Looking for some knowledgable info for our upcoming trip. We are a group of 5, 4 adults and my 3yr old GD. One adult has some mobility issues, so we will not be ping ponging around MK.We are staying off site, so no FPs yet. MY original plan was to RD Space then head to Buzz before going to Fantasyland for my GD( Speed,Barnstormer, Dumbo,LM), then head to HM, BTMRR, POC, Jungle.
There is an EMM that morning, SO I was wondering if there would any benefit in reversing this, as Splash will be closed, and I am thinking that this may decrease the number of people going left, making those rides more accesible early on. Also will the EMM people stay in Fantasy land after EMM, making that more crowded then I would have hoped for? Given this What FPs would you try to get? I am not worrying about Seven D or Peter Pan, as I know those are probably already gone, Thanks.
Welcome! Ask anything & often!
IME – It’s always better to go left! Whenever I go I always go left the crowds are consistently far less in that half of the park in the morning. The allure of Space Mt. & Tomorrowland is strong and for that reason most ppl go that way. Plus, it’s a natural habit of people to go right. I’m a former theme park employee we were always taught that people go to the queue on the right just on instinct and the same is true for the route they take around the park.
Plus, the queues on the left tend to have more outdoor area which can be miserable / hot to stand in the mid-late day. Your GD3 has plenty of options for rides / shows over there – Jungle Cruise / Pirates / Tiki Room / Country Bears & more…
We always go left. We also don’t zigzag around the park.
If you head left you could do nearly everything in Adventureland and Frontierland and working clockwise, have your first FP at HM, and your last at Space, with a FP in Fantasyland in between. Buzz is almost always available as a same-day 4th FP.
One tip- it’s not so far to return to Adventureland before you exit the park. We skipped JC in the morning (it takes awhile & uses up those precious early minutes). Then we got a 5th FP for it, and also went to Tiki Room right before we left.
BTW - There’s a little used path between Adventureland & Frontierland that will get you between The Tiki Room and Country Bears much faster than going all the way around. It’s a covered area and most ppl think it’s part of the bathroom and shopping area next to it.
Welcome!
I think it would depend on the FPPs you pick up. But even so, if you RDed, you will get lots done in the first 1.5 - 2 hours.
I have heard that EMM doesn’t affect the crowd levels but I have no first hand experience.
If I were you, I would try to pick up FPPs for WTP, Space, and PP (or Buzz) for later in the morning, early afternoon and start with Adventureland and Frontierland. If the park opens at 9 AM, I would think you should be able to get to Fantasyland by 11 for your WTP FPP. Then, ride the rest of Fantasyland rides before Space and Buzz. Hopefully, you can land a FPP for PP later in the afternoon (people change their minds as the time gets closer.)
When we went to MK on December 15th, we zagged to Frontierland when most people zigged.
MK opened at 8 AM that day. We RDed. By 9:30, we had ridden BTMR 2x (walk on both times), HM (walk on), WTP, and 7DMT (FPP).
By 10:45, we had ridden Little Mermaid, Barnstormer, and Dumbo. We had a bathroom break and some Magic Shot pictures in there, too. We then had two snack breaks and did some window shopping to wait for our 11:10 Space Mountain FPP. I didn’t use my SM FPP so DD had a second ride. I couldn’t move my Space or PP FPPs that day to earlier times.
We stood in line for Buzz. Our 12:10 FPP for PP turned into an anytime experience. We picked up a 4th FPP for iasw and went to ride it. We still had time to kill before our 1:30 BOG reservations. We went to watch Hall of Presidents.
It took us nearly 30 minutes to pay for our BOG lunch, even though we had preordered. It took a long time to get food. And it was almost 1 hour later before we left BOG. We went to use our anytime experience FPP on PP.
So as you can see, we got on more attractions in the first 1.5 hours of park opening than the rest of the day.
I thought I was the only one who knew about that shortcut 
Haha, I think it’s one of those “open secrets”. 
I always start going left to Adventureland. From my experience, Jungle Cruise and PotC have relatively shorter waits first thing in the morning as most people go to Space, Fantasyland or BTMRR at RD.
My preference is to do Jungle Cruise, Magic Carpets and PotC first thing. If PPF and 7DMT FP+ are gone, my suggestion for FP+ is (1) BTMRR, (2) Meet Mickey (for your granddaughter), and (3) Space Mountain (assuming you can fit them all in mid-late morning). When I have finished up my 3 FP+ by Noon, I have had a lot of success getting same day FP for Winnie the Pooh, Dumbo, Under the Sea, IASW, Buzz.
EDIT: Just realized that Meeting Mickey may result in some zigging and zagging so perhaps sub HM or meet Cinderella/Elena to decrease walking.
Is your GD interested in princess meet and greets? When my daughter was 3, that was her favorite part of the trip. I have had mixed success with same day FP for princess meet and greets so if those are important, that is another consideration.
We are frugal but I would much rather pay for a character meal than to go to meet and greets, if we had young children. That way, the kids would nibble and be entertained while the adults get to relax and eat, while the characters make the rounds. We would kill several birds with one stone.
Then, we could save the FPP for attractions. But every family has their own priorities…
I agree with you … except DD4 had a long list of characters she wanted to meet. We did 2 character meals but there were a bunch she wanted to meet who weren’t at those meals (tinkerbell, belle, tiana, rapunzel, and elena at MK) so we used FP for some of them.
Nearly 15 years ago, I stood in line 3x for the Princess Faire in DLR with DD. Each time, it was 90+ minute wait. Back then, DLR didn’t have much in terms of character dining (just Goofy’s Kitchen). She wanted to meet her favorite princess, Belle. First time through, Belle wasn’t there. Second time through, we were next in line and Belle left 
. Third time was the charm!
Many thanks for the replies. Making FP in a few days so things may change a bit. Putting in the info for a TP right now we RD, BTMRR, then POC and JC, Country Bears and HM , TP says we can do this by 11:15, without any FPs, so that would be great. Hoping to Meet Mickey in Epcot the day before, so that would be a big timesaver, As far as any other Characters, I would hope for a pic with Cinderella, Due to MY Daughter,GD’s mom, having taken a pic with her 30yrs earlier TP said we should do this around 3:15, Am I correct that this would be Parade time. Which would make Castle not accessible, and Cinderella in the parade?
If you can time it right, Epcot is a great place to meet characters.
Made my FP selections and our day looks like this
RD BTMRR
POC
JC (930FP)
Country Bears
(possibly Magic carpets)
HM (11:15) FP
Lunch
Buzz (1:20 FP)
Rest of the day in Fantasy land where only must do is Dumbo for Pic. Will decide based on 4th FP available lines, how my GD is holding up.
I know this plan has a lot of free time in it . This allows for bathroom, snacks, GD getting interested in something else. Thanks to all for their input.
We went last week. We went left. We did Jungle, Pirates, and Haunted with no wait. We then headed to Enchanted Tales (had FP, but didn’t need it). You could probably fit in Big Thunder or Splash with minimal wait at that time too. We used the afternoon to do fantasyland with same day fastpasses since those are usually easy to pick up for rides like Tea Cups, Dumbo, Barnstormer, Winnie, etc.