'The Plan' for Magic Kingdom

We definitely have a plan for visiting the parks. A lot of people who go with children get up early, hit the parks at opening time, and head back to the resort for naps by mid-day then head back to the parks in the evening. We prefer a different plan. We are what you would call ‘Park Commandos’.

We don’t necessarily hit the parks at opening time but shortly afterwards. There is a strategy to avoid the biggest crowds. For instance, when we go to Magic Kingdom, upon entering the park we take the train over to Adventure Land. The train’s first stop is near Splash Mountain. We walk back to Pirates of the Caribbean and usually the lines are very short or even non-existent. Sometimes we work our way forward to the Aladdin Ride and check out the Bazaars and then cut over to Frontier Land and the Haunted Mansion. If we want to ride Splash Mountain or Big Thunder Railroad, we’ll head back that way. Sometimes we take the opposite route and head back to the Splash Mountain area after Pirates then over to Haunted Mansion. By this time it’s usually time for lunch and we have tried Pecos Bill’s and Columbia Harbor House, both good options but usually very crowded.

We then cut through the passageway near Haunted Mansion into Fantasyland where the children can enjoy the Flight of Peter Pan, Small World, the Carousel, Dumbo, Tea Cups etc. Then it’s on to Tomorrow Land where those who want to ride Space Mountain get fast passes and then we all go on Buzz Lightyear where even if it’s a long line, seems to move very fast. My grandchildren love the Tomorrow Land Transit Authority, a pretty tame train ride around Tomorrow Land. I usually take them on that while the Space Mountain enthusiasts take that ride. I don’t have anything against Space Mountain, I’ve ridden it several times, it’s just not a ‘must do’ for me. We saw the Carousel of Progress the last time we were there for the first time.
We haven’t seen the Monster’s Inc. Comedy Club yet, but we like to do something new at each park at each visit so we’ll probably get that done the next trip.

If we haven’t eaten lunch yet, we will go to Cosmic Ray’s Starlight Café.

Then we head back to Main Street to wander through the stores and make our way out of the park to head back to the resort for some relaxation and supper. The grandkids still ride in strollers and if they want to, they take naps while we are at the parks. Sometimes they don’t and that’s okay as long as they don’t get too cranky. They are usually so fascinated by the people, the attractions and the music that they stay pretty happy. We take plenty of breaks as there are lot’s of benches and seating along our route if we want to just sit for a few minutes and plan our next move. We also visit many stores and Characters on our way.

The point is, head to the back of the park first and work your way back to the front. Most people use the opposite strategy so by the time we get to the front of the park, it’s not quite as crowded as it is at opening.

Next time I’ll lay out our plan for my favorite park Disney’s Hollywood Studios.