Disney World Itineraries
By Dave Shute
WALT DISNEY WORLD ITINERARIES BY ARRIVAL WEEK
This page provides below links to Walt Disney World itineraries by arrival week. Each itinerary includes links to daily guidance and a to-do list.
Itineraries are released or updated as Disney releases its calendar—which it currently usually does weekly, providing it for about the next ~2 months.
Note that I have released and included below an updated itinerary that replaces the old Multi Pass with Tiana Itinerary. It includes changes in dining, but for those who have already booked their dining based on the Tiana itinerary, your current Tiana based dining reservations should work just fine.
The new itinerary reflects recent and expected ride closures and openings, including a projected July 20 at 9p for the first showing of the new evening Parade at Magic Kingdom, Disney Starlight. (July 20 is confirmed; 9p is not.) One exception is that it does not yet include Test Track, expected to re-open later this summer, but is set up for an easy insertion of Test Track on Epcot Day 2 when Test Track re-opens.
Otherwise, the itinerary is simpler and uses much less Lighting Lane, so it is less expensive as well.
DISNEY WORLD ITINERARIES BY ARRIVAL DATE
- For a June 7, 2025 arrival date, use the Updated Multi Pass Itinerary
- For a June 14, 2025 arrival date, use the Updated Multi Pass Itinerary
- For a June 21, 2025 arrival date, use the Updated Multi Pass Itinerary
- For a June 28, 2025 arrival date, use the Updated Multi Pass Itinerary but consider some points around the 4th of July noted bel0w
- For a July 5, 2025 arrival date, use the Updated Multi Pass Itinerary
- For a July 12, 2025 arrival date, use the Updated Multi Pass Itinerary
- For a July 19, 2025 arrival date, use the Updated Multi Pass Itinerary
- For a July 26, 2025 arrival date, use the Updated Multi Pass Itinerary
- For an August 2, 2025 arrival date, use the Updated Multi Pass Itinerary
- For an August 9, 2025 arrival date, use the Updated Multi Pass Itinerary
For later arrival dates, use the Updated Multi Pass Itinerary for planning, but come back here ~60 days before to double check.
PLANNING THE WEEK OF JULY 4TH
Disney World will have special Fourth of July fireworks at Magic Kingdom Thursday July 3 and Friday July 4, and at Epcot Friday July 4.
Typically, these shows make these parks distinctly crowded on these days.
To avoid these crowds, change both your itinerary and to-do list the following ways:
- Make Monday June 30 your first Magic Kingdom day, replacing Wednesday
- Make Tuesday July 1 your second Magic Kingdom day, replacing Thursday
- Make Wednesday July 2 your third Magic Kingdom day, replacing Friday
- Make Thursday July 3 your second Epcot day, replacing Monday
- Make Friday July 4 your first Animal Kingdom day, replacing Tuesday
On the other hand, you may wish to see these two shows. If so, change both your itinerary and to-do list the following ways:
- Make Monday June 30 your second Hollywood Studios day, replacing the second Saturday
- Keep your first and second Magic Kingdom days (Wednesday July 2 and Thursday July 3), but stay late July 3 to see the fireworks
- Make Friday July 4 your second Epcot day, replacing Monday and seeing the fireworks
- Make Saturday July 5 your third Magic Kingdom day, replacing Friday
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284 comments
Dave, I have a park-hopper pass for 2 adults and 5-year old grandson for 10 and 11 AUG 2017. Can you help us with a plan to get the best bang for our buck. Definitely doing Magic Kindom and not sure where else yet. Recommendations? THANKS!!!
Jane, as you likely know you need to book your FastPass+ ASAP. A five year old can happily spend two days (with breaks) just at MK. I don’t have two day itineraries on this site, but you can find them in my book.
Hi Dave,
We are planning a February 24, 2018 visit to Disney with my almost 3 and almost 5 year old daughters. My 181 day mark is quickly approaching (just about 2.5 weeks away), but I don’t see any itineraries out yet for February. Is there another one that we should go by?
Also, we’re following your recommended 9 day, 8 night itinerary, but had to cut a single night off due to work schedules. Any suggestions on which day we should “cut out” and how to adjust the remaining days to account for that? I have heard that Hollywood Studios is largely closed down and pretty disappointing at the moment, so I considered omitting the second HS day. Let me know what you think. Thanks so much!
Hi Chelsea, my itineraries are designed for kids much older than yours (for why, see this and this) and are not at all appropriate for your kids. You would be best served by adapting the “character centric” itineraries in my book, which are meant for younger kids.
Neither solves the question of which park which day, but kids that age can have a perfect trip with several partial days at MK and a half day at each of AK and HS. Epcot has little for that age. Take a look at this, and this, decide how much time you want to devote to each park, and let me know, and I’ll help you pick days.
On your exact question, Disney until a few months ago usually had material out 6.5-7 months ahead that I used to suggest itineraries. It is now publishing at around 180 days (today its calendar is out through 2/1, exactly 180 days), deeply annoying everyone…
Thanks Dave!
I just ordered the kindle version of your book and will begin reading immediately 😉 I was holding out for the 2018 edition, but since Disney is making things so difficult for us, I went ahead with the current one. That said, I failed to mention in my original post that this is also MY first trip, and my husband’s, and we are bringing along my mom to help watch the girls. My husband agreed to this trip on the sole condition that he could thoroughly explore Epcot, as that’s the only park he’s interested in. As a first time Disney goer myself, I just want to see it all! I want a dole whip and a ride in the teacups and a Mickey-shaped balloon, etc. etc. – so more along the lines of what my children will be interested in. While it may be rough to do all of the parks with the little ones, we’d like to try (if they get bored or pooped out, back to the room with grandma they go). We’ll be staying at the Polynesian. The idea is that this is our first and longest trip to get the feel for Disney and see (almost) everything, but we do intend on returning within a year or two (and definitely again when Star Wars is completely open). Not sure if these details are helpful or change anything, but I thought I’d mention it. Thanks for all the work you’ve done on this site to make things easier for first-timers like myself.
Hi Chelsea and thanks for the details. Your trip and earlier question now make perfect sense. See the stuff in Chapter 2 in particular for some thoughts on how to deal with the age issue–in the language of this chapter, your husband is the “older child” lol.
Hi again! I’ve been very studious Disney-goer and perusing your book for a couple days now. I’m starting to come up with a plan to accommodate both my kids and my husband. But I’m still stumped on how to rearrange which parks we visit on which days. I definitely want to start with Epcot and end with Magic Kingdom, but I’m not sure how to adjust those middle days (specifically the Wednesday). I’ve looked at the sample 7 day itinerary, but it starts with Magic Kingdom on Day 1 (definitely not what I want to do first with little ones). I’ve heard there’s a lot of construction and not much to do at HS right now, so if I had to spend less time at any of the parks, it would be this one. Can you offer any suggestions for rearranging the days?
Chelsea, remind me of your arrival and departure dates–and also whether you could be in the parks on your arrival and departure days…(and also if you have a Hopper or not). You can do HS in a day, but that means you will miss either the Star Wars fireworks or Fantasmic, as you can’t do both in a day. Fantasmic is the better choice for most.
Flight arrives in Orlando on Sat. February 24th at 8:30am and departs Orlando on Saturday March 3rd at 6:30pm (so we definitely have time to spend in the parks on the days we arrive and leave). I wondered about Star Wars vs. Fantasmic and figured that we wouldn’t be able to do both – but it will be a tough decision. I’m a huge Star Wars fan so I selfishly want to do that one, but the rest of my family would prefer Fantasmic. We originally were not going to get the Park Hopper, but since my mom has offered to take the girls one evening for my husband and I to explore the parks on our own, we are considering going for it. It’s definitely still an option.
OK Chelsea, this may require changes once the actual hours are out, but here’s the starting point, based on the Lower Crowd itinerary:
Do First Saturday and First Sunday as written
Make Monday a full HS day—use the one day itineraries in the book
Shift Thursday to Weds
Shift Second Saturday to Thursday
Shift Second Sunday to Second
Chelsea – When I have clients one of my strongest suggestions has more to do with the order of the parks than what parks. If you are planning to take them to Epcot, go there first (Especially with your husband wanting to spend time exploring). It’s a completely different feel. It can be fun and exciting to even the youngest park goer, when they have nothing to compare it to. But once they get a dose of Magic Kingdom (Mickey, Balloons, etc) they can be let down waiting for the same feel. So build up. And always end their visit with Magic Kingdom.
Hi,
We are going to Disney 11/24/17-11/28/17 5 day park hopper. Then heading to Universal 11/29/17-12/1/17 3 day park hopper. Any ideas on an itinerary? My boys are 6 and 9.
Which
Hi Rita, I don’t have much to offer on Universal. On Disney, start here to narrow your choices to the parks you want to see and how many days you want in each.
The get back to me with your thoughts about days per park, and I will help you pick them!
Hi Dave,
Really loving the book and all it has to offer. Our family of 2 pre-schoolers, 2 parents and 2 grandparents are arriving at Disney around noon on 1/19 and departing on 1/27. I’m trying to figure out how to adjust the Lower Crowd Itinerary to the Friday arrival/Saturday departure. I gather we definitely would not want to just shift everything forward a day as that’d mess with park hours/attendance optimization. Any guidance would be greatly appreciated!
Seth it doesn’t adjust well, for the reasons you note, complicated by the fact that you don’t really have enough time (it looks like) on your departure morning for a park visit.
Try this:
Shift first Saturday to Friday (Epcot Day 1)
Move Monday to First Saturday (HS day 1)
Do Sunday as written (AK Day 1)
Do Friday on Monday (Epcot Day 2)
Do Day 1 of one of the two day MK plans in the book on Tuesday
Do Weds as written
Do Day 2 of one of the two day MK plans in the book on Thursday
Do Second Sunday (AK Day 2) on Friday
Thanks Dave! That’s tremendously helpful. I had a type in my original message around departure time. We fly out at 8:30pm, not am. So we’ll have the better part of that last day to revisit a park. Right now we’re thinking MK, but we can probably be flexible based on how things go.
Hello Dave,
I’m back! I asked this, or so I thought, a few weeks ago, but can’t seem to find the proper page. I’ll ask again, if I may. So, I am wondering what to do for a Friday, November 24th midday through Friday, December 2nd midday. We are splitting time between Pop Century, then Wilderness Lodge, with 4 Adults and our 3 kids, ages 6, 9 and 9.
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Kind Regards…
Tommy, start with this.
On Friday, do what it says for first Saturday. On Saturday, do what it says for Monday. on Monday, do what it says for Friday. On Friday, do what it say for second Saturday.
Ignore what it says about possibly buying a hopper, since you’ve already done that!
Oh! I should mention as well that we did splurge on the Park Hopper thinking it would given us some more flexibility since we are only 6 nights. We also plan on returning to the Wilderness Lodge for lunch a few of the days via launch from MK or Epcot.
Thanks Dave!!
DAVE!!!! This is genius! Thanks so much for the quick response and simple guidance. Our girl and Moms are not so interested in Cindy, so we will skip that, and while the Candlelight Procession sounds incredible – I love Orchestra and large Choir collaborations – I suspect we will skip that as well. Any thoughts on something the two boys would be more interested in??
Thanks again for everything you have done to make putting a trip like this together a bit easier.
tS
Tommy, how old are the boys? The princesses are pretty hot :). A great replacement for Cindy would be Crystal Palace, which is Winnie the Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, etc
Hi Dave,
My family (consisting of parents, grand-parents and three kids ages 8,5,3) will be heading to Disney for the first time on 12/10-12/15 (early arrival and late departure). I see that you don’t have any itineraries made up for a trip this short, do you have any suggestions on how we should plan our itinerary? We did not choose the park hopper option.
Thanks so much in advance. I found this website by accident and cannot stop visiting!
Hi Kim, so glad the site is helping! You are right that I don’t have shorter itineraries on this site, but you can find one and two day itineraries for each park in my book.
Hi Dave! This site is amazing – so glad I found it before I started planning our trip. We are planning to visit 4/15/18-4/21/18. I see itineraries posted through March 2018, but nothing yet for April. Our 180 day mark is next week so I’m trying to plan out our dining reservations. What would you recommend for us? Thank you!
Hi Karen, and thanks for the kind words!!
I post itineraries after Disney posts its calendar, which it has not yet done beyond early April. With any luck, we’ll get one of these https://media.disneywebcontent.com/StaticFiles/ParkHours/TAC_WDWMar2018.pdf for April around October 15, and I’ll be able to post itineraries then!
When will your itineraries for August be out? Just planning now so can book dining in Feb
Hi Kate, DIsney’s calendar is now complete through most of June. My AUgust itineraries will start coming out in a little more than a month, if Disney continues revealing the calendar at the same pace.
We are going the week of October 8th this year. Was looking for itineraries (spelling?) that far out. Thank you for your help with this matter. 🙂
Brandy, I don’t release itineraires until Disney releases its calendar for the relevant dates, which it does about 6 months ahead. Right now it’s only released for into mid-July, so ping me back in a few months!
My 11 year old and I will be on property starting April 1 for six nights and seven days. I need help with an itinerary. We live in LA and go to Disneyland and Cal Adventure very regularly and I am having trouble breaking it down. We have park hoppers.
Hi Meredith! For you and the 11 year old I’d advise 1 day at HS and 2 at each of the other parks. That’s a lousy time to go in terms of crowds. Let me know what hotel you are staying in, as if you are eligible for Extra Magic Hours, with your hoppers a strategy can be to attend the morning EMH and then hop away to a (slightly) less crowded park.
We are staying at the Art of Animation. We get in at like 630 AM on Sunday April 1 and leave the next Saturday evening.
OK Meredith, one approach that can work during high crowd periods is to start at the park with morning EMH, and then hop away from it around 11a to a (perhaps) less crowded park.
This only works if you can arrive at the EMH park’s turnstiles by 30 minutes before EMH open, and is complicated by 1. Disney’s habit of adding morning EMH especially at MK and AK during high crowd periods, and 2. Disney’s habit of shifting regular park opens (particularly at those two parks) from 9a to 8a. Your jet lag may make it hard to get up and out early enough, so you could also stay in the first park til say noon or 1, come back to AofA for a nap, then return to a second park after the nap.
Either way, you would set your pre-booked FastPass+ in the second park.
The current calendar is here, but check it a lot, especially in mid-March, for changes.
Your dates, currently there’s morning EMH at HS on 4/1, AK on 4/2, Epcot on 4/5 MK on 4/6, and AK on 477
SO here’s a shot at how to flowe it:
4/1 Start at HS, hop to AK
4/2 Start at AK, hop to HS
4/3 MK all day
4/4 Epcot all day
4/5 Start at Epcot, hop to MK
4/6 Start at MK, hop to AK
4/7 Start at AK, hop to Epcot
We are planning a trip for 8/18-8/26 (2018), and idea why the park calendar is not up yet? Or when it will be? I have to make restaurant reservations in less than 2 weeks! Thanks!
Hi Kerri, annoyingly for months now Disney has been releasing the calendars right at 180 days, which as you note makes planning hard. Right now it is at August 6. Your best bet is to pick your park dates based in expected crowds per park, fit your highest-priority meals around them, book them as soon as you are eligible, and then revise and add the lower priority meals as the actual dates flow out.
Thanks for the quick reply! Ugh, that is so frustrating. In your experience, do the EMHs stay the same week to week in August? I think that’s my biggest fear. My biggest fear is that I will book an impossible reservation for a day that I won’t want to end up being in a particular park! Thanks!
PS – Your book is invaluable!!
Kerri, nothing is certain, which is why I don’t recommend an itinerary until WDW published the calendar. And your week is likely to see the kick-off of the Halloween party, perhaps on 8/24, which will make it different (not on EMH, but on other important factors) than the week before. Here’s how it played out last year. If it looks the same, Friday the 24th becomes a good day at MK (if you are EMH eligible and can get to EMH before it starts.
Dave,
We are staying at AKL Kidani Village, so we are EMH eligible. I would love to not have to plan my itinerary before they publish hours, but most of the dining reservations that we want are for breakfasts, so that locks us into a park, at least for morning. We have park hopper plus tickets so we can move around if necessary. I guess for now I can just plan out mornings and afternoons somewhat independently and fit everything in where I have to. Do you know if Fantasmic and River of Lights will both run every night that week? We were planning on using dining packages to see them, so obviously have to book those for the same day. Also, 2 members of our party are iffy about whether or not they are going to go. If I book dining reservations for the whole group, can I go back later and remove the two of them if they decide not to come? I figure shrinking a party is easier than adding to it!! Thanks so much for all of your help and input!! This won’t be our only trip, but it is the first with my kids and I want to make the most of it!!
Kerri, on Fantasmic and Rivers, I don’t know but except when the parks close early for a special event, each has been on every night for the past 9 months or so.
On having fewer folks on a dining reservation–you don’t even need to take them off. Just tell the cast member when you check in your actual party size. As you note, adding people is hard, but shrinking is a non-event.
Also, is there a link somewhere to the itinerary from that week last year? Thanks!!
Kerri, this is it: https://yourfirstvisit.net/2017/05/02/disney-world-lower-crowd-itinerary/
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