Get There Early!

[kayeandjim00]

Visited WDW last week (05-17 - 05-20) and the crowds were very managable but it was very hot! I am sure it has been said many times but I wanted to stress again how helpful it is to get there right at park opening, it makes a huge difference in how long you will wait for rides. We visit every year so we don't ride every single ride each year but do hit all the main ones (Space Mtn, Haunted Mansion, Tower of Terror, etc.) plus usually several others (ex. Peter Pan, Hall of Presidents) we were done each day by 1:00 when the crowds were starting to really get big. For example on Mon we had a character breakfast at 8:00 and were out by 8:40 (it was also early magic hour) and rode Peter Pan's Flight, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Splash Mountain, Hall of President's, Mickey and Minnie's House and rode the rail road and were done at 12:00! That's when we left for a nap so it worked out so great for us. E-Ride is also great as we were able to do Space Mtn, Buzz Lightyear etc, over and over with no wait. Haunted Mansion is even better at night! (And yeah for Haunted Mansion having tons of souvenirs now! I think I bought one of everything!) I know this way doesn't work for everyone as some people like to do everything but it works really well for us! We were happy to see a lot of new souvenirs - last trip there seemed to be a lot of the same stuff as the year before. The new "pet line" is great as is the scrapbook stuff. This years logo - four parks one world is great. I love the monorail on the design it's great. To anyone going anytime soon - you are so lucky Have a great time. I am already starting to plan the next one!

 

[skiwee1]

We go later in the morning and have the same results as you. I hate to get up early on vacation and we are not park commandos. We take it nice and slow and do all the rides we want within 3 hours. We get to MK around 10:30-11:00 and take our time going from attraction to attraction. We have never had to wait more then 10 minutes for anything except Dumbo and Peter Pan but we got a fasspass for that one and eliminated the wait entirely. I think that since we wait a little later we miss the onslaught of commandos running in to all the good rides. We catch the next wave. We were there almost 3 weeks ago and it worked very well for us. We stay onsite and even avoid the early entry park too. We are planning our next trip too! Only 142 more days to go! Have a great trip !

 

[mykidsmom]

Great info, KayeandJim. Thanks for the post. You've made me more excited about our August trip!

 

[cyndilou01]

I agree early is better we did they same thing two weeks ago and it really helped beat the heat.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

We agree! MK is the only park where this is important to us. I feel bad(not TOO bad since it works in our favor!) when I see people coming in later and the Fantasyland lines are 45-60 mins long at 11:00 and we were walk ons-and repeated many!! Getting there at opening and always having a fastpass working for you is THE way to go, IMHO .
We will be arriving later this week !

 

[kdibattista]

I also think it definitely has to do with what time of year you are there.... the second week in September is always DEAD so no matter what time you get there... there is really no wait. We are going before Christmas this year and I hear that it's pretty much the same... no crowds. I would definitely take your advice if I were going during the summer months!!!

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

Actually one of our visits was the second week in Dec. and getting to MK early was needed. We had a 8am ps at CP and ready to go ride by rope drop! By 11 some of the Fantasyland rides were 30-45 min waits. Went to MGM later that day and fastpassed quickly and easily through ToT. I think MK is the only park that really gets bogged down middle of the day.

 

[Kaycee]

Great info, KayeandJim! Now I'm even more excited about our trip next month!!

 

[Boots]

Sounds like you had a wonderful time! Wish I knew when we were going again.

 

[kdibattista]

Actually one of our visits was the second week in Dec. and getting to MK early was needed. We had a 8am ps at CP and ready to go ride by rope drop! By 11 some of the Fantasyland rides were 30-45 min waits.

Thanks for the info.... looks like we will be out and about early!!!

 

[MinniMama]

I think the reason you could go later and have good results was in your post - you avoided the EE open parks. Otherwise you would have found long waits by 11:00 IMHO. Glad it worked for you we are an up early at the gate type but not commando we go slowly and enjoy all the characters and sights especially the flower show in Epcot!

 

[skiwee1]

Originally posted by MinniMama
I think the reason you could go later and have good results was in your post - you avoided the EE open parks. Otherwise you would have found long waits by 11:00 IMHO. Glad it worked for you we are an up early at the gate type but not commando we go slowly and enjoy all the characters and sights especially the flower show in Epcot!

The flower show was great, wasn't it? We go then and during the food and wine festival. Since we go in early May and mid October we have never encountered any lines no matter what time we arrive at the park. As I said only Dumbo was bad and that one always is. Maybe we are just lucky but that is the way it has been for us.
Edited to add that you might be right about the EE factor. We always avoid it and that may be the reason we luck out on the rides. Usually the only ones we wait on are Dumbo and Pooh and that one we get a fasspss to. Since Pooh was closed it seems that everyone flocked to Peter Pan so we did fasspasses for that . Anyone notice that Haunted Mansion and Small World is always a walk on anymore and so is Snow White? Are people getting tired of these rides? We love those rides and can't understand the lack of lines.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

Kim-don't worry too much. We went the second Sunday in Dec., 2001 to the MK. This was when they had dropped ee. It seemed to only be the Fantasyland rides and Buzz that had the long waits middle of the day(perhaps the mountains too). It was STILL much less crowded than our late May-early June trips.
We pretty much walked onto HM and many others.