what order to parks??

[angbuesing]

Is there a certain order anyone can suggest for going to the parks? We are going the week of the 4th of July and this is our first visit so any help would be greatly appreciated

 

[DeterminedOne]

Which park do you love the most? Go there first! If you don't have a favorite, are you staying on site? If so, go to the park closest to your hotel.

 

[LanaJae]

Is there a certain order anyone can suggest for going to the parks? We are going the week of the 4th of July and this is our first visit so any help would be greatly appreciated

I would definately go to Magic Kingdom first, and then at least once again on a first visit.

 

[Mkrop]

I would look at the schedule and see what parks have EMH and decide if you are going to utilize them if you are staying onsite, if you are not staying onsite than I would avoid those parks on those days.

 

[BCVBRUCE]

I would look at the schedule and see what parks have EMH and decide if you are going to utilize them if you are staying onsite, if you are not staying onsite than I would avoid those parks on those days.

Fourth of July week = Jam Packed Parks and Jam Packed WDW Resorts.

Therefore, if you are staying off-site, definitely avoid those parks that are doing Extra Magic Hours(EMH) for that day.

If you are staying on-site, you can TRY to take advantage of EMH, but BEWARE. There are approx 23000 rooms at WDW. Figure about 4 people per room. Thats potentially 92000 WDW resort guests trying to "take advantage" of EMH.

In order to make Morning EMH work, you MUST be at the park right as the gates open for the WDW resort guests. Ride/see what you can and then I suggest leaving that park early, go to the pool, take a nap and/or etc..

Evening EMH are a different story. There is no rush to get to the park. It is in all likelyhood jam packed. Non resort guests, however, can not do anything except shop. The only other thing you have to consider, besides the potential of 92000 WDW resort guests flocking to the park for Evening EMH, is HOW GOOD IS YOUR/FAMILY's ENDURANCE??? If you start visiting parks at 8am and Magic Kingdom will stay open to 2am for resort guests, can you hack it?

Oh, I forgot Disney Vacation Club(DVC). I think that is another 10000 rooms and potentially another 40000 resort guests. Darn those evil DVC'ers!

 

[swilphil]

Definitely get park hopper passes. If one park is too crowded, you can hop to another.

Get to parks at opening. Do EMH at MK for 2-3 hours then leave for another park (preferably after a mid-day pool break).

Follow the "Day After" approach. Whichever park had EMH the previous day, go to that park the next morning. I'm not sure if this is quite as useful now that there's morning and evening EMH, but we've used it in the past with good results during the July 4th week.

DO NOT GO TO MK ON THE DAY OF JULY 4TH! It will be way too crowded. I would suggest Epcot since it's the biggest park. If you must see the July 4th MK fireworks, take the monorail over to the Contemporary and watch from their 4th floor viewing deck. I think MK might have the same fireworks on July 3rd.

 

[Luvchefmic]

Is there a certain order anyone can suggest for going to the parks? We are going the week of the 4th of July and this is our first visit so any help would be greatly appreciated

Oh your FIRST trip how wonderful for you, I remember that 1st time excitement....wait I still feel that excitement! When I first went in the 1980's someone told me to best experience WDW, go to Magic Kingdom 1st and take the Ferry over, feel the Magic as the castle comes into your view it's like Walt himself is saying

Twent plus years later I still maintain that as the true start to my trip have a great time!

Ruthie

 

[Kristineamb]

As Disney friend of mine once said, You must start and end every trip to WDW on pixie dust....ie go to the Magic Kingdom your first and last day!

 

[ksloane]

Since this is such a BUSY time of the year and this is your first trip, I would subscribe to www.tourguidemike.com. He does a chart that recommends which parks on which days (which ones will be the least crowded)..I used him last summer about the same time and while others on the buses were talking about long lines and how hot and miserable it was to wait for 30 minutes or more for one ride, we only waited in one line for longer than 10-15 minutes and we went against Tour Guide Mike for it as it was our last day and we really wanted to ride it one more time.....

If you'll take the time to really dig in and read his articles, he'll also recommend which rides in which order (based on the people in your party and what type of rides they like)....This proved to be almost as valuable to me as the least crowded charts for our first trip.

 

[patches07]

I would look at the schedule and see what parks have EMH, and then we would decide.