What Strategy for Deciding What Parks on Which Days?

[trubgerg]

I think length of stay and how frequently you visit the parks are the most important factors. If you're there for a short stay I don't find much value in worrying about planning around crowds. For longer stays, though, I think if you get to a point on any day where you're tired or the crowds are too much it's a lot easier to just throw in the towel.

 

[chris benton]

If your ADR day is May 5th, you're going to be there the same time we are. Our trip is Nov. 2-5. We were there the same week in 2018, though in 2018 it was a longer trip, Nov. 3-8. That weekend is a bit of an anomaly. Normally people say to avoid EPCOT on weekends during Food and Wine. But last year MK closed at 4:30 on Monday due to an annual cast member party. Touring Plans is predicting that early close to happen the same Monday in 2019. What we found last year is that most people looking for longer park hours that Monday went to Epcot instead; if I remember correctly, both AK and HS closed by 8 pm. We made the mistake of EPCOT that Monday, and it was a madhouse. So if possible, I'd avoid EPCOT on Sat, Sun, and Mon. Are you going to have hoppers? If so, I suspect that Monday will be a great day to visit MK then hop someplace else by 4:30. HS is probably also good for a day that's traditionally slower, so that there are fewer locals in the park for GE.

We were there in 2018 during that time frame.
Since we always have hoppers, and we always try to avoid crowds to maximize what we do in the parks by avoiding lines, we TARGETED MK that day, since most ppl are not going to pay 100 bones to go to a park that closes at 4:30 (unless they have hoppers.)

We did EMM at Hollyweird that day, then bugged out and hopped to MK. Got there at about 12:30, and we absolutely CRUSHED fast passes all day long. At one point, it was just us ping-ponging from splash to btmr one right after the other - tap in to splash, then grab a fp for btmr, tap into btmr, then grab a fp for splash. It was hilarious. We just burned thru fp after fp in each section of the park we wanted to. Since it was an early rising day for EMM, and the EMM breakfast is pig out central, we had a light meal at CHH, but planned to do HDDR 6:30 show, after 4:30 MK close. Best. Day. Ever. When everyone zigs, we zag. Early closure day? THAT'S the park we're going to. AM EMH? That's the park we're going to, then hopping to a different park. Staying at an Epcot resort makes hopping to and from 2 different parks only a few minutes, and is just awesome for getting to a park for rope drop, OR getting back to your room after those parks close in only a few minutes.

 

[Minsc]

We are a bit of an anomaly in that we actually like EMH parks. We do what many have already suggested, and avoid MK on Monday's (although Josh's data shows that rule is not as effective as it once was) and EPCOT on Saturday's when there is a festival going on. Otherwise, we use the same strategy every trip: Rope Drop our chosen park. If a park has morning EMH, we usually prioritize that one. Set our FP's for late morning or early afternoon. Hop to another park with the latest hours (or if we have an ADR there) and close that one down. If a park has evening EMH, we usually prioritize that one unless an ADR overrides.

We switched to this strategy back in 2010 on the advice of my friend who was a VIP Tour Guide, and it has always worked well for us. We get a ton of rides done in the first 2 hours, and again in the last 2-3 hours without FastPasses, but we still use those during the busiest parts of the day. It's also flexible. We can go to whatever park we want and still use the same plan. The downside to this strategy is it works best with Park Hoppers, and your family has to be willing to put in marathon days. We always do, and have always been willing to, although my wife questioned my sanity the first couple of times.

Everyone has a strategy that works best for them. This one works awesome for us.

 

[marie8461]

Thanks, Rach3975. That's a good point about the MK possibly closing at 4:30 on Monday, Nov. 4. I saw that in Touring Plans, but was hoping it was just left in from last year. And, a good reason not to go to Epcot on Monday as we have in years past. Yes, we will have hoppers.

 

[Erzengel]

We also do it based on where we are eating. If for example I'm able to get a reservation for one of the restaurants that's closer to MK, I would consider either doing MK that day.

 

[marie8461]

I was trying to plan dinner at a monorail hotel for an evening when the MK would be open late. Based on past years, that day seemed to have been Wednesday. But, if I look at what they are up to with posting October hours this is not true. I was going to go with Wednesday anyway even if it turned out to be a 9pm closing, but for Oct. it seems they are doing 2 morning EMH at MK a week - one on Wed. and one on Friday! So based on what some people have said, that may make MK busy on a Wed evening - but probably no busier than if they were open late that night! I think I am just going to go with my plan and if it doesn't work out, I will change the dining reservation later. We are six people - and not so easy to do - but cancellations do open up as things get closer! The week I am going is the first week of MVMCP. That occurs on Friday, Nov. 8. Not sure how that will impact things. Typically, we would have gone to it, but it is the night before we are leaving - so it is not very convenient for us. Plus, tickets have gone up substantially since we were last there! Thanks!

 

[Farro]

Last few trips I've been planning park days around where we wanted to end up at night, if that makes sense.

Say I know AK is open late a few days into my trip, I will schedule an AK day early in trip for the day (different park at night maybe) then an AK late afternoon/night later in the trip (different park in morning). Then start building my days that way.
If Epcot has a night EMH (we like them there), we may do MK during the day and then Epcot at night.

ETC.

 

[KenHutch]

Everyone has their own rules that they have developed. When building for us I follow a couple of rules. We check in on Fridays or Saturdays. I have been able to get fast pass's with ease from Epcot so the 1st 2 days are Epcot. Then we usually do 2 days at Animal Kingdom. For the rest of the trip we split up days between Magic Kingdom and Hollywood. Once I have what park what day down I consult the girls list of where they want to eat and pencil it in. They give me a list of what rides they want for fast pass. I schedule them for 11:00 to 14:00. I have never failed to get all our ADR's and fast pass's. At the parks we then go for the extra fast pass's after our 3 are done and have had great success with this as well.

 

[Forevermarypoppins]

For me, it's all about the fireworks and PM parade in MK. That's dwindling greatly now with "parties" left and right, but that's where I start. Next its the ADR's. My last trip we did 3, one at Ohana ( MK day, monorail ride over ), one at Teppan Edo (Epcot) and one at The Brown Derby ( HS). From there its pretty much set.
ALSO< IF I go over Food and Wine, Then its all about the music acts and I'll be in Epcot more.

 

[djc9699]

We always arrive on Saturday (we drive). We hit MK late afternoon and ride Magic Carpets with FP (tradition) and two other rides on that side of the park. Ride the train around (except now that its down, may do People Mover) then go back to resort for early bed. We hit MK on Sunday at RD, Monday is HS, Tues is AK and Weds is an Epcot/MK split. We then fill in the rest of our two weeks based on availability of DAH and FPs. However, we do not book many ADRs before we book FPs except when going at Christmas and that changes everything anyway depending on what day Christmas falls. We don't pay attention to EMHs much. We do use them if we happen to book a park on that day (except during Christmas where we use them religiously to our advantage). We do purchase EMM though when available (which is why HS is on Monday) and DAH. We do AK on Tues because that is when we can book the Tiffins' FOLK package which we love. We split Epcot into two half days with Future world and then monorail to MK and then WS and walk to HS. We will hit WS another half day but don't typically plan it.

 

[Beer Me]

Opposite of many here I hit parks with morning EMHs. We rope drop and between light early crowds and FPs we get so much done in 3 or 4 hours. Then we hop somewhere else, usually lining up with whatever we have planned for dinner.

 

[KimK2006]

I use Touring Plans to see what is the expected least crowded day. I combine that with if a park has morning EMH's. We find we can get SO much done on these morning EMH's.

 

[evlaina]

I tend to sort my days by the following:
-Avoid morning EMH (we don’t use them)
-Avoid MK on Saturday/ Monday
-Avoid Epcot on a weekend if there’s a festival going on

I also consider holidays/ special occasions (for instance if I want an anniversary or birthday meal somewhere)

Lastly I consider how difficult an ADR might be to get on an early day in my trip, and same for FP. If I want FoP FP for the last day, I don’t plan dinner at MK that same day for example).

This is exactly what I do. We avoid parks with any EMH, because they are likely to be busier all day. Plus we always book PPO breakfasts to get in early so EMH are of no use to us. Galaxy's Edge threw me through a loop though, too. I booked our vacation in January before they announced the early opening, so now I will have 2 days at HS that will likely have both morning and evening EMH on all days for a few months. I booked 8am breakfast at Hollywood & Vine (Kids love Disney Junior still) one day and 9:30am another until I see how the first week weeks go with how they decide on getting people in and out of GE.

I would never do MK on a Monday, Wednesday, or Saturday during party season unless you have Hoppers and head over at night just for Happily Ever After - party days are less busy and we just hop to another park for dinner and that park's evening show.

We're going during Food & Wine and will avoid Epcot on Fri/Sat/Sun.

I also plan my parks/restaurants on what the hard to get dining reservations and FP+ are.

As for the early closing for a CM event one day, it's not always the same day/week. In 2017 there was a CM event at MK on Thursday, 11/30, so it may not affect you. I follow Kenny the Pirate and his free crowd calendar for November isn't up yet but it should be any day now, I bet he'll know when it is.

 

[evlaina]

I was trying to plan dinner at a monorail hotel for an evening when the MK would be open late. Based on past years, that day seemed to have been Wednesday. But, if I look at what they are up to with posting October hours this is not true. I was going to go with Wednesday anyway even if it turned out to be a 9pm closing, but for Oct. it seems they are doing 2 morning EMH at MK a week - one on Wed. and one on Friday! So based on what some people have said, that may make MK busy on a Wed evening - but probably no busier than if they were open late that night! I think I am just going to go with my plan and if it doesn't work out, I will change the dining reservation later. We are six people - and not so easy to do - but cancellations do open up as things get closer! The week I am going is the first week of MVMCP. That occurs on Friday, Nov. 8. Not sure how that will impact things. Typically, we would have gone to it, but it is the night before we are leaving - so it is not very convenient for us. Plus, tickets have gone up substantially since we were last there! Thanks!

FYI on one of the News and Rumors boards they said evening EMH will be back in November. Also, I made my reservations a couple weeks ago for 6 people and we scored absolutely everything we wanted except Storybook Dining with Cinderella with no issues, so you'll be fine as long as you plan your hard to get ADRs towards the end of your trip. Good luck!

 

[monkyby87]

Lately I've planned my park days around what FP+ selections I can make. Aside from avoiding obvious party dates like MNSSHP, that's the only guiding factor for me. If I can get FP+ for the rides I want, I don't care if there's an EMH or not. If I can't get certain FP+ for a date, even if it's an "ideal" time to go, I probably won't try it unless I don't care about rides.

 

[marie8461]

FYI on one of the News and Rumors boards they said evening EMH will be back in November. Also, I made my reservations a couple weeks ago for 6 people and we scored absolutely everything we wanted except Storybook Dining with Cinderella with no issues, so you'll be fine as long as you plan your hard to get ADRs towards the end of your trip. Good luck!

Good to know! Thanks!

 

[andyw715]

Quick question: Last time we went we bought hopper tickets because we (at least half of us) planned on going back to MK most nights to watch fireworks. But that only panned out once.

So you can buy a 10 day single park/day ticket for ~$40 cheaper than a 7day hopper.

Can you burn 2 tickets (2 parks) in one day with the single park ticket?

 

[Bullseye]

I'm going to go against the flow also. We check schedule for EMH's and plan around them. We use the AM ones to get lots of rides in and we also plan one PM one at MK because we like being there late at night. Then depending on which park we plan on being in, we plan ADR's accordingly.

 

[disneysteve]

Does anybody have a strategy they use to plan which parks to visit on which days?

We don't plan in advance. We make sure not to go to the park that has early opening for onsite guests. Other than that, we base it on how we're feeling and what we've already done on that trip. We also consider the weather forecast. If there's a lot of rain expected, we head to MK as that's the best rainy day park. We definitely avoid Epcot and AK. DHS can go either way but most likely you'll find us in MK in the rain. We also try to avoid MK on the weekends when they are typically busier. We do make some FPs the day before so we may decide our park based on what FPs we can snag. Oh, and avoid Epcot on festival weekends for the most part, or just go early in the day.

 

[3smithboys]

I have not been in 4 years, so I’m reading up on everything I can for a trip NEXT summer. We’ve always used the best park websites and mostly stayed away from EMH parks. Although, as my kids got older, we did enjoy EMEH because they could stay up later.

I am surprised by the number of people who are saying they are going to the DAH and the morning pay ones (sorry I forget what they are called.) And just one time... multiple days... I’m not judging at all... I’m just trying to wrap my head around the cost for my family of 5. Not sure how I would convince DH to cough up the $$$ for this!