How do you decide which park which day?

[ladybuglydia]

I've heard of people going to whatever bus shows up first at the bus stop. I have never done this and can't imagine not knowing where I was going until the bus showed up. I'm a super planner so this would drive me nuts. Anyone do this?

 

[lorli]

We like to avoid extra magic hours and go to the park that had them the night before. This has proven to make for a less busy park.

 

[Gr8t Fan]

Another vote for easywdw.com . We have found most of the crowd predictions to be spot on. The times that we've gone against recommendation and visited MK, there were definitely longer wait times at most rides. For us, it's especially important to use easywdw.com because we don't have PH tickets.

 

[joanchris]

We have adr's for each day
Crystal palace
Akershus
1900 park fare
Chef mickeys

Unless you have hoppers then you have 2 days already figured out. If you have hoppers, then try to figure out what parks would be easier to get from one to the other (ie, Epcot to MK or HS is easier than Epcot to AK)

 

[jtowntoflorida]

Partial hijack warning - sorry OP (on the bright side, you may have the same questions!)

In regards to the touringplans/easywdw crowd predictors, can anyone tell me when they compile them? So, for example, in January of 2013 do they predict the crowd levels for December of 2013, nearly a year later? HOW?!

Someone said that they plan their ADRs around the predictions, does that mean even 6 months out they are fairly accurate?

I'm a first time WDWer, and feel like this is too good to be true. Can it really be this easy?! I *love* the DIS!!

There was a large touringplans.com vs. easywdw.com blowup post not too long ago on on here, and Josh from easywdw.com explained how he makes his park predictions. You could probably search for the post, but it's more than just looking at EMHs and past crowd data. His predictions are also not static...he does update his crowd calendars as the data he has available to him changes. However, I will say that for two trips, he has been absolutely spot on even at 6 months out (we plan our ADRs around our park days, so we have to have an idea of what park we'll be in on which day when we make our ADRs at 6 months out). I have no reservations recommending easywdw.com, and he offers his insights and resources for free.

 

[Disney_Princess83]

I've heard of people going to whatever bus shows up first at the bus stop. I have never done this and can't imagine not knowing where I was going until the bus showed up. I'm a super planner so this would drive me nuts. Anyone do this?

We have done this in the past but only a few times. We often have "free" days where we wake up and choose a park. If there is nothing we particularly "feel" like doing that day, we jump on the first bus. It's fun being "surprised" but I wouldn't do this for the entire trip.

 

[DisneyBelle27]

easyWDW for sure.

 

[KittyyKattyy]

I plan meals first, then I go in and see which meal is at which park and go from there.
EXAMPLE
I scheduled two meals.
The first meal was on the first day, and in MK (not full day)
The second meal was on the third day, and in DHS
I based where it would be best to go the other days on my preference of the park.