Magic Kingdom Plan? Need some help.

[whitek1275]

Alright so over the past couple weeks I've been inquiring about different ways to tackle 4 parks in 3 days and we settled on this plan.

Saturday May 18th---Magic Kingdom
Sunday May 19th---Animal Kingdom (AM)/EPCOT (PM)
Monday May 20th---Hollywood Studios

For Magic Kingdom, however, we are much less familiar with the layout, wait times and ride locations since we haven't been in almost 10 years. However, we know we will be getting there around 12 PM (it will be a long trip for us the night before) and will stay til close (which is I think 10 pm).

We are hoping if maybe one of you would be kind enough to help come up with a plan for us to hit up all the attractions that we would like to ride in the time we will be there. The following is what we are interested in doing.

Eat at Be Our Guest for either lunch or dinner (VERY IMPORTANT)
Big Thunder Mountain
Buzz Lightyear Space Command
Enchanted Tales with Belle
Haunted Mansion
It's a Small World
Jungle Cruise
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
PhilharMagic
Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
Peter Pan's Flight
Pirates of the Caribbean
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Under the Sea
Fireworks

Also, I didn't know if they still do a show at the Castle during the day? They used to do a live show there with all of the Disney characters and princesses. Does this still exist?

Any feedback would be helpful and thank you all so much for your help!

 

[mesaboy2]

Alright so over the past couple weeks I've been inquiring about different ways to tackle 4 parks in 3 days and we settled on this plan.

Saturday May 18th---Magic Kingdom
Sunday May 19th---Animal Kingdom (AM)/EPCOT (PM)
Monday May 20th---Hollywood Studios

For Magic Kingdom, however, we are much less familiar with the layout, wait times and ride locations since we haven't been in almost 10 years. However, we know we will be getting there around 12 PM (it will be a long trip for us the night before) and will stay til close (which is I think 10 pm).

We are hoping if maybe one of you would be kind enough to help come up with a plan for us to hit up all the attractions that we would like to ride in the time we will be there. The following is what we are interested in doing.

Eat at Be Our Guest for either lunch or dinner (VERY IMPORTANT)
Big Thunder Mountain
Buzz Lightyear Space Command
Enchanted Tales with Belle
Haunted Mansion
It's a Small World
Jungle Cruise
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
PhilharMagic
Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor
Peter Pan's Flight
Pirates of the Caribbean
Space Mountain
Splash Mountain
Under the Sea
Fireworks

Also, I didn't know if they still do a show at the Castle during the day? They used to do a live show there with all of the Disney characters and princesses. Does this still exist?

Any feedback would be helpful and thank you all so much for your help!

That strikes me as an aggressive list for the ten hours you'll be there.

You should be able to do Be Our Guest for lunch, but since it is reservations-only for dinner and the booking window opened up months ago, I think you're out of luck for dinner there.

The castle show you're thinking of still takes place several times a day.

Otherwise, get FastPasses for Pan and the three Mountains as soon as you are able--those will have the longest waits. ETWB will also have a long wait, but at current FP is not offered.

 

[GaBelle]

While it may be a hard sell to your kids, if you switch your MK day to Monday, the crowd level could be lighter. Saturday is historically very busy in MK.

 

[mom3teach3]

Since the expansion of Fantasy Land you will probably want to hit that area first. I'm going in March for the first time since the expansion.... here's our thoughts:
Enter the park at rope drop and head straight to Under the Sea Little Mermaid.
Next, Story Time with Bealle
Then go through all the rest of the fantasy land rides (since they are all located close together).
Eat lunch at Be Our Guest restaurant
Leave that area and head to Splash, Big Thunder Mountain
Head to Jungle Cruise, Pirates, and Mansion
After that head to Buzz and Space Mountain
Dinner at Cosmic Ray's (I recommend it... we always eat here. They have a great selection with a large burger bar).
This is very doable as long as you use fast passes correctly. We have always done all of the rides in one day at Magic Kingdom. However we get there at the start and usually end close to or at closing. Plus we don't go back to the hotel mid day like some people do.

 

[mesaboy2]

Since the expansion of Fantasy Land you will probably want to hit that area first. I'm going in March for the first time since the expansion.... here's our thoughts:
Enter the park at rope drop and head straight to Under the Sea Little Mermaid.
Next, Story Time with Bealle
Then go through all the rest of the fantasy land rides (since they are all located close together).
Eat lunch at Be Our Guest restaurant
Leave that area and head to Splash, Big Thunder Mountain
Head to Jungle Cruise, Pirates, and Mansion
After that head to Buzz and Space Mountain
Dinner at Cosmic Ray's (I recommend it... we always eat here. They have a great selection with a large burger bar).
This is very doable as long as you use fast passes correctly. We have always done all of the rides in one day at Magic Kingdom. However we get there at the start and usually end close to or at closing. Plus we don't go back to the hotel mid day like some people do.

You really should consider doing Enchanted Tales With Belle first.

The main disadvantage with the OP's schedule is not the number of hours, but that they won't start it until noon. They'd have a much better chance doing all these if they showed up at park open. As it is, they are arriving behind most of the guests that day and giving up chances at short standby waits and relatively quick FPs.

 

[whitek1275]

Thanks for the advice guys! Just want to bump this thread once to see if anyone else has any other suggestions to take a look at.

 

[ChristineOH]

Thanks for the advice guys! Just want to bump this thread once to see if anyone else has any other suggestions to take a look at.

You should probably be prepared to skip Enchanted Tales with Belle if needed. You may luck into a dinner ADR for BOG if you are very dedicated to checking for cancellations. Otherwise, you will need to hit it for lunch. If you arrive at noon, by the time you get into the park and get to BOG, wait in the long, but fast moving line, and eat, it will be 2:00, maybe. Search on here for more info, but Enchanted Tales often has two hour waits, I think. I would check after lunch, but then be prepared to move on, possibly checking back at the end of the night. Otherwise, if you use FP and have a plan, you should be okay. There are good touring plans many places. I like easywdw, if you want to check that site out.

 

[Marthasor]

I'm going to suggest you head straight to BOG for lunch when you arrive at noon OR try to get into Enchanted Tales with Belle or Ariel's ride first, but I would get in line for lunch at BOG no later than 1:30 pm. BOG closes the lunch line at 2:30 pm in order to get it ready for dinner.

 

[DetTigsGal]

I was going to suggest to go to MK when you have an entire day, if at all possible. If you want to stick to that schedule, I would get fast passes for something, then get in line for lunch at bog- we have been twice on very busy days, got in line around 11 and were in it for about 40 minutes and then do as much as you can. Good Luck

 

[Diegosmom]

I would enter park and head for BOG but send one person to grab fastpass for something...maybe peterpan or Space so when you finish lunch you can just on something...and of course pick up the next fastpass as soon as you can.

 

[TinkerbellinLouisian]

OP I grouped your fav's into a list based on Proximity. Haunted Mansion is close to Fantasyland, but on the way between Fantasy and Frontierland.
With our kids now older... we don't cover Fantasyland as we used to. If you were going earlier... I would agree with PP's to do Fantasyland first. I'm wondering if you should just plan your attack loosely.
If folks who get there early have melt downs and afternoons back at their rooms... you may have an opportunity to canvas Fantasyland at that time.
I urge you to try for ressies at Be Our Guest for Dinner.
Then if you get there...and Fantasy is packed... Head to Tomorrowland... FP Space Mountain, check Buzz because it's surprising the times we've walked on that... do Monsters then finish off Tomorrowland. I agree with PP... LOVE Cosmic Rays.
then head to Fantasyland.....and finish off that, eat dinner at BOG. I'd then head to Adventureland for Pirates and Jungle... and end your day at BTMRR and Splash (FP one, ride the other). My reason being you may get soaked at Splash and if you don't like being soaked (we don't) then you're finished anyway and can head back *home*. We like to watch WIshes from near Tomorrowland which is why I put it there... but if it is at 9pm... you may just have to find a spot....and I'm not sure if you'll have time for a Castle show... but you have a great line up of attractions. Have a magical visit !

Big Thunder Mountain
Splash Mountain <-Frontierland

Haunted Mansion <-between Fantasy and Frontier

Eat at Be our Guest
Enchanted Tales with Belle
It's a Small World <-Fantasyland
Peter Pans Flight
PhilharMagic
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh


Pirates of the Caribbean
Jungle Cruise <-Adventureland


Fireworks
Space Mountain
Buzz Lightyear Space Command <-Tomorrowland
Monsters Inc Laugh Floor

 

[lennon333]

That's a tall order but here is what I would suggest. First thing is I would def try to talk the kids into doing MK on either Sunday or Monday. This is because crowds might be less but more importantly if you can get in at rope drop you can really bang out a lot of rides. In my experience this is the best time to do any park. The other piece of info I would offer is if your getting late in the day and have a lot if rides yet to do think about skipping the fireworks this night. Rides can be less busy during the parade and fireworks for obvious reasons. Good luck and have fun.

 

[DisNikki]

I'm tired just reading the plans

Did I miss how old your kids are?

I too think the list is aggressive in the time you have. We haven't been since ETWB opened but from the wait times I've noticed in the Lines app it looks like it's almost always an hour wait. I think I'd take that one off the list now. If I were you I would send a runner to get fast passes for one of the 3 mountains while the rest of the group goes to wait in line for lunch for BoG. Hopefully by the time you made it through lunch it would be time to ride that one or maybe fit in one of the shorter wait time rides. Then rinse and repeat - have someone get fast passes for the next attraction that has them and stand in line for the ones that don't.

Definitely get yourself an app that shows wait times and familiarize yourself with the park layout so you can figure out which ride to move to when one ends based on the shortest wait time plus proximity to where you currently are (you probably don't want to crisscross the park too many times!).

And try not to stress too much! Any time at WDW is better than no time at all!

 

[whitek1275]

I'm tired just reading the plans

Did I miss how old your kids are?

I too think the list is aggressive in the time you have. We haven't been since ETWB opened but from the wait times I've noticed in the Lines app it looks like it's almost always an hour wait. I think I'd take that one off the list now. If I were you I would send a runner to get fast passes for one of the 3 mountains while the rest of the group goes to wait in line for lunch for BoG. Hopefully by the time you made it through lunch it would be time to ride that one or maybe fit in one of the shorter wait time rides. Then rinse and repeat - have someone get fast passes for the next attraction that has them and stand in line for the ones that don't.

Definitely get yourself an app that shows wait times and familiarize yourself with the park layout so you can figure out which ride to move to when one ends based on the shortest wait time plus proximity to where you currently are (you probably don't want to crisscross the park too many times!).

And try not to stress too much! Any time at WDW is better than no time at all!

Haha yes it's probably good to mention it is my girlfriend and myself and we are both 21. The only reason we've been saying it would be hard to get there at rope drop is the fact we will be arriving at an off-site hotel around 2:45 AM that Saturday, and will be taking Mears to Disney, which in my experience, could be anywhere from a 45-60 min ride.