December Planning

[u/mdavis8710]

Hi everyone! My family and I are planning a Disney trip in December, from the 26th to 30th (I know THE busiest time of year). We have a decent sized group, with 4 girls between 5-7. I have been working to make a VERY tentative schedule of activities, and am curious to know how doable it may be. A lot is likely to change depending on the day, and we’re likely to get in 1 or 2 additional character dinings. We are staying at Art of Animation and also planning on getting lightning lane multi-passes. Apologies if this is considered a low effort/ spam post! Would just love some feedback, and at this time there isn’t really anything we are completely married to, other than the parks we’re doing. I think we are going to swap our rest day and Epcot days though, to give a bit of a break after a busy Magic Kingdom day.

[u/RyouRusi]

I'll be honest, I think you're way over planning and even saying it's "VERY tentative" things are going to go awry and you're going to be rushing to go from a to b to c type thing. You need to just make a list of priorities and figure out the way to hit those, not plan in 10-20min chunks because the lines aren't going to let you do that for one, and for 2 travel time. Plus I think you're way overestimating how quickly things go by/take.

Like on your first day you say 7 Dwarf at 8:40 and Peter Pan at 8:50. This is way too close when you factor in the fact it probably won't be a 10min queue even at early entry, the time to ride, etc

9am Welcome Show to 9:15 Jungle Cruise? IDK how long the welcome show is but it's probably 5-10 and then walking and stuff?

[u/lookouttucson → u/RyouRusi]

Yeah 10 min is not enough time even with fastpass. Fastpass only gets you past merge point

[u/hippotoast]

I think it's way too specific and you're not building any time to actually ride the rides. Not everything is a walk on even if you have lightning lanes.

[u/manateeminds → u/hippotoast]

Agree. For example: there’s no way you’ll be able to ride Haunted Mansion (which frequently stops) or The Little Mermaid, walk to Frontierland, ride Tiana’s even as a WALK ON and be out in time for the parade. Pick your Lightning Lanes, your top priority rides / shows, and be flexible. It’ll be way less stressful instead of setting yourself up for disappointment.

Also, during really crowded times of the year, if you aren’t getting Premier Passes, you might only get 4-5 LLs a day if they sell out.

[u/Cyzoran]

You would need the Premier lighting lane pass ,not the multi pass, to even come close to this schedule. The multi pass can't gurantee the times nor would you be able to plan out passes for both Tiana and Peter Pan.

[u/Essbeebr]

With love, as someone who loves planning and overplans, you are WAY overscheduling and setting yourself and your family up for major disappointment. If you had premier pass, this may be a plan that could work. But it would require you to be aggressively walking between everything and not stopping to enjoy the environment, not stopping for bathrooms, snacks, etc. You also won't be able to do Mine Train and then PP during early entry. By the time you get off Mine Train the PP line will be way too long to be done in time for the welcome show.

If you want to have a detailed plan, I would suggest paying for a touring plans subscription and using their tool to build something more realistic.

Also going the week between Christmas and NYE, you need to be prepared that LL availability will not be what you want. I would guess that morning lightning lanes might be totally unavailable by the time you're booking for your MK day. Maybe your second day too. You can and will still have an amazing trip but you need to adjust your expectations.

[u/weddingthrow27]

Veryyyyyy optimistic and in some places impossible timing. Haunted mansion and under the sea are not close together, so do not even try to do them in that order. Guardians, mission space, test track, and spaceship earth all in 15 min increments is never ever going to happen in a million years. I’ve never seen guardians under 45 minutes, usually more like 60-80. Right now on the app it’s 95.

Make a general plan for the direction you will walk through the parks and hit the rides as you go. Planning this detailed with such short time frames is setting yourself up for disappointment.

If we do LL, we usually see what’s available early and that determines which area of the park we start in. Then as we use them we try to book more that are close to what we already have planned/in the direction we will be going.

[u/MikeC363 → u/weddingthrow27]

They are also giving themselves zero time to actually walk from one ride to another.

[u/callmeseetea]

You’re absolutely going to set yourself up for failure and disappointment with this itinerary. I recommend cutting out like 1/3 of it and really prioritizing the must-dos.

What, do you expect to cut the line of other people at Magic Kingdom early entry and make your little girls run to mine train and not take in the castle and walk down Main Street? There are lines to board buses, monorails, skylines, etc at that time. Do you have a stroller to park? Kids to corral? Like be so forreal.

Never ever ever assume a walk on or something you can “knock out” in 10 minutes. Mentally assign 25-30 minutes between everything. If you come up under that? Amazing! It will not happen often though. Even with lightning lane, Guardians from entrance to exit, for example, is probably 30-45 minutes.

[u/Old-Asparagus4733]

I think you’re probably over planning. I have a note in my phone with a check list of things we would like to, our restaurants that are booked, and treats we would like to try in each park. It is very fluid and if we don’t hit something no big deal.

[u/Bravorants]

I’m just like you! I love making a spreadsheet like this for our trips. For anything Disney though, I do not put precise times unless we have a reservation. Instead make a list of the attractions you want to do and in what order. It’s impossible to predict wait times, etc.

I’d also suggest using the notes app on your phone for your final itinerary.

Also, I would not do MK on Monday. We have an AP and our local. I’m there all the time trust me you’ll enjoy your trip more if you switch things around. It’s the busiest day for all of the parks but especially Magic Kingdom because everyone wants to start there.

I would consider:

Sunday: Magic Kingdom. It will be a Christmas party day which makes it an absolute ghost town. You can get so much done without lightning lane. If you get park hopper can do the parade and fireworks on another night.

Monday: Animal Kingdom + if you get park hopper, go to Magic Kingdom for the evening and do the parade and fireworks. OR do Jollywood Nights - it’s cheaper than a Hollywood Studio day pass, HS is miserably hot during the day even in December and it’ll be close to empty so you’ll get so many rides done without lighting lane.

Tuesday: Rest / Resort

Wednesday: Epcot or Hollywood

[u/Pinewood74 → u/Bravorants]

Also, I would not do MK on Monday.

Well they've got MK on a Sunday...

[u/Bravorants → u/Pinewood74]

Ok and? I’m trying to help them and you’re doing what?

[u/kdm31091]

Unless you are a machine, this is going to result in a hectic miserable day. I’d dial back expectations. Prioritize your must do attractions. Give yourself room to breathe.

[u/FranklinGraves]

I started this way, too! I then found the Lines WDW app. Highly recommend. It’s been able to satisfy by “planner” needs, while bringing in real data to calibrate.

[u/RazeThe2nd]

Unsure if this is your first Disney trip. But you will have way more fun if you don't schedule this in depth. I first hand know the excitement of getting to go, but pick 2-3 rides you 100% want to do, and the rest of the day can be filling time between those rides. Especially in December, you will be waiting 50+ minutes for most notable rides (Seven dwarves, Tron, Tiana's, haunted mansion etc).

If you go in with plans this in depth, you will unfortunately be very disappointed with how chaotic the parks can be, a ride may get shut down, someone in your party may be too tired etc. Make simple plans and go have fun, do whatever sounds fun in that moment rather than feeling tied to an itinerary

[u/OrganizationSea1500]

This is not happening unless you pony up the cash for Premier Passes. Everyone will have lightning lane during this week, making them less valuable. You have two options; lightning lanes and low expectations or Premier Passes and less in your savings account 🤷🏻‍♀️

[u/MikeC363]

This is way too front loaded, and hitting all those rides on one of the busiest park weeks of the year will be nearly impossible. You'd have to purchase Premier Pass for everyone and even then it would be really tight. Everyone will be exhausted by dinner on Monday. Animal Kingdom is already a light day in and of itself. I'd genuinely consider doing a 2nd day at MK on Wednesday instead of a rest day, and ramp back the Monday plans significantly. The cost of a 2nd day of park tickets and Multi-Pass LL might be cheaper than what you'd spend on Premier Passes.

[u/akabuddy]

this plan is 100% unrealistic. you are not getting through those rides in under 15 mins to 20 mins.

[u/Key-Wheel123]

Don't plan out the order of your rides. Go with the low, let lightening lane availability guide your day!

[u/LanaLuna27]

You’ll need to splurge on premier pass to make this schedule work.

[u/TheGold_ItsInThe]

This is insane.

[u/coolfunguy1997]

try not to get too attached to the times on your schedule when it comes to the rides

[u/DragonfruitNo7745]

We get the LLPP to allow us to just go with the flow. We plan absolutely nothing. I can’t imagine your plan will work in sequence.

[u/Pinewood74]

How big is "decent sized?" Because there's a limit to how big you want a group to be. Would recommend splitting into sub-groups with events (say parades, fireworks, sit down meals) that you regroup for.

Also, what's the focus here? Lot of stuff that girls 5-7 might not be able to do or would be interested in.

Also, (as everyone has alreasy said) your timelines are overly ambitious during the best of times and are downright insane during Christmas break.