Disney World Park Itineraries & Touring Plans
Our Walt Disney World itineraries offer step by step touring plans with strategy for 1-day and multi-day visits to Magic Kingdom, EPCOT, Hollywood Studios, and Animal Kingdom. We also have time-saving tips for avoiding crowds, long lines for rides, and minimizing wait times at Disneyland, Tokyo, Paris, and Hong Kong. (Updated October 11, 2020.)
These Walt Disney World 1-day itineraries have all been overhauled following the phased reopening of the parks. A lot has changed in the last several months from a strategy perspective, including the temporary suspension of FastPass+, pause of Extra Magic Hours, reduction of operating hours, and reduction of park & ride capacity.
We’ve visited on a regular basis, making multiple trips to the Walt Disney World parks each week during phased reopening. We’ve also been tracking wait time data over the last several months. Through mid-October 2020, there have been significant changes in guest behavior, and certain attractions now have longer and shorter wait times than before. Consequently, we’ve tested various approaches, and fine-tuned strategy as crowds have progressively increased. These overhauled WDW itineraries are the fruits of those experiences, wait time data, and observations…
Additionally, strategy has been updated to include the two new headliners at Disney’s Hollywood Studios–Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway and Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance. The latter is the blockbuster attraction of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, and it uses a frustrating virtual queue and boarding pass system. Unlike other attractions, Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance does not offer a standby line.
Other itinerary tweaks account for attraction closures, new offerings at Epcot, the opening of Soaring Fantastic Flight, and more. Additionally, the Disney Skyliner gondolas and new resorts at Walt Disney World are now included in some of our “beyond the parks” itineraries.
Our patented (not really) park strategy guides are unlike most theme park itineraries that you’ll find. We take a balanced approach that prioritizes efficiency and avoids long wait times for attractions (“I love waiting in lines!” ~said no one, ever) while also savoring Walt Disney World’s ambiance.
This results in Disney touring plans that allow you to get a lot done, while also enjoying the scenery and what the theme parks have to offer beyond the rides. We do not view the parks simply as collections of attractions that should be completed checklist style, so the plans balance “getting stuff done” with “having a nice, leisurely day.”
If that approach sounds appealing to you, check out our touring plans for Walt Disney World, Disneyland, and the international Disney Parks…
Walt Disney World Post-Reopening Itineraries
With 4 theme parks, plus 2 water parks, a couple dozen resort hotels, and lots of “other stuff” our 1-day plans for Walt Disney World barely scratch the surface.
Here are our current touring plans for Walt Disney World, all of which have been updated as of Fall 2020 to account for modified, post-reopening operations, current crowd patterns, and more…
Magic Kingdom 1-Day Itinerary – An aggressive itinerary for Walt Disney World’s flagship park that starts with an early morning in Fantasyland and Frontierland. It also covers snacking, shows, and more. It’s normally tough to do Magic Kingdom in a single day, but this comes very close.
Epcot 1-Day Itinerary – Few Epcot touring plans can hit the “Big Three” (Frozen Ever After, Test Track, and Soarin’ Around the World) in a single day, but this one manages to do exactly that–with minimal waits. You’ll also fully experience Future World and be able to have a pleasant time in World Showcase.
Disney’s Hollywood Studios 1-Day Itinerary – Everything you’ll want to do in Disney’s Hollywood Studios, including Mickey & Minnie’s Runaway Railway, Toy Story Land, Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, roller coasters, and the park’s many shows. This DHS touring plan also includes two table service meals, which are among the best-themed restaurants at Walt Disney World!
Disney’s Animal Kingdom 1-Day Itinerary – Post-reopening, this is our most counter-intuitive itinerary. While Animal Kingdom is a full-day park, it requires a different approach than the others. This itinerary gets you in and out of Pandora – World of Avatar efficiently, bypassing the frequent two-hour waits for Flight of Passage. It also allows ample time for exploration, animal watching, and eating.
Other Walt Disney World Itineraries
Magic Kingdom 2-Day Itinerary – Our preferred way to experience Magic Kingdom. The pace here is slightly more leisurely, allowing for more snack time, soaking up the beautiful details, and meals at the best restaurants in the park. (Not updated for post-reopening operations.)
Disney’s Hollywood Studios Half-Day Itinerary – Since it’s currently not the best park, we recommend those short on time do only an evening at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. This touring plan manages to hit the highlights in a half-day. (Not updated for post-reopening operations.)
1-Day Self-Guided Yuletide Itinerary – The very first itinerary we published, as a way of exploring Walt Disney World’s many beautiful resorts at Christmas. This totally free plan covers the best of Disney during the holidays, including Wilderness Lodge’s towering tree, Grand Floridian’s gorgeous gingerbread house, and more!
Skyliner Sip & Snack Itinerary – Walt Disney World’s new aerial transportation system presents some great opportunities to glide around via the gondolas, doing some delicious dining, drinking, and hotel hijinks along the way. This is either a half-day or full-day itinerary, depending upon how long you linger at each stop.
Walt Disney World “Beyond the Parks” 1-Day Itinerary – Have a free day but don’t want to spend it poolside or simply shopping the day away at Disney Springs? This itinerary takes you around other under-the-radar spots at Walt Disney World that are fun but do not charge admission.
Disneyland Resort
In an ideal world, we recommend two full days at Disneyland, which is now the case more than ever following the opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Additionally, we recommend a full day or more at Disney California Adventure to see and explore the more leisurely park without feeling rushed. There’s so much entertainment in addition to attractions that it’s difficult to see and do it all in a single day.
This is especially true now, as crowds have also increased at Disneyland dramatically in the last 3 years, meaning longer wait times and fewer attractions per day. When Rise of the Resistance opens in Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, or once the land gets more crowded, you might just need a third day at Disneyland.
Disneyland Park 1-Day Touring Plan – Our most aggressive single-day itinerary for the Disney theme park with the most attractions, this Disneyland touring plan starts in Fantasyland, includes ideal FastPass strategy, along with plenty of snacking and soaking up the quaint charm of “Walt Disney’s original magic kingdom.” (Updated to include Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.)
Disneyland 2-Day Touring Plan – A Disneyland touring plan with time to breathe. This one covers all of the same ground as our 1-day itinerary, while also seeing and doing things that you’d have to skip in a single day due to a lack of time. (Updated to include Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.)
Disney California Adventure 1-Day Touring Plan – If you want to do Radiator Springs Racers, Guardians of the Galaxy: Mission Breakout, or DCA’s other thrill rides without waiting in long lines, our Disney California Adventure itinerary is for you.
International Disney Parks
In this case, “International Parks” means the two parks at Tokyo Disney Resort and Disneyland Paris, plus Hong Kong Disneyland. Much like Disneyland, neither Tokyo Disneyland or DisneySea can be fully experienced in a single day. However, we recognize that’s how much time most people will allocate to these parks during a trip to Japan, so here are our plans for those parks:
Tokyo Disneyland 1-Day Touring Plan – Another challenging castle park thanks to a surplus of attractions and live entertainment. Nevertheless, this Tokyo Disneyland itinerary allows you to do as much as possible via efficient ordering of rides.
Tokyo DisneySea 1-Day Touring Plan – Our favorite theme park in the world, period. This Tokyo DisneySea itinerary does the tough tightrope walk of getting you through popular rides efficiently, while also savoring this ornately designed park like a fine wine.
Disneyland Paris 1-Day Touring Plan – We take that same ‘fine wine’ approach here, as Disneyland Paris is the most lavish–and best designed–castle park in the world. This itinerary strikes the perfect balance.
Walt Disney Studios Park 1-Day Touring Plan – A far cry from the castle park next door, WDSP is–bluntly–a utilitarian park. This itinerary gets you in and out as quickly as possible, so you can do the rides and shows here and then hightail it back to Disneyland Paris.
Hong Kong Disneyland 1-Day Touring Plan – The new quaint, uncrowded Disney park, Hong Kong Disneyland is the only castle park that does not require an efficient plan of attack. Nonetheless, waiting in line is never fun, so this HKDL itinerary covers what order to do the popular rides here.
That covers it for our Disney Parks itineraries! If there are any other plans you’d like to see, or if you have questions about the current Disney Parks plans, please let us know in the comments!
Planning a visit to one of the Disney theme parks? Check out our Disney Parks Vacation Planning Guides for everything you need to start planning a trip to Walt Disney World, Disneyland Resort, Disneyland Paris, Tokyo Disney Resort, Hong Kong Disneyland, and Aulani in Hawaii.
Your Thoughts
What would you include in your ideal day at the Disney Parks? If you haven’t visited yet, what do you plan on doing? Anything you’d add to any of our plans? Any questions we can help you answer? Hearing your feedback—even when you disagree with us—is both interesting to us and helpful to other readers, so please share your thoughts below in the comments!
Hey, I’m fairly new to this site and I was just wondering, are there any plans for a Shanghai disney itinerary? That along with Universal, at least in Florida would be awesome!!
Hi Tom. First of all happy new year and what an amazing website/blog. Do you mind to help me with planning of 2 days in April 2019 at DW for my Family? I can provide mor details per email. Many Thanks Thomas (from Switzerland).
my new email to contact me is: thogu.ch@gmx.com
Great! This information will help me plan my trip.
Hi,
Were going to Tokyo Disney in November, and I’m trying to plan our trip. This website has been so helpful, I think I’ve read most of the stuff that pertains to me, but I might have missed it somewhere.
In Paris Disneyland if you booked a suite, you got unlimited fastpass entry to all the rides with fastpasses, do you know if they do that at Tokyo? Also, I was wondering what rides do the single rider? or if you can do rider swap; where one person would go on the ride with one kid, and then the other party waits at a certain place, and can go on the ride after the first person exits without waiting in line?
Thank you for putting all of this information together!!
Hi Tom. Any chance of a Hong Kong Disneyland 1 day plan?
Thanks!
Sorry for the delay–it’s been added! 🙂
i want to thank you for the best experience i had in tokyo disneysea and disneyland last May. thanks to your advice, we got short waiting line, especially in the morning, and we ride all the attraction and watch all the parade/show available in both parks in just two days. looking forward to the same experience in walt disney world. ^^
Do you have a one day touring plan for Hong Kong Disneyland?
How can I get some help planning? We arrive on the 28th at 5 in the am and are staying at the New Orleans Venue. We are staying until the 3rd. 6 full days and we are in our 70’s but want to see everything we can.
hi Tom (or any Disney experts out there) I have a question!
I plan on doing Hollywood Studios and Animal Kingdom in one day (park hopper) on September this year.
I know HS will have the new Toy Story Land, so which park do you recommend I visit first that day?
HS in the afternoon or Animal Kingdom?
I would love to know your opinion
Thanks!
I would go to Animal Kingdom since it closes before HS. You could always make this a night when HS has magic hours and is opened for an extended period of time. Just my opinion.
Do you have a universal studios Florida itinerary?
So being a huge planner, even though our trip isn’t for a year, I’m way too excited and converted all of your itineraries into one page documents for me to easily check while we’re in the parks. Crazy person here!
Anyways, I’m sure it’s been heavily requested but I’ve got to add that I would really appreciate a Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure one day itinerary. Or if you know of someone that has done one, a link to that would be great! I’ve looked at a few around the internet, and none of them have the same feel that yours do (balancing efficiency, fun, and actually taking in the ambiance of the parks).
This trip will be our honeymoon and our VERY first trip to Disney World and Universal so I want to be as prepared as I can and have some sort of plan of attack for each park.
Love reading all the tips and tricks, thank you guys so much!
Did you ever get a response about universal?
We visited Universal Orlando and Islands of Adventure in August and used https://orlandoinformer.com/ for planning. They were great.
Cassie,
I’m sure it was a lot of work and I’d never expect you to share your entire document, but would you mind possibly sending a screenshot or a portion of it just so I can get an idea of how you organized the page? I’m like you in that I have to be organized and prepared, but travel planning always gets me a bit stressed out – which is why I often find myself referring to Tom & Sarah’s incredibly informative blog 🙂 I hope you have an amazing honeymoon next year, how exciting!
Hi Ashley!
So sorry, I guess I didn’t turn on notifications for my comment, because I’m just seeing this now! I have literally no idea how to share with you, other than just posting it in this comment, lol. Hopefully that’s okay with Tom??
This is day one of the 2 Day Magic Kingdom post. A couple things are taken from the 1 day itinerary, as well.
1. Fantasyland
• Rope drop: Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train
• Peter Pan
• Enchanted Tales w/ Belle
• Winnie The Pooh
• Little Mermaid
• It’s a Small World
• Tangled Toilets
• Haunted Mansion (Liberty Square)
2. Snack
• Friar Nook (tater-tots/mac & cheese?)
• Walk to Pinocchio Village Haus, go upstairs, sit look over castle.
3. Fast Pass Rides (10:30am-1:30pm)
• Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train
• Space Mountain
• Big Thunder Mountain
4. Lunch (1:30pm) Be Our Guest
5. Liberty Square
• Haunted Mansion (If not earlier)
• Hall of Presidents
6. Festival of Fantasy (Parade) (*3pm?)
7. Mickey PhilharMagic
8. Fast Pass Rides (if any left)
9. Dinner (5:30) The Plaza Restaurant (Main Street)
10. Night time rides (Anything left can be done on Day 2)
• Riverboat (Liberty Square)
• Seven Dwarf’s Mine Train (Fantasyland)
• Splash Mountain (Frontierland)
• Big Thunder Mountain (Frontierland)
• Jungle Cruise (Adventureland)
• People Mover (Tomorrowland)
11. Happily Ever After (Fireworks) (*8pm?)
12. Once Upon a Time (Projection show on castle) (*9:45pm?)
13. Last minute rides
14. Leisurely stroll out of the park – Main street doesn’t close for 1 hour.
Hope that gives you an idea of how I organized it. I tried to keep times to a minimum (other than lunch and dinner because I plan on reserving those in advance) because I know it will be impossible to keep a strict schedule all day.
Hope I’m not too late commenting back!
WOW Cassie that is impressive!
Hi Cassie, Would you mind sharing? I was hoping to find a downloadable copy but no luck.
I posted it in reply to Ashley’s comment, right above yours! 😉
I would love a screen shot or a downloadable document of your amazing compilation of all the itineraries!!
Do you have any recommendations for Shanghai Disney?
I’m visiting Disney World for the first time and by myself, at age 30. All of your advice has been so helpful. I know you understand how overwhelming this can be! I know so many people who book the 3-day Park Hopper to save money and have a quick trip. I’d love to see a plan for visiting 4 parks in 3 days! I’ve kind of built one for myself using these though. Thanks again!
Agree with Chelsea, would love to have your guys’ 2-Day Plans. We are going for our first Christmas visit (I grew up in SoCal, so we never went during busy periods…I’m 39 and going to during the holidays for the first time ever, hooray!) and spending four days, split between both parks. Love the way you guys approach everything and how it’s not all about tactical, surgical strikes. I forward relevant entries to my wife when we do our planning and have definitely used your pointers to make our first family trip great. Doing it again this time. Thanks again!
Any chance you have the 2-Day Disneyland Touring plan ready? We’re going to have 3 full days between DLR and DCA and am looking for some pointers on how to do it right with a 7 y/o, a 5 y/o and a 1 y/o in tow!
Thanks so much!
If we aren’t arriving in Florida until Jan 1, and want to make a day trip to Magic Kingdom on Jan 2 or 3, will we be able to see the decorations and lights? No kids, just 2 adults…
Yes, the decorations and Christmas lights usually stay up through (at least) the first week of January.
People just a fyi if you want good itenararies for disney parks go to easywdw Josh has great ones
Josh’s site is great. I recommend it here in a number of posts.
No offense meant but I buy his and Dave’s book every year
You have great info too. Thanks for all you do
Have you considered doing an itinerary for Disney Springs?
Yikes! I thought you had an itinerary for MVMCP! No?
I think you should add your touring advice for non-Disney parks to this page as well (Universal, Knotts, etc.)
Cheers!