5 Days, 4 Parks - Please help deciding which park for which day

[Alice777]

Hello,
My adult son and I'll be at Disneyworld May 11 - 15. We've been to Disneyworld twice 3 years ago. We are from Southern Cal, close to Disneyland. My son has/had Disneyland year pass for years.

When I was planning 3 years ago, I remember people suggested that if we can we should avoid Early Magic Hours parks because they get crowded more than when it's not EMH so we didn't do EMH parks. Can't decide what we should do this trip.

For the days we are there, these are the parks with EMH: Monday: AK, Tuesday: Epcot, Wednesday: MK, Thursday: Epcot, and Friday: MK.

We decided not to buy Hopper tickets this time. Please help plan which day would be best for the each park. We can't decide if we should do Epcot or AK for 2 days (no back-to-back on same parks). Once day each for MK and HS is more than enough for us since most of the rides are same as Disneyland. We are planning to do sit-down meal at dinner time only this time (last time we did 2 sit-down meals per day).

Thank you

 

[Quellman]

Good idea to reduce the number of full service meals to 1 per day. that will free up some time. There is an adage that parks are generally a bit more busy on EMH days. Though I feel that is more true for evening magic hours.
If you can be at the parks early, like close to opening, those morning Extra Magic Hours will certainly help you to get things accomplished before most guests begin arriving around 1030.
There are a few paid events for Magic Kingdom that you might consider as well, the After Hours Event, the Villains Event, and the Earl Morning magic Fantasyland. The order of preference would be those 3 in that order.

Right now, unless you are spending time in the countries at EPCOT, you may not find so much to do that that would be of interest. The front of the park is literally torn with construction. Outside of Test Track, Soarin (which you have at California), and Frozen ever after, most all other attractions are minimal waits most of the time, especially towards the evening. Animal Kingdom still has Pandora which commands long waits. Animal explorations and additional for cost tours can easily extend your days, especially if you take in both stage shows and visit some of the many animal encounters and talks with keepers. I would likely consider Animal Kingdom as your second park.

Whatever you decide you could always not plan the last day, and just visit the place you want do the most. Many FP experiences can still be booked the day off, and some still for headlijner attractions, especially for a party of 2.

 

[sharonabe]

We are from Southern Cal, close to Disneyland. My son has/had Disneyland year pass for years.

When I was planning 3 years ago, I remember people suggested that if we can we should avoid Early Magic Hours parks because they get crowded more than when it's not EMH so we didn't do EMH parks. Can't decide what we should do this trip.

For the days we are there, these are the parks with EMH: Monday: AK, Tuesday: Epcot, Wednesday: MK, Thursday: Epcot, and Friday: MK.

My question for you is how do you guys do with the time change? Coming from CA, those morning EMH times are going to feel VERY early to you. If they start at 8:00, you'll want to be at the bus stop no later than 7:00. I would assume that means a 6:00 wake up which is 3:00 a.m. for you. If you wanted to try it once, I'd make the plan for one of the last ones in the week. If that Friday MK is a morning EMH, maybe plan that one into your schedule. By then, your bodies should be on east coast time and it won't feel so bad.

We love the morning EMH, but we also do park hoppers so we can switch parks if it begins to feel too crowded.