Would anyone be willing to review Touring Plans for teens alone in Disney?

[graciepooh]

Hello,
My DD is heading to Disney with a school group. I have tried to create a reasonable TP guide for several of them but have never really done this and worry about them being alone with no adult to help. If you do not mind to look and have any suggestions I would love and appreciate your help. Thanks, Graciepooh

		EPCOT 3/15/2020 8/10 crowd level
1	9am	Go to the left side of the ball and head straight to Mission Space and get in line. I am guessing this will take you at least an hour and possibly up to two.
2		Go left out of Mission Space and head straight to Soaring. Again, I am guessing about an hour for the crowds.
3/3.5	12pm	Head towards the Musical Workshop no later than 12:00, the park is bigger than you think and it is in Italy, you will want to grab the boat and ride across the lagoon. Get off at Germany, look around a little if you want too. Take a right to Italy and use your voucher and mobil app for pizza, meet everyone at the Gelato Shop for Musical Workshop in Italy.
4	1pm-3	Musical Workshop
5	3:30-4:50 FP range	Walk to Journey Into Imagination FP, through Japan, Morocco, France and the united Kingdom.
6	4:35-5:20 FP range	Watch The Pixar Show FP if you have time. Leave here no later than 5:20ish you have an hour and 20 minute window on fast passes.
7	5:45	Coral Reef Reservation (they hold reservations for 15 minutes)
8	7:05-8:25 FP range	Test Track FP,
9	7:30ish	Stroll through Mexico, Norway and China if you wish. However, you will have a location to watch fireworks (TBD) with the band.
10	9pm	EPCOT FOREVER then load buses

		MAGIC KINGDOM 3/16/2020 7/10 crowd level
1	9AM	PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, expect an hour wait or longer.
2	10:15ish	Head to Space Mountain, unfortunately, it will be a bad line too. You cannot be more than 15 minutes late for your lunch res or they give it away and charge me.
3	12:00	Plaza lunch (3)
4	12:45-2:05 FP range	BUZZ LIGHTYEAR FP
5	1:30ish	Mad Tea Cups
6	2ish	Barnstormer
7a	If it is before 2	Go to Journey of the Little Mermaid get in line
or 7b	2:30ish	Mickey’s Philharmagic (shows every 12 minutes)
8	2:20-3:40 FP range	Haunted Mansion
9	4ish	Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain FP is til 6:50
10	5:30-6:50	SPLASH MOUNTAIN
11	6:45ish	use quick service food voucher in this area
12	7:45ish	Hall of presidents or Journey of the Little Mermaid if you didn’t see it earlier.
13		Shop a little on your way to the meeting spot for the fireworks (TBD)
14	9:15	Leave @9:15 for home

 

[Calee]

Both of your days I would probably flip your 1 and 2. Soarin and Space are more popular rides than Mission and POC and I would rope drop those. Has your daughter been before? Does she have the app on her phone? Does she know she can make them more FP after they use their first 3? You have a number of attractions skipped-will she want to do any of those? I didn't know if they picked their priorities.

Also, with only 1 day in MK I would personally drop Plaza and eat quick service. The plaza often is running behind on reservation times, and I don't think it is amazing enough to sacrifice park time. The menu has also changed recently so check it out if you are expecting something that was there in the past.

 

[Anchored]

Absolutely flip your 1&2 on both days

I think they could get a lot more done in Magic Kingdom. You only have 2 rides before lunch - they should be able to do a lot at Rope Drop if they use that time wisely. Between 4 & 9 you only have 3 rides and one has a fast pass. If you teach her how to refresh and look for more fast passes, she could get so much done in a full day.

 

[bethannie203]

Hi! Did you know Touring Plans can “optimize” your plan? It will order the attractions in the best order to save time waiting in line, walking, or both. This is what we always do! You enter what attractions, restaurants, breaks, etc. you want, and it will optimize your plan for you. I highly recommend this! (You can still at your personal notes to the plan as well - and you can rearrange their plan if it’s not exactly how you would like to do it.)
And I also agree with Calee above- if you go with your current plan, I would definitely RD Soarin’ and Space Mountain over Mission Space and Pirates. Also, if they get to the park before 9:00am, they probably will not have to wait in line for a full hour for either ride if it’s the first thing they do. Another reason I suggest letting Touring Plans optimize your plan- based on the data they gather - it estimates how much time you will probably spend waiting in line based on what time you get there. since you have Touring Plans, and it looks like your daughter is not going to have a whole lot of park time overall, I would really recommend using that free feature on their site.

I also agree-to eat QS over table service. It’s one less thing for your daughter and her friends to worry about, and if I was a teen short on park time, I would probably want to eat QS so I could ride more stuff!

if you don’t mind my asking, how old is your daughter? I’m sure they will be fine and will have a blast! As long as they make it to their workshop on time, even if they don’t follow the plan exactly, they will still have fun!

 

[havoc315]

Hello,
My DD is heading to Disney with a school group. I have tried to create a reasonable TP guide for several of them but have never really done this and worry about them being alone with no adult to help. If you do not mind to look and have any suggestions I would love and appreciate your help. Thanks, Graciepooh

		EPCOT 3/15/2020 8/10 crowd level
1	9am	Go to the left side of the ball and head straight to Mission Space and get in line. I am guessing this will take you at least an hour and possibly up to two.
2		Go left out of Mission Space and head straight to Soaring. Again, I am guessing about an hour for the crowds.
3/3.5	12pm	Head towards the Musical Workshop no later than 12:00, the park is bigger than you think and it is in Italy, you will want to grab the boat and ride across the lagoon. Get off at Germany, look around a little if you want too. Take a right to Italy and use your voucher and mobil app for pizza, meet everyone at the Gelato Shop for Musical Workshop in Italy.
4	1pm-3	Musical Workshop
5	3:30-4:50 FP range	Walk to Journey Into Imagination FP, through Japan, Morocco, France and the united Kingdom.
6	4:35-5:20 FP range	Watch The Pixar Show FP if you have time. Leave here no later than 5:20ish you have an hour and 20 minute window on fast passes.
7	5:45	Coral Reef Reservation (they hold reservations for 15 minutes)
8	7:05-8:25 FP range	Test Track FP,
9	7:30ish	Stroll through Mexico, Norway and China if you wish. However, you will have a location to watch fireworks (TBD) with the band.
10	9pm	EPCOT FOREVER then load buses

		MAGIC KINGDOM 3/16/2020 7/10 crowd level
1	9AM	PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, expect an hour wait or longer.
2	10:15ish	Head to Space Mountain, unfortunately, it will be a bad line too. You cannot be more than 15 minutes late for your lunch res or they give it away and charge me.
3	12:00	Plaza lunch (3)
4	12:45-2:05 FP range	BUZZ LIGHTYEAR FP
5	1:30ish	Mad Tea Cups
6	2ish	Barnstormer
7a	If it is before 2	Go to Journey of the Little Mermaid get in line
or 7b	2:30ish	Mickey’s Philharmagic (shows every 12 minutes)
8	2:20-3:40 FP range	Haunted Mansion
9	4ish	Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain FP is til 6:50
10	5:30-6:50	SPLASH MOUNTAIN
11	6:45ish	use quick service food voucher in this area
12	7:45ish	Hall of presidents or Journey of the Little Mermaid if you didn’t see it earlier.
13		Shop a little on your way to the meeting spot for the fireworks (TBD)
14	9:15	Leave @9:15 for home

As indicated by previous poster, there is no reason to rope drop Mission Space. If you do rope drop, it will be a walk on. Even in pretty high crowds, the line will be very low the first 1-2 hours, and it will likely stay under an hour all day.
Rope drop should be Soarin. So flip Soarin and Mission Space, and the rest looks good. If you are at the Epcot entrance by 8:30, you'll be able to walk right on to Soarin without wait.

As to Magic Kingdom (and every park except DHS), remember... rope drop is like a free fast pass. If you show up by 8:30 for the 9:00am rope drop, you can do almost any one ride without any wait. The only real exception is Mine Train, where you might want to get there closer to 8am to be front of the line.
Done in the right order, you can get a LOT in before lunch on the MK day.
Example: Rope drop Space Mountain.
Done with Space Mountain by 9:20
Buzz Lightyear standby (change your FP to something else): Not more than a 10-15 minute wait by that time, done by 9:45-9:50.
Barnstormer will still be under a 20 minute line, finish that by 10:15. Go to Little Mermaid, absolutely will be done with that by 11. Philharmagic, done by 11:30.
Lunch, 12-1

1pm Hall of Presidents
Try to get a Pirates FP for 1-2pm, ride Pirates with FP about 1:45
2:20, Haunted Mansion

Try to move up your Splash mountain FP to 3:20, if possible. Ride Splash with FP around 3:20
4pm.... you're done except for Big Thunder Mountain.
I wouldn't get in a standby line for Big Thunder Mountain till after 7:30 pm. If she is willing to skip fireworks, the line for Big Thunder Mountain will probably be under 30 minutes fter 8:30.

 

[jagafen]

My son went on a school trip last year, and honestly, I would dump ALL of the TS unless her friend group has agreed to it. I wouldn't want to risk the $ due to running late, fickle teens changing their minds, pressure from her peer group, etc. The vouchers are all for QS places anyway.

I agree with the others about the Fastpasses. She should know how to work the app, and see if you're able to get her peer group hooked up together so they can all grab them as a group. Have her review park maps so she's familiar with the park layout if necessary. Teach her how to bump the times up on the day of, if possible. My biggest concern is that likely she'll be touring in a small group of girls, and they'll want to have a say in "what comes next". I think if you prep her with working the app to get/modify FPs, that'll be more useful than trying to design a touring plan for them.

FWIW, DS went in Feb 2019, and he said they didn't have to use many FPs when they went.

 

[Calee]

Oh yeah, it didn't even click that you had a dining reservation in Epcot too. There are SOOO many good quick service places there I would definitely not waste the time or money on Coral Reef on such a packed day.

 

[graciepooh]

Thank you all so very much, She will mainly be with two others (and luckily they are her two buddies (boys) that met in elem. school. They are more like siblings than friends so I know they will stick together. There is a possibility of other groups joining them, so I will warn her to stay the course. Although the other groups aren't linked in their My Disney Experience, they did all book FP at the same time. I will switch the TS, thank you for helping me with that. My only other fear is the choices at the quick service, my daughter is a vegetarian, I will start researching food choices next. Thank you again!!

 

[graciepooh]

Hi! Did you know Touring Plans can “optimize” your plan? It will order the attractions in the best order to save time waiting in line, walking, or both. This is what we always do! You enter what attractions, restaurants, breaks, etc. you want, and it will optimize your plan for you. I highly recommend this! (You can still at your personal notes to the plan as well - and you can rearrange their plan if it’s not exactly how you would like to do it.)
And I also agree with Calee above- if you go with your current plan, I would definitely RD Soarin’ and Space Mountain over Mission Space and Pirates. Also, if they get to the park before 9:00am, they probably will not have to wait in line for a full hour for either ride if it’s the first thing they do. Another reason I suggest letting Touring Plans optimize your plan- based on the data they gather - it estimates how much time you will probably spend waiting in line based on what time you get there. since you have Touring Plans, and it looks like your daughter is not going to have a whole lot of park time overall, I would really recommend using that free feature on their site.

I also agree-to eat QS over table service. It’s one less thing for your daughter and her friends to worry about, and if I was a teen short on park time, I would probably want to eat QS so I could ride more stuff!

if you don’t mind my asking, how old is your daughter? I’m sure they will be fine and will have a blast! As long as they make it to their workshop on time, even if they don’t follow the plan exactly, they will still have fun!

She is 15, I will go checkout touring plans, I just want them to have a nice time and not be standing in lines most of the day. Thank you so much! I was trying to keep them from crisscrossing the park so much, but they really don't mind.

 

[Chaitali]

For vegetarian food choices, Casey's has a plant based hot dog that's really good and Pecos Bill has good veggie options. There's a jack fruit sandwich that gets really bad reviews at Cosmic Ray's so I would say avoid that one.

For Epcot, the new BBQ quick service place has a plant based burger that's been getting really good reviews. And the quick service at Morocco has a good veggie option. I'm not sure how the friends would feel about it. The quick service at the Land pavilion is also supposed to have good veggie options.

 

[StarSeven7]

Are they wanting you to set up a touring plan for them? Honestly, when I was a teen I would've just wanted to have fun going with the flow and figuring out what to do on my own. Most teens aren't super stressed about waiting in lines. I used to wait in lines for 2 hours for rides (not at WDW) when I was a teen. I would NEVER wait that long now but it didn't really bother me then!

 

[Willow1213]

Also has the school specifically said they will arrive at the parks by 9? When we took trips, it was more likely to arrive at 10:30-11 after breakfast at the hotel.

 

[graciepooh]

Also has the school specifically said they will arrive at the parks by 9? When we took trips, it was more likely to arrive at 10:30-11 after breakfast at the hotel.

It is what is on their agenda, I know they have hired a guide so I am guessing it is close to the actual time.

 

[graciepooh]

Are they wanting you to set up a touring plan for them? Honestly, when I was a teen I would've just wanted to have fun going with the flow and figuring out what to do on my own. Most teens aren't super stressed about waiting in lines. I used to wait in lines for 2 hours for rides (not at WDW) when I was a teen. I would NEVER wait that long now but it didn't really bother me then!

Two of them have been before and they wanted the third to get to see the "bigger" rides. They will only be in the parks 1 day so I think that paired with the large crowds has them a little worried.

 

[graciepooh]

Both of your days I would probably flip your 1 and 2. Soarin and Space are more popular rides than Mission and POC and I would rope drop those. Has your daughter been before? Does she have the app on her phone? Does she know she can make them more FP after they use their first 3? You have a number of attractions skipped-will she want to do any of those? I didn't know if they picked their priorities.

Also, with only 1 day in MK I would personally drop Plaza and eat quick service. The plaza often is running behind on reservation times, and I don't think it is amazing enough to sacrifice park time. The menu has also changed recently so check it out if you are expecting something that was there in the past.

Thank you, doing that now!

 

[graciepooh]

As indicated by previous poster, there is no reason to rope drop Mission Space. If you do rope drop, it will be a walk on. Even in pretty high crowds, the line will be very low the first 1-2 hours, and it will likely stay under an hour all day.
Rope drop should be Soarin. So flip Soarin and Mission Space, and the rest looks good. If you are at the Epcot entrance by 8:30, you'll be able to walk right on to Soarin without wait.

As to Magic Kingdom (and every park except DHS), remember... rope drop is like a free fast pass. If you show up by 8:30 for the 9:00am rope drop, you can do almost any one ride without any wait. The only real exception is Mine Train, where you might want to get there closer to 8am to be front of the line.
Done in the right order, you can get a LOT in before lunch on the MK day.
Example: Rope drop Space Mountain.
Done with Space Mountain by 9:20
Buzz Lightyear standby (change your FP to something else): Not more than a 10-15 minute wait by that time, done by 9:45-9:50.
Barnstormer will still be under a 20 minute line, finish that by 10:15. Go to Little Mermaid, absolutely will be done with that by 11. Philharmagic, done by 11:30.
Lunch, 12-1

1pm Hall of Presidents
Try to get a Pirates FP for 1-2pm, ride Pirates with FP about 1:45
2:20, Haunted Mansion

Try to move up your Splash mountain FP to 3:20, if possible. Ride Splash with FP around 3:20
4pm.... you're done except for Big Thunder Mountain.
I wouldn't get in a standby line for Big Thunder Mountain till after 7:30 pm. If she is willing to skip fireworks, the line for Big Thunder Mountain will probably be under 30 minutes fter 8:30.

Thank you so much, they are required to watch the fireworks with the whole group as they will be leaving afterwards. I will try to swith the times on that FP

 

[DrummerBoy523]

		MAGIC KINGDOM 3/16/2020 7/10 crowd level
1	9AM	PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN, expect an hour wait or longer.
2	10:15ish	Head to Space Mountain, unfortunately, it will be a bad line too. You cannot be more than 15 minutes late for your lunch res or they give it away and charge me.
3	12:00	Plaza lunch (3)
4	12:45-2:05 FP range	BUZZ LIGHTYEAR FP
5	1:30ish	Mad Tea Cups
6	2ish	Barnstormer
7a	If it is before 2	Go to Journey of the Little Mermaid get in line
or 7b	2:30ish	Mickey’s Philharmagic (shows every 12 minutes)
8	2:20-3:40 FP range	Haunted Mansion
9	4ish	Big Thunder Mountain, Splash Mountain FP is til 6:50
10	5:30-6:50	SPLASH MOUNTAIN
11	6:45ish	use quick service food voucher in this area
12	7:45ish	Hall of presidents or Journey of the Little Mermaid if you didn’t see it earlier.
13		Shop a little on your way to the meeting spot for the fireworks (TBD)
14	9:15	Leave @9:15 for home

I would absolutely have them go to Space first. If park opening is at 9am they will be off the ride in 30 minutes. Then, have them walk across adventureland and up to BTMRR & Splash. We almost always can get a SDFP for POC & Buzz on the MDE app. I wouldn't waste FP on those rides.

 

[graciepooh]

For vegetarian food choices, Casey's has a plant based hot dog that's really good and Pecos Bill has good veggie options. There's a jack fruit sandwich that gets really bad reviews at Cosmic Ray's so I would say avoid that one.

For Epcot, the new BBQ quick service place has a plant based burger that's been getting really good reviews. And the quick service at Morocco has a good veggie option. I'm not sure how the friends would feel about it. The quick service at the Land pavilion is also supposed to have good veggie options.

Thank You!!

 

[mister morrow]

i'm a teen and went to disney for a school trip with my friends. we picked our fastpasses and did whatever until our fastpasses were available. i think it's great of you to make an itinerary, but maybe make it less structured? a lot of us just like wandering around the parks, taking pics, and going on attractions when we feel like it
maybe instead ask everyone in the group what they would like to do and base the itinerary around that (and the musical workshop of course). i feel like being a teen in disney is a lot more fun when you don't have a really detailed itinerary

 

[vinotinto]

My teen would completely mutiny if I would even suggest to ride Figment or the Ride of the Little Mermaid.

I would help them schedule 3 FPs and let them decide what rides they want to do and when to do them.

I would not schedule any TS and let them choose QS in the park (especially at Epcot)!

I would not assume they’ll get up in time to RD anything.

I would try to find a Mission Space FP.

Have they looked for FPs in MDE? I would make sure they have access to MDE so they can get additional FPs.