Confused about Park Strategy. Can you help?

[aimathy]

I love planning our Disney trips, but this time around the 180 days has snuck up on me and I have to make our ADPs tomorrow. I'm so far behind! I need to figure out (today!) which parks we are going to on which days, so I'll know which restaurants to book. In the past, I've used a handful of variables to decide which parks on which days, but this year we seem wide open. We will be there from 1/6 - 1/14.

I've been following the crowd calendars on all the main sites, but I've realized that I'm confused about something. Many times, we would go to a park with EMH and stay there all day. I've learned that many people warn against this and say to go for the EMH and then park hop to a different park for the day. This is where I get confused!

We don't generally love to park hop because it just seems to waste so much time with traveling. Have you found it makes a huge difference? Is it better to just skip EMH, pick a "slower" park for the day and get there for rope drop? It seems like if you go for EMH and then transfer parks, you not only lose time traveling, but you also get to the new park at the height of it's busy day and then you're stuck on longer lines there too. Does this make sense?

I have no idea how I'm going to get these days all in order so quickly! Eeeek. Any help today would be appreciated!!

 

[Robo]

Have fun planning!

 

[snowwhite84]

Yes, I prefer to skip EMH, pick a slower park, and get there at rope drop. The exception is if there is an evening EMH park staying open much later than the others, like MK often does, and I want to be out late. Then I would still do the rope drop morning at a non EMH park, take an afternoon break, have a nice dinner, then spend the evening at an EMH park. Good luck!

 

[marissamayhem]

I only use the EMH in the morning/parkhop in the evening strategy when we plan to relax in the afternoon at the resort, because you're right, we'd hit the other park around the time when things start to get busy. (Although that'd be a good time to have our FP+ scheduled.) If you are going to be at the parks all day, you can definitely skip the EMH and go to a less busy park for the day.

 

[Alesia]

The park with EMH is always considerably busier than the other parks by about noon.

My advice: Don't go to a park with EMH if you aren't planning on hopping.

 

[Baklava]

Hi there! Our dates coincide!

My plan is here: http://www.disboards.com/threads/our-hoopdeedoo-debut-advice-welcome.3418896/

and is based on easywdw recommendations and tips from friendly Disers. You can also read a thread I started about easywdw where I got really good advice here: http://www.disboards.com/threads/easy-wdw-opinions.3426122/page-3#post-53985455

Where are you staying?

 

[ElsaColon]

I don't know if this will help but this is what I do. We hit rope drop at the park we want to get the most done or the park we feel will be most crowded later in the day. Then we will usually do lunch at the park we did rope drop at and either A) go back and take a nap at the resort then continue to park #2 or B) continue to park #2. I prefer plan A because really if you're exhausted you won't enjoy time at the parks. We usually like to close down the second park we are in meaning we are there until 9 or later usually.

There are times, like on a MK day, that we will do rope drop, have lunch, go back to the resort for a nap and then come back to MK to finish up the park if we feel we didn't accomplish all we wanted in that day. We usually do this on days that MK is open until 12:00 or 1:00pm regardless of EMH.

It all depends on what you want to accomplish each day. There are days we start at AK and finish at HS or Epcot. It all depends on what we want to ride, what shows we want to see and where we want to eat.

Also, make your FP later in the day because making your fast passes early in the morning is just kind of a waste since most of the rides are walk on except for a few (Mine Train, I'm talking to you!)

However, If you do rope drop at MK you can walk on Mine Train and do it again which we've done during less busier times.

Anyway, I hope this helps! Good luck! I too feel stress around ADR time but I know in the end it's all going to be amazing. It's all about making new memories so don't be afraid to go outside of the box Have fun!

 

[bbjunkie]

The conventional wisdom that says to hop to a non-EMH park after morning EMH is this:

Because people onsite can take advantage of EMH, and many do NOT have park hoppers, they go to the park with the EMH and are forced to stay in that park for the day because they don't have to option to go elsewhere, thereby making it noticably more crowded once the late morning crowds start to arrive an fill the park. I have also heard that this is an even more important concept during low crowd times, although I can't attest to that because we are never available to go at low crowd times.

Does that make sense?

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

We prefer a more non-traditional approach to this, which is probably why it works so well. EMH morning parks are incredibly crowded throughout the late morning and afternoon hours. However, many guests that arrived early and fought through the crowds will get hot, tired and frustrated and leave early. Others will hop to another park midday as is widely suggested on this board.

This leaves the parks wide open at night so we prefer to hop into the morning EMH parks 3-4 hours before closing time. The lines are at their very shortest and headliners can be visited multiple times with little to no waiting. We always have our own vehicle so hopping goes much quicker than depending on WDW transportation.

Have a fun trip!

 

[MataHari22]

I love planning our Disney trips, but this time around the 180 days has snuck up on me and I have to make our ADPs tomorrow. I'm so far behind! I need to figure out (today!) which parks we are going to on which days, so I'll know which restaurants to book. In the past, I've used a handful of variables to decide which parks on which days, but this year we seem wide open. We will be there from 1/6 - 1/14.

I've been following the crowd calendars on all the main sites, but I've realized that I'm confused about something. Many times, we would go to a park with EMH and stay there all day. I've learned that many people warn against this and say to go for the EMH and then park hop to a different park for the day. This is where I get confused!

We don't generally love to park hop because it just seems to waste so much time with traveling. Have you found it makes a huge difference? Is it better to just skip EMH, pick a "slower" park for the day and get there for rope drop? It seems like if you go for EMH and then transfer parks, you not only lose time traveling, but you also get to the new park at the height of it's busy day and then you're stuck on longer lines there too. Does this make sense?

I have no idea how I'm going to get these days all in order so quickly! Eeeek. Any help today would be appreciated!!

This year, we are going without park hoppers, so there will be two days that we will have to go against recommended park days so that we can see the parade and Wishes. But for every other day I have planned, I am going to the most recommended park. Two reasons that I am going without the park hoppers, the first is that I am using that money instead for MVMCP tickets and second, now that my touring style is a bit more relaxed due to health reasons, I feel like I am wasting time and effort/energy traveling between parks. Last year, I ended up not even using my park hoppers.

If you are spending all your days at WDW then you could probably do what I did and follow the crowd calendar for majority of the days and just do two days where you don't to be able to see every thing if you don't want to hop. I am going 11/12-11/20. I don't do parks on arrival of departure day. So I have 2 days for Epcot, 1 for AK, 1 for HS and 2 for MK - plus a MVMCP. All my days are recommended, except the last two, which will be MK and Epcot, and they are PM EMH, not AM.

There was a good discussion earlier in the week about EMH and Josh from easywdw even explained his thoughts on EMH and recommended parks. I thought there was a lot of good discussion on that thread.

http://www.disboards.com/threads/easy-wdw-opinions.3426122/page-2#post-53984984

ETA: I just looked at the January calendar and it looks like the parade runs every night in January. So I cannot see why you couldn't just follow the crowd calendars and still see all the entertainment. With such low crowd projections and going on recommended days, you would probably be able to get a lot done without the hopping. Maybe I'm missing something though.

 

[tlmadden73]

I guess it depends how many park days you are doing. I like hopping as it gives you a BIT of a mid-day break just to sit on the buses. But you are right, it does take some time to hop.

I plan on going to WDW for a short 2- park day trip. I am going to MK for EMH. Why? Because it is the exact day of my son's 3rd birthday AND because I plan on utilizing that early morning EMH (and hopefully the rest of my family will go to). I am going with extended family .. and I pretty much told them my plan: That my wife, son and I plan on leaving the hotel at 7:00 AM to get to the park before 8:00 AM EMH. They don't have to come that early, but I am not going to wait for them.

We plan on staying that whole day .. more crowded or not. My wife and I have hoppers, but we will still stay the day there just because that is our only MK day.

My theory is .. if you aren't going to utilize that EMH . then don't plan to go that day.
The utilize the morning EMH and hop over somewhere else seems like a good plan.

Though I often wonder .... since a lot of the touring sites ADVISE against going to a park on EMH days .. if enough people follow that advice .. wouldn't it be LESS crowded?

 

[honeybunches]

We like to be up early and take a midday break. So we do the morning EMH park, stay til lunch, then head back for a nap. When we get up, we either hop to a new park, or go back to the one we left.

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

Though I often wonder .... since a lot of the touring sites ADVISE against going to a park on EMH days .. if enough people follow that advice .. wouldn't it be LESS crowded?

That's what makes planning fun. There is a lot of advice for when to arrive, when to leave, throwaway rooms, multiple magic bands, rope drop, breakfast ADRs etc. etc. etc.

But it all boils down to simply being where the crowds are the smallest and the lines are the shortest.

 

[Alesia]

Though I often wonder .... since a lot of the touring sites ADVISE against going to a park on EMH days .. if enough people follow that advice .. wouldn't it be LESS crowded?

Very, very few people follow the advice. When you read here, it seems like everyone plans their trips carefully, but the vast majority of people don't. People on Disney message boards make up a very small portion of Disney visitors.

 

[Frozen2014]

I've only been one time so can't give advice from tons of experience, but I'm the same as you in that we had no interest in park hopping. It just took too much time. We'd go to a park and stay there for the day. The one exception was MNSSHP night where we started at Epcot and then we left for MK around 3pm for the party (gave ourselves 1hr to get there).

Don't stress as it's vacation. I would think that your dates in January will be 'quiet' as per Disney standards and so are pretty flexible. A general rule of thumb (I believe) is to skip MK on Mondays, but overall, you can just pick parks or follow a crowd calendar. And/or if there is a specific hard-to-get restaurant you want such as BOG or CRT, then try that one for latter in your trip...so that would be your MK day. Either way, have an awesome time!

 

[Babe the Blue Ox]

A general rule of thumb (I believe) is to skip MK on Mondays, but overall, you can just pick parks or follow a crowd calendar.!

Monday nights are another great time to hop into MK for late night touring. The park is exceptionally crowded during the day, but many of those guests will tire out and leave by early evening. Just a few weeks ago, we arrived at MK at 8:30 pm and found bumper to bumper traffic leaving the park. We were able to park front row at the TTC and were on the monorail and in the park within minutes.

Here's what we were able to accomplish in just over 3 hours with no FP+

Jungle Cruise
Pirates
Splash Mtn
Big Thunder
Haunted Mansion
7 Dwarfs (5 minute wait right after Wishes). Posted wait was 65 minutes.
Pooh
Teacups
Speedway
Space Mtn 4x in just over 30 minutes.

We also watched the parade and fireworks and had a couple of Dole Whips.

I believe that our longest wait was for Pirates at about 15 minutes.

We found the park to be significantly more crowded at night on non-EMH days or Mondays.

 

[aimathy]

Thank you SO much to everyone for your advice! It really helped and definitely settled me down into planning mode, feeling a bit more confident!

Baklava, we are staying at the Art of Animation in a Nemo suite. There are five of us; myself, DH, DD (19), DS (15) and DD (7).

I wish I had time to respond to each of you personally....but my time is ticking away! Thank you again for the help!! It is truly appreciated.

 

[vicb]

Yes, you are getting good advice here... my 2 cents.... hop, hop, hop! My family loves to hop. We never do am emh anymore (only did MK once when our kids were little tykes). We typically do rope drop at a non-am emh. Consult crowd calendars and follow advice. We do however do eve emh which is particularily awesome at MK. We like it at HS too, less effective at Epcot but all parks have great night time atmosphere. We will eat dinner frequently in Epcot after hopping from another park (usually with a quick rest stop at our resort). Or we will hop into HS or MK around 6pm or later for evening fun after being at another park earlier in the day. Last year we started in Epcot then hopped to AK just to ride EE around 4pm, worked great for us on a short trip.

You are going in Jan when some park hours might be shorter than spring or summer, hopping is nice when a park closes at 7pm, you can hop over to Epcot for a few rides or dinner then Illuminations which is always at 9pm. Then you could stroll thru IGateway to Boardwalk for a little more nightlife then cab it back to your AoA resort. Just a thought.

PS. Going in January? Take fleece, gloves and a hat just in case... been there many times in Feb and used them... but still take a swim suit you never know what you'll get. Good luck!

 

[Delirium]

If you spend all day at the EMH park, you will lose MORE time waiting in line throughout the day than it would take you to hop over there later after spending most of the day at a less crowded park.

 

[ZoZo]

The conventional wisdom that says to hop to a non-EMH park after morning EMH is this:

Because people onsite can take advantage of EMH, and many do NOT have park hoppers, they go to the park with the EMH and are forced to stay in that park for the day because they don't have to option to go elsewhere, thereby making it noticably more crowded once the late morning crowds start to arrive an fill the park. I have also heard that this is an even more important concept during low crowd times, although I can't attest to that because we are never available to go at low crowd times.

Does that make sense?

This is a great explanation. Because so many people don't have park hopper tickets. they're "stuck" staying at a morning EMH park all day because they can't go to another park. That definitely makes the park more crowded later in the day.

You'll notice on easywdw.com that Josh nearly always recommends skipping the parks with a morning EMH with his park recommendations. He also says that if you do choose to do a morning EMH, you should hop to a recommended park before noon. I love his site because he explains why he recommends for/against a certain park on a certain day. EMH is a big factor for his recommendations. He's never steered me wrong!