Max ride strategy at WDW parks

[acarsme123]

On a week long trip we always start with two days at MK. Rope drop both days. First day head to say Tomorrowland. You can hit a lot of rides quickly. Then it should be time for later morning fast passes. Then the next day we will hit the left side at rope drop and get on Splash Mountain and Big Thunder without a wait.
We always do another rope drop day at MK on our departure day usually. You can get a lot in if you’re willing to get up.

 

[acarsme123]

I’ve never seemed to be able to use getting a 4th fastpass well. By the time you’re done with your third, the only fast passes left are for crappy things we probably already did at rope drop...if you can even find a 4th at all. It’s just never been beneficial to me in the two times I’ve gone recently it seems.

 

[mamaofsix]

If you don't have a touringplans subscription, you should get one. You can customize your daily plans. It will give you a fairly accurate estimate of how long you will be waiting in line for each attraction, how long it will take you to walk from one attraction to the next, etc. Then you can play with your plan to really maximize how many rides you can do. We are a type A, commando family and touringplans is invaluable to us...

 

[mirak]

My advice: obsessing over FPs and TouringPlans is a fools errand and there are better ways to maximize your day than constantly being on your phone or checking an itinerary.

The basic strategy for maximizing rides while having fun in MK is this:
1. Rope Drop, obviously.
2. EMH if it’s avaialble (but only if you plan to use it - otherwise avoid).
3. Lower crowd days.
4. Make a list of all the attractions you actually want to do. My guess is it will be less than half of what’s available.
5. Be aware of the rides that load faster and don’t waste FPs or low morning crowd time on them. Rides like Haunted Mansion, POTC, and Small World.
6. Grab FPs at your 30 or 60 day window for 10am, 11am, and 12pm. Use these in the Fantasy Land / Tomorrow Land areas. Then, at Rope Drop head left to the Adventure Land and Frontier Land areas to ride everything there you want, perhaps more than once before starting your first FP around 10:55. (These hours are based on a 9am park open).
7. As soon as you swipe your band for your third FP, grab another, and so forth.
8. Spend your afternoon riding either the fast loading/low line rides (point 5) and whatever you got a FP for.
9. Familiarize yourself with the maps and figure out the best routes for getting to and from different spots - this comes in handy later when you might be doing some zigzagging.
10. I agree with your basic sentiment that Di$ney is expensive and there no one attraction that’s worth spending a lot of your precious minutes waiting in line for, so be open to change and go where the lines are lower.

That’s really about it. You probably won’t need a TouringPlan if you just follow this advice.

 

[JennyDrake]

Another vote for rope drop. It really IS your best friend. You can get a LOT done by being there with caffeine in your blood at breakfast in your belly. MK is a nightmare every afternoon. I'm a fan of park hopping, choosing to concentrate on MK rides in the morning. Use FP+ for headliners, but don't use them until early afternoon. Again, save mornings for knocking out one attraction after another.

 

[JennyDrake]

My advice: obsessing over FPs and TouringPlans is a fools errand and there are better ways to maximize your day than constantly being on your phone or checking an itinerary.

The basic strategy for maximizing rides while having fun in MK is this:
1. Rope Drop, obviously.
2. EMH if it’s avaialble.
3. Lower crowd days.
4. Make a list of all the attractions you actually want to do. My guess is it will be less than half of what’s available.
5. Be aware of the rides that load faster and don’t waste FPs or low morning crowd time on them. Rides like Haunted Mansion, POTC, and Small World.
6. Grab FPs at your 30 or 60 day window for 10am, 11am, and 12pm. Use these in the Fantasy Land / Tomorrow Land areas. Then, at Rope Drop head left to the Adventure Land and Frontier Land areas to ride everything there you want, perhaps more than once before starting your first FP around 10:55. (These hours are based on a 9am park open).
7. As soon as you swipe your band for your third FP, grab another, and so forth.
8. Spend your afternoon riding either the fast loading/low line rides (point 5) and whatever you got a FP for.
9. I agree with your basic sentiment that Di$ney is expensive and there no one attraction that’s worth spending a lot of your precious minutes waiting in line for, so be open to change and go where the lines are lower.

That’s really about it. You probably won’t need a TouringPlan if you just follow this advice.

DITTO!!! EXCELLENT POST!!!

I go 3-4x/year and have done so for 13 years.

 

[Lorelei18]

Aloha! I actually just logged in for the sole purpose of responding to your post! I'd approach WDW as a different experience entirely than DLR. We have been to DLR 3 times, and WDW many more than that. DLR, if it wasn't for Carsland, I honestly don't know if we'd have done more than once or would continue to do every few years. I am guessing you are coming from Hawaii based on your screen name? Which means coming to Florida is a larger investment and also larger time difference. So you will likely not want to wake up super early your first day in Florida. I advise making your first day an easy one. Pool time, or just getting to a park late with some fastpasses in hand from booking online ahead of time.

My thoughts on DLR, before Maxpass which I unfortunately didn't get to try because it hadn't been released yet. We are rope droppers, and our experience in DLR has always, during the busy summer, been that the first few hours, like WDW, are golden. But, unlike WDW, the evenings are awfully crowded with locals. So many people have AP's and use them on a quite regular basis. We have never seen the fireworks from "the hub" because it is just way too crowded and there isn't even (or wasnt when we went), an option to pay for a dessert party for a good view without the crowds. My absolute least favorite thing about DL is the evenings after 5pm. We have only been in the summer, but the local AP crowd is overwhelming. We also avoid like the plague all of the slow-loading rides. We made that mistake once, waiting in line for those because they aren't at MK (. There is a reason they aren't at MK. MK was designed to be an improvement on efficiency relative to DL. Storyland Canal Boats and Casey Jr Circus Train come to mind. So, in my experience, you can do more in WDW without a Fastpass than you can in DL. Particularly at busy times, which is when we tend to go, (DLR in summer, WDW during spring break).

I think you will enjoy yourself, truly. But obviously know, you need 5 - 6 days of tickets to really experience all 4 parks in WDW, vs the 2-3 days to fully experience DLR.

 

[Lorelei18]

Also, would need to know the makeup of people in your party (ages and priorities) to give you advice on touring plans/priorities for each park, which is what you originally asked for.