How on Earth do you pick park days?

StacyStrong

DIS Veteran
Joined
May 8, 2018
I'm really struggling this year. Normally we just go to the park with morning EMH and hop to whatever park we feel like going to later. However, we usually just do QS with no extras so it's easy.

This year we have some ADRs and MVMCP. We will have APs. Help me pick park days!!!!

December 4th - 12:30 arrival.
Likey go to DS to upgrade to APs and eat at Raglan Road. We aren't huge DS people, so figured we'd spend some time on a partial day here. Epcot has late EMH so we will prob hop over there for a trip around WS at night

December 5th - ????
No ADRs scheduled

December 6th - MVMCP, BOG lunch
We are two 30 y/o adults so we will prob go to MK pretty early. Thinking about starting the morning in another park but can't decide

December 7th - Sanaa lunch OR Ohana dinner (we have both, but will cancel one as soon as we figure out park days)
I'm thinking we should do AK this day? But EMH is the next day at AK.

December 8th - Again, Sanaa lunch or Ohana dinner.
Can't decide on a park. We could do AK this day instead, but our Ohana reservation is at a better time on this day. It seems like hopping to Sanaa from AK is easiest ???

December 9th - Akershus PPO
Epcot (however willing to change this if park hours change)

December 10th 530 flight
Probably a morning at whatever park we didn't do enough at

We could do HS the 5th, but it seems early in the trip if we want to try for SDD. Again, I'm really only looking for what park we should start at. We have no problems hopping later in the day if/when we feel like it.

I feel like this is way harder for me than it usually is and I don't know why!!

I think not relying on EMH is really throwing me for a loop.

FWIW, we are going in April 2019 as well. So missing something isn't a huge deal, but we are participating in the Star Wars half, so park time won't be as gogogo as normal
 
Any "system" can have drawbacks and pluses.

If you want to "start" with booked ADRs being the driving force "connecting" to the closest parks,
(or the ADR restaurant being in the actual park that day) then do that.
 
Why not let FP+ be your guide for the 7th and 8th. 60+3 may not be enough to get FoP on the 7th, but it could be. I'd see if I could get that first, then go for the 8th if the 7th isn't available. Then as soon as that is settled, make HS the other day and go get TSL FP+ that you want.

HEA is your other problem. You either have to choose the 5th with late EMH or the 8th which is a Saturday. If you choose the 5th, I'd take advantage of those late hours as well, and then sleep in the next morning, so you have the energy for another late night at MVMCP. Either way, I wouldn't spend the whole day at MK on either of those days, but hop over just for HEA.
 
We don't eat in WDW restaurants, we bring our own food, so keep in mind that we don't have ADRs to tie us to a certain park on a certain day.

Like Robo said, I suppose if you have the ADRs you can use those as the driving force to visit connecting parks. Beyond that, we truly just pick whatever park we want on whatever day. We don't look at EMH, crowd calendar, day of week, etc... We spent a lot of money to be at WDW, we're going to go to whatever park we want whenever we want. Using FP+ makes getting on attractions fairly easy regardless of the day...and we don't stress over "what park on what day" stuff...we just roll with the flow. Quite honestly, it's not at all uncommon for us to change planned parks the morning of. We may have made plans to be in Epcot, but wake up and decide we'd rather be in HS that day. So we alter FP+ and go. I know that's a hard thing for many, and I have nothing against those who have a "system"...just a suggestion of doing what you want, when you want. You may find it liberating. :D
 


It's hard to say. Sometimes I start with ADRs, but even that doesn't do it for me. Oftentimes, I'm so hot and sweaty from the park that I want to go back to my room and change and then go to dinner (although I always have a car and don't need to worry about the bus travel time).

For instance, you have a Sanaa reservation so you are wondering if you should go to AK that day? My answer would be yes if you are definitely in the time saving mode and you are going in the middle of July (sweat-fest) because that's going to be the easiest thing to do if you are using Disney transportation. But again, if EMH is a must do for you, then you have your answer there. I no longer do EMH (used to, can't do it anymore) so I avoid EMH parks.

So if you are EMH, stick to your plans and factor in extra bus time for getting to the ADRs. Or keep looking at ADRs and trying to shift them to work with your park days. I did that a lot and it mostly worked.
 
Why not let FP+ be your guide for the 7th and 8th. 60+3 may not be enough to get FoP on the 7th, but it could be. I'd see if I could get that first, then go for the 8th if the 7th isn't available. Then as soon as that is settled, make HS the other day and go get TSL FP+ that you want.

HEA is your other problem. You either have to choose the 5th with late EMH or the 8th which is a Saturday. If you choose the 5th, I'd take advantage of those late hours as well, and then sleep in the next morning, so you have the energy for another late night at MVMCP. Either way, I wouldn't spend the whole day at MK on either of those days, but hop over just for HEA.

The FP suggestion helps. I'll probably go that route.

I'm not sure if we are going to make HEA a priority this trip. I'd like to see it because I never have, but with all the holiday shows/parades at MVMCP, it might just be easier to try and skip it this trip. That will probably be a day of decision though.

Thanks!
 
Everyone is different. No right or wrong way.

We totally work with park hours, and I do a couple ADR.

We do FP+ earlier in day so we can roll the last all day no matter where we end up.

But all is done with thoughts of flexibility and possible last minute hopping.
 


We don't eat in WDW restaurants, we bring our own food, so keep in mind that we don't have ADRs to tie us to a certain park on a certain day.

Like Robo said, I suppose if you have the ADRs you can use those as the driving force to visit connecting parks. Beyond that, we truly just pick whatever park we want on whatever day. We don't look at EMH, crowd calendar, day of week, etc... We spent a lot of money to be at WDW, we're going to go to whatever park we want whenever we want. Using FP+ makes getting on attractions fairly easy regardless of the day...and we don't stress over "what park on what day" stuff...we just roll with the flow. Quite honestly, it's not at all uncommon for us to change planned parks the morning of. We may have made plans to be in Epcot, but wake up and decide we'd rather be in HS that day. So we alter FP+ and go. I know that's a hard thing for many, and I have nothing against those who have a "system"...just a suggestion of doing what you want, when you want. You may find it liberating. :D

No I agree with all. That. We usually just do whatever we want, but this is a 30th bday trip for both of us, so we wanted a couple meals.

That said, we are only trying to pick parks so we know what days to try and get initial fast passes. After that, we will likely end up hopping wherever we feel like it. With all the FP day issues people are having, I just want to have SOME kind of idea on where to start.

The AK/Ohana/Sanaa issue will likely be decided by FOP like another poster suggested.
 
I typically always pick by crowd calendars, but allowing for some deviation. I never do MK on weekends and usually try to avoid Epcot on the weekend as well. I don't really take advantage of extra hours so that isn't important for us. And then after I have my park days I do my ADRs and FP. So far so good.
 
The AK/Ohana/Sanaa issue will likely be decided by FOP like another poster suggested.
And, there's your "system" for this trip. ;)

Will it be the perfect way to pick park days?
Not necessarily. (As I said, no system is perfect.)
But, it will give this particular trip a logical structure that fits your current needs.
 
My park days changed this trip after I secured Flight of Passage and Slinky FPs. Then I went and started switching ADRs around. We aren't doing EMH this time, either, so I avoided parks with them.
 
We always do MK first and last. And in between we mix it up. I just pick what I feel we will be in the mood for during the trip. I know we won't want to do any park multiple days in a row so I mix that up. I really don't go by crowd calendars because each one is so different. If we aren't going to take advantage of EMH I avoid that park. I make sure we RD each park once (our RD consists of arriving 5-10 minutes before park opening, not 45 like some folks do) and do 1-2 evenings in each park. We are only doing 3 ADRs (BOG, VN and HDDR) for our 10 day trip so we aren't tied down to that. It was actually pretty easy. Now two more weeks for FP+!
 
I make sure we RD each park once (our RD consists of arriving 5-10 minutes before park opening, not 45 like some folks do) ...

Since Disney has dramatically changed what time they let guests enter certain parks in the mornings, arriving to "rope drop" 5-10 minutes "early"
won't make much of a difference anymore at those parks.
 
I'm one of those awful people that makes multiple ADRs for each day at multiple parks so we are not necessarily tied down to a park when sorting out FPs at 60 days. We also have hoppers and APs so we can pick and choose more easily.

Dining is an important part of our visits because our girls are adults now and Disney is our way to get the family together annually, for an extended period of time. We reconnect at the dinner table. We stay 8-12 days and have been many times so we are not commando planning.

We do not create a touring plan but do attack our planning in a somewhat systematic way.

Fast passes will drive some of our park day decisions because of the inability to get certain attractions early in the holiday. Once we have secured these fast passes... 7DMT, FOP, FEA, SDD now... we can coordinate which park to visit in the am. We don't look at morning EMH as a driving force. We don't do many morning EMH although we leave that open to anyone who wants to. We don't use crowd calendars because we visit when the calendars all say 8-10 anyway, we leave during the crowded parts of the day, and we are going to be there for 8-12 days and have plenty time to see and do everything we want to do. We are not driven by the "we must get every ounce of our $$$'s out of this day/trip" ideology. We focus on enjoying ourselves, not some budgeting balance sheet.

Our Fast Passes will begin at park opening plus 2 hours with rolling Fast Passes the rest of the day, usually leaving the original park to avoid afternoon crowds. Our evenings will revolve around night time events... HEA, Jingle Bam, Illuminations, Fantasmic, Rivers of Light, etc. trying to work each in as best we can during our holiday. We do often attend evening EMH, particularly at MK. We stay at Wilderness Lodge usually so we can finish the night at MK whenever we want. Last visit I think we visited MK 8 times in 10 days. It also makes it easy to do E-rides while the masses are waiting for and then enjoying HEA.

Lastly we adjust our ADRs to fit the rest of the plan.
 
I make a sheet.....decide where I want to be every morning and every evening (mandatory afternoon breaks). I then schedule my Dining Plans around that. If i know I am going to be at the Magic Kingdom on Tuesday night, i know i have to either eat at MK, or the MK resorts, or plan on stopping to eat on the way.

When you have that schedule built. It makes it easy to make FP+ choices.

After you make your FP+ choices, you can then go back and tweak your dining plans as need or available. Whole bunch of give and take, and unpossible to plan everything down to the minute. But as the weeks get closer to your trip, you are able to narrow things down.
 
I make a sheet.....decide where I want to be every morning and every evening (mandatory afternoon breaks). I then schedule my Dining Plans around that. If i know I am going to be at the Magic Kingdom on Tuesday night, i know i have to either eat at MK, or the MK resorts, or plan on stopping to eat on the way.

When you have that schedule built. It makes it easy to make FP+ choices.

After you make your FP+ choices, you can then go back and tweak your dining plans as need or available. Whole bunch of give and take, and unpossible to plan everything down to the minute. But as the weeks get closer to your trip, you are able to narrow things down.


That's usually what I do until I stumble across some dining spots and I can't get them when I need them. That happened to me for two of my dinners this year and it kind of messed things up a bit with my park days.
 
That's usually what I do until I stumble across some dining spots and I can't get them when I need them. That happened to me for two of my dinners this year and it kind of messed things up a bit with my park days.

I have found most fast passes with the exception of Headliners like 7DMT, SDD and FOP always get moved from when I make them 60 days out.

Can't tell you how many times we have walked by attractions like Buzz Lightyear, and walked right on it.....making the FP+ we had for later in the day free to be changed to something else.

I guess my point to the OP is.....do you planning...but dont be afraid, and be ready to pivot when the need / opportunity comes up.
 
We typically focus on parks in the morning that had EMH the evening before. Also, we usually stay BWV, so we will play on evenings where we may eat dinner half the time at Epcot for an easy travel back to the room. You could plan based on the easiest part to travel to and from. Honestly, it doesn't matter what plan you pick. Question, have you ever been over the holidays? If not, then I would plan on spending more time in Epcot to experience the International Festival of the Holidays. Also, I would look at seeing the Candlelight Processional. Since you are returning in April, I would focus on everything that is holiday specific.
 
I always pick my park on crowd calendars (Kenny the Pirate or Touring Plans). I like to do dlxdp, so I usually will pick a lunch ADR either in my morning park or at a nearby resort. Then I typically take an afternoon break and make a ADR for a signature location. I have park hopper, so I am open to where I want to go in the evening. This may be based on crowd calendar, but it also might be based on FP+.
I think if you are going to do morning EMH then you just do it in the morning and then hop somewhere else for the afternoon as it just gets too busy. It seems good for the first 2 or 3 hours only which for me is usually enough to get most of what we want to do done.
 
You may just have to see what happens... while having a list of your priorities running through your head.
Also, I don't think it's particularly difficult to get from a any park to a hotel dining reservation. It can be more time consuming, but it isn't always. You could also consider paying for a cab for convenience. If your meals were scheduled inside parks, then I'd say that sticking to that park makes sense, considering how deep in the parks the restaurants tend to be. But, since they're at hotels, I don't think you need to be all that concerned about what's closest.
Granted, for dinner, regardless of my pre-planning, I almost always end up a little off track by then. It still always works out.
 

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