best days which park?

[iheartdisney]

A while back someone gave the tip regarding the best day of the week for a particular park and it went something like this....

If a park had extra magic hours on Monday night, visit Tuesday morning.....

Ok. I've got that part but how do you plan (other than avoid the park altogether) when a park has extra magic hours in the morning?

Does anyone know the entire tip? I'm sorry...I read about it after just visiting and I swore I'd remember it for next trip but...:blush: I've forgotten....typical, eh?

Thanks!:mickey:
~Maureen

[TikiGoddess]

I know this isn't exactly what you're asking, but -- we usually visit during EMH morning. If you can get up in time to be at the park at opening (especially MK) it's worth it. Then park hop to a new park around lunchtime when the park gets really busy.

I think the rule is (I think I heard Mike Scopa of All Ears say this) that you should visit a park that had morning EMH the following day. So sort of the same as the evening EMH rule. I could be wrong though.

Kathy

[nickv1025]

Hmm, I have not heard this tip.

But I have been to Disney 10 times. I have not seen any relationship between the day of the week and crowds (except obviously, more people on weekends).

There does seem to be a trend, however, in the time of the day.

Mornings are best at: Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom
Mornings are worst at: the Studios

Afternoons are best at: nowhere really
Afternoons are worst at: Animal Kingdom

Evenings are best at: the Studios, Epcot
Evenings are worst at: Magic Kingdom

[Gregandmel]

We posted back in October after our trip which was Oct. 5-11. We strategized to try and avoid the crowds. Our planning was: We tried to visit the park that had the EMH the night before, and made sure another park had the emh in the AM somewhere else. Figuring, the people who were there the evening before wouldn't be there at rope drop the next day, and the people who love the emh a.m. would be at that park instead....potentially knocking out the earliest crowds at 2 of the parks. We were there about 20 minutes before rope drop each day as well. We also looked here on Intercot under the tab heading "info central" about which days are typically the busiest at each park. We spent WAYYYYY too much time analyzing this approach, but honestly - we had a wonderful time and the crowds were SO light (but it really did depend on which park you were at, as we heard about extreme crowds at one park, whereas the park we were at was light). This worked Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday for us, but Thursday & Friday the crowds were noticeably heavier, but that was probably due to the fact that Columbus Day was approaching & that may have brought out some "extended vacation crowds". HOpe this makes sense to you. On a side note - this was our 1st trip in nearly 10 years (before the FP was offered) and we have not ever done the emh a.m. and some people really swear by them, but we have nothing to compare to other than our trip, which was really fantastic. We hope to come back in 2 or 3 years and we will do the same approach. Good luck to you. Disney is wonderful no matter what, but if you can cut the lines and crowds down by some planning strategies, it's even better.

[Disnutty]

The strategy that works for us is a combination of the answers above. First you must decide if your crew are early morning people or late night people. If you are early morning people then take advantage of the early morning extra hour because you can get most of the big attraction done before the crowds get heavy. However please keep in mind that mid morning and early afternoon at the early morning opening park will be the park with the most people. Therefore if you can not take advantage f the early morning opening then that park is the park to avoid. If your crew gets to the park at 10:00 or you have a character breakfast then stay away from the park with the early morning opening. The same goes for the late extra hour. If you can take advantage of the extra hour then the crowds will be light at that time but because of the extra hour opening that park will have the most people in it in the late afternoon and evening. If your crew are young and can not stay awake late at night then you must avoid the park with the extra magic hour as it will have the most people. So your plan should be take advantage of the extra morning opening if you can; if you can not stay away from that park as it will have the most people. the same strategy works for the extra magic hours at night.

[iheartdisney]

Wow! Thanks everyone! Now my head is spinning with new strategies. Wish me luck in our planning....only 107 more sleeps!

And, of course, if anyone else has advice, bring it on! You can never be too prepared.

~Maureen

[mjm12000]

On my last trip I planned every day of the trip so that I would be able to use the EMH mornings and evenings when ever possible. I found that they did increase the crowds in the mornings more than I did in the evening as many people have kids and so staying up until 12am or 2am and then doing it all over again the next day is probably taxing for families. I think it depends on how many people you travel with and if you are morning or night people. Also do a day by day break down of what park you are going to. Then list all of the rides and attractions you want to visit in the parks, and if they use fast pass or not. Then using print out of each parks map number the rides and attractions in the order you want to do them in. Always put fast pass rides back to back for instance at Epcot future world you could go to the left side grab a fast pass for Mission Space on your way to the stand by line for Test track, then go back to Mission space and use your FP, then go across to Soarin, get a fast pass and get in line for standby on Nemo, then go back and do Soarin. by doing this you use your time in line for one line to cover your fast pass times for the next ride. By doing this for each major ride in each park first thing in the morning with little or no breaks you can manage to do all the major rides in a half day if you are a fast walker. Once I had done all the major rides once, I would then spend the rest of the day doing everything else and re-doing favorites. It might seem a bit regimented but you only have to do it for part of each day and then you can relax knowing you got all the major stuff done before many people were even up and at the parks. Anyhow this is of course a very simplified version of the planning I actually did but it gives you an idea of where to start. My best peices of advice, memorize the park maps, knowing where things are like washrooms, or short cuts will save you lots of time. Know the park hours and Extra Magic hours for each park during your stay. Know the transportation system to get from hotel to park or park to park. Know how to use fast pass, and most importantly enjoy yourself.