Another tip:
Since you are staying on a Disney property, be sure and take full advantage of Disney's
Extra Magic Hours Benefit.
https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/magic-hours/Do not underestimate the time savings and enjoyability of visiting the parks in the early morning and late evening hours, on the limited days and times when they are open to resort property guests only (Ford Wilderness qualifies). These benefits include, but are not limited to not waiting in lines, not having a FastPass appointment time several hours beyond time of issuance, and not being surrounded on every walkway by living sardines.
I have been able to walk right up to Space Mountain, arguably one of the most popular rides in Magic Kingdom, bypass the the FastPass stations (which are closed, as there is no need) and walk without pausing from the entry gate into a seat on the roller coaster, endure the ride (notice my age, I can't say "enjoy" nowadays, it is "endure"), get out through the gift shop, and be able to turn right back to the ride entrance and get on again without waiting.
Kids LOVE that. They'd love to go OCD on a single ride for at least 2 turns, but during the day, they can't. There are just too many visitors. But at NIGHT, during the Extra Magic Hours, they sometimes can, and that makes it more fun for them, from what I've observed.
My work has sent me to Disneyworld for a week to 10 days every year. From these many visits I've made a few observations...
PLANNING is key... and it is much better to plan PRIOR to arriving, then every night before the next day. Those who put off day to day planning until arriving miss out on a couple of important things:
1. The special evening time with kids and family to bond, have fun, fellowship, and recap the joys and stories of the day is lost on the parent whose nose is buried in the brochures and maps trying to figure out where to go the next day and how to get there.
2. Oftentimes, there are either Magic Hours at a park, or a fireworks show at a park (that can often be seen and enjoyed without entering the park if you know where to go), or some other cool events happening in the evening that can be missed during the very time that is being spent planning trying to fit as much experience in. By the time you figure it out, it's like Ah, we missed it! It's happening now, and we are 45 minutes away!
Planning the daily activity arc ahead of time, before even arriving at the park, allows time for researching the value of the activity online, where a judgement call must be made on mutually exclusive events.
That all being said, Disney does not produce the specific schedule for the week that you will be there, until the week just prior to your arrival. Notwithstanding, you can look at the schedules for any given week during a season (if you are attending this April, look for March/April/May schedules... even those from last year) in order to see the PATTERN of park openings, closures, fireworks shows, Extra Magic Hours, other themed shows that are free to those admitted to the parks, etc.
Like I mentioned earlier, I've been going there quite a few years for work, and the schedules have mirrored each other year over year quite consistently, other than closures for repairs, upgrades etc.
When planning, it might be beneficial to make list of all the specially scheduled and non-repeating events that take place during the time period you will be there. Some fireworks on the water extravganza shows are every night (like the one in Epcot), and some are only twice a week. Likewise, the Extra Magic Hours are only once or twice a week for a given park, but rotating to a different park each night of the week, and Animal Kingdom in the early morning.
Obtain a previous schedule to get a feel for how the scheduling works, and then get the actual schedule for your week as soon as Disney releases it.
It might be good to pin your activity schedule around some fixed points determined by the Extra Magic Hours, and some of the shows like Fantasia. It works out best when you can coordinate seeing a show like Fantasia during that park's (Hollywood Studios) Extra Magic Hours, thus in one efficient stroke being able to obtain the nighttime experience of that park combined with the fewer folks around due to the privileged time period you are visiting.
I hope that made sense?
Another time savings techniques:
- Get maps of the parks ahead of time (online), note where all the popular rides are within each park (the ones where you have to wait forever) and mark them.
- On the day you enter the park (for daytime visits), take a quick park tour from ride to ride just to get Fastpasses, and that's it. Bypass all other distractions until after you've obtain all the Fastpasses for the long wait rides you want to experience. Then, put the Fastpasses in schedule order, and then meander through the park according to your Fastpass ride schedule. You will go from one ride to the next, no waiting.
- The technique above works well because while folks are refused entry for being too early with a Fastpass, they are not refused for being later than the Fastpass allowed them to be. By getting all of your Fastpasses first thing on a preliminary speed tour before taking time to slowly enjoy the park, rather than wandering haphazardly through the park point to point on a single tour, you can leverage the Fastpass system to your benefit.
- Verify if this technique still works. During the years I've visitied, significant technolgical inventions have taken place in our culture (smartphones and the expanded use of GPS), and these technolgies might be utilized by Disney's FastPass system. I don't know, as I don't ride the rides anymore. But if thengs are still as they were five years ago, the technique works very well.
Have fun!
