The New Elite Commandos

I think the main issue with your manifesto is you are defining success by how many rides you can cram in a day. Not everyone considers strolling the park, enjoying the street entertainment, parades, shows and other non-ride components of the park as a failure. Yes, in the old days (and I have been going since the days before fast passes at all) those who read up could learn tips but just because these tricks don't work anymore doesn't make Disney any less awesome.

You also complain that Disney is creating more and more events to spread (increase overall) crowds in the year is just smart business sense. WDW is ultimately a business and they are beholden to shareholders first and foremost. Just like any other business they are trying to maximize profits. You as a consumer can speak with your wallet if you are displeased but arguing that Disney should just curl up and die and allow crowds to lag just so a few people who commando plan can enjoy low park crowds is completely illogical.

My suggestion to you is instead of standing around saying "who moved my cheese" (this references a book that talks about people who continue to live in yesteryear) then learn to adjust your vacation style.

My guess is WDW is going to move to more and more towards a pay for what you want to experience. there will always be folks willing to pay for premium access. While many may not be able to pay for a VIP plaid experience there are many who will pay $50 - $100 more for certain experiences. While we wish everything was all "fair" the world just doesn't work that way. In the old days the dinner shows (HDDR etc) used to assign tables by time of booking. It became apparent that there was money to be made so they moved to a tiered pricing system.
 
In addition to the FP+ strategies mentioned above, park hop!!! A typical day for us puts us arriving at Park A approx 30 minutes before rope drop. We'll ride everything we can standby (no shows, rides only) for about 2 hours. Then we hop to Park B where we have our FP+ reservations starting late morning. While in Park B I'll keep trying to more the FP+ earlier and earlier and then get 4th, 5th, 6th, etc. Once we decide we're done getting FP+ in that park we'll talk about what park we want to finish out the day at (usually based on crowd levels or the best FP+ still available). I'll book FP+ and then we'll hop to Park C for the remainder of the day. We usually hop to Park C late afternoon/early evening.

The reason we hop so much is that we LOVE the rides and keep riding them over and over.
 
Thanks for the tips thus far fellow Dissers...dizzers? Hmm gotta work on a better plural spelling.



Speaking of rope drop, O.P. states in his post that it has lost some of its usefulness. But lots of other Disers still swear by rope drop. So I would be curious to hear other's opinions on this. How long is rope drop usually good for short waits (aside from some headliners, which get mobbed immediately)?

Rope drop is still definitely a must. But my scouring of average wait times seems to suggest that the crowds build much quicker then they used to. So while RD is essential, its usefulness doesn't last as long as it once did.

I think there are 2 main things or tricks that an uber planner/commando type needs; first is manipulating the fastpass system to your advantage. I would guess that the majority of people in the parks aren't moving up their 2nd and 3rd fastpass times once the previous one is used to allow them to complete their first 3 in less than 3 hours

Great tip! This is the kind of trickery that i'm looking for that will separate the average park goer (insert a *sniff* of contempt here) with us elites.

We consider ourselves WDW experts. I've been visiting since the 1970s. We do all the FP+ tricks, ADRs 180 days in advance, etc. While I do some commando days, I am incorporating more relaxed days into our trips. It's made our visits so much more enjoyable. We commando in the morning and sip drinks poolside in the afternoon. Some mornings we sleep in, swim and hit the parks at night. We mix it up all the time. Because we've visited so many times, we don't feel the need to kill ourselves to see and do everything.

Sorry couldn't read this post. It had words like relax, enjoyable, sip drinks, sleep in. I started to get confused, light headed and dizzy. May have passed out actually. You did elude to killing ourselves to see and do everything. I'm going to assume the entire post was about that instead.

Ah, but your call to action is self-defeating. Because the DIS is part of the reason everyone and their mother knows all the tricks. If you have a good strategy, and you share it here, you'll have thousands of copy-cats using it by the time you go back.

People have been saying that for years. But in reality a very small number of the population actually looks up advanced touring strategies and techniques and an even smaller portion reads these boards. I truly believe the evening out of the guest experience is due to the fact that every one now has a smart phone and disney has made it easier for the guests to all utilize fast pass. That being said. Just in case....maybe I shouldn't give away my super secret firework location...

"Quiet" time: Last two weeks in August through the first two weeks in September. If you can take the heat, that seems to still be a decent time to go. Schools are back in session. F&W and MNSSHP haven't yet started (unless they move these up to start even earlier). You also have to factor in possible hurricanes during this time frame though.

From what i've read this may be the very last quiet time that is left. Which is why I scheduled this exact time frame for our upcoming trip this aug/sept. I'm hoping that Toy Story Land doesn't change this and will report back on crowds when we return.
 
Most WDW visitors read these boards? I don't think so.

*Most* don't have to. It only takes a relatively small swing to shift some of these strategies from "hidden gem" to "maybe a slight advantage" - it takes about 1400 people to add an hour to the wait time at a popular ride like FoP, even fewer to shift a popular fireworks viewing spot from comfortable to packed in like sardines. And remember, while most guests might not read these boards, quite a few bloggers use them for fodder which amplifies their reach. There's a reason "characterpalooza" is a taboo topic on the DIS - because enough people read here or come across threads on Google searches that an experience like that wouldn't survive becoming so well-known.

The strategies that are still really effective are those that most guests either can't or won't use - traveling at particularly difficult times for kids to be out of school, visiting during hurricane season (particularly in the year following an especially active/severe season), or getting up as early on vacation as if it were a work day to make rope drop.
 


Okay... here's my biggest tip / secret to guaranteed lower crowds. I actually can't believe I'm giving this one away. But here it is...

Plan your next Disney vacation BEFORE the grand opening of any major attraction and /or event. This works every time. My next trip will be a week or 2 before the opening of Star Wars land.

I call this the "calm before the storm" strategy. The bigger the event. The less the crowds leading up to the opening. This approach has never failed me. Right before the opening of the new Fantasyland, we planned a trip starting after Thanksgiving and ended 7 days later. Crowds were extremely light. No issue with reservations or FP. We did the same thing prior to Universal opening Harry Potter.

Obviously, planning this way requires you to forego whatever shinny new thing Disney is about to unveil. The science behind this is that most people have targeted the grand opening date and want to be there the day of. The closer you can get to that date (fantasyland opened December 6th and left to go back home on Dec 4th) the better. As we were checking out, it seemed like the whole world was checking in. NOW... I'm not saying that the parks were empty. But the decrease in attendance was definitely noticeable.

Again, the only thing that sucks is knowing you are leaving right as something very cool is about to happen. People were even asking us, "do you know that Fantasyland is opening in 2 days? You're going to miss it!" Yup. We planned to.
 
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Okay... here's my biggest tip / secret to guaranteed lower crowds. I actually can't believe I'm giving this one away. But here it is...

Plan your next Disney vacation BEFORE the grand opening of any major attraction and /or event. This works every time. My next trip will be a week or 2 before the opening of Star Wars land.

I call this the "calm before the storm" strategy. The bigger the event. The less the crowds leading up to the opening. This approach has never failed me. Right before the opening of the new Fantasyland, we planned a trip starting after Thanksgiving and ended 7 days later. Crowds were extremely light. No issue with reservations or FP. We did the same thing prior to Universal opening Harry Porter.

Obviously, planning this way requires you to forego whatever shinny new thing Disney is about to unveil. The science behind this is that most people have targeted the grand opening date and want to be there the day of. The closer you can get to that date (fantasyland opened December 6th and left to go back home on Dec 4th) the better. As we were checking out, it seemed like the whole world was checking in. NOW... I'm not saying that the parks were empty. But the decrease in attendance was definitely noticeable.

Again, the only thing that sucks is knowing you are leaving right as something very cool is about to happen. People were even asking us, "do you know that Fantasyland is opening in 2 days? You're going to miss it!" Yup. We planned to.

Sounds good. Isn't there a chance you'll get some soft openings during that time, too?

Here's a variation on that strategy: you plan MOST of your days before the huge opening. The last few days of your trip fall on the first few days of the grand opening...and you have fast passes booked for all the new rides. That way, you get the best of both worlds: light crowds, and the new goodies.
 
*Most* don't have to. It only takes a relatively small swing to shift some of these strategies from "hidden gem" to "maybe a slight advantage" - it takes about 1400 people to add an hour to the wait time at a popular ride like FoP, even fewer to shift a popular fireworks viewing spot from comfortable to packed in like sardines. And remember, while most guests might not read these boards, quite a few bloggers use them for fodder which amplifies their reach. There's a reason "characterpalooza" is a taboo topic on the DIS - because enough people read here or come across threads on Google searches that an experience like that wouldn't survive becoming so well-known.

The strategies that are still really effective are those that most guests either can't or won't use - traveling at particularly difficult times for kids to be out of school, visiting during hurricane season (particularly in the year following an especially active/severe season), or getting up as early on vacation as if it were a work day to make rope drop.

But people have been discussing many strategies on these boards for years, and, for the most part, those strategies still work.
 


Sounds good. Isn't there a chance you'll get some soft openings during that time, too?

Here's a variation on that strategy: you plan MOST of your days before the huge opening. The last few days of your trip fall on the first few days of the grand opening...and you have fast passes booked for all the new rides. That way, you get the best of both worlds: light crowds, and the new goodies.

Interesting and definitely worth a shot. I bet you could get away with having FPs booked for the new rides. Fantasyland didn't do a soft opening (at least I don't recall there being one) but you could luck up and catch one.

I'm telling you... it works out pretty good. Even here within the DIS, if you read what people are saying in regards to planning around major events, no one targets the days or weeks before a major event. Its either they avoid it or wait until the crowds die down after the opening. There's a small window that you get to work with. It's probably the only real "window" that still exist in Disney planning.

If you can do a 10 day stay, I would do 7 leading up to the opening of say Star Wars and the 3 during the actual opening. Or something like that.
 
For example... Toy Story land opens Saturday June 30th. I can promise you that there will be a dip in attendance during the week of 17th -23rd. Now, keep in mind its summer so we're still in peak season. That's why if you can target an event outside of peak season, you'll really see a difference.
 
Interesting and definitely worth a shot. I bet you could get away with having FPs booked for the new rides. Fantasyland didn't do a soft opening (at least I don't recall there being one) but you could luck up and catch one.

I'm telling you... it works out pretty good. Even here within the DIS, if you read what people are saying in regards to planning around major events, no one targets the days or weeks before a major event. Its either they avoid it or wait until the crowds die down after the opening. There's a small window that you get to work with. It's probably the only real "window" that still exist in Disney planning.

If you can do a 10 day stay, I would do 7 leading up to the opening of say Star Wars and the 3 during the actual opening. Or something like that.

Yeah, if we can swing that time, I think we'll actually do it!
 
Okay... here's my biggest tip / secret to guaranteed lower crowds. I actually can't believe I'm giving this one away. But here it is...

Plan your next Disney vacation BEFORE the grand opening of any major attraction and /or event. This works every time. My next trip will be a week or 2 before the opening of Star Wars land.

I call this the "calm before the storm" strategy. The bigger the event. The less the crowds leading up to the opening. This approach has never failed me. Right before the opening of the new Fantasyland, we planned a trip starting after Thanksgiving and ended 7 days later. Crowds were extremely light. No issue with reservations or FP. We did the same thing prior to Universal opening Harry Potter.

Obviously, planning this way requires you to forego whatever shinny new thing Disney is about to unveil. The science behind this is that most people have targeted the grand opening date and want to be there the day of. The closer you can get to that date (fantasyland opened December 6th and left to go back home on Dec 4th) the better. As we were checking out, it seemed like the whole world was checking in. NOW... I'm not saying that the parks were empty. But the decrease in attendance was definitely noticeable.

Again, the only thing that sucks is knowing you are leaving right as something very cool is about to happen. People were even asking us, "do you know that Fantasyland is opening in 2 days? You're going to miss it!" Yup. We planned to.

Since I'm not a SW fan this could really work for me!!!

What's the planned opening date for SWL? lol
 
For example... Toy Story land opens Saturday June 30th. I can promise you that there will be a dip in attendance during the week of 17th -23rd. Now, keep in mind its summer so we're still in peak season. That's why if you can target an event outside of peak season, you'll really see a difference.

Definitely. I'm following the TSL thread and lots of folks have changed their trips now that the opening date has been released. Lots of people were booked for May and have pushed back to July.
 
For me I think the mastery of the fast pass system may be one trick.
Right now everybody seems to use fast pass. But are they really maximizing the system?
I suspect many people just take the recommended fast passes that the app offers and do very little tinkering.

It used to be 3 fast passes would suffice.
Now i'm thinking that we use up the 3 fast passes by early afternoon and then try to get as many additional fast passes as possible.
Pirates didn't used to need one but we should be able to get a 4th fast pass for it and other rides of its nature like, small world, haunted mansion etc. The more fast passes we can find after the 3rd use the better off and more time we should be able to save.

The fast pass app offers alot of tinkering and modifying. So while waiting in line for say winnie the pooh you might have a 4th fast pass ready for haunted mansion in a couple of hours. While in line you can keep modifying and searching to see if an earlier fast pass opens up. If you can get that next fast pass as earlier as possible then bingo u now have a 5th fast pass opportunity even sooner. Other people are constantly changing their fast passes so it seems that there are constantly new ones opening up. So if you are just waiting in line anyway might as well keep searchin.

Always forget what the link rules are but here is a video of people using this strategy.

You are right. People are not maximizing the system but that also allows you to do so. There have been times when a ride has a 45 minute wait but you can grab a FP for 15 minutes from now.
 
I’m definitely not lol we are Florida residents and have been so much that we have changed to picking out the 3 FP And then winging it from there .. we never stay till close ( most of the time done by 2 pm ) and don’t bother getting to rope drop .. we spend a lot of time at the resorts and basically relaxing .. we always get to ride what we want ( multiple times , using DAS with FP) and make most days easy going . I don’t think I would want to go back to running ourselves to death at the parks .
 
Most WDW visitors read these boards? I don't think so.

My husband asked me what I was doing one evening (because some of the posts make me laugh out loud) and I told him I was planning our Disney vacation. He said that I have been planning the vacation since summer of '17 (we are going in Spring of '18) and then says... "it's an amusement park, it can't be that serious." He'll thank me later.

So, yes, I agree with you. I don't think many people are utilizing the boards and touring plans.
 
Your're not complaining as someone wrote, you're just stating some facts and outlining how the changes impact touring strategies and want to get the most out of your vacation by asking for some tips. It is always perplexing to me why some here have to be in attack mode. Anyway, thank you for posting this, has been a good read and have skewed my views a bit on how to best tour for me and my family.
 
Your're not complaining as someone wrote, you're just stating some facts and outlining how the changes impact touring strategies and want to get the most out of your vacation by asking for some tips. It is always perplexing to me why some here have to be in attack mode. Anyway, thank you for posting this, has been a good read and have skewed my views a bit on how to best tour for me and my family.

Incorrect.
I am absolutely complaining.
Complaining about all these darn tourists who have the audacity to attempt to share the same space and breathing air as as my family.
Is it too much to ask that all others kindly step to the side and allow my family front of the line access at all times?
*sigh*
I fear this will not be the case so i will continue scouring these boards for every little trick i can find.
 
My husband asked me what I was doing one evening (because some of the posts make me laugh out loud) and I told him I was planning our Disney vacation. He said that I have been planning the vacation since summer of '17 (we are going in Spring of '18) and then says... "it's an amusement park, it can't be that serious." He'll thank me later.

So, yes, I agree with you. I don't think many people are utilizing the boards and touring plans.

You must be a saint. You didn't correct him and say "no, they're theme parks, not amusement parks."
 
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Your're not complaining as someone wrote, you're just stating some facts and outlining how the changes impact touring strategies and want to get the most out of your vacation by asking for some tips. It is always perplexing to me why some here have to be in attack mode. Anyway, thank you for posting this, has been a good read and have skewed my views a bit on how to best tour for me and my family.

No matter how tongue-in-cheek or over the top you write something, someone will always respond as if you’re dead serious. I think there’s an Internet “rule” about that somewhere.
 

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