What will your strategy be, please share!
TIA!
FIRST........Know what you want to do and pay attention to the clock. Let your pace reflect how you want your night to go.
If you want to ride as much as possible, walk briskly and with a diligent plan.
If you want to enjoy an empty park, ride a few select rides and meander about, then just go with the flow cause you'll have plenty of time to do all that.
I like to get as much done as possible within reason, so I am more strategic with measures in ensuring production. With that being said I have two children (4 and 2) so they aren't aware of enjoying atmosphere, ambiance etc. They want rides, rides and rides. My wife and I want no waits, pictures and for them to have a good time.
So what I learned from my first trip:
Be sure to have finished eating and getting away from Main Street about 30 min prior to event start time. I got caught at Cosmic Rays with an extended wait time and it cost 30 minutes of event time. Will probably try to eat off property and bring just snacks for the kids for the duration of the night.
Start at one end of the park, wherever that may be and work in a direction. If you start in Fantasy land you will end up wasting time by coming back by it as opposed to working systematically through.
Any commuting time outweighs whatever wait may be at a specific ride, thus it is more advantageous to stay in a land and wait for a ride rather than walking to another section of the park for a walk on ride. If you want to ride 7DMT 4 times, then go there and stay at the ride or at least in the vicinity with maybe mixing in a Pooh ride to break up the redundancy but still staying close by. Only once you get that accomplished, walk to your next area. Its amazing how much time it wastes walking from land to land.
Know where the snack carts are and plan accordingly. If someone in your party is not riding a ride have them go get drinks and snacks for everyone! If you are walking and there is a snack cart with a line, pass it because there will be an empty one soon.
If you have particular photo pass pictures you want, get them while you are in the area and don't try to save them for after you are done riding rides.
The longest waits for us last time were meeting Ariel (8-10min), and Princess Fairytale Hall meet and greets (8-10 min) 7DMT (10min).
Consider ride duration and if it is worth it. (Pirates, Country Bear Jamboree, Jungle Cruise, Its a small world, PhilliharMagic, etc.). These rides have no wait but are the longer lasting rides that will take time.
Meeting Mickey during the event was NO wait, assuming because it is so far out of the way from everything during the event. If it is on your agenda as a must do, take this into consideration. You can also get it line before midnight but be prepared for a 30+minute wait as people see it as a "one more thing to do" opportunity prior to leaving and the line builds. Just determine if you will be up to waiting that long that late or if burning 15-25 minutes during the event is worth it.
I plan on being in Frontierland-Adventureland-Castle (pictures)-Tomorrowland-Backway to Storybrook Circus Area-Backside (Little Mermaid) of FantasyLand then the front of FantasyLand. Working across and sorta counterclockwise.
There is no perfect way to do it and each person has a different approach to accomplish what they want. Ultimately ones goal should be to just enjoy the time and who you are there with. If you set out to do that, I promise you'll accomplish that goal!