Please help me choose a park for our 1st day!

[njsoccermom]

I was thinking either animal kingdom or MGM for our 1st day which is Sat. April 5th. When I looked on the charts it said the best parks for that day were Magic Kingdom and Epcot. I always thought you should avoid MK on the weekend. Am I wrong? I would prefer not to do Epcot our 1st day there.
I would appreciate your help in deciding. We can probably be at the park by 12.

 

[abbeyville2862]

Our first day is April 5th too!
We are actually starting out with MK on Saturday. I thought the same thing you did when I saw the chart. But, given that Spectro and Wishes are only scheduled for Saturday, Monday & Thursday the week we are there, we are heading to the MK after an early dinner to watch the parade and fireworks. From what I am reading, these two shows cannot be missed.
So, I say GO FOR IT!! What better way to start our vacation

See you there in 8 days!

Have a great time!!

 

[SoArIn1127]

I would say either AK or EPCOT. I think MK will be over crowded that day..Also HS has EMH a.m that day, that will probably bring more people there..

 

[Jrabbit910]

I love starting off our WDW vacation at Epcot & ending it with Illuminations. Its a great start to any trip and you cant beat the food but if you cant go to MK on any other day, then I say enjoy your first day there!
If it gets too crowded for you, just hop on the monorail!

Have a great trip and enjoy!

 

[Wendybird55]

I don't know about most of you, but when I go to Disney, I always like to go to the MK first - no matter how crowded it may or may not be. Just walking down mainstreet and seeing the castle - now that's Disney and always a perfect way for me to start my trip. I just don't feel like I'm in Disney until I walk down main street.

I get park hoppers so sometimes I just go get my feel of MK - I may watch the parade then leave for another park. Or knowing I'll be back to MK again later in the week, miss the parade and catch some rides while everyone else is lining up and watching the parade.

 

[AnastasiaTremaine]

Ditto, Wendybird. The only way for me to begin a Disney vacation is full-on Disney and the Disneyest of them all is the Magic Kingdom. In full disclosure of lameness, nothing sets my heart ablaze like seeing the castle at the end of Main Street, USA. *sigh* So that's what I would do. You're getting a hopper, no? Just start there for a couple hours and then head off to AK or MGM via the bus. And have fun!!

 

[mickeysgirl17]

I would not do MK on the weekend. Especially a Saturday.

That being said, I love doing AK on our first day. AK always closes early between 5 and 7pm usually, so this guarantees me and my family to go back to our hotel afterwards and just relax, unpack, have some dinner, etc.

I don't like doing a park that is open late on our first day, because this will automatically burn us out! We're already driving 3 hours to WDW, then doing a park and this is enough to get us very very tired which will give me the very very difficult job of getting my family up the next day!

DHS would be my 2nd choice because there are a lot of shows where you can sit and relax, plus its not that big of a park where we'll be doing a lot of walking.

 

[abbeyville2862]

mickeysgirl17: Would you head to the MK on a Saturday if it was the only chance you had to see Spectro & Wishes? That is why we are contemplating MK on a Saturday evening. We will arrive mid morning and will be hanging out at the resort until dinner and really want to see these two shows....and Saturday is our only chance due to scheduling, etc..
Also, the crowd calendar says go to MK on this Saturday for some reason.

I'd really hate to start our vacation out on the wrong foot, so am I crazy to even be thinking about MK on Saturday evening for just the parade and Wishes alone?

 

[luvgoing2disney]

Is this your first trip? If so, I would go to MK if even for half a day. To us, there is just nothing like starting out and ending with MK.

As another poster said, I would really pay attention to what days the parades will take place.

 

[abbeyville2862]

Yes, it is. We will be there for 8 days with DD6 and DS3 and my parents. We are so excited!! I am doing my due dilligence and absorbing all of the info I can to make it easy on everyone.....I love the disboards. It has been so helpful.
They are only doing Spectro Sat, Mon & Thurs when we are there. Thursday we have BBQ so not an option on the parade and wishes. Monday we are at Epcot!
So, I'm stuck. It's either Saturday or miss them entirely.
There are ADR's made that I would've did differently if I'd started reading the boards before I made them all.
At any rate, so excited to go!

 

[RllngRckBrw]

For some reason I have found AK to be insane of saturdy, however this may have just been a fluke the few times it happened to us.

 

[Blessed_wth_Triplets]

I guess I'm opposite a lot of people...but we like to start at our least favorite park...DHS...UG suggested that and it worked well last time...so as to not set the expectations too high by visiting MK first...make sense?

 

[terriluvsbobby]

You definately should go to MK. It is wonderful to be there on your first day/night.

 

[rainwatter]

I guess I'm opposite a lot of people...but we like to start at our least favorite park...DHS...UG suggested that and it worked well last time...so as to not set the expectations too high by visiting MK first...make sense?

We are doing something similar. We are starting in epcot and working our way towards the magic kingdom, though we are going during a buisy season so we can watch the evening entertainment any time. I would probably go to MK first if it was my only chance to see wishes.

 

[scrapquitler]

MK is always our first park. No matter what. Entering the park by walking up Main Street USA and seeing the Castle tells us that we are at Disney World. Its just a cheesy tradition our family has, and anyone suggesting otherwise would probably get run out of town.

If our first day is super crowded, we don't stay at MK all day long, we'll leave and go to another park for the rest of the day, but we always start the trip with a few hours at MK.

Likewise, it always our LAST park as well.

 

[JaxCon]

What "crowd calendar" do you guys use?

 

[mickeysgirl17]

mickeysgirl17: Would you head to the MK on a Saturday if it was the only chance you had to see Spectro & Wishes? That is why we are contemplating MK on a Saturday evening. We will arrive mid morning and will be hanging out at the resort until dinner and really want to see these two shows....and Saturday is our only chance due to scheduling, etc..
Also, the crowd calendar says go to MK on this Saturday for some reason.

I'd really hate to start our vacation out on the wrong foot, so am I crazy to even be thinking about MK on Saturday evening for just the parade and Wishes alone?

If your going just for the evening to do the parade and fireworks, then yes, I would do it. Spectro and Wishes are outstanding shows and they are not to be missed.

I highly recommend the crowd calander and use it all the time, but take into consideration that the crowd calander goes based on parks that are not hosting EMH and are also bigger parks that can handle crowds better. It also using the method that most people travel on Saturdays and therefore will not be going to a park that day. I don't believe in this method as most people travel in the morning anyway and then head to a park in the afternoon or evening. I love Epcot on Saturdays because the park is so large that crowds are dispersed much better and you won't notice crowds as much but I recommend AK for the first day because you can relax after touring the park when it closes early. Unfortunately, although AK is the largest park of all, the actual space that guests see isn't very big and the small pathways can get congested. Either way, I would rather do any park besides MK on a Saturday, but if this is the only night to see the parade and fireworks, then you should go just for those.

I have been to MK on a Saturday 2x and vowed never to go again! Crowds were unmanegable and even with fastpass, we couldn't get everything done.

 

[abbeyville2862]

We could switch and do Epcot on Saturday for Illuminations and do MK on Monday for Spectro & Wishes. Monday is an EMH evening, (we are offsite). Monday we have HS in AM and Epcot in PM.

Which will be worse? Saturday evening crowd or Monday evening at MK EMH?
Do you think we should switch or keep it as is?

Thanks for all of the great posts!

7 more days. Yipee!