Has anyone gone against the current?

[Talock]

When planning our upcoming trip, my DW and I scheduled our park days according to when the extra magic hours are happening. I'm now thinking about planning to the opposite strategy in order to avoid the crowds. Makes sense?



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[black562]

When planning our upcoming trip, my DW and I scheduled our park days according to when the extra magic hours are happening. I'm now thinking about planning to the opposite strategy in order to avoid the crowds. Makes sense?

Absolutely, in fact, its a practice I often use. I typically avoid EMH just because of the added crowds. Once the park opens to the public, then you get even more crowded because of all the resort guests who are already there.

 

[srwarden1928]

the recommended days from touringplans USUALLY tells you to avoid EMH. Since we go by touringplans and do not hop, we generally avoid EMH. If this is "going against the current" we never plan a whole trip with the current and are usually against it.

 

[jadedbeauty14304]

In order to totally maximize your time at the parks, you should always plan against the current. The only times I go to an EMH park is when it is PM EMH and I get there late, after enjoying a different park all day. I love when MK is open until 1am or later because most people with small children and strollers are gone after Wishes. A good trick I use is to plan to attend a park the day after they have EMH. For example, if MK has EMH on Friday, I will plan to go there on Saturday. It has always worked out well!
Happy Planning!!!

 

[Floydian]

It's not how I plan, but it makes perfect sense. If you're not going to park hop, then avoid EMH parks. If you're not going to be there for those EMH times, then avoid those parks.

For me, I'm a "rope drop" person, and will park hop with no problems. So I love going super early for morning EMH and doing the most popular attractions 10+ times in a couple of hours before the crowds start showing up, or staying late and doing almost the same. The rest of the time is spent at another park, or in my room taking a nap, or at the pool, or whatever.

But the reason the planning sites say to avoid those parks is because so many people do one park per day, and thus plan around those hours to "get the most for their money". So if you won't get up early enough, or stay late enough, or limit yourself to one park per day, then staying away from EMH parks is a good plan.

 

[Huff]

Go to EMH morning and then park hop to another park. Or visit a non-EMH park for the morning and afternoon then hop to the EMH park for late night. Just avoid the EMH park for the main part of the day.

 

[nurse.darcy]

I just follow my expert friends around and let them tell me the best strategy of the day. . .ROFLMAO. . .

No really, I work more like Floydian in that I love morning rope drop. . .after that I may visit three or all 4 parks to find the least amount of crowds. . .HOWEVER, knowing how to maximize fast pass usually means I could care less about the crowds. . .I just deal.

 

[dismem98]

Against the current???

All the time....

Oh you mean at WDW, yes it's better.

Patty

 

[dis_guy]

Our next trip is Dec 21-30!! According to the unofficial guide and touringplans.com (ding! -for the WDW Today crowd), we should avoid all parks for most of our stay!

But seriously, avoiding EMH parks is usually a sound strategy. A better strategy is to hit all your favourite rides during the parades and fireworks. Works every time. Wait time of over 60 mins on the Haunted Mansion, 25 mins later it was a walk on during "Wishes".

 

[TM1982]

Yes I started doing this my past couple of trips and it was much more relaxing. The only park I will sometimes go for Morning Extra Hours is Magic because I just pretty much love all the rides there and you can do a lot for about 2 hours.

I always do PM extra hours.

 

[klacey1]

For my August trip, we are only going to the EMH parks when they're in the evening. We have park hoppers for 2 out of 5 days (special other tickets), so on those days, we're going to go to another park during the day and hop to the EMH park after dinner, when most of the crowds have cleared out.