A Quick Word About Gay Days
Gay Days is an event held in the Orlando area each year in June. It is not an official Disney event and the great majority of the participants do not stay on Disney property, but they do visit one of the Disney Parks over a four day span. In 2015, the published schedule indicates they will be visiting the following Parks:
Thursday June 4: Animal Kingdom
Friday June 5: Hollywood Studios
Saturday June 6: Magic Kingdom
Sunday June 7: Epcot
For the first two days, well plan to avoid the Parks that Gay Days is visiting because the additional crowds will have a more substantial impact. Because Animal Kingdom has a limited number of attractions and is open fewer hours, the Gay Days crowd will make the Park considerably busier and it will be difficult to avoid them. Gay Days participants generally arrive at the Parks around 11am and leave much earlier than the Parks close. However, with the short 9am to 7pm hours at Animal Kingdom, theyll plan to arrive earlier and wont leave early enough that we can get a lot done after theyre gone. On Friday, the Gay Days crowds will just add to an already busy Hollywood Studios because its also Star Wars Weekends. Luckily, almost all of the Gay Days participants go to the Park assigned by the schedule, so they do not have much impact at all on the other Parks. If you visit the recommended Parks each day (or avoid the Park designated as the Gay Days Park), its unlikely that youll even notice theyre there. In fact, they can actually help clear out Magic Kingdom on Saturday and Epcot on Sunday due to all the people who will avoid the Park that Gay Days is visiting solely because there will be a lot of gay people around. Because the Gay Days contingent isnt that large and the fact that they tend to arrive late and leave early, we can get even more done than usual at Magic Kingdom and Epcot if we arrive by Park opening and visit the headliners first thing. Since thats our plan of attack anyway, we dont need to be concerned about visiting the Magic Kingdom on Saturday or Epcot on Sunday. I still recommend avoiding the Animal Kingdom on Thursday and Hollywood Studios on Friday.