How Do You Decide Which Parks to Visit on Which Days ??!! Its Overwhelming !

[bellenbuzz]

With trying to secure Dining Reservations, trying to figure out which parks have Extra Magic Hours at Night ( How many extra hours are there in the evenings?) AHHHHHHH It gets Overwhelming !!
I love the Planning, but want to make sure we get the most out of "everything" !!
Any Suggestions ???

 

[BYC]

Spring for the 20 bucks, and sign up for Tour Guide Mike. His info is priceless! Also, hurry up!...you are already 1 month late in making your dinner ressies!

 

[Albertan mom]

Just enjoy it while it lasts!

I am all done planning, and am now trying to plan other extra things. Once the days are picked, and the ADRs are made, all the fun is over! Until you actually get there of course!

There are 3 extra hours at night, it is on the calendar on the Disneyworld website, click on extra magic hours. It tells you which have morning and which have evening ones.

Have fun!!

 

[lindakmonty]

I did tgm..and lots of other reading... I planned our days by which parks have the least attendance on what days!! We were there 10 nights so we had plenty of time but it's still nice to have shorter lines, easy access to the fastpasses... I'd rather skip the crowds all together! That's why we went last week of April and first week of May good luck and it'll be ok. It does get overwhelming...but it is so worth the time you invest. Your vacation will be well planned and you'll have a great time. It enables you to do more and be more relaxed while you're doing it!

 

[btuftee]

Personally, I start by looking at the park hours, and most importantly, which parks have extra magic hours. Sometimes you'll find that (like in October, when I'm going), the MK will close early one night, or MGM has shortened hours, etc. You can also match up late nights with sleeping in the next morning - if MK is open until 11pm, you can stay up late, then start the next day in Epcot, because that opens the latest of all four parks.

I always start in the MK, doesn't matter what's going on, that's the first park I visit. It might only be a few hours, but that's where it all starts. I also never spend the whole day in one park, because that can get boring - but going to three or more parks in the same day is a waste of precious time spent on buses and waiting for transportation. So I pick two parks each day, a morning and an afternoon/evening one.

I also avoid parks with EMH, unless it's early EMH and I plan to be there early to use it fully. And never stay in an early EMH park past lunchtime, it just gets too damn crowded. I'm not an early bird, so I typically only pick one day per trip as an early entry day, the rest I'm content to sleep until 8am.

Finally, I try to allocate about 30% of my time in the MK, 30% in Epcot, and 20% each in MGM and AK. That's based on the experience of knowing what I like to do in each park. Given those constraints (Start in MK, no EMH unless you get there early, two parks each day, only one early EMH per trip, match a late night with sleeping in the next morning), I can easily hammer out a schedule.

Keep in mind, I'm a sort of young person with no kids, so my DW and I can dash around better than most. Younger kids will want more time in the MK, and less in Epcot, and will probably prefer mornings to late nights.

Hope this helps!

 

[catherines_mama]

I know all guides discourage this.. but I pick parks by EMH (AM). I go to the park that has EMH. Enjoy the 1 hr before the rest of the world comes in. Once the crowds pick up I'll hop to another park (non EMH). In the same sense after dinner I'll hop to the PM EMH park. (don't do this often since I have a small DD).

In that 1 extra hour you can get all of Fantasy Land done with no waiting, its priceless.
MGM - You can get TOT & R&R done with the extra hour
Epcot - Get to get Soarin' & MS done with the extra hour
AND
AK - EE - HELLO! EE! WOOHOO, then be at Safari at park opening (to the public) and get an early safari when the animals are being fed and active.

THEN I build my ADRs off those schedules. When I'm at an EMH park, I'll do a sitdown lunch there before heading out of the park as the crowd picks up. i.e. Enjoy MK (Fantasy Land) make it to Toontown for opening, after that, the park fills up, go eat at Liberty Tree with Mickey & Friends then scoot out of the park to Epcot to tour World Showcase.

So anyway.. I rambled, that is what I do. I've had great success with my plans. Good luck with your trip.

 

[kristenhh]

They give good estimates on crowds which influences which park to go to on what day. They have a chart telling you the best park to visit for each day.

 

[RockyMtnMaria]

I did tgm..and lots of other reading... I planned our days by which parks have the least attendance on what days!! We were there 10 nights so we had plenty of time but it's still nice to have shorter lines, easy access to the fastpasses... I'd rather skip the crowds all together! That's why we went last week of April and first week of May good luck and it'll be ok. It does get overwhelming...but it is so worth the time you invest. Your vacation will be well planned and you'll have a great time. It enables you to do more and be more relaxed while you're doing it!

I agree with this logic! You don't want to have the MOST time in the parks. You want to have the BEST time. That means not wasting time in lines and fighting crowds. TGM can have you zipping in and out of rides so you have time to enjoy the little fun surprises that lurk around every corner at WDW. Mike's claims on his website are true. We found that out during Jersey Week last fall. We had a great time in our 6 hours each day in the parks, and talked to others who used a whole morning and only got to ride one ride.

 

[chanty]

See... I plan as I want to plan. I don't stree with "ooh what does this guide say..." or whichever. As someone else already stated(catherines_mama), she does the contrary of those books and it works for HER. I think that's the plan...do whatever works for you...

I plan on doing this exact same. Here's my schedule:

Oct 1 - arrival day approx 2:30 at hotel.
Get settled in (if room is ready) and then head out to MK (EMH pm)

Oct 2 - MGM afternoon (EMH pm)

Oct 3 - Epcot - Segway Tour - morning
Shopping day possibly - Flex day ;-) whatever we feel like doing!

Oct 4 - Epcot afternoon - EMH pm

Oct 5 - MK EMH (our last day)

Oct 6 - departure day.

i don't think we'll do AK this year... if so, it'll be a last minute "ok we feel like it" deal.

 

[chanty]

But...I have to say - I'll probably buy Mr Mike's subscription...just to see cause i'm curious lol

 

[IGetAKickOutOfFlik]

You're paying thousands of dollars presumably for this vacation - spring for the extra $22 and subscribe to Tour Guide Mike. Use his least crowded days charts to plan which days in which parks, then use his touring plans when actually in the parks. Lots of other good advice over there too.

It'd be a bargain at 10x that price, IMHO.

Albertan Mom makes a good point - there is a definite lull between the excitement of planning the trip and making ADRs and the excitement of actually being there.

 

[arizonacolbys]

I know all guides discourage this.. but I pick parks by EMH (AM). I go to the park that has EMH. Enjoy the 1 hr before the rest of the world comes in. Once the crowds pick up I'll hop to another park (non EMH). In the same sense after dinner I'll hop to the PM EMH park. (don't do this often since I have a small DD).

In that 1 extra hour you can get all of Fantasy Land done with no waiting, its priceless.
MGM - You can get TOT & R&R done with the extra hour
Epcot - Get to get Soarin' & MS done with the extra hour
AND
AK - EE - HELLO! EE! WOOHOO, then be at Safari at park opening (to the public) and get an early safari when the animals are being fed and active.

THEN I build my ADRs off those schedules. When I'm at an EMH park, I'll do a sitdown lunch there before heading out of the park as the crowd picks up. i.e. Enjoy MK (Fantasy Land) make it to Toontown for opening, after that, the park fills up, go eat at Liberty Tree with Mickey & Friends then scoot out of the park to Epcot to tour World Showcase.

So anyway.. I rambled, that is what I do. I've had great success with my plans. Good luck with your trip.

I couldn't agree more! We do the Morning EMH every day that they're available - we start the day feeling like we've already gotten so much done. Usually by lunchtime we're headed back to the resort for a swim, nap or snack - then, we generally go to a different park for the 2nd half of the day where it's not as crowded.

 

[Sonno]

Three links that'll really help you all out...

http://www.touringplans.com/tp2/UG2_index.php?PageID=14
This is the crowd-level calendar. It'll also help you with what days to go where (I paste it here so much, I think I'm going to add this to my sig!)

http://pages.prodigy.net/stevesoares/
This is for entertainment in the parks. It's the who what when and where for posted and non-posted entertainment schedules.

http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/wdw/calendar/extraMagicHour?id=CalendarExtraMagicHoursPage
Here's a listing of the Extra Magic Hour Dates and times for each park.

 

[isis151miu]

The Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World has the touring plans and best days to visit, and I only paid $16 for it.

This is what I do, as a general rule:
If I'm staying on-site, I try to do and EMH for an hour or 2, then hop to another less crowded park for the rest of the day.
If I'm staying off-site, then I'll avoid the EMH park for that day alltogether, and try to choose 1 or 2 parks that won't be as crowded.

Also, it just depends on what parks you like the most, and what you like to do. For example, I probably wouldn't even be going to the Ak this year if it wasn't for Everest. And I always try to do the water parks, whereas a lot of people aren't so into them.

 

[chanty]

Ok... I bought into TGM. I've been surfing the site for about an hour... wow.
I think I just open the window and gave over 30 CAN dollars... oh well.

I guess my curiosity is over now... i'm still trying to find something i don't know.... I thought I would see an example of an itinerary, but I guess not.

I'm hoping there's more to it than what i see....

 

[RockyMtnMaria]

Ok... I bought into TGM. I've been surfing the site for about an hour... wow.
I think I just open the window and gave over 30 CAN dollars... oh well.

I guess my curiosity is over now... i'm still trying to find something i don't know.... I thought I would see an example of an itinerary, but I guess not.

I'm hoping there's more to it than what i see....

First of all, if you aren't happy after spending a little more time there, then just ask for a refund. I'm sure he will happily give it to you.

Second, have you looked at the sample park tours yet? Have you been to the planning page for your month of travel? That page will have links to all kinds of specific info about your dates, including a calendar that shows exactly what is going on in each park and how crowded it will be. He rates the parks green, yellow, and red for morning and evenings seperately, so you can plan your day around the crowds. Unlike any book available, the information and advice changes constantly, to keep up with new info. You also can't find any book that can give so much specific advice for your travel dates. You can also set it up to email you reminders as your ADR windows open up, etc.

 

[boomhauer]

Basically, what the OP said is just the way it is. It can seem a bit overwhelming, but to do it right, all those factors come into consideration.

I think it's fun though.

What I do is print up the days I'm gonna be there, and put all the park's hours on the list, along with which parks have EMH that night. if I wanna go to the EMH, I plan on being at that park that night. I then look at where I want to have dinner that night, and plan the rest of my day around that. Works for me.

 

[chanty]

the information and advice changes constantly, to keep up with new info.

If so...how come i can't find ANY info on the new celebration.... !!
He doesn't even mention it for October 1st. Wow...this is a big thing and if it wasn't for disboards, I would have missed it probably!!

 

[csm101]

Guess i'm a rebel and I hate looking at guide books explaining how I should spend my money. We always go in Mid August. We see all the parks Mon-Fri, stay away on the weekends if possible. We have a great time every time.

Your on vacation!, relax take it easy and it all comes to you.

 

[Rudegrle]

I usually look at which parks have an evening EMH and start there, then I will factor in shows like Wishes, Spectro, Fantasmic and Illuminations. I want to be at a park to enjoy the EMH and see a show, I look at it like getting more bang for my buck or killing two birds w/ one stone. I tend to not visit a park that has a morning EMH, always seems more busy.

After I know which parks I'm gonna visit on which days and what time each show is on that day, I will then make my ADR's. We don't do the dining plan cause it's too much food for us to eat, a one preson plan would be more than enough to feed the both of us. I usually only make dinner ADR's, and some days none at all. uts on flame protective suit: Oh yeah, and I like to eat off of the kids menu too

We also like to park hop a lot, so I might plan one park in the morning and switch to another in tha afternoon. Last Feb we did MK in the morning, hopped to MGM for a few rides and Fantasmic, then hopped the boat to Epcot to watch Illuminations and EMH.

I should also mention that we usually visit in the off season, so crowd levels are at a minimum and that's one less thing I have to worry about. Happy Planning