Early Park Entry...to be or not to be

[irwinm]

I am leaving on the 21st of April. The 22nd is a early park entry day for Magic Kingdom. I hear that doing this is a bad idea because the park gets too crowded. Maybe I should go to Epcot on that day and go to Magic Kindom on the day that is scheduled to be an early entry day for Epcot. Resverse strategy. What do you think?

I'm also wondering since Easter will be over by the time I get there, will the crowds be down? How's the weather...really hot or pretty nice with cool evenings?

Thanks

 

[All Aboard]

You'll get more responses to this on the Theme Park Strategy Board. But, you might consider a "EE and then hop" strategy. We've used that for quite some time. You don't get the "feel and flavor" of MK, since you are basically doing a "get as many attractoins in as you can before it gets crowded" plan. But, it does get you a high attraction count.

There are two methods to EE at MK - and it depends on your party how you want to do it. Space Mountain is the big variable. Do you want to ride it more than once? If so, you give up several other EE attractions by starting with Space Mountain. Let's assume that you don't. Then, here's a good plan for attacking an EE morning. See the attractions in this order:

Dumbo
Pooh
Pan
Snow White
Buzz
Astro Orbiter
(Get Fastpass for Space Mountain)
Head for Frontierland
Splash
Big Thunder
Return for Space Mountain
Then you may have time to see Mansion then Pirates before the crowds get very thick. Save all other attractions for another day, you've now seen all of the one that will develop the biggest lines.
Then hop to Epcot and focus on World Showcase. You can see Future World in the morning on another day.

 

[mitros]

Over the years, we have found, generally speaking, that it is best to avoid early opening and go to a park that is open the regular time. Basically because an awfull lot of people take advantage of the early opening, and that particular park will be pretty busy. A really good example is the MK. Originally, it was not an early opening park on Sunday morning as it is now. In fact, we made a point of going Sunday morning as soon as the park opened, and it was nearly a ghost town. I guess Disney got wise to this , and early opened MK to boost the amount of folks coming in early and $pending more money..

 

[Micca]

Welcome to the Dis Irwinm The thing about EMH is you never know for sure how things are going to turn out by midday.
It sure is fun at MK first thing in the morning with hardly anyone there. Even if it only lasts a few hours, I think it's worth it. I think gcurlings plan sounds worth a try

 

[bengalfreak]

We've been using EE as our primary touring strategy for quite a while now. We head to the early entry park first thing in the morning, tour until 11:00AM or noon. Head to the hotel for lunch and relaxation. Then, in the afternoon, head to the park that was early entry the day before. It seems to work like a charm even during the busiest times.

 

[donmil723]

I used to be a big fan of EE until last summer. Now we prefer the day after EMH strategy. Last July we were the first ones on Big Thunder Mtn RR on a Monday. We asked the CMs there and they said it was a lot more crowded on EMH days even early in the morning. It's hard to break the habit of EMH days though and we tried EMH at MGM again this March. As we left a little before 9 a.m. (official opening time), I told my DD to NOT let me do EMH again. We went to MK and it was great and we didn't get there until about 9:15.

Donna

 

[GarrettJD]

Last year, we did EMH twice. On Monday, we did Animal Kingdom EE and the crowds weren't too bad. We ended up staying the day. The next day we did EMH at Disney-MGM Studios, and it was an overcrowded nightmare. The line for Tower of Terror was already 20 minutes long just a few minutes after park opening. We rode it, then went to Rock 'n Roller Coaster, which already had a standby wait of 35 minutes (this was about 30 minutes after EE started.) By 11:00 or so the park became so full that we hightailed it out of there and went to Epcot. Much better.

This year we're avoiding EMH except for the Animal Kingdom. You can get alot done in the early hours, then switch to another park. We'll see how it works in early June.

 

[irwinm]

Thanks everyone for your views on early entries. I guess I should have mentioned that I am not purchasing park hoppers. I am traveling with 3 other girls ages ranging from 45 to 76. Mom is 76. We are only going to be there 4 full days so it won't pay for me to buy a park hopper. I wanted to do a park the first day. Chill out and shop the second. Go to a park the third day and leave the last day for whatever. I can't see us racing from ride to ride either. The parks are only open until 6:30 which kind of stinks. So, going back to my hotel for an afternoon break would be wasting time. It would be great if the park was open until 9pm or later.

Thanks again.....I think I made up my mind to skip the EE's and do a reverse strategy.