Chances are, if you’re reading this post, that you are headed on a ✨magical ✨vacation to
There’s WAY too much to do!
Are you’re trying to figure out how to do it all during your trip. There’s a quick and easy answer, if you don’t mind spending hundreds of extra dollars per person per day: Lightning Lane Premier Pass. But that’s more than a slight bit out of reach for most of us normies these days.
For the rest of us organizing your day at the
Which is why we’ve gone through all this work to bring you exactly what you need to know.
Creating Your Disney World Touring Plans
When it comes to creating your daily park itineraries, or touring plans, the first information you’ll need its: your favorite rides!
Which attractions in each park are must-do for you and your group? Don’t worry if you’re still not sure how many parks there are – let alone which rides are where. It’s a steep learning curve! This is a great excuse to scroll through social media, or check out our Must Do series for each of the parks.
Next, gather up any existing Dining Reservations that you have (or are trying to snag).
Lightning Lane Touring Plans
These days a trip to
There are three types of Lightning Lane passes available at
Single Pass is available at up to two rides in each
Do you need to purchase a Lightning Lane option? You never need to do anything, frankly, but it really depends on you and your group. We go into a full analysis and recommendation for each park in the planning guides below.
Lightning Lane Guides
Genie+ Guide to Magic Kingdom
Genie+ at Hollywood Studios Guide
Genie+ Guide to Animal Kingdom
Your Guide to Epcot Lightning Lane: Maximizing Magic and Minimizing Waits
Touring Without Lightning Lanes
Let’s be real – it’s expensive to visit
Touring the parks using just the standby line can absolutely be done. The most important information you’ll need to know is when’s the best time to ride the top attractions. As a general rule rope drop is ideal to tackle some of the more popular rides.
Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom, Tron or Seven Dwarves at Magic Kingdom, Tower of Terror at Hollywood Studios, and Frozen at Epcot – are just some of these examples. Lines also tend to be shorter during parades, fireworks, and shows – if you can stand to miss them.
Late evening through closing can be slower at certain parks, depending on the day and where Extra Magic Hours are happening. That’s when one of the parks stays open late to accommodate guests staying at the deluxe resorts – a huge plus if that’s within your budget.
Check out our done for you touring plans of each park!
Magic Kingdom
Epcot
Hollywood Studios
Animal Kingdom
Magic Kingdom Touring Plans
The Ultimate Magic Kingdom 1-Day Itinerary (No Lightning Lane Needed!)
Hollywood Studios Touring Plans
How to Do Disney’s Hollywood Studios in One Day: A Complete Itinerary
Animal Kingdom Touring Plans
One Day Wonders: How to Experience All of Animal Kingdom
Tips & Recommendations
We go to
Do I Need a Full Day in Each Park?
Can you spend an entire day in each park – yes. Do you need to – probably not. For some parks, like Magic Kingdom, you could spend two days and still have more to see. Others you’ll be able to knock out the highlights with a well planned morning.
That being said, there’s a reason to visit each of them. If you don’t have time in your trip to visit each park, but you’re able to splurge a bit for park hoppers (or if you’re a passholder – LUCKY!). Here’s what I would do.
Rope drop Animal Kingdom and purchase Lightning Lane Multipass for Epcot or Hollywood Studios. Animal Kingdom opens the earliest which gives you a chance to experience some headliner attractions and leave more time for an afternoon park visit somewhere else. It’s also the best time of day to check out Kilimanjaro Safaris.
Plan to take a break between for a nice meal (or a nap), then head to your second park where you’ve pre-booked Lightning Lanes. Stay late to take advantage of the slower period around closing.
Do I Really Need to Buy Lightning Lanes?
My personal opinion is that Lightning Lane Multipass is not worth the cost at Epcot or Animal Kingdom (unless you’re park hopping). But it’s absolutely worth the value at Magic Kingdom and gives you an advantage at Hollywood Studios.
Lightning Lane Singlepass is hit or miss. It will always save you time, but for most cases you can avoid a long wait with some strategy. Cosmic Rewind, however, does not have a standby queue. You’re only able to ride via Singlepass or Virtual Queue – and the Singlepass tends to sell out several days in advance. Which can be a predicament if you have any trouble joining the Virtual Queue.
Do I Need to Wake Up Early on Vacation?
Unless you’ve got funds for that fancy Lightning Lane Premier Pass, or a VIP Tour, yes. No one wants to wake up early on their vacation. If you can manage to drag yourself out of bed and make it to the parks before they open at 9am (or earlier), you’re giving yourself a big advantage.
Rope drop, those first few hours of the morning, is the slowest part of the day. You can easily get through your first 1-3 major attractions or even more smaller attractions.
Arriving early also gives you a major advantage if you’ve purchased Multipass. The earlier you use your first Lightning Lane, the earlier you can book a new one – from any tier. Those Tier 1 attractions tend to book up fast, get them while their hot early in the day.
How Do I Do it All?
You can’t. Simply put, there is way too much to do at
Give yourself a break, literally! The least crowded parts of the day are early morning and late night. So take some time in the afternoon to relax and lounge.
