Hi Larry, and thanks for visiting us at planDisney. It sounds like you have some action-packed days planned for next week, so I’d be happy to chat strategy!
Before we get into it, don’t forget that if you’re staying at a Disney resort hotel, there are a few perks that will help maximize your park days even more. First, you’ll be able to get into the theme parks 30 minutes before regular park opening with
Early Theme Park Entry. And second, if you’re using
Lightning Lane Multi Pass, you can purchase it up to seven days before check-in for your entire stay (up to 14 days). This means your booking window might be coming up in just a few days.
Typically, my park strategy is to rope drop attractions that aren’t part of Lightning Lane Multi Pass, like Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind in EPCOT and Rise of the Resistance in Hollywood Studios.
I also try to group nearby attractions as much as possible to avoid spending too much time walking between different areas of the park. So, at EPCOT, if I start with Guardians of the Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind, I might head to Mission: SPACE next. At Hollywood Studios, if I rope drop Rise of the Resistance, I might ride Millennium Falcon: Smugglers Run afterwards.
Going back to Lightning Lane Multi Pass, I try to book return times for attractions that typically have consistently high wait times throughout the day. So for Hollywood Studios, I’d recommend Slinky Dog Dash, Toy Story Mania!, and The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror. For EPCOT, I’d suggest Test Track, Soarin’ Across America, and Mission: SPACE (or instead of Mission: SPACE, you could choose an attraction with an early morning return time, for instance, 9:30 a.m.-10:30 a.m. for the Disney and Pixar Short Film Festival).
When you make your pre-booked selections for a given park, you’ll notice that you can choose one attraction from the first group and the other two (or all three) from the second group. But once you scan into your first Lightning Lane entrance for the day, you can book any available return time for any attraction, regardless of the group. In EPCOT, this can be a good strategy for booking another ride from the first group, like Frozen Ever After or Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure, before they run out for the day.
In between Lightning Lane return times, you can head to attractions that often have lower wait times throughout the day, like Journey Into Imagination With Figment and Star Tours. Or you can also take advantage of the
Single Rider Option for attractions like Rock ’n’ Roller Coaster, Rise of the Resistance, Test Track, and Remy’s Ratatouille Adventure (if your group is able to split up).
Finally, be sure to download the
My Disney Experience app so you can check attraction wait times throughout the day and adjust your strategy on the go.
I hope you have the most magical time at Disney World next week! And if you have any other questions, you’re always welcome back at planDisney.
JoAnna