Have the new EE days changed the crowds?

[LAWalz23]

Hi, we are planning a last minute late April/early May trip and I noticed that EE days are slightly different. Has this affected the crowds any? I know that Mondays and Thursdays were the busiest at MK. We always found Sunday mornings to be very UNCROWDED at MK, has EE changed that? Also the Studio used to be UNCROWDED on a Saturday, has this changed? We are traveling with 4 kids 5 and under and they are early risers so EE would not be a problem and we are trying to have at least a semblence of a schedule. Thanks for any help.

 

[btuftee]

I'd say it's made a change, at least at the MK. Last Sunday was very crowded, presumably due to early entry. Pirates had a posted 40 minute wait, Jungle Cruise FP return was +2 hours, all at 11:00am. Splash Mountain and Big Thunder were also similarly crowded. We hit the MK early, and did a ton of rides, but man did it fill up fast. We had the same experience the previous Thursday, on MK early entry day. After that, we decided the better plan was to skip the park with EE. This worked well, we went to AK on Saturday (instead of Friday, as previously planned) and met pretty reasonable crowds.

If you can take full advantage of EE (i.e. get at the park about 15 minutes before the EE opening time), then I'd say go and ride everything you can until about 11:00am, then get the heck out and hop to a different park. If, however, you're like me and discover soon after you arrive (like, on the first morning after you arrive!) that you'd much rather sleep a little later, and not wake up at 6:45am to do EE, then just start your day in any other park. Whatever you do, don't go to an EE park after noon unless you can't help it (the exception seems to be Epcot... it's so big and stays open much later, it thins the crowds after 5:00pm or so even on a Wednesday EE day).

 

[LAWalz23]

Thanks for the info! We never did get to EE two years ago but this year with a bunch of kids who all wake up around 7am we figured we might try it. I totally agree with you about avoiding the EE park if not going to EE. It worked really well two years ago.

 

[kmermaid]

I just got back today and I agree with btuftee with EE and MK. We did EE on Thursday and Fantasyland was very managable in the first hour. If you find a FP ride you love GET that fastpass early after 11:00 MK was a madhouse so we left after grabing a hotdog. But if you go early and use fastpass you should have no trouble.

 

[wahoo776]

Hi!
It seemed to us like everyplace was pretty good! I love fastpasses make everything alot easier, but we did change our days around after going into MGM on EMH day. It just seemed way crowded although once again, I have to admit everyplace seemed to have low waits, we managed to time things really well!
Thanks and Good Luck!

 

[susy]

I haven't done EE, but our normal experience is about the same as above. We always get to the parks WAY before opening and it is good for about three hours.

At Mk, I would suggest doing EE , eating a nice lunch around 11 or 11:30 and then getting those kids back to the hotel for a swim and long nap(just turn out the lights and put the cartoons on) and head out again to a different park in the evening.

Our son (5) does really well at Epcot at night. In the evening he is more receptive to the slower paced attractions and content to be in his stroller as we go around the World Showcase.
With our son we end up doing Epcot every night (unless we go to MK for spectro). He just seems to do better at night there. We did go in the daytime once and it just wasn't as "peaceful".

I don't know about the other parks, as far as EE. It doesn't seem that they have many attractions open that would interest real little ones. I woud do non EE days for the other parks. At AK, you could try to get an 8:05 (earliest ) PS for Donald's Breakfastsaurus. You will be done with breakfast and waiting at Triceratops Spin before the park even opens. This works really well for us at AK. We let our DS play in the boneyard. In the morning it is not crowded and totally shady!! While here, the adults can switch off (in two groups) and go to Dinosaur (right down the path) and Primeval Whirl. We do this all the time and it works great! We always just do FP for the safari. Our first trip we ran to the safari (along with everyone else) and had the most miserable day at AK-ending up at the boneyard at 1pm (HOT) , with huge crowds! The five other times,we did the park "backwards" and really enjoyed ourselves!!! Ok, enough of my AK rant !

MGM is a little more tricky because of the shows and the way they are timed. My priority here would be to get them to the first Playhouse Disney show and then play it by ear. The park isn't that big, so if you have to criss-cross, it's not bad.


Take pool/nap breaks every day and I would plan for one sit-down meal a day (check menus at wdwig.com to make sure the restaurants will have something that the kids will eat). Even a 5yo will need a stroller and bring water and squeeze breeze.
We always leave the park after lunch. We learned very early on to take our break BEFORE any signs of a meltdown show up. It's a lot easier to avoid a tantrum than to stop one. We usually leave the park after we eat lunch and our son has done very well with the routine.

I know my advice kind of compicates things, but with little ones, you have to have a really good plan. We had six successful trips last year with our DS, so I really stand behind my advice!

I know you all will have a great time! Have fun!

 

[mom_rules]

What are the current EE days for the different parks now?