How do you decide which park on which day?

[practicallyperfect77]

Thanks, I wish this were the case! Because of MVMCP, we only have the option of Wishes two of our six nights, with one being the last night (which I don't want to risk weather wise), and the other being the Saturday. And Fantasmic is showing as once nightly, on almost all the nights we are there, except of course for the day it is the recommended park lol. I'm very tempted to just get hoppers, but having trouble justifying the extra cost X 6 people.

I'm in the same boat. Hoppers for 6 is quite $ when we'll only use it to see regular wishes and the MSEP. My sis wants to do Pirates n Pals fireworks cruise instead of MNSSHH and we're doing that on a party night so we'll still get to see the cool.fireworks!

 

[Tomh]

I just booked on whim and am trying to quickly make an itinerary for November, as my 180 days is quickly approaching. I'm brand new to this, sorry!

Wed 11/12- arrive, no park
Thurs 11/13 - MVMCP
Fri 11/14- MVMCP
Sat 11/15
Sun 11/16 - MVMCP
Mon 11/17
Tues 11/18
Wed 11/19- leave, no park

I do NOT plan on doing MVMCP, and my trying to get an idea of which parks to do on which day. I don't have park hoppers and assume I don't want to do MK on a MVMCP day since they'll kick us out early? That leaves Sat, Mon, Tues. Is Saturday most crowded? I was hoping to spend our first day there, as it is a first visit for my two youngest kids (age 5 & 7). Would anyone be willing to give me some input? Need to get those ADRs figured out!

Thanks

Ok, for starters, as you said, NO MK on the party days. It is likely that the park will be more crowded, and you will have to leave early. I look at things like MSEP and F! Their schedule helps to determine what park I do on what day. Also, we stay on site, so EMH figures in . .. even if you are offsite, EMH figures in. Avoid it like the plague if you are offsite.

Other than that, crowd calender / prediction. I have done DHS for a first day, and was not dissapointed, so perhaps that is an option for you.

 

[disneyhousewife]

For some reason I've never had any luck with daily crowd calenders. I use them to see what months are generally less crowded, but when it comes down to the exact date, I always find discrepancies and I feel like it's more about how lucky you get. So I always just like to plan around shows. I always want to make sure I see Wishes, Illuminations and Fantasmic.

 

[FPminusCommando]

We actually do use the crowd calenders as a base to start planning, but then it sort of becomes a reverse self fulfilling prophecy. If MK is green on a particular day then more people will schedule that as a park day which then raises the crowd level on this day.

It must be human nature that we focus on our own tribulations. The above is an interesting Yogi Berra style theory, but from what the Unofficial Guide and Len Testa say, the fact is something like 1% of the visitors to WDW are trolling these boards and pouring over touring plans. Don't worry; most people have no interest in optimizing their Disney vacation. All the better for us

 

[FPminusCommando]

For years I've been a resource for friends, family, and work colleagues planning a Disney trip. I've never found a single person remotely interested in doing the planning and leg work I've done to optimize a trip. Of course I think it's fun and my family members have greatly appreciated it when we've toured together. For other people, they were very attentive about the basics of the FP- kiosks, but as soon as I started explaining how to get a baby swap pass at Space Mountain, their eyes glaze over

 

[HillsboroHoppers]

from what the Unofficial Guide and Len Testa say, the fact is something like 1% of the visitors to WDW are trolling these boards and pouring over touring plans.

I was just wondering about this myself. I have only been once before, 5 years ago. We went in May, and although I had studied this board and bought the unofficial guide and subscribed to touringplans, the parks were low attendance and almost everything was a walkon. Now I have a trip booked for my daughter and me Sept 3-10, which also seems to be a very low attendance week. I plan to go to RD at a recommended park and rest at Pop in the afternoon, then head out to the park we want to see the evening entertainment. I plan to book our FPs at the evening park. Hope most people will do as the touring plans predict and NOT be where WE are

 

[EMode]

We very rarely care about "best" and "worst" parks based on crowd calendars. We go in the summer, so everything is crowded.

Us too.
My first full park day is always MK, and our last day is always MK. The rest of the days I look at evening EMH to get an idea of what park is open the latest because we aren't RD people, we go a little later and end up staying until closing. We wait until we arrive and pretty much decide the night before or the morning of which park we'll go to.
Of course now with FP+ and the ability to pre-book rides 60 days out that will probably have to change for our next trip (none planned though).

 

[asmit4]

I literally spend HOURS and HOURS pouring over schedules---park hours, parade hours, fireworks hours, crowd calendars, ADR options available, sleep schedules for the family, down time for the family and go from there. It takes a good couple of weeks to figure it all out. I go through several draft plans before I come up with the 'perfect' plan.

 

[Alexis772]

I use the crowd calendars as a point of reference and try to avoid hitting the least recommended park, but rarely wind up at the most recommended park either. I figure out what I want to do while we are there and then try to make it fit the best I can- I think on our 7 day december trip, we will hit the parks 6 days- 1 most recommended, 1 least recommended, the rest fall somewhere inbetween. Planning on rope drop every day, and a mid day break on any day we will be in the park past 7 pm (kids are 9,5,5). Good luck- disney vacays have so many tough decisions- just know it will be perfect no matter what you decide

 

[Momma2PrinceNPrinces]

For years I've been a resource for friends, family, and work colleagues planning a Disney trip. I've never found a single person remotely interested in doing the planning and leg work I've done to optimize a trip. Of course I think it's fun and my family members have greatly appreciated it when we've toured together. For other people, they were very attentive about the basics of the FP- kiosks, but as soon as I started explaining how to get a baby swap pass at Space Mountain, their eyes glaze over

This is me to a "T"! Anyone else I know IRL that has gone to Disney thinks I am completely coo coo for cocoa puffs that I spend so much time pouring over TP and EasyWDW figuring out exactly what park on what days to go to. I also will tweak it closer to our dates, if needed, as things may change.

THIS being said, I found our last trip (June '13) the crowd calendars were only somewhat accurate. Yes summer is crazy busy so anywhere you go will be packed. But, for example, I chose HS for our last park day because it was supposed to be a 7 (or maybe a 6, can't remember). We got to the parking lot 15 minutes after the gates had opened and it was so packed they stopped making cars pay to park. We were all the way in the very back lot! We pulled right back out and drove to KSC

 

[MuddyTires]

I wouldn't blindly follow crowd calendar recommendations. Instead, I would get up to speed on the theories used to inform those crowd calendars (which is easy - it's hardly rocket science) and then apply those theories based on what you and your family wants to do.

For example, many crowd calendars avoid recommending parks with extra magic hours because those parks tend to be more crowded on those days. But for my trip, it makes the most sense to go to DHS when it has early morning EMH so we can get a lot done in the first 2.5 hours before a late morning character breakfast, and then have all 3 of our FP+ available for the afternoon.

 

[lustergirl]

Have to admit: I have never followed the crowd calendars and have survived quite well. If we get to a park and it is too crowded then we leave and hop to another. Sometimes we base our park days around what ADR'S we have. Sometime we hop on whatever bus rolls up first at our resort. We usually hit one park in the morning, stay until mid afternoon then hop to another park in the evening.

Good Luck!

 

[siskaren]

Ok, for starters, as you said, NO MK on the party days. It is likely that the park will be more crowded, and you will have to leave early.

Actually, it's the opposite. Crowds will be lighter on party days because most people won't want to go on a day with shorter hours and no nighttime entertainment. Obviously though, if you want to see MSEP and Wishes, you'll have to go on a day when the party doesn't take place and crowds will be heavier.

 

[CaryHaven]

I use crowd calendars mostly, but I also have several caveats. I like to start and end my park days with MK if possible. So far it's always worked out, but if the crowds were scheduled to be crazy that day, I could change it. I'd rather end at MK if I could only choose MK for first or last day. I also like my very first day (before parks) to be at DTD. It builds the anticipation! Plus, I like to hit the outlets before seeing something nice in the parks and wondering, "Should I wait and see if this is at an outlet?" I like to put a day off between every two park days, approximately. We try to make Wishes once a visit, but I find we rarely stay till closing because we're usually there early, and my kids tire out earlier on. I will sometimes go ahead and go on a party day just because the crowds usually are lighter that day. It only puts us out an hour or so before we'd normally leave anyway. We don't use hoppers and can't utilize EMH at this time with the kids being so little. I mainly try to stay away from the "least recommended park". I also go during slower times of year.

 

[csmith041177]

I agree with what everyone has said on crowd calendars...certainly give them a look. But I am also in the "traditions" camp. We always hit EPCOT day 1, followed by AK, then MK, and finally DS last before varying things for the remainder of our trip. But it is also good to consider expectation levels for folks in your group. If you are taking children, and you hit MK day 1, their expectation level will be huge and will be disappointed when you go to Epcot.

 

[Nancyg56]

I use the crowd calendars on Touring plans and Josh's website as a starting point, because I have to start somewhere. I then make a list of "must do" activities for my group, ans check to see when those events occur. For instance,if parades, fireworks, and Fantasmic are important, I list when they happen so that I can make sure I incorporate them in out plan.

I know I should look at EMH, but I do not, and so far I have not noticed a huge issue for my family.

this next trip I am going with a friend who has not sen many of the attractions and shows, and since MNSSHP is happening a LOT during that trip, I have to work Wishes in in between. We are going to DHS that first evening because I want to make sure she sees Fantasmic. I know that during a trip, things happen so I have tried to make sure that I have more flexibility JIC, so the planning was a little more difficult, but doable.

What I always suggest when folks are planning is to make those "must do" lists, as well as "not interested" lists, and start there. All of crowd calendars there are will not matter if you skip experiences that matter to you and your family. If Wishes is only happening on a night that has a high crowd prediction, and your group wants to see the show, you schedule MK that night and you work it out.

 

[RllngRckBrw]

We typically do ours based on magic hours, then stagger days based on what parks we want to stay late for vs. get up early.

 

[kgreen]

We typically do ours based on magic hours, then stagger days based on what parks we want to stay late for vs. get up early.

This is what we do too. I have looked at crowd calendars before, & usually I see the parks not recommended are the ones with EMH. But we have not had a problem yet. We like maybe one rope drop, but usually aren't extreme early birds. It lets us get the most out of our vacation with out without having to be there quite so early.