1  Pick the Best Time to Visit

Using our Orlando, Los Angeles and San Diego Crowd Calendars, you can see the expected crowd levels each day a full year in advance. The earlier you set your vacation dates the better, especially at Walt Disney World® Resort. With the switch to date-based tickets, you need to know your park days to purchase tickets at the best prices and to make reservations for FastPass+, restaurants, character dining and special experiences.

As you get closer to your trip, you can use the Crowd Calendar to see special events, opening hours and the best park to visit on each specific day.

2  Buy Your Tickets in Advance

You can save time waiting in line by buying Orlando, Los Angeles and San Diego tickets online. Purchasing in advance means you can pick the best ticket combination for your family, and you save money by not paying gate prices!

3  Make Advance Dining Reservations & Learn About Mobile Ordering

The best way to ensure you don’t spend your whole trip eating fast food is to book reservations. We highly recommend making advance dining reservations (ADRs) at Walt Disney World® Resort and Disneyland® Resort, preferably as soon as your booking window opens (180 days for Walt Disney World® and 60 days for Disneyland®). For the most popular restaurants and character meals, this is virtually the only way to get in. At Universal Orlando Resort™, it's not as hard to get reservations – we recommend booking at least 30 days ahead.

Mobile ordering is available at some quick-service restaurants at Walt Disney World® Resort, Disneyland® Resort and Universal Orlando Resort™. Get set up before you go to save time in the parks!

4  Consider Staying at an On-Site Hotel for the Convenience and Benefits

Guests who stay at select Universal Orlando Resort™ hotels can skip the regular lines on most rides. At Walt Disney World® Resort, on-site guests get first dibs on making ride reservations using Disney FastPass+. These are great ways to get a (frog) leg up on crowds!

Many of the parks also offer exclusive hours — usually mornings but sometimes evenings — for hotel guests. The Disneyland® Resort offers hotel guests one-hour early entry to one park every day of their stay, but any park guest with a three-day ticket or longer can visit Disneyland® Park one hour early on select dates. Walt Disney World® Resort offers Extra Magic Hours for on-site guests. Universal Orlando Resort™ offers one-hour early entry to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter™ and Universal’s Volcano Bay™ water theme park daily.

5  Get to Know Your Skip the Line Options

Almost all of the theme parks offer ways to skip the regular lines. If you’re visiting Walt Disney World® Resort, make sure to get advance FastPass+ reservations. At Disneyland® Resort, use Disney FASTPASS® Service and visit each attraction to get a return time, or use the optional paid Maxpass to use your mobile phone to book ride return times. You can also pay extra to skip the lines at Universal Orlando Resort™, Universal Studios Hollywood ™ and SeaWorld® Orlando.

You can also use child swap and single rider lines (where available) to skip the lines.

6  Have a Plan

You can save time and do more by knowing what you want to do. Follow our park plans (or create your own with our Orlando Planning App for iPhone) so that you are visiting the most in-demand rides at the optimal time. If you want more flexibility than park plans, our general maps show the best time to visit each ride.

Some people use a mixture of both the park plans and general maps! They start their day with a park plan to hit their highlights, take a break in the afternoons (when crowds hit their peak) and then come back to the park in the evening and use the general plan.

7  Arrive Before the Park Opens

The first few hours are the least busy times in the parks, so this is when you should do the most popular rides with the shortest durations. Plus, many of the parks open ahead of their “official” opening times. Plan to be at the gate at least 30 minutes early.