Thursday's Tip

I'm a natural-born planner. I like to have an itinerary in hand months before we ever load up our car en route to Walt Disney World. And while not everyone shares my fervor for planning, most everyone who has ever been to WDW will agree that, at least to some extent, planning is an essential ingredient for a great experience with Mickey and the gang. Today's tip: create a strategic Park touring plan, based on your family's preferences.

For example, if you have teens or older kids who love thrill rides and adventure, your touring plan for, say, the Magic Kingdom will need to focus heavily on getting to the Mountains--Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, and Big Thunder Mountain Railroad. But if you're like me and have two little princesses in the family, you'll want to make sure you get in line early for the new Rapunzel & Flynn Ryder meet-n-greet. In other words, your strategy needs to focus on what's most important to you, and then you can fill in any "spare" time with the attractions that aren't quite as essential to your crew.

How do you make a touring plan? First, as previously mentioned, prioritize attractions as "must see," "see if time permits," and "skip." (There might be a few attractions you know you wouldn't visit, even if you had all the time in the world. Haunted Mansion was that way for us until just recently. Our girls had no interest in being scared...none. If my husband was choosing, he'd say Country Bear Jamboree fits in that category.)

Next, plan your FastPass useage. Yes, I said plan...there is a strategy to using this service. Since you can't get a new FastPass until the timeframe on your current FP has started, you don't want to pick up a FP in the morning that has a return time for 4 p.m. or after--that's too many hours to sit idly without a FP! Instead, head to another attraction with an earlier return period and get that FP first. [The exception to this rule is an attraction such as Toy Story Midway Mania that tends to run out of FastPasses by midday. Grab whatever time you can, or you'll be waiting for two hours in the standby line.] It's a complicated system, but when you learn how to use it properly, FP will save you a ton of time!

Finally, as much as possible, finish attractions in each area at once. Now, I know there are major touring websites who will disagree with this approach--and there are instances when it does make sense to skip around in order to fit in more attractions. But as a mom of small children, avoiding criss-crossing the Parks as much as possible saves us from having tired, cranky children. Also, to some extent there is an "instant gratification" thing going on. If the children see Dumbo, they want to ride Dumbo...now. Don't get me wrong, we do our fair share of hopping around; we simply try to avoid going from land to land irradically, unless there is a quick form of transportation (such as a train) very close by.

Just a few additional comments: It pays to arrive early (before rope drop). You'd be surprised how much you can see and do in the first two hours if you arrive before the Parks open. Also, it is imperative that you know what the newest and most popular attractions are, so that you can either get a FastPass or get in line for those first. Finally, come to terms now with the fact that you won't see and do everything you'd like to see and do. I've been to WDW over a dozen times and there are still attractions I'm going to get to "one of these days."