Help for Party of 10 (ages 4-70)!!!

[trennr]

My family will be traveling to Orlando on June 3 from Tennessee. Since we are Driving we will be arriving around 5-6pm. We will be staying until June 11 when we travelback.

Family consists of:
My dad (70)
My mom (69)
Me (36)
Wife (34)
Son1 (11)
Son2 (6) (48")
Brother (40)
his wife (36)
Nephew (8) (48")
Niece (4) (36")

This is My brother's families first Trip to WDW, and My Folks haven't been since the early 1990's.

"My Family" went last year with My wife's side of the family...which inspired My Dad to sponsor this trip.

We have a Budget that will accomedate 3 parks, and since this is My brother's families first trip we figured 2 Day's in the MK would be required.

So My first Question is:
1] What would be the 2nd Best suited Park for us to Visit key being the 4-year-old? (We are leaning toward AK, because all of our Kid love Animals.)

I have some More questions I hope you nice people can answer:

2a] I've heard Monday's are the most crowded at MK (True/False)?

2b] We had actually planned on going to the MK on Mon June 5th for 3 reasons: (1) This is the First day After "Gay Day's" and I thought Crowds might be down a little. (2) This day is nestled between 2 Extra Magic Hours days for Resort Guests. (3) It's the only Day that week when the Park is open until Midnight....So is this a bad plan or not????

3] What are the Busiest Days for each Park???

4] Fast Passes...For example...say I FP Space Mountain, thenhowlong must I wait to get a FP for another Ride...say Buzz Lightyear???

5] Parent Swap...just how do rides that offer this work???

6] Gay Days...this "event" will be going on when we arrive...my dad's very conservative to say the least (He's 70 and narrow) and I really don't want allot of explaining to do during Vacation for my 11-year-old son. The schedule shows the "Red Shirt" crowd should be in either AK or Epcot on Sunday June 4th...I guess my question is would be... How Many "Red Shirts" would I expect to find at the Market Place in Downtown Disney on Sunday?
(Hope not to have offended anyone with that question.)

Thanks in advance!!!

 

[trennr]

Anybody????

 

[mommystieg]

Hi and welcome to the DIS This is our 5th trip to WDW in June so I might be able to help you with some of your questions.

1) AK is a wonderful choice; however, with the opening of Expedition Everest I have a feeling that this park is going to be extremely crowded for a while. This is one of the hottest parks and IMHO, it doesn't handle crowds all that well. At least it will be open until 8:00 pm, which might help. When you say 3 parks, do you mean 3 park days? If so, I agree with you about MK. Our visit is usually 9-10 days so we spend at least 3 in MK. I know Epcot has a bad reputation but it is our 2nd favorite park. The Flower and Garden show will be going while you are there. If you haven't considered Epcot, you may want to give it a second look. If riding EE is high on everyone's list, then AK is your choice.

2) Since I follow the "avoid the park with EMH" strategy we will be visiting MK on Monday, June 5th as well. In our experience, MK is packed on its EMH days at this time of year.

3) There is a website somewhere "best days" something like that--hopefully someone else can help you there. MGM will be more crowded on the weekend since it is Star Wars Weekends. We have always found Epcot to be less crowded than the other parks on the weekends.

4) Historically, you can't not get another FastPass until the start time of the FP you have already. I know that WDW has tinkered with this in the past but that is how it has been when we were there. So if your Splash Mountain window is 11:15 am - 12:45 pm then you can get another FP at 11:16 am.

5) On any ride that offers a child swap (those with height/age type restrictions) go to the very first CM you see and tell them that you want to do a child swap. They will give you a little ticket. In our case, DH takes DD#1 and they wait in line to ride. Once they are finished, they bring DD#2 and me the little tickets. We go to the FP line, show the tickets and then proceed to ride. I think that up to 4 members of your party can do this.

6) We have been to WDW 4 times during Gay Days and honestly, if you did not know it was Gay Days then I am not sure you would notice. The big event is the MK day which is the first Saturday in June. In our experience, the other parks aren't really as impacted with crowd levels as MK but then again, we don't visit MK on any Saturday during our stay. We took DH's extended family in 2004 and I don't think any of them really gave it a second thought.

HTH

 

[trennr]

mommystieg,

Thank you for ALL the info.

We did do Epcot last year with my wife's Family...we enjoyed Test Track and Soarin' and the Living Sea...These were worth the price of admission.

We (my family immediate) didn't care too much for the WS......but my Father/Mother-in-Law liked it.

Hope you all have a wonderful time!!!! Maybe we'll see each other and not know it. I'll be the one in the bright orange UT hat!!!

Thanks

 

[CocozMom]

Hi Trennr,

Sounds like fun. We will be doing a similar trip with my parents, siblings and their kids in March. We are so excited.
Here is a short list of busiest days I found. I can't remember where I found it, but I sure hope it helps.
Have a great trip!!

Attendance - parks tend to be the busiest on the following days:
Magic Kingdom: Monday, Thursday, and Saturday
Epcot: Tuesday and Friday
MGM Studios: Sunday and Wednesday
Animal Kingdom: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

 

[luvmesometigger]

All I wanted to say is Have Fun!!
I am doing a similiar trip in 17 days! We have my hubby, his mother and father, my step mother and my sister, me, our son (6) and our daughter (9 months) My hubby, me and our son are the only ones who have been there so it will be lots of fun to watch everyone!

 

[trennr]

Hi Trennr,

Sounds like fun. We will be doing a similar trip with my parents, siblings and their kids in March. We are so excited.

CocozMom,

If I knew I was going next March I would be going bananas!!!



Seems like everytime I plan a vacation the clock just seems to creep.

We planned this one the week after Easter and the last of April and May so far have just clicked by at a snails pace.

I hope you all have fun when you go!!! I know can't wait!!!!

 

[trennr]

All I wanted to say is Have Fun!!
I am doing a similiar trip in 17 days!

luvmesometigger,

17 Days!!!

That'll put you there when we are!!! Have fun too!!!

 

[VolleyballQt07]

I would say go with AK for the second park! My brother(5), sister(7), and I(13) love that park because its like a "Disney-themed Zoo"! They might also enjoy Epcot too! They would love going to the different countries and decorating a mask and going through the shops and looking at the different toys from around the world! I know we do!!!!!

As for Gay Days, we went last year and it wasn't any different from any other trips. I mean occasionally you see a couple being "friendly" and you may see some guys in minnie ears but besides that, there's really nothing to worry about! Just tell your kids not to stare or point and laugh or anything like that and tell them that they are really close friends! Worked for us!

Don't let a couple of things get in your way of enjoying quality time with your family. Just go and have a good time! Good Luck on your trip!!!

 

[mommystieg]

mommystieg,

Hope you all have a wonderful time!!!! Maybe we'll see each other and not know it. I'll be the one in the bright orange UT hat!!!

Thanks

We'll be there June 4-15 so maybe we will bump into each other It'll be four and DH who will be wearing his oh-so-fashionable black, knee-high walking cast. Hopefully he will be able to keep up with us Have a great trip!!

 

[3mickeys&me]

Have a blast!! I have gone the last two times with an extended family of 10 and we had a GREAT TIME!!!

I agree with what has already been posted above. Go have fun and enjoy your family!!!