Park Strategy - Magic Kingdom

Ride your favorite rides first, right? Not necessarily...it may be better to ride everyone else's favorite rides first. Why, you ask? Because if you can get into the park early in the morning, and knock out the list of all the most popular rides before the crowds get really bad, you can sit back and enjoy a leisurely lunch, or even get a great seat for the parade while everyone else stands in long lines for their favorite rides.

Let's look at Fantasyland...is your favorite ride Dumbo? Or Peter Pan's Flight? My recommendation would be to get straight in line for those rides first thing in the morning. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, do not stop for the requisite picture in front of the castle (it will still be there later in the day, and the lines for those Photopass photographers will be shorter) - head straight to Fantasyland when you enter the park. The later you get in the line, the longer the line is going to be.

Here's my personal Fantasyland strategy:
*note this is changed from previous strategies based on the Fantasyland expansion, and them moving Dumbo

- Send hubby to get Fastpass tickets for Peter Pan's Flight
- Kiddo and I head to the line for Dumbo (hubby meets us there)
- Ride the Goofy's Barnstormer (sometimes twice, if we have time)
- Grab FP tickets for Winnie the Pooh as we walk past
- Use our FP tickets for Peter Pan's Flight
- Ride It's a Small World
- Ride The Prince's Regal Carrousel
- Use our FP tickets for Winnie the Pooh
- Ride Snow White's Scary Adventures (until it closes on May 31)
- Ride Tomorrowland Speedway -- the earlier in the day you do this one, the better - that line is HOT!

Using this type of strategy, you can ride all of the Fantasyland attractions by about 11:00 am. From there, you can head right or left out of Fantasyland and use a similar technique (get FP, ride another ride, come back to FP ride) to tour the other lands.

This strategy works particularly well in quite a few other areas of the Magic Kingdom park:
Adventureland: Pirates of the Carribean and Aladdin's Magic Carpet Ride combined with Jungle Cruise which has FP

Fronierland: Big Thunder Mountain and Splash Mountain both have FP, so get one, then take a ride across to tour Tom Sawyer Island, then go back and get the other before riding with your FP tickets for the 1st attraction. You can grab a snack, catch the parade (it starts in Frontierland at 3:00), or go ride the Haunted Mansion and/or see the Hall of Presidents while you wait for your 2nd FP time to start.

Tomorrowland: Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin both have FP, so use the same technique, alternating with Carousel of Progress, Monsters Inc, Tomorrowland Transit Authority and Astro Orbiter.

The age of your group/kids will like determine which direction you head out of Fantasyland. Remember, you have all day, and using this type of strategy, you can ride a group of attractions all at one time. This makes it easier to stop for lunch/dinner, grab a seat for the parade, watch the castle stage show, and meet some characters along the way.

Have a magical day!