I'm over thinking this...help me plan my park days

[tmj212]

So this is our third trip as a family and you think we'd have this planning thing locked down, but I don't. So there a few days that line up with my ADRs that I need to keep, but I am getting twisted around with my other days--no park hopper. Here's my schedule so far:
9/13 Arrival Day @ about 10:00 am--was planning to head straight over to Epcot for long awaited ADR but got a ressie for another day so this is now 'open' would love to spend our first day in MK (our favorite park)
9/14 DHS this day is locked for EMH & ADRs
9/15 Resort Day (open) and MNSSHP that night (locked)
9/16 AK (open)
9/17 MK (locked)
9/18 Epcot (locked)
9/19 MK (locked) I'd like MK to be our first & last day of I had my druthers.

I'd like to maximize my MK days & visit each park at least once, although I think I could live w/o AK. I'm traveling with DH, DD8, DD6, & DS 2.5. My next trip will likely not be for another 2-3 years. I wanted to have a break with at least 1day to hang out at the resort since I'm traveling with my L.O. I bought a 6 day base ticket but am open to increasing it to a 7 day. Please help! TIA!

 

[Clare Voince]

You can always upgrade the ticket to a 7 day while you're there if you need it. I always go to MK on the first day.. it's a must for me. I skipped AK on my last trip and I didn't miss it at all. It was the first time that I ever skipped a park. When I think about it, I could have skipped DHS too, and more things have closed since I was there.

 

[TinSoldier]

We are going this same week and visited the same week last year. Food and Wine fest Epcot on Friday was overly crowded and didn't get anything out of the tasting, so we went with this plan for this year....

Granted 9/19 will be busy at MK but like you wanted to end the week there.

HS is closing attractions left and right, which is a bummer, and AK closed their parade for no good reason these parks are sorely lacking at the moment.

9/12 -arrive, hang out at hotel, Downtown Disney, explore
9/13 - Epcot
9/14 - MK
9/15 - HS
9/16 -MK
9/17 - Epcot
9/18 - AK
9/19 - MK
9/20 - leave

 

[slford00]

I go by a combination of what is recommended by Josh at easywdw.com and by crowd calendars at Touring Plans. Touring Plans requires a subscription ($10 or so per year), easywdw is free. If the two differ in recommendations, I go with Josh's because he breaks it down really well and it seems more logical. It's worked for us very well in the past, and many people swear by his recommendations. See below:

http://www.easywdw.com/category/calendar/09-september-2015-crowd-calendar/

I noticed that it looks like you've chosen the least recommended park almost every single day, presumably because almost every day you've picked a park with extra magic hours. Are you planning on going to that many EMHs? In general I avoid EMHs unless we're park hopping to a less-busy park either after morning EMHs or before evening EMHs. The park with EMHs is typically the busiest of the four parks each day (b/c so many of the 70,000-90,000 people staying on site at Disney at any given time go to that park). If you plan on getting there early (for morning EMHs) or staying late (for evening EMH) and taking full advantage of them, they can be really nice--but if you're not, I'd seriously consider changing a couple of the non "locked" days around.

Of course, with that being one of the least busy weeks of the year, maybe it won't matter too much. Though... Josh at easywdw says EMHs make even MORE of a difference during the low fall season: in the summer, the parks are filled with tons of people staying off site (and thus without access to EMH); in "low" season, the parks overall may be way less crowded, but the on site resorts stay almost completely filled (due to Free Dining), and the bulk of those people will go to the EMH park. So while Epcot may be completely dead on a low crowd day, HS could be significantly busy/full due to all the resort guests headed there for EMH.

Have fun and have a nice trip. We'll be there the week before and are headed out on the 13th.

 

[Disneyliscious]

I would avoid EMH days too. You gain an hour (sometimes 2) in park hours but will spend far more time than that waiting in line due to increased crowds. Disney has about 30,000 rooms on property and they highly market the use of EMH to their guests. You will notice increased crowds on EMH days so I would avoid those when possible.

 

[minnie mum]

I have never understood why people plan their parks around their ADRs, rather than the reverse. Or why people don't at least look at crowd calendars before deciding which parks they will do each day - ESPECIALLY if they don't have park hoppers.

Since 4 of your days are"locked", all I can suggest is that you base the remainder of your days on a reliable crowd calendar recommendation. And perhaps consider adding the PH option so you can escape the crowds, if necessary, on your "locked" days.

 

[tmj212]

I have never understood why people plan their parks around their ADRs, rather than the reverse. Or why people don't at least look at crowd calendars before deciding which parks they will do each day - ESPECIALLY if they don't have park hoppers.

Well for me, and many others, it's quite simple. No matter what the order is, I KNOW I'm going to visit my preferred parks during my visit. This I have comtrol over. What is more variable are the ADRs. I don't book at 180 days out (when I have in the past, I always needed to change my dates). So, I don't get my pick of dining w/o considerable effort and a lot of stalking. Dining is super important to me, and eating out has now become a luxury now that we are a family of 5. As a result my ADRs drive my schedule and seeing that there are at least 3 forums dedicated to dining, I don't think I'm alone in this.

I would avoid EMH days too. You gain an hour (sometimes 2) in park hours but will spend far more time than that waiting in line due to increased crowds. Disney has about 30,000 rooms on property and they highly market the use of EMH to their guests. You will notice increased crowds on EMH days so I would avoid those when possible.

Good point! I love evening EMHs because during our first trip in March it poured all day long although everyone kept assuring me it would pass and that showers don't usually last more than 20 minutes in FL...After clinging to hope all day, I finally threw in the towel and went back to the resort. Later that night we headed back out during the EMH and it was just beautiful! We had the park nearly all to ourselves and DH kept saying, "Why did you make us fight the rain all day, when this is so much better?" Granted the EMH were from 12-2 that night, but it was still pretty amazing.

Of course, with that being one of the least busy weeks of the year, maybe it won't matter too much. Though... Josh at easywdw says EMHs make even MORE of a difference during the low fall season: in the summer, the parks are filled with tons of people staying off site (and thus without access to EMH); in "low" season, the parks overall may be way less crowded, but the on site resorts stay almost completely filled (due to Free Dining), and the bulk of those people will go to the EMH park. So while Epcot may be completely dead on a low crowd day, HS could be significantly busy/full due to all the resort guests headed there for EMH. Have fun and have a nice trip. We'll be there the week before and are headed out on the 13th.

Thanks for this!! Also great info to consider. I'm hoping the 'low seasonality' will override the free dining/EMH impacts and that we'll be able to ride all of our favorite attractions We snagged FP+ for our must dos and I am definitely a park open-close type. I'd like to slow down a bit this time and maybe take a few breaks during the day and think evening EMH will help with that. You enjoy your trip as well, and thanks to all for the helpful advice!