I’m taking my wife and two sons, ages 4 and 7, to Magic Kingdom on the Thursday EMH day just before President’s Day Weekend. Crowd is predicated at 4-5. We want to do a lot of rides - but Space Mountain is probably out of the question due to height/courage requirements of my boys. Here’s what I’ve come up with using the Touring Plans evaluation with “average” walking speed.
8:11 am: Peter Pan (TP says it will take 11 minutes to get here and we’ll have to wait for 17 minutes - I question that)
8:36 am: Speedway
9:00 am: 7DMT (First FP+)
9:23 am: Splash Mountain
9:54 am: Big Thunder
10:18am: POTC (cut this if running behind)
10:47am: Jungle Cruise (Second FP+)
11:06am: Lunch on Tom Sawyer Island (grab food to go at Liberty Square market)
12:36pm: Haunted Mansion (Third FP+)
12:56pm: Treehouse (Grab another FP+ during this time)
1:20 pm: Pirates League Reservation
2:12 pm: POTC (Fourth FP+)
2:31 pm: Tiki Room (Grab another FP+ during this time)
3:00 pm: Watch start of parade in Adventureland, then hit Splash, BTMR, or Haunted Mansion again (pick one depending on line length)
3:48 pm: Small World
4:23 pm: Philharmagic
4:44 pm: Buzz Lightyear (Fifth FP+) Maybe insert another ride of character meet here, grab another FP+?
6:30 pm: Dinner reservation at LTT
7:45 pm: Meet Mickey at Town Square
Are my FP+s realistic? Other thoughts? As you can see, we go crazy hitting as many rides as possible in the first three hours and then things slow down in the afternoon. Towards the evening, we’ll probably just relax and maybe hit a few more rides if lines are short.
Pirate’s League will take longer than what you have.
Parade is in Frontierland. Not adventureland. and it might take you longer to get to HM due to the parade crowds lined up along the route.
The Pirate’s League kids’ parade is different. Is that what you meant?
I would change your speed to relaxed. Whether the kids are walking or you’re maneuvering a stroller, it’ll probably be a little slower. Also, if you make it ahead of time, then you’ve got some padding.
LTT can be slow to get seated and to get food. give yourself more time to do that. Also, give yourself more time to get to Mickey in TS.
I have kids about the same age (5&7); I do not think we could keep up with that touring plan. I think my kids would need some downtime: either napping or at least slowing down the pace for their own exploration of the sights of MK. Do you have a stroller for both kids? If you cannot build in mid afternoon nap (ie you are not staying near by), I would slow the walking speed to relaxed and still add a few “breaks” to either catch up with your plan or bathroom and snack breaks.
Given that you have 4:45-6:30 pm free and built in an optional “drop POTC”, I don’t think it’s an unreasonable plan at all (but agree - plan more time for Pirates League, just in case). The only think that you may find tedious if your kids are tired walking is trekking the whole way down to the treehouse from HM… depending on how your timing is going, you may want to hit the Tree House same time as you hit jungle cruise (just before lunch). Agree that changing walking speed to “relaxed” is always a good idea with younger kids - they move slower than adults with stroller kids. (Although a stroller for your 4 year old may be a good idea.) Also, by 2 pm your 4-year-old may be toast for the day… just have a contingency planned for if he/she looks at you with desperation and and says, “No more.” Enjoy!
Ok here was my first thought… Move speedway to a later time… From Peter pan to speedway then back to sdmt seems like a lot of walking when you could stay in the area and do the carousel, pooh or under the sea? You could also, maybe, hit HM on the way to splash/btmrr? just a thought! Good luck and don’t Rush too much
With kids that age, I would honestly set your walking speed to “very relaxed.” We were there last week with three kids and “very relaxed” wasn’t even relaxed enough for us, even though I kept hurrying us along.
Things that could make your travel time between attractions slower than you expect:
-If you have a kid in a stroller, before each attraction you have to find the stroller park. Also, after each attraction, most likely a CM has moved your stroller and you have to locate it.
-Little kids have small bladders and have to use the bathroom all the time.
-Do you love to or do you have a spouse who loves to take pictures? “Average speed” doesn’t give you time to get that picture in front of the caste.
-Snacks. My kids wanted to stop for a snack after each ride.
-Coaxing. After a turn on 7DMT, I had to coax our youngest kids on to every ride. “No, this is not a roller coaster, and no, you’re not going to die.”
All of this takes time not allowed for in average speed. Average speed works for a healthy, single person who never has to pee and can get quickly from ride to ride.
One thing I didn’t plan for that through my schedule off was that my DH LOVES browsing all the gift shops. I had to re-set my schedule expectations because he & DD were not cool with me always rushing us off to the next thing on the list. I’m type A, GO GO GO! and they’re stop and smell the roses types. We were all much happier when I accepted that, and crossed a few things off my list on the fly.
I agree with the other posters. I honestly don’t that you will manage to check off everything on your plan. Everything takes much longer especially when you have young children in tow. Think about bathroom breaks, picture opportunities, snacks/drinks, stroller parking, etc. Just as long as you are aware that you will likely never be on “the plan’s” time will make for a much more enjoyable trip.
Have you considered touring the MK in 2 days? I like having scheduled break times so that my kids (and husband!) can recharge.
Totally agree with all of the above. Took my kids at same time (early Dec) when they were that same age. Snacks, pictures, character sightings and general exhaustion changed my TP significantly. And get the double stroller! We still laugh about a quote from DS-then-4: “stroller, bus, boat, stroller, bus, boat I’m always in a stroller, bus, boat…” . After that we planned an hour of them just running around on TS Island. Do two days of MK if at all possible. Kids that age “fry” easily. Serious over stimulation. Relax and enjoy!!
I’ve only got one day in Disney World parks, period. Two nights at the Wilderness Lodge, but just one very full day at Magic Kingdom. That’s why I’m “rushing” - but I am also cognizant of not trying to cram so much in that it spoils the fun.
I went ahead and adjusted my walking speed to “relaxed” but it honestly didn’t affect the schedule that much. My boys are high energy and we will have a jogging stroller for the 4yo and carrying lots of dry snacks from home. That means not too many expensive snack breaks.
I agree that the first three hours are jam-packed, but that’s why I plan on maybe skipping at least one ride on the itinerary (Pirates, which I’ve got a FP for later in the day, anyway).
After that crazy 3 hour morning block, we’ve got over an hour to chill and picnic on TSI, which will be nice downtime.
The afternoon is really as busy or not busy as we want it to be. That’s the beauty of knocking out most of the long-line rides early. I’ve also built a few short shows into the afternoon for more rests. Same thing goes for the evening. A nice dinner at LTT followed by whatever, if anything, we still want to do afterwards.
Bathroom breaks are definitely a potential schedule killer. I’m going to bring a map with all the bathroom locations highlighted and we’ll make a point of briefly hitting one about every hour. My boys pee fast.
We’re just trying to help you have accurate expectations about what your day will look like. Build a few different TP’s for the same day with different variables, then you can switch to one if you find yourself taking more time than you initially thought.
-I would, to go in line with @rachaelmac22, try a touring plan pushed towards “less walking” to see if the TP will group more attractions together in the same “land” for you.
-Map-wise, I used the “Disney World Magic Guide” app that gives you an accurate GPS location within your park map. The maps in My Disney Experience aren’t bad either. We never had to stop and pick up a paper map.
-I would still advocate for a plan set to “very relaxed.” My main complaint with TP is that it didn’t give me an accurate view of what it would be like to tour with very young children.
We are a go go go family when touring, and we used TPs this trip with much success. However, I did build in numerous 15-20 minute breaks thru our long days to accommodate all the little things the other folks have mentioned.
I also set our speed to relaxed, and was pleasantly surprised here and there when we actually had a few extra minutes to soak up the magic. But more often than not, we were just keeping up.
For the happiness and sanity of your family (especially the day after), I would take a few attractions out and build in some flex time.
No matter what, you will be in the Magic Kingdom, and that’s always a great day. Have fun !!
We lined up for the parade about 25 minutes in advance to get a seat. I would skip Tiki Room or do it at a different time, it is hard to navigate once they start roping off for the parade. Nothing else looks too bad. Maybe hit up Buzz first thing after Peter Pan, we walked onto it with no wait the first hour the park was open in November on a weekday. I’d do that over the Speedway … a lot more cool unique Disney ride and it’s not a bad walk.
Looks good. Well thought out. Like that you have some free time built in for unforseeables. I’d have at least an hour or more. Inevitably, a line will be longer than predicted or a meal or break/s will be longer. Reoptimize every few attractions to accommodate any changes and capture the latest, user generated data.
With all regards and love to liner mary1999… Don’t skip speedway. Ever. With boys they will love it… And want to ride more than once! For the last 3 years if you ask my ds5 what his favorite this at disney is… First answer is always “drive the cars”!!!
Funny. That was my youngest son’s favorite ride when he was six. We rode it several times and I remember thinking “of all the things here THIS is what he loves?”. He was all serious looking on it too, so in pictures he looks mad, but was having a ball. And last piece of advice for travelling with kids that age? Take a small case of child sized earplugs. Everything is pretty over stimulating for some kids. Luke wore his earplugs even in things like philharmagic. Might not need them, but they take up no room and can be a lifesaver to keep a kid going.
Hmmmm. Maybe that’s why he liked the cars so much. Not much noise.
There’s a ton of good advice here about travel time between attractions etc so I won’t reiterate.
Just wanted to say we just used an almost identical plan right up to your lunch break last month on a 3 day. While our morning plan was dense the crowds were relatively light during EMH and we were able to hit everything pretty close to expected wait time.
After that it did very really hard to navigate so we shifted down a gear, hit some big ticket items and then had some fun wandering with a big break in the afternoon for free play.
Really helped, since 2 days before the expected 5 day ended up being wall to wall much of the time and we almost imploded as a family.
Thanks everyone for their input. One thing I’m not really sure about is how to best navigate/avoid the 3:00 parade crowds. I don’t intend to waste time staking out a curbside location and sitting through the whole parade, but it would be nice to show my kids some of it from my shoulders. Mainly though, I want to get away from the crowds. I’m going to be in Adventureland around 3:00 anyway for the start of the parade - where should I go next to avoid crowds and what’s the best way way to get there?
We didn’t get a chance to see the 3pm parade because a crucial FPP conflicted.
But if we did, my intention was to heed several people’s reports that near Liberty Tree Tavern (porch to give added height to younguns?) was a good vantage point that may not require as much advance staking out. You could sneak through the passage from Adventureland right to it and not have to body surf the crowds.
