When I hear people express frustration about Disney World the number one reason (besides the cost of course) is the time spent waiting in lines. I can with a hundred percent honesty say we didn’t do this, with the exception of Soarin’ and meeting Donald Duck. Jamie and Anika waited for 30 minutes for Soarin’ and Jake and I waited ten minutes for Donald. That’s it. The rest of our five days at Disney involved no waiting in lines. Here’s a few of our strategies.
1. Go when crowds are low season.
We utilized crowd calendars to help us decide when Disney Parks are at their least crowded. Hands down the middle of January (with the exception of Martin Luther King Day) to the middle of February and September were the best times to visit. Jamie hates heat, so January (which also happens to be one of the coldest months to visit) won. I think this step alone was huge in saving our sanity at the parks.
2. Choose the order of parks visited wisely.
When creating our itinerary I once again utilized crowd calendars to help me. They broke down what parks are busiest on what days. For example avoid Magic Kingdom on Mondays because this is where most people start their vacations.
3. Get into the parks early.
Getting early reservations to things to get you into the park ahead of the crowds. We got in to Magic Kingdom early two days in a row. Once with an 8 AM reservation to the Bibbidi Bobbidi Boutique and once to breakfast at Cinderella’s castle. We were able to enjoy an empty Fantasy land…which was so cool and rode a few rides before the mass of people filled in.
4. Learn which lines would be ok to wait for if needed.
Some of the rides have cues that you might actually want to check out and not skip over with a fast pass. For example Dumbo has an awesome playground kids can play in. They give you a pager when you check in, kids play and when the pager goes off it’s your turn. Winnie the Pooh also has an adorable cue that so fun and hands on.
5. Utilize fast pass and then utilize it some more.
Utilizing the fast pass system was key to not having to wait in line at the parks. We used up our three fast passes early and then we’d get more, one at a time after that. Jamie would use the Disney app to see what was available and there was always something available. If there was a slight amount of time in between when we could get our next fast pass, instead of waiting in line for a different ride we would go explore the park and find something else to do in between.
6. Rider Switch
AMAZING option for people with young kids. Check it out here.
7. Eat lunch at odd times.
Eat lunch early or late, that way when people are in restaurants you are enjoying the rides without the crowds.
8. Stop to watch the pop up shows in between.
We relied heavily on the fast pass system. We usually were able to stack them back to back, but if there was ever a gap, instead of waiting in line for a different ride we would simply enjoy the random Disney magic along the way to our next fast pass. Disney has so many pop up shows and amazing theming everywhere. Some of my favorite moments on our trip were in the unplanned spaces in between.
