Crowds in MK on early-entry days

[sailing123]

We leave Friday, and I keep reading to avoid the parks on early entry days if you're not staying at a Disney resort and can't take advantage of early entry. Herein lies my dilemma. My DS will be 5 on Monday. He has his heart set on a birthday at MK -- Monday is early entry for MK. We have lunch reservations at Crystal Palace with Pooh that day. We are not staying at a Disney resort. So my question is, how bad is it REALLY on early entry days? Right now I'm thinking we'll just go with the flow and do what we can do -- we'll be going back at least one other day in the week anyway. We have a 5 year old and an almost-2 year old. We have NO adult agenda for this trip -- the whole thing revolves around having fun together; we won't be doing baby swaps at Space Mountain; we may well do several "chuck bubba relays" at Dumbo. If they want to play for an hour at Donald's boat, okay. Given that attitude, will the crowds still be so thick at MK on Monday that we won't have a good time?

Even though we will "go with the flow", I do have a general idea of what I think we should do first. I'm thinking we get there at 8:30-ish, go into City Hall and get maps and the birthday button for my son. Go to Dumbo first -- I'm sure there will be a line. While we're waiting, have DH take all our passes over to Pooh and get fastpasses. Ride Dumbo, then depending on our fastpass time for Pooh, try doing the carousel/Peter Pan/Small World/Legend of Lion King -- whatever we can do. Ride Pooh, and check the time. If we're not too short on time before lunch, head to Tomorrowland and try doing the speedway (again send DH to get fastpasses for Buzz) and Buzz. If we are short on time, just head to Toontown and hang out there for a while, then head back to the Crystal Palace. After lunch, see how we're all holding up, and maybe head to Frontierland to Tom Sawyer's Island for some run-around time. Then probably head back to our just-barely-off-property resort for naps/pool time. Eat dinner, open presents, have cake, and head back for an evening in the park culminating with fireworks. The next day will be our "off" day (to make up for being up so late).

So am I realistic or crazy?

Sondra

 

[CatOne]

Hmmmm, well, I think if you are prepared for the crowds you can do it. Seems like you have it mapped out pretty well and if you can't fit it all in, don't worry, like you said you'll be back another day. If it's your child's fifth birthday and that is what he has his sights on, go for it!! We got back three weeks ago and we went on EE both days but we got out of the park around 10-11 am. I think Thurs. EE was a lot worse than Mon. Whatever you decide, best of luck and most important HAVE FUN!!

Happy Day
CatOne

 

[mainey-mouse]

We got there by 9:30am one day, and 9:00am the second - both non-EE days, and it was already crowded. Just made me happy I wasn't paying $$$ extra to stay at a resort so I could rush to MK by 7:30am with two kids - to enjoy a whopping 90 minutes of "slow time". I think crowds just come with the territory - with FP, its not that bad with regards to rides.

What is nice about FP is that you can go get your next FP at the beginning of your time interval for your first one - before you even use that first one.

When we were there, Toontown was one of the most crowded and unshaded places - very hot and stressfull. Expect a long line to get in to see Mickey Mouse. I think Toontown had a little playground - but both our kids were too big - and our youngest is 4 - so you might want to verify that your oldest can play there before you head into that. We went to Toontown first but quickly abandoned it in favour of Tom Sawyers Island - much more relaxing.

The speedway had really really long lines. We waited an hour - this was the only thing we actually waited for though. But the kids were so excited about it, that they were happy to wait.

 

[Gagebre]

Just wanted to let you know that we were there this week and there was no water to play in at the boat!! It was sooo hot, but I guess it was because of the drought. There is another playground (still no water) but it is for small kids (I think under 40").