Is Saturday a really bad day for EPCOT during the F&G Festival?

[OwnedByRetrievers]

Currently, I have EPCOT scheduled for our arrival day, which means we'd only get a half-day in the park (we'd probably arrive 3-4ish) and most likely won't get to enjoy much of WS before sunset. I'm considering moving it to the day we move over to Universal, which means we'd probably be at the park from rope drop to 3-4ish. I know crowd calendars aren't much help but I do think when I see it jump from a 3, which is where it is on our arrival day in May, to a 7 on Saturday, crowds are anticipated to rise due to locals visiting the park for the festival.

Which would you do? I'd really rather have more daylight time in the park but not at the expense of battling massive crowds.

 

[MakiraMarlena]

yes, but it might be better in the morning. I used to go Saturday mornings and leave about 12-1. I don't pay attention to those crowd calendars, but you will get locals visiting for the festival.

 

[OwnedByRetrievers]

yes, but it might be better in the morning. I used to go Saturday mornings and leave about 12-1. I don't pay attention to those crowd calendars, but you will get locals visiting for the festival.

It would be great if we could leave that early and get everything accomplished! We have to cram in TT, Soarin', Living with the Land, and SE, plus WS.

If I could only predict how well Genie+ would work for us.

 

[loves to dive]

No way to know right now since everything that was known in the before times has to be thrown out the window. Heck, right now it isn't even clear if they are going to start opening WS earlier when the parks open or still leave it closed until 11 like they did before. I wouldn't plan on any of the F&G booths to open until 11 but I would think if you were going to knock out the front of the park early and get to WS around 11 and leave before 3 or 4, it should be crowded but not unmanageable.

 

[OwnedByRetrievers]

I'll just hang tight for a while and see how it plays out during March and April before I rearrange my schedule.

 

[OwnedByRetrievers]

Me again... second-guessing myself. I moved my park reservation to EPCOT for Saturday the 21st, which is also the day we check into our Universal hotel. Now I'm wondering if we should switch that day to AK instead since we would miss Harmonious in EPCOT.

Would you arrive at rope drop and leave at around 4 pm-ish on a Saturday at EPCOT, or AK? F&G will be going on during this time.

 

[DebLovesPooh]

Me again... second-guessing myself. I moved my park reservation to EPCOT for Saturday the 21st, which is also the day we check into our Universal hotel. Now I'm wondering if we should switch that day to AK instead since we would miss Harmonious in EPCOT.

Would you arrive at rope drop and leave at around 4 pm-ish on a Saturday at EPCOT, or AK? F&G will be going on during this time.

AK is not a full day park for us while Epcot is. And I would not go to Epcot on a Sat during a festival. I would swap them.

 

[Her Dotness]

Can't speak to F&G but have been in Epcot on a Saturday during FWF.

I only dashed back there about 1:30 in the afternoon to buy something we intended to get but forgot to go back for before leaving the park. We were leaving the next morning, of course.

I thought that fairly early in the afternoon there wouldn't be horrid crowds and that I'd be dealing mostly with FWF crowding. Wrong! It was a Dapper Dans fest weekend AND locals do swarm the parks on weekends. It was nearly shoulder-to-shoulder from the entry to WS until past Mexico, though did thin out somewhat beyond there.

My advice--DON'T.

 

[HerRoyalHighness]

Well...I'm wondering if fact the Guardian's ride maybe being available around that time is affecting the crowd calendars.

 

[OwnedByRetrievers]

Those answers are enough for me! I'll switch to AK that day. I know crowd calendars aren't very reliable right now but those that I have seen also have AK ranked lower than EPCOT for that day.

 

[OwnedByRetrievers]

Well...I'm wondering if fact the Guardian's ride maybe being available around that time is affecting the crowd calendars.

Everything that I have read shows it possibly opening Memorial Day weekend. We'll be there the week before.