eleven days and counting… Can I ask you guys what you think of my plan? There are a few things I’m not sure about, but I won’t mention them and see what you have to say first. We have a party of 7 going- two grandparents, but they are fit and up for exploring, me and my husband and our three children- ages 1, 4, and 6. We are spending three total days in the parks. Day 1 MK, Day 2 is split between HS and Epcot, and day three is all at Epcot. Everyone’s first time, except for me who went in 1986! I have faint memories of some rides (some are gone, many have been added since then!) and I remember being angry that my sister got to ride Space Mountain and I was too short, and I was terrified of Captain Hook. I still have my stuffed Eeyore doll that my grandma bought for me that day, and I am thinking of taking it for a photo op. Anyway, my husband is begging me to just leave the touring plan alone, because I’ve been obsessing over it for too many hours (okay, days… okay, months…) but before I finalize it, I’d appreciate some fresh eyes telling me their opinions. I’m the chief planner for this vacation and I’m totally stressed about making everyone happy. Trying to find the balance of fitting in what everyone wants to experience, along with not over packing the schedule. We’ll have a double stroller and my trusty ergo baby carrier for the toddler. Packing a dinner of sandwiches, and snacks, but my kids don’t eat much when they are excited and busy. Leaving the park for a break is not do-able for us. The rest I’m not going to explain because I want to see what you think first, then explain my thoughts if I need to
http://touringplans.com/plans/print?id=1285477
Is one adult planning on not riding SM? If all adults want to ride it then you will have to do a child swap, which will take more time than is currently indicated.
Also, I would keep checking back to see if you can swap out one of your FPP reservations for Anna and Elsa - a much better use of FPP than Ariel if you get lucky and some passes open up.
Oh! I forgot. Space Mountain and Haunted Mansion are just my husband and me. The grandparents are taking the kids to Tomorrowland Speedway and to meet Buzz Lightyear during that time. SM and HM are not their cup of tea, so it seemed like a good point to split the group up. We’re meeting at Small World at 7.
I’ve had my eye out for E&A fast passes, but they were honestly a last minute addition to the plan and can be skipped if we need to. Blasphemy, right? If their line is too long then we might get in the line for the other two princesses instead. But yes that is something I felt was not placed well and I’m not sure where to stick them. The ariel FP lets us do the Little Mermaid attractions early on and together, and puts us close to BOG at our reservation time. If a FPP for E&A do open up though, you bet I’m nabbing it 
Hello! Here are my concerns:
- Peter Pan should always be first, that line gets really long right away.
- How come you are skipping the left side of the park? BTMR, Splash, POTC, Jungle Cruise…these are all great rides.
- I know you didn’t ask for park suggestions, but with kids ages 1-6 I would spend 2 full days at MK instead of 1.5 days at Epcot. Or at least split that day, MK in the morning and EP in the afternoon. Epcot is great, and my kids are big fans now, but weren’t at those ages. It’s a huge amount of walking. For young kids, MK is Disney World. Just a thought.
- If you look at your totals at the bottom, you are waiting in line as much as you are experiencing things (320 min in line and 335 min busy). That will make for grumpy adult and kids I’m afraid. In comparison, my TP for Easter Sunday has us waiting in line 192 minutes with 725 minutes busy. Not sure what the answer is, but I am afraid you all will be very frustrated. Have you optimized several times? Or evaluated after moving things around multiple times?
I also obsess over my plans for months. Just keep working with it until you get it exactly as you want it.
Edited: Just realized we have a 240 minute break on Easter, so numbers should have been 192 waiting and 485 busy.
- is exactly one of the concerns I had, because that is also what I thought! Every time I optimized, it would put the carousel first. When I switched them, the wait time for Peter Pan stayed the same, but the time for the carousel went up and somehow affected everything so that we ended up 7 minutes late to our BOG reservation. I am not sure if I should ignore this and do Peter Pan first anyway? I accepted what the computer said, after a while, because of what switching them did to the other times, and also I know my kids will see it and ask to ride it first.They would be okay if I said we were doing Peter Pan first though.
- Honestly, I am the only person in our group who wants to do Pirates! My son would like BTMR- the grandparents and my 4 year old (who would be tall enough to ride it) don’t like coasters AT ALL. I’m hoping to squeak my son onto it somehow. They are great rides, I just couldn’t fit them into this trip. And with Tom Sawyer and Swiss Family Tree House closed during our visit, those lands are just getting a nod and a walk-through. If anyone knows how I could fit BTMR for two riders, or Pirates, I’m open for suggestions. I was thinking my husband and I could sneak off to do pirates after the fireworks. My in-laws and children have no desire for that one either.
I originally planned two days at MK, but we can only do one due to logistics beyond our control. We would definitely do more in the left side if we could. The ONLY reason for the half day at Epcot is because I know my mother in law, and she will need an extra half day to swoon over the flower show. I’m telling you, she will make us study one topiary for an hour. I’m hoping that on that half day, we will be able to mix her enthusiasm for the gardens, in with some of the kids’ rides like Turtle Talk or Figment, then we’ll be more relaxed and be able to leave the park early the next day.
- 4 Optimizing it has honestly made it go a little crazy, and the wait times would be between 500-600 minutes. One of the things I was hoping someone could spot would be a way to lessen the number currently. I’ve been up so many nights rearranging, my husband is highly annoyed, but I think he will see my ways when we get there. I know A&E are pushing that number up significantly, but we might nix that when we get there. However, my one year old says a handful of words- Mama, Fairy, and Elsa… so when I saw it might fit in that slot, I added it. They do not know this is an option for them at all so they are not expecting to meet them. I could take it out and add another ride, but that fills just as much time and would be less special. If anyone has any suggestions for that I am open. I am also keeping in mind that many of the breaks are actually character meets, or just experiencing the park’s atmosphere, and I’m not sure if we’ll stay in one spot and wait for the parade for 24 minutes like it suggests. We will probably have snacks or use the bathroom, or just hang out, ride the train maybe? It seems to have us waiting around for shows quite a bit, I’m not as concerned about finding prime real estate, just somewhere it all is visible. I’m with you, I don’t know what to make of it or how to fix it. With the breaks, when I optimize now, the whole thing goes crazy, has me taking a break at 8:30 (ummmm… hopefully we’ll be waiting for rope drop then!?) and has a note that not all the attractions could be seen and my choices are to shorten breaks or extend my day at the park
Interesting info about the plan and Peter Pan. The plan is supposed to know these things, and we have always been very happy with the results so I would guess keeping the carousel first will work. Totally understand about not being able to fit it all in. It is almost a shame that so many things are at MK, makes 1 day there really hard to plan. You will just have to go back when you can spend more time there! As for BTMR, you could all find your place to watch the FOF parade, and then you and he could go ride it while everyone else saves your spots/bathroom breaks/snack. If you want to try to do this, replace the castle pictures with BTMR on your TP(temporarily) just to get an idea of the wait time. You currently have from 1:40-2:40 to do that. Also a hint on the “you may not get to all your attractions”- that will show up for lots of reasons, and usually only requires a little tweaking to make it go away. See how you put Castle pics at 2pm, but the plan puts it at 1:50 with 4 minutes time free between it and ETWB. Change the time on your Castle pics to 1:45 and that message will go away, assuming there isn’t another hold=up somewhere. You also have 24 minutes between the MSEP and Wishes, BTMR generally has a short wait that late in the evening, so you could sneak over to BTMR during that time as well, while everyone relaxes and waits for the fireworks.
The ONLY reason for the half day at Epcot is because I know my mother in law, and she will need an extra half day to swoon over the flower show. I’m telling you, she will make us study one topiary for an hour
This statement sums up my childhood vacations, regardless of where we went. We looked at a LOT of plants and rocks it seemed. Remember that you all can split up there too for a bit so that your MIL can stare at plants while your kiddos do attractions for them in Future World.
As for A&E, last year people were waiting 4-5 hours to see them. In comparison your wait time is quite small. I have heard that their wait is pretty short right before the park closes. If it is important, it is totally worth waiting. Bring snacks and something fun for the littles to do in line.
I never optimize either, it seems like the times and order gets really messed up. I just evaluate and keep moving things until the numbers are acceptable. Good luck!
One thing I noticed is you only have 40 minutes at BOG. I have never gotten my family of 3-4 out of lunch under an hour. By the time you are seated and they bring the food, you could wait at least 15-20 minutes. Just be prepared that it could take a little longer. Also, the place is beautiful and a great photo op on your way out at the stain glass window will take a few minutes. 
Some assorted thoughts.
If you can work in Space Mountain earlier in the day, then you’d be able to get additional FPP in the park. That might allow you to cut down waits for Dumbo, Small World, and possibly the Town Square meets (since at least the first two of those are likely to be available later in the day). Send one family member to the FPP kiosk (know where they are before you go to the parks) while the other retrieves the stroller after you use your last FPP.
Another FPP tip that could help is to make HM FPP at the same time as your Space Mountain FPP, but for your kids (or the grandparents) and then borrow their Magic Bands. That would you’ll be able to see both of those rides with shorter waits.
Do the wait times for the Ariel meet look longer than for the Under the Sea ride? I’d think the ride would have a longer wait, though it does load a lot of people quickly and the queue is more interesting waiting for the ride than for the meet.
With Peter Pan, you should still be ok seeing it that early in the morning and you’ll get to see the new interactive queue there, so a short wait might actually be a good thing.
You’re very ambitious to schedule bathroom breaks. If you can make that work, then I’ll be impressed!
As the plan currently stands, you may have a tough time getting a good viewing area for the Electrical Parade when you emerge from the Tinker Bell meet. There will be a lot of people on that part of Main Street. If you can save some time earlier in the day, then you’ll have a better chance of finding a spot where the kids can see.
Thank you all so much for your input, it is so so so helpful! I was wondering about the BOG time. It’s a big thing on my own personal ticket and I don’t want to rush it. I wasn’t sure how much time it takes to get the food. We will probably pre-order it but that might not help much.
I’ve played around with putting space mountain in the morning. Small World too. Small World has a very short wait in the morning, but is such a long ride that we wouldn’t have any time to meet the Wonderland characters. I don’t mind a wait at Dumbo since they have the play area, I thought it would be nice for the kids to be able to run loose for a half hour and climb and play. Tinkerbell would be a useful fastpass. I will see if I can work the later fastpasses earlier into the schedule
Ariel’s Grotto and Under the Sea have nearly identical wait times at that hour.
I’m actually excited about the interactive queue for Peter Pan. I’ve had to watch videos of everything (my son has autism, so we can’t leave “magic” up for a surprise. Surprise=no one will have fun the rest of the trip) I just saw a video yesterday and it’s really cute.
I will be impressed if the bathroom breaks work, too, but a Mama’s gotta try, right? I am not counting on everyone going during the scheduled break, or that no one will have to go in between, I just put them in when we’d be somewhere close to where I saw a bathroom on the map, and also strategic parts of the day. For example, it will be necessary to go after Mad Tea Party because my daughter WILL pee herself when she meets Ariel if I don’t make her use the bathroom ahead of time. I wish that was a figure of speech. If nothing else, it’s good to know when and where I’ll have a chance to make sure the baby is clean and dry
I was thinking of cutting out Mickey at Town Square. We will be meeting him other places, but he won’t be all “jazzed up” in his suit. Would it be possible for one of the adults to stake out a spot for the electrical parade and fireworks, or is that too much space for one person to try to occupy? What time would you suggest going to get a spot? I was thinking just the opposite, that coming out of Tinker Bell, we’d be in a good position to find a good place, but I can see how that was wrong to think. Also upon further thought, I am trying to work Tink in earlier, to work better with the kids’ moods/bedtimes. My toddler is obsessed with fairies, but I think at that time she’ll be to tired and/or cranky
OK, you have 3 sets of FPP listed: Ariel, ETwB, and SM. Instead of getting FPP for SM for the grandparents, get them FPP for HM - you then take their MB so that you and your DH get FPP for both SM and HM.
I don’t think that they will be able to do both of those things during the time you are at SM/HM. Check the wait times for those two attractions on the day in question, and adjust your plans accordingly. Tomorrowland Transit Authority might be a good substitute for the Speedway.
Hang on, another thought here. You keep your FPPs for SM, and change the grandparents’ and kids’ SM FPPs to Buzz or the Speedway. That whole allow them to do everything they want to do while you do SM and HM!
So here is the new one after taking everything into consideration that I’ve learned here:
http://touringplans.com/plans/print?id=1289733
Is move it dance it shake it (or whatever) only 15 minutes long? MDE says it is 35, touringplans only sets aside 15…
Transit authority will be closed the day we are there 
They have fastpasses for Speedway. I didn’t list them because I can’t figure out how to split the group up on the plan, but figured it would play into their time about the same as space mountain would. I’ve done some tinkering though, and instead of having a huge chunk of time where we are split up, I moved HM to later in the day (Small World earlier, then moved the 30 minutes to meet the Wonderland characters to after lunch… it isn’t a necessary thing, so we will gauge it as we go and just not do it if we are behind. That puts Tinkerbell before my toddler’s bedtime, so hopefully she won’t be a brat to the fairies, and the evening much more relaxed for them. It also let me put in a possible time for Move it Shake it, and will give us a good time to slip over to BTMR for my son and me. I also took out the mid-day break that was set aside for pictures and general poking around, hopefully there will be enough of that in between rides.
The forecast has changed to stormy in the morning. Of course it’s still 9 days out, so who knows, but we’re planning on forging ahead. Wondering how the wait times will be in response.
My only concern with this new one is that the afternoon/evening is kind of scattered about.