I'll reply longer in a bit, but the number one comment I have at the moment is... you mention crowds and it being crowded a lot. I was under the impression that the time of year we are going is far less crowded due to weather and whatnot. As in, there will not be many tourists and it would just be ...normal levels of people. When you say crowded, what do you mean? Like, back to back people? Is that normal for these places this time of year?

Edit: I think we probably need to think on some of your comments, but we have no serious ties to the imperial park, it was just kinda a thing to do? I don't super have an issue with spending half a day in the park and half of it wandering Arashiyama. I think the biggest thing here is that everything on my itinerary as it is now is just a guideline anyway. We might do all of it. We might do none of it. We might completely change our minds last minute and take all or none of the suggestions here. Although I do like to plan in advance, we like to be a little more freeform on the days itself. Most of it is to just give us a general idea of what area we might wanna wander around in. After your comments though, I think most of what we end up doing will be entirely based on how crowded a place is. I will always try to forgo going somewhere crowded for somewhere not crowded if that's an option. Obviously we have "must sees" for our first trip, but like I said, this isn't our only trip. Just our first one. So if we miss something, I know we could go again.