Determining which park to visit each day?

[bcbmommy]

In planning which parks you do each day, do you have a method you go by? We were thinking of doing AK for our first day, which is a Sunday. My daughter thought MK would probably be busy that day since it's a weekend. We're going to get park hoppers, so we'll be able to go to a different park if anyone wants to that evening. On Monday, since extra evening hours are in Epcot, should we hit a different park that morning? Maybe MK or HS? I've done this before, but it's been several years, and I honestly don't remember how I went about planning each day!

 

[tetera]

https://www.disneytouristblog.com/best-worst-days-week-visit-every-park-disney-world/

 

[kylenne]

Personally we tend to start at whichever park we're closest to. On Crescent Lake stays that's Epcot, monorail resort it's MK. Unless it's MK during party season or avoiding Epcot during festival weekends I really don't bother to agonize over which park to go to on which day to avoid crowds tbqh, with respect to Bricker. A solid touring strategy and LLs means it doesn't really matter.

On Monday, since extra evening hours are in Epcot, should we hit a different park that morning?

I really haven't noticed EEH making a difference in day crowd levels. People are just as likely to hop in to do them as choose to spend their whole days there. It's about 50/50 what we'll do on a given EEH day.

 

[bluezy]

We do whatever we feel like doing. We typically arrive on a Sunday morning (we drive) and this is basically what our last 2 trips have looked like:

Sunday: EP from about 2:00- 8:00
Monday: Rope drop EE at DHS (take afternoon break)
Tuesday: Rope drop EE at MK
Wednesday: Sleep in and go to EP in the afternoon/evening
Thursday: Rope drop AK -- usually finished here by mid-afternoon. Head to either MK or DHS after dinner for nighttime show.
Friday & Saturday: Sleep in and head back to whichever parks we feel like going to. Usually end at MK on Saturday evening.

Full disclosure: We buy LL/ILL (or whatever they're calling right now) for every day of our stay, so we're not really worried about crowd levels for the most part, though we do realize that on days that there are higher crowd levels at the park we're at, that will make it more difficult to book additional rides after the first 3 pre-scheduled ones. We also try to head to MK one evening that we're not watching the fireworks because we know we can get on several rides during "fireworks" time while everyone else is staking out their spot.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I only have two rules for picking park days -

Avoid Epcot on the weekends. I will do FW in the morning but I try to leave the park around noon.

Try to do MK on a party day for low crowds.

After that I try to mix it up and go wherever we like.

We used to be very “MK must be our first park” people but this trip we are staying at AKL and going to AK for a bit on arrival day. We will do MK for RD the next morning. This is a EEH day so we will leave midday and go back to the park. We have park hoppers also.

 

[gottalovepluto]

Don't worry about extra evening hours, they do not affect daytime crowds.

My only rule is no Epcot Fri-Sun. If I have to I'll do Fri morning but I'm out right after lunch.

 

[bcbmommy]

We do whatever we feel like doing. We typically arrive on a Sunday morning (we drive) and this is basically what our last 2 trips have looked like:

Sunday: EP from about 2:00- 8:00
Monday: Rope drop EE at DHS (take afternoon break)
Tuesday: Rope drop EE at MK
Wednesday: Sleep in and go to EP in the afternoon/evening
Thursday: Rope drop AK -- usually finished here by mid-afternoon. Head to either MK or DHS after dinner for nighttime show.
Friday & Saturday: Sleep in and head back to whichever parks we feel like going to. Usually end at MK on Saturday evening.

Full disclosure: We buy LL/ILL (or whatever they're calling right now) for every day of our stay, so we're not really worried about crowd levels for the most part, though we do realize that on days that there are higher crowd levels at the park we're at, that will make it more difficult to book additional rides after the first 3 pre-scheduled ones. We also try to head to MK one evening that we're not watching the fireworks because we know we can get on several rides during "fireworks" time while everyone else is staking out their spot.

We are actually arriving the night before, so hoping to get a good night's rest before our first park day. I still have to figure out if we're staying at BW our first night, or going a cheaper route since we may get in late. Thank you for the example week, that definitely helps. We're only going to be there 5 full days, so we want to make the most of it. I hate the idea of having to buy LL after spending so much on all the other aspects of Disney, but I suppose we may have to do that.

 

[bcbmommy]

I only have two rules for picking park days -

Avoid Epcot on the weekends. I will do FW in the morning but I try to leave the park around noon.

Try to do MK on a party day for low crowds.

After that I try to mix it up and go wherever we like.

We used to be very “MK must be our first park” people but this trip we are staying at AKL and going to AK for a bit on arrival day. We will do MK for RD the next morning. This is a EEH day so we will leave midday and go back to the park. We have park hoppers also.

What do you mean by "party day"?

 

[mi*vida*loca]

What do you mean by "party day"?

The Christmas or Halloween party days. The park closes at 6 pm to day guests. Crowds are historically lower those days since most people would rather go to MK when it has longer hours.

 

[bcbmommy]

The Christmas or Halloween party days. The park closes at 6 pm to day guests. Crowds are historically lower those days since most people would rather go to MK when it has longer hours.

Okay, that makes sense. Thank you!

 

[Tom_E_D]

For recent stats on wait times by day of week, see here: https://wdwpassport.com/tips-tricks...the-week-to-visit-each-walt-disney-world-park

 

[cruising spud]

Our family relaxes and gets to bed early the day of our Disney arrival. Because of this, we tend to do Animal Kingdom the next day. Why? Anmimal Kingdom has the earliest entry time, and we are at our freshest. If we are staying at a Deluxe, we do Epcot and Magic Kingdom the days they have extended evening hours.

 

[GatorChris]

I've been trying to do my best to figure it out. The problem is that everyone has a different opinion. Touristblog and a YouTuber I watch says avoid MK on Mondays, but WDWpassport says Tuesdays are the worst. Some say Saturday is great, and another website says weekends are full of locals. Which is it?

And each park is the same way.

What's interesting is that when you look at the actual numbers, the average wait between the best and worst days are about 5-6 minutes. MK has a bigger difference from best to worst, but the weekdays are all pretty close.

After about a month of research, I'm thinking I'm just going to do what my heart tells me to do and have a great time. Shoot, I'm going in summer, so every day will be a trip to the oven.

 

[_19disnA]

I don't think it matters. Some think MK is busy on Sunday since many arrive that day, but people can arrive any day of the week, not just Sunday. We went to AK one day (middle of the week, but don't recall the exact day) a few years ago and it was wall-to-wall people and nearly impossible to walk around on those narrow pathways. We were glad we had park hopper passes and gave up and went to a different park that wasn't nearly as crowded.

Historical data and lots of studying isn't going to tell you much since even Disney has no idea how many locals with AP's will just decide to show up some day when the weather is good. The good thing with Epcot is there are very wide walkways, so it doesn't get all jammed up like some of the other parks.

Lots of people go to Disney, so just assume it will be crowded and go to the parks you like best. We like to do the rides/shows in one area of the park and then move to the next. Zig-zagging all over the park to try a save a few minutes in some ride lines wastes a lot of time and everyone gets exhausted from all of that extra walking. Parks tend to be less crowded later in the day since those who raced to be there when it first opened are probably worn out and snoozing back at their hotel.............LOL.

 

[bcbmommy]

Our family relaxes and gets to bed early the day of our Disney arrival. Because of this, we tend to do Animal Kingdom the next day. Why? Anmimal Kingdom has the earliest entry time, and we are at our freshest. If we are staying at a Deluxe, we do Epcot and Magic Kingdom the days they have extended evening hours.

I like this idea. I would love to be able to get there early enough to ride a couple of the popular rides without getting LL, but we'll see.

 

[bcbmommy]

I don't think it matters. Some think MK is busy on Sunday since many arrive that day, but people can arrive any day of the week, not just Sunday. We went to AK one day (middle of the week, but don't recall the exact day) a few years ago and it was wall-to-wall people and nearly impossible to walk around on those narrow pathways. We were glad we had park hopper passes and gave up and went to a different park that wasn't nearly as crowded.

Historical data and lots of studying isn't going to tell you much since even Disney has no idea how many locals with AP's will just decide to show up some day when the weather is good. The good thing with Epcot is there are very wide walkways, so it doesn't get all jammed up like some of the other parks.

Lots of people go to Disney, so just assume it will be crowded and go to the parks you like best. We like to do the rides/shows in one area of the park and then move to the next. Zig-zagging all over the park to try a save a few minutes in some ride lines wastes a lot of time and everyone gets exhausted from all of that extra walking. Parks tend to be less crowded later in the day since those who raced to be there when it first opened are probably worn out and snoozing back at their hotel.............LOL.

I think this is where I'm landing, too. I'm getting so confused trying to make the perfect plan, and it probably doesn't matter as much as I'm making it in my head. I do need to refresh my memory with park maps, however, so we can map things out a bit.

 

[Anthony1971]

Unless I am in walking distance and plan.... I sometimes let the first bus decide. Truly is a crap shoot to plan which park will have the least amount on any given day.

 

[elvispursley]

Since I won’t be using an AP this year and don’t need park reservations—we’ll likely decide which park the morning we wake up. The park we really willl plan for is where we have ADRs for dinner. Although, we’re going to have some family join us for a bit and some have never been before; they’ll likely throw a wrench in our “plans”

 

[bcbmommy]

Since I won’t be using an AP this year and don’t need park reservations—we’ll likely decide which park the morning we wake up. The park we really willl plan for is where we have ADRs for dinner. Although, we’re going to have some family join us for a bit and some have never been before; they’ll likely throw a wrench in our “plans”

So do you not do LL then? That's another part of the equation that makes planning challenging for me. We're going May 18-23, so hoping for lower crowds, although I know it's never a good idea to assume that, as Disney is always busy.

 

[Orbiter_Fan]

Our family relaxes and gets to bed early the day of our Disney arrival. Because of this, we tend to do Animal Kingdom the next day. Why? Anmimal Kingdom has the earliest entry time, and we are at our freshest. If we are staying at a Deluxe, we do Epcot and Magic Kingdom the days they have extended evening hours.

Exactly this! If it's a 7 day stay (say Sunday to Sunday), our trips look like this

Sunday: Arrive, check out the resort, DS, pool
Mon: AK (Opens early, but also closes early)
Tue: MK (well rested since we did AK the day before and got back to the room early)
Wed: Resort day (aka pool day) - MK drains us
Thur: HS
Friday: Open (maybe another pool day, maybe we visit other resorts to check them out, mini golf, etc)
Sat: Epcot (it can get busy, since it's a weekend day, but it's our fav park and we like to end our trips there)
Sun: Go home

If it's a 6 night stay, we eliminate the 2nd rest day. We don't park hop - it makes us feel rushed to get to the next park. We are a 1 park/day family. Of course, our itinerary can change based on circumstance - for example, my wife ran the half-marathon in Feb. So instead of AK being our 1st park, we did it the day before the race, so we could get back to the room early. The only hard rule we try to follow is no MK on a weekend. Just no.