? For You that use The Best Days Calendar

[lovmy2girls]

My question for you that use the Best days calendar on the website unofficial guide to WDW. We are going Dec. 9-13th, and I was doing some last minute planning. Saturday of course is most crowded with a rating of a 7, but what I dont understand is why do they list MK as a best park to go to and avoid AK? Won't most people be at the MK, EP, MGM, and the best park would be AK? And wow, a 7 rating for Dec. 10? What happend to early December being uncrowded??????

 

[HLAuburn]

First of all, you can't look at it like a 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. What the 7 means is that at WDW's most popular attractions (Space Mnt, Soarin', ToT etc) the longest wait you will see that day is 65 - 74 minutes. That's a worst case scenario at the busiest park at the busiest ride at the busiest time of the day. So I don't think it means you'll be walking down Main St and look and say "On a scale of 1-10, this crowd is a 7"!

As for the parks to avoid, MK is generally "slow" on Saturdays. AK is the EMH park that day, and that usually draws a crowd. It's best to avoid EMH parks if you can. On the touringplans.com website, the 1st little "box" has a chart of what days most people go to which parks. You can also see the Extra Magic Hours parks at
http://www.touringplans.com/UG_EMH1.html.

Hope this helps

 

[cruiseonmagic]

As for the parks to avoid, MK is generally "slow" on Saturdays. AK is the EMH park that day, and that usually draws a crowd. It's best to avoid EMH parks if you can.

No offense, but I can't remember a slow saturday with the exception of when the hurricanes came through last year. Not only do you have the vacationing guests, but you also have the FL residents who come in on the weekends. If you are going to MK on a weekend day, then Sunday is the time to go. Sunday is typically a travel day with a lot of guests checking in and out of the resorts. Monday is an extremly busy day at MK--the folks traveling on Sunday want to see the castle on their first full day. I've seen some books that recommend one day over another, and after driving full boat after full boat on the day that was recommended (and that is every week of the year), I wonder if the author had ever actually been to WDW.

There are only 2 times that you should avoid parks with early emh. The first is if you are staying off property. The second is if you can't get out of bed early enough to beat the guests staying off property. People on vacation sleep in. They also eat breakfast before going to the parks. Early emh gives guests an hour to have the park before outside guests arrive. If you are at MK and go to the back of the park, that means that you have the hour, plus the time it takes for the others to get across the lake, through the turnstiles, sightsee, and then to the back of the park. What can you do in that amount of time? Last year during spring break I took some friends to MK. During the first 2 hrs, we did 8 rides and got 2 fastpasses. The kids had poptarts on the way to the park, then we had breakfast when the crowds started to build. We went to another park after that. We do more in 2 hours than most people will be able to do the entire rest of the day.

 

[lovmy2girls]

That was my thought too. Saturdays would be a bad day for the MK. I have to agree, we get to the park when it opens and you have the park to yourself for about a 2 hours before the crowds really get there.

 

[raider93]

Cruiseonmagic seems to know what the real story is. I am hoping this is true on my trip. We check in to the VWL on Dec. 16th around 11am. We are spending the rest of the day in Epcot. Sat the 17th we are going to MGM until 2pm or so then back to the room for a break then to MK for the evening to watch Wishes and Spectro. I hope the crowds are not too big that evening. Sun. 18th is a full MK day as we go for Cindy's at 8 am and then MVMCP for the evening with a break in the middle. Monday we will be at MK for Family Magic Tour and then off to MGM for the evening. Tues is another MK day til we get tired. We have Mickey's Backyard BBQ in the evening. Wed is AK day then MK in the evening for another Wishes and Spectro. Thurs. is departure day so all we have planed is the Pirate Cruise and Perfectly Princess Tea Party. Our flight does not depart until 7pm so we have some time for shopping. So after all of that we get home in time for Christmas and a weekend duck hunt.