Magic Hours, parades, and fireworks.

The same stuff is in the image, but organized by park, not by topic.

And for more on December 2013 at Disney World, see this.

[Read more →]