How to utilize "free time" in a TP?

I’m traveling in Sept for 6 days at the park and have all of my TPs ready except for one. Was bored at work and reviewing them to take a break and noticed that prior to my ADRs, the TP will put in “free time.” The first one I noticed was only 15 minutes, so no big deal. But on two of my other days, I noticed one is 52 minutes and another is over an hour. It would sure seem like a better use of my time for the plan to take one or more of the rides from after my ADR and move it before in order to remove that free time. That is what I would probably do that day anyway. Is there a way to tell it to reduce the amount of “free time”?

Perhaps there isn’t a ride nearby that could be squeezed in in less than 52 mins? You could try moving a ride into that slot and “evaluate” so that it keeps your TP in the same order you made - but it will give you an idea when you would arrive at your ADR?

Just enjoy - or do the ride. We follow a plain “mostly” but when we also “mess” in a shop or stop to get a snack or just enjoy if something is going on. We also sometimes just re-ride a ride or go to the next one early

We are there on days when the crowd levels are 3 or less, so there are plenty of rides that can be done in those windows. I guess we will just adjust on the day we are there, but was hoping there was a way to tell the algorithm not to do that.

If there’s free time in a plan, then there aren’t enough attractions/shows/breaks/meals/etc for the optimizer to fill up your day, so it just sticks that extra time somewhere in your day (usually when lines are likely to be longest). The first thing you could do is add more attractions or shows and reoptimize. Maybe there’s something you’re pretty sure your group will want to ride more than once?

You could also leave the extra time in your plan as a buffer in case you arrive late or get delayed somewhere else along the line (or decide to go “off-script” and vary from your plan). Free time would also be a good time to visit shops, snack (if it weren’t right before a meal!), watch a show of the castle steps, walk along Main Street and catch the Dapper Dans, quiz your traveling party on some of the names of the Main Street windows, or maybe sneak in a character meet. There’s always something new to try.

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With 52 minutes free time then I’d probably just leave it, and be more relaxed about getting everywhere “on time” (definitely more shopping, sightseeing, etc). Then, if reality worked out so that there really was a large block of free time before an ADR I’d check Lines and maybe do a nearby attraction, or if we were ready to eat I’d stop in at the restaurant and see if we could check in that early.

When it shows a large amount of free time (like 2 hours) then I’ll build more attractions into the plan, or re-shuffle the whole thing in order to have more midday break (I’m a huge believer in taking a midday break away from the parks… it just makes for happier people at 9pm) time.

You could take care of all of your restroom breaks during that 52 minutes, and you’ll be all set for the rest of the day. :wink: (If only things worked that way.)

I wouldn’t worry about the 52 minutes too much. It will be really easy to fill it with whatever strikes your fancy at the time, whether it’s catching another attraction before your ADR, doing some shopping, etc.

Often you CAN get another ride in, but since TP is designed to get you the least waits in line, it is likely that waiting then would be a longer line than waiting later when it comes up in the TP

For my part we never have issues using “free time” in the parks :slight_smile: