Getting nervous..just planned whole itinerary on EE and now it looks like I shouldn't

[Camping Griswalds]

I just sat down and did a whole handwritten plan for which park which days and parades and PS ressies. After reading all of the entries about avoiding EE days, now I'm totally second guessing my laboring over that itinerary. Problem is I made PS based on that. What should I do now?? Also how will I know if lines are so horrible? I mean unless I leave a park that has EE and then go to a non EE park, how do you know the difference??

 

[Dan Murphy]

Ahhhh, the trials and tribulations of a WDW trip, LOL. First off, don't fret, don't worry. Are you planning on going to EE's or avoiding EE's? In reality, CG, I really do not think you can tell much of a difference, once 10 AM or so rolls around. That has been my experience. I really pay no attention to whether a park has EE that day or not. Main think is to relax, roll with the flow, enjoy. Hard not to. I just wish I was going in 6+ days.

Enjoy, CG.

 

[mykidsmom]

Also how will I know if lines are so horrible?

Maybe I have expectations that are too high, but I expect to be able to walk onto rides at EE and certainly no longer than a 10-15 minute wait by park opening. If it's anything other than this than it's not worth my time. When I was there this past week we were able to walk on to the first ride but there were 15 minute waits after that. And by 9:20 the rides that weren't open during EE (Splash and BTMR) had 45 minute waits. Fortunately we only planned on going to one EE at MK and to none at the other parks. With small kids and staying up for parades and Fantasmic, I knew that we wouldn't be able to make many EE's.

As for PS's, we made many changes to ours once we were there and saw what was working and what wasn't with our schedule. We never had any trouble and even walked into Liberty Tree Tavern without a PS. If you're talking about changing some of the more popular ones (Cindy's, etc) that's another story.

Hope this helps. Just use your itinerary as a guide and be very open to change and you'll have a great time!!

 

[swilphil]

Hi Camping Griswalds--

We did the Day After approach, go to a park the day after it had EE. It worked well although EE at MK does help if you want to do some rides at Fantasyland.

We changed many PS's once we got there last month and were able to make several new ones. I agree with the last poster, unless it's a hard to come by PS you can make changes pretty easily.

Another thing that I liked was to make a breakfast PS in a park before official opening. That way you can get into the parks early on non-EE days.

Relax and have fun!!!

 

[XStAnt]

CG,

DW and I used early entry over the Christmas week and it worked great!!! If you get there at opening you get so much accomplished during that first hour. The lines are short to non-existant; certainly nothing compared to what they are about 45 minutes after the official opening. We found that the lines didn't really begin to build until about an hour after the official opening time. By then you've had two hours to get done most of the big attractions. While the rest of the crowds are lining up for rides at Fantasy Land or Tomorrow Land, you're already heading to Frontier Land, etc. With some good planning and good use of fast pass you'll get done what you want to.

Don't worry about lines and PS. While you will certainly wait in lines by midday, you'd wait in those lines at any park. You'll already have ridden many major attractions by the time any lines form. And, you'd waste time travelling to that park after doing EE at the first park. Stick to your itinerary and have fun.

 

[jaysue]

I have never had a bad experience with EE - as morning types, we are they for park opening and always have a breeze for at least the first 60-90 minutes and it always works for us

thanks
jaysue

 

[janette]

We've used EE several times and been very happy with the results. Plan on getting to EE early also, I don't know if they still do but they used to open a little earlier than published. My youngest DD & I were one of the very first in MK once and did everything in Fantasyland in that hour. Really great and well worth it.

 

[packy]

All-in-all if you are willing to get up and out early for EE you will be rewarded. We have tried both strategies and both have had success - sometimes. Three years ago we did MK on a Tuesday after an early opening on Monday and the park was empty to the point you wished people were there (I kid you not - we walked through Adventure Land at 10:00 a.m. and there was no one else there). Two years ago (and both times were around August 20) we again went at 9:00 a.m. on a Tuesday after a MK early opening on Monday and Mk was crowded - no mobbed - from from the start. I would say the best strategy (if you are willing to get up early) is go to the early opening park until about 11:00 a.m. or so and then go somewhere else. That said, my advice is to avoid all EE parks later in the day.

 

[swilphil]

Here is a link to a thread about how EE has changed recently.

http://disboards.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=418656

It sounds like with the FTP and summer vacation, EE isn't what it used to be. Cast members were even advising people to stay away from eE. It may be worth it to go to MK for a couple of hours though to get Fantasyland out of the way. Either way you will have a "magical" experience.

Only a few more days left! Have fun and remember you'll save some time by having your itinerary mapped out, but still allow yourself to stray from the plan a little bit.

 

[propchick]

Give the EE days a try, but be ready to Park Hop if things look nasty.

The EE days don't effect traffic nearly as much as the days of the week do during the busy season. If you just keep in mind that most people start vacations Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday, and the majority of WDW visitors head to MK first (and DTD last), you should be okay.

 

[Brianhog]

We have been going for over 12 years now and have always used early entry. When it went away for awhile I was not happy. A few things I noticed- a) MK is a good EE to use. We have been able to get almost all the rides done at Fantsyland done in an hour and some of them twice. That is even Dumbo which is hard to get on sometimes. b) MGM is one that we use EE to get the rides done early and grab a fast pass to ride them again before 10 or 11 o'clock. Then we leave MGM because by 11 it is usually so crowded it is hard to do anything. c) I have not noticed EE making mcuh difference at Epcot. That might change with Mission Space. It might be worth doing early entry there if you want to do that ride. d) Animal Kingdom is alot like MGM. We do what we can early and then head out to another park. Due to its small size it gets very crowded early on EE days. I have read articles about the same thing. Some of them say do the EE parks and then leave about 11 as those parks start to get real crowded on EE days. That has been our experience I do not know what others have been. I did not notice when you were going but we always go in mid March and the 1str week of June and the above has been what we do and it usually works weel for us.

 

[Kallison]

I did the same as you, planned all our PS's around EMH. I just "tweaked" my ressies last night and seemed to have no problem getting times and places I wanted. What I did was keep some based on EMH at MK and them made mostly Epcot dinner ressies since we will be at BC. I don't have high expectations for this trip as everyone coming "just back" seems to say too hot and too crowded. I'm not obsessively planning every day and meal, figure we will just play it be ear. Might be spending a lot of time pool side. DH and I will be back alone in October and the kids are more into swimming then parks so hopefully we will have a good trip and I won't have to hear a lot of whining on the way home!!

 

[wld]

We also have always found EE to be great for MK and MGM. Didn't matter if it got a little crowded later because we had already hit all the cool stuff. We usually go in early Dec.