Early admission or not? Some say avoid these parks...

[3redheads]

Do you recommend using the early admission option for people staying at a WDW resort?

Our early admission schedule would be:

Sunday, MK
Mon Epcot
Tues MGM

I think it was touringplans.com that recommended avoiding these parks on early admission day. They recommend these parks:

Sunday EP or AK
Mon MK or AK
Tues EP
Wed EP/AK

MGM wasn't listed??

We're going in mid-March. Any suggestions?

Kim

 

[ryley26]

We always do early entry but you must be there at opening to be successful we rode all the rides we could before park opened. last year in august we rode 14 rides before 1:00 then we left and came back later. You must get in and out because the park does fill up.

 

[Mom to Jordan]

We only do EE at MK but then park hop later in the day as the crowds build. We avoid the other parks on their EE days.

 

[barbaraann]

I have always enjoyed going to Magic Kingdom for early mornings. You can take that first ride on Dumbo and get right on Buzz Lightyear without a fastpass. But I believe Magic Kingdom's EARLY MORNING is now Friday. I believe this is the total sxhedule.
MONDAY - EPCOT
TUESDAY - MGM
FRIDAY - MAGIC KINGDOM
SATURDAY - ANIMAL KINGDOM.

I have never done the EXTRA MAGIC HOURS at night, but that sounds exciting. Ibelieve the schedule for that is.
SUNDAY - MGM
TUESDAY - ANIMAL KINGDOM
WEDNESDAY - MAGIC KINGDOM
THURSDAY - EPCOT

I guess the trick is not to go to an EARLY MORNING after a late evening. The
best strategy always being to pace yourself.

 

[saffymom]

I had always avoided EMH when I had been to Disney before, but now that I have DS 2 who gets up at 6AM, DH and I decided to give it a try, and I couldn't believe what I'd been missing! They worked out great for MK. We rode Buzz Lightyear two times in a row, walked right on the Speedway, then tea cups, Peter Pan and Pooh two times! We left the park around 1pm because it was getting crowded though.
I also thought Epcot EMH were worth it. Only a five minute wait for Test Track and Mission Space!! I didn't think it was worth it for AK though because not that many rides were open, so it seemed very crowded!

 

[slp87]

Our preference is to avoid EE parks. Mainly because Fla is ahead a time zone and that extra hour of sleep makes a huge difference for us.

 

[newholidayx2]

I'll be lucky to get DS to the regular park opening times 4 of the 14 mornings we're there! But I will insist for 1 at ea park. First wk we'll get up early for the parks, 2nd wk we'll sleep in and do the parks at night

 

[HollyJoy]

The only park that we found it beneficial to go to on an EMH was Animal Kingdom.... we wanted to do the Safari EARLY. MK was pretty crowded during EMH.

 

[kirbsam]

We have always done early entry mornings. It is absolutely amazing what you can get done. You can knock off all of fantasy land and tomorrow land in that first hour. Or go on the big rides multiple times, both stand by and fast pass. We have never stayed in the early entry park past noon or one. Always park hop.

 

[princess aurora]

i agree about going to a park with EMH then hopping to another one. The UG site that say to avoid parks at this time are reffering to ppl not staying on site. Use it to your advantage if you are staying onsite. You really can get on those "big" rides or do a few rounds of your favourites before the crowds start to build. Peak times for ppl coming ot the parks is btw 10am-12pm
I think MK especially peaks at 3:00pm b/c of parade, then the crowds start to go down again.

Depends a lot on time of year etc... too.

 

[momoftwins]

I think touringplans.com is calling MGM - DS for Disney Studios.

Have fun planning!

 

[erikthewise]

EMH can be great, but I don't think I'd recommend three early mornings in a row unless
(a) you are morning people
(b) you are in bed by 9:00 every night
(c) you are true commandos
(d) all of the above

 

[DubC434]

The only park that we found it beneficial to go to on an EMH was Animal Kingdom.... we wanted to do the Safari EARLY. MK was pretty crowded during EMH.

It is best to do AK early for the Safari. If you don't do it early morning or late afternoon you won't see anything. There aren't a lot of big attractions at AK so you can actually get it done in half of a day if you go EE. Unless you want to see shows, then you should take the whole day. This could be because I find AK extremely unconvient because of the haul out there, but that's my two cents.

 

[3redheads]

Thank you so much for your responses! I love the idea of doing AK early.

Also, I was wondering what DS was

Thanks so much!

 

[CindyD]

I found in Feb. that a good idea was to go to the park at reg opening time when that park had Even.Magic Hours. That way most others resort guests were a) sleeping in to do Even Magic Hours at that park on that day or b) at early entry at another park.....Seemed to work for us!!!!

 

[ncbyrne]

We are an early to bed, early to rise family, so the early hours are perfect. However, we will ONLY use it for that magical time and then head out to the preferred UG park for the rest of the day.

 

[nataliesdaddy]

I would do Early Mornings for sure - not sure about EMH evenings because that is new since we last went. But for sure if it was still E-ride night I would recommend.

As to early mornings.... heck yeah you should do that for sure. One of the other posters said the "avoid early entry parks" advice is meant only for people staying at Non Disney properties. And I would concur - if I were staying off site I would for sure avoid EMH parks... but if you are onsite you will seriously be missing out if you don't take advantage of EMH mornings.

Our last trip we would get to the park early for EMH mornings and 1) it is genuinely very cool being in the park when it is basically empty.. the walk down mainstreet at 8am with no one else around is very cool... and 2) because you are there first you get a TON of stuff done . LIke another poster on this thread... we would get about 15 to 20 rides slammed out by 1pm and then just spend the rest of the day hanging out at the pool or wherever.

good luck - we will be there in June and we for sure will be taking advantage of both mornings and evenings... but then we also take a full day of rest in the middle of each week we go anyway...

 

[Mama Twinkles]

The UG site that say to avoid parks at this time are reffering to ppl not staying on site. /QUOTE]

Princess Aurora, are you sure about this? I didn't read the UG advice that way. They say, "The large number of Disney resort guests will increase wait times at the park hosting Extra Magic Hour. This impact is especially significant to guests staying outside of Walt Disney World." Sounds as if the advice applies to everyone, but especially off-site people. Does anyone else think their best-days chart applies only to those staying off site?

Thanks.

 

[nataliesdaddy]

The UG site that say to avoid parks at this time are reffering to ppl not staying on site. /QUOTE]

Princess Aurora, are you sure about this? I didn't read the UG advice that way. They say, "The large number of Disney resort guests will increase wait times at the park hosting Extra Magic Hour. This impact is especially significant to guests staying outside of Walt Disney World." Sounds as if the advice applies to everyone, but especially off-site people. Does anyone else think their best-days chart applies only to those staying off site?

Thanks.

Yeah I would say so - because we have done EMH mornings and we got tons done.... you just have to be ready to leave the park by noon or 1pm. But if you are first in line for EMH mornings it is an awesome experience