Park Touring Plan

Hi. My question is with regards to 'how to see the park'. This will be my family's 3rd trip to DL (plus one trip to WDW) in 7 years. We have seen and done most of the attractions, with the exception of the newer ones. Previously, we have always had a 'plan' before we got to the park of where we were going to go and the order of rides, etc...basically an attack plan, where one person gets in one line while another gets fast passes and comes back. This time our plan is just to focus more on the joy of being in the park with less of a mad dash to grab this fast pass and beat the line mentality.
My question is whether it is feasible to just stroll through the park and enjoy the rides and attractions as we come to them, rather than criss-crossing the park looking for short lines and grabbing fast passes along the way. In other words, work our way around the park in an orderly fashion, stopping along the way.
We have also been recommended to try Ride Max by a friend...will this be necessary, will it enhance our experience, or will we just not need it...?

FYI we will be in the park May 11 - May 15. There will be three of us in total: mom, dad and late-teen son.

Thanks for any advice! (and we can't wait!!)

I think for that time of the year and for that many days you should be able to take your time and enjoy the parks. You will be there during the week and before the kids get out of school. Should be a real nice time to be in the parks.

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Originally Posted by SaskMouse

We have also been recommended to try Ride Max by a friend...will this be necessary, will it enhance our experience, or will we just not need it...?

FYI we will be in the park May 11 - May 15. There will be three of us in total: mom, dad and late-teen son.

Thanks for any advice! (and we can't wait!!)

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Weekdays, "offseason"? No, you won't need RideMax. You probably won't even need FastPasses.
Spent all Monday at DL. Didn't use one FP. Max wait was 30 minutes (late Space wait). Did 13-14 attractions. Park closed at 8PM. I am filled with memories for another year or so.

I HIGHLY recommend just enjoying the park without a plan. We will get on a ride and as we are coming off will be like, "Hey, let's go ride Pirates now!" So we'll walk through Adventureland and notice that Indy is only a 10 minute wait and just jump on Indy right then and there. It's been really relaxing to not have a regimented plan and it's been an adventure to discover things as we go. Over 3 days we get on everything multiple times without a problem.

Go and relax.
It's better than cutting the line.
And I think it'll make for a much less stressful experience.

Personally, I've never been a big fan of assigning one fast person to get FastPasses then line-cutting in a later ride, etc. Even if it's only just one person doing it, it screams of rudeness and lack of consideration, in my opinion. It's even worse when their are five people joining the one "placeholder" on line! Please, don't be that person. :(

In regards to your other questions, you may just be fine walking around and enjoying the park on a leisurely basis. I would still begin with the west side of the park in the morning, though - not neccessarily a "mad dash" or anything like that, but more of a purposeful intent to explore Splash, Pirates, and Indy relatively early in the day.

The exception I would make to this is Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage - you don't want to mad dash this attraction in the morning, because it will already be crowded due to Magic Mornings. The best time to purposefully hit up that attraction would be during the first performance of a parade or during Fantasmic!

Other than that, have a great time, and please let us know how it went!

We tend to arrive at opening, or EE if applicable, and will have a plan for the first hour or 2, especially for the FL dark rides. After that, though, we do slow down having been a few times, and always staying for several days. We do stock up on FPs as much as possible, and return in the evening after a break with a pocketfull. I would advise understanding as much as possible the patterns of the attractions. Some you can do most anytime, others you should hit first thing or with FP, and others are OK except in the peak park of the day. I actually used ride-max to refine my knowledge in this area by doing crazy things like say we'd ride the JC 6 times in a row, but the point was to see how quickly the wait built up as the day progressed.

So, bottom line is I wouldn't want to wander around just joining queues randomly. But I have done all I can to have the knowledge to approach DL, and other travel destinations for that matter, with what I call informed spontineity.

A bientot

Thanks for the advice, everyone! I am really looking forward to a leisurely approach to our visit. can't wait to find all the gems between the rides!

And to WJNM, we are 3 people...the worst we've ever done is 2 people stand in line while the 3rd gets fast passes...and the 3rd person never joins up if it means jostling past the rest of the line..ie once the ride line goes 'inside' then the 3rd person has always just waited until the other 2 are done...

What does grad night mean to regular visitors? The park closes early? What about parades and fireworks - do they go as usual or not? I know that the Thursday we are there is a grad night...just wondering how it will affect our visit if at all.

Thanks for all the wonderful replies! 65 more sleeps!

Yeah, just relax. Plans never work out exactly the way you expect, anyway. Just go with the flow and try not to stress.

That being said, don't allow your relaxation to lead to stupidity that actually makes it more difficult to relax. What I mean by that is, you don't want to be wandering so aimlessly that you end up riding Roger Rabbit followed by Screamin' followed by Splash Mountain...the walking will kill ya by the end of the day. Try to do things that are in the immediate vicinity before you go someplace else in the park(s).

Yes, Data that is our only plan - try to work our way throught the lands, enjoying one fully before moving on to the next. I definitely want to avoid criss-crossing the park from one ride to another, totally missing out on all the great stuff in-between.

Relax and smell the roses!

DL is like a fine wine, it should be savored, never rushed...

Enjoy!

I'm sure you're a small group, and I totally understand your reasoning ... but alas, cutting is cutting (be it one person or five) and is in disregard to the other people in line ... rather they're in the "inside" or "outside" portions. All I ask for the fairness of everyone is that everyone who wants to ride actually stand in line ... the entire way.

Either way, this shouldn't be much of an issue for the time you're going. And I echo Data's advice about exploring each immediate area before going onto the next ... especially in Toontown, where there are great amount of details along the way! So many people miss out on the Canoes, Tiki Room, Fantasyland dark rides, Innoventions, the Golden Zephyr, Art of Animation, and many other enjoyable attractions by racing from e-ticket to e-ticket. Have a great time!