Hi! I am helping my mom with her TP for one day at DRL. It will be her, my adult sister, and my 12-year-old brother, going to DLR on a Monday (CL 8, park hours 8am-12am but they plan to leave after the 9:30pm fireworks).
Since they only have 1 day, they want to pack in as much as possible. They also tire easily and will be there in late June, so heat and sun are a concern. I want to help them do and see everything on their wishlist without handing them a plan that will completely exhaust them! I think my current plan is doable . . . long day, but it seems like the plan makes sense. My main concern is that the wait times seem really, really short. I am concerned that they will be way behind schedule before they are even an hour into the plan and be stressed the whole day with trying to catch up.
Can I please get some more experienced eyes on this plan and tell me if
A) the wait times seem realistic and
B) the plan seems doable and not too rushed?
I grew up going to DL but almost all of my trips were pre-TP days. My last 4 trips to Disney have all been to WDW, so I feel very out of practice planning a day at DLR!
With one day and trying to pack in as much as possible I would recommend springing for MaxPass for everyone. For the rides which have FP it is amazing…
The first hour or two looks accurate but what concerns me is there is absolutely no use of FP on your plan… With that siad, there’s a lot on there that I would recommend moving to the morning (ie the attractions that don’t have FP but build up in wait times). Alice is a great start but I would also do Dumbo, Nemo Submarines earlier & use FPs for a lot of what you’re doing in the morning (Buzz, Star Tours, Thunder, Indy all have FPs.
With only 1 day I feel like MaxPass will be well worth it also. They’ll stress a lot less & get so much more done! They’ll be able to use the plan you make for them a list & just pick up FP throughout the day. They just need to pay attention to when it says they pull their next FP & if they stay on top of it that way then they will be able to accomplish everything.
Hmmm. I see what you mean! I did think it was odd that there were no recommendations for using FP . . .
I added all the attractions they want to try to see, included their meal plans, and added a couple additional breaks in, then optimized the plan. This is what TP gave me.
If you don’t already have it selected I would select either Yes for a MaxPass or Yes for a Fastpass runner & see if that changes the recommendations… I can’t imagine that the most optimized version doesn’t use any fastpasses whatsoever so you can also try re-optimizing several times until it “stabilizes” on a plan.
Thanks for the hints! I fiddled with a few of the settings and re-optimized several times, and that seems to have helped. My second version has them using FP for a few rides and the total time spent in line has dropped by almost an hour. I also like that there ends up being three separate “gaps” of 45 to 60 minutes each at various times throughout the day . . . super nice in case they get behind schedule or want to repeat a ride. Dumbo and Nemo also magically relocated to a new home earlier in the day, so that’s good!
I feel like it has much better flow already than the first version! I too love to get pockets of free time in a plan so that I know I have plenty of buffer time to catch up & I feel like you’ve got some good lengthy ones. Be sure to let them know that the plan will be awesome to follow for the first hour or so but to really use the rest of it as a guide (especially when it comes to FP times as those are not super accurately predicted on touring plans, but the good news is that you can usually get more FPs/earlier times than predicted). So let them know it’s ok to mix it up based on what FPs they can get & just to watch for the showtimes they want to see. I would also toy around with having them eat dinner either right before or right after the 2nd parade and see if it won’t have you do the 2nd parade instead. I always find that I save more time doing the 2nd parade & it’s a lot less hectic to find spots. Not to mention less hot.
I don’t think I have much more to add other than agreeing with everything said above and adding that not only will MP save them time and get much more accomplished, it will also save them steps/energy. I am usually the fp runner and I cannot tell you how much time and energy it saved me! Given the circumstances, if they can afford MP, I say it is a must!
BTW I am a huge fan of your solo trip report! It has further encouraged me to start planning my own solo trip! Thank you!
So I just went & tracked down this solo report of @Dobster’s and I loved every minute of reading it & was sad that it had to end. Even with two bonus endings of departure day & re-entry day. So thanks for the mention @carthy15!
And every single picture of Epcot during F&G has me convinced I need to figure out a way to go in 2019. We last went to WDW in 2016 during F&G and I just need to get back to the butterfly tent! And do all the things in Epcot we ran out of time to do!
Aww, thanks everyone! I enjoyed posting that trip report and I’m glad to hear you enjoyed reading it! I love solo trips. Highly recommend them. I love traveling with family and friends too, of course, but in the past year or so I have discovered that traveling solo is so relaxing and freeing. Both ways of traveling have their pros and cons, for sure. But I think everyone should try going solo at least once!
And F&G was really lovely. This was my first time and I definitely plan to go again! Next year, maybe??
Quick question about MP: Is it more useful at DL or is it equally helpful at DCA? I think I might be able to convince my mom to spring for MPs for their DL day but she will probably balk at spending $10 per day per person two days in a row (they are doing one day each at DL and DCA, no hoppers . . . I just realized that I didn’t mention that in my original post! )
I love traveling with family and friends too, of course, but in the past year or so I have discovered that traveling solo is so relaxing and freeing. Both ways of traveling have their pros and cons, for sure. But I think everyone should try going solo at least once!
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