Less crowded days for each park.......

[shellgirl]

I am planning our trip to Disney April 27th thru May 2nd. We arrive on a Thursday around 1 pm. I know we probably will have to wait to check in later. Not sure what we will do that half day? We leave on Tuesday morning.
We have four full days to visit the parks plus we got the free waterpark fun passes. Which days are best during this time to visit each park. We already made our dinner reservations for three nights. Sat. night Chef Mickeys , Sun. night O'Hanas, Monday night at Hoop De Doo. We really want to focus on Magic Kingdom/Animal Kingdom and spend less time in MGM and see as much Epcot as possible even though our youngest will probably be board in Epcot. We have two boys age 8 and 4 and neither like roller coasters so that will save us some time by not waiting in lines for those. We really would like to do only one show per park, not sure which ones? We really want to see spectro magic and wishes fireworks. We have park hopper passes so we can go to one park during day and another at night but most parks seem to close aroudn 9pm and we have dinner reservations most nights at 7:20 except Hoop De Doo at 5 pm....Any suggestions as to what days are the best to visit MK, AK, Epcot, MGM to avoid long lines????????????

 

[MommyPoppins]

I am planning our trip to Disney April 27th thru May 2nd. We arrive on a Thursday around 1 pm. I know we probably will have to wait to check in later. Not sure what we will do that half day? We leave on Tuesday morning.
We have four full days to visit the parks plus we got the free waterpark fun passes. Which days are best during this time to visit each park. We already made our dinner reservations for three nights. Sat. night Chef Mickeys , Sun. night O'Hanas, Monday night at Hoop De Doo. We really want to focus on Magic Kingdom/Animal Kingdom and spend less time in MGM and see as much Epcot as possible even though our youngest will probably be board in Epcot. We have two boys age 8 and 4 and neither like roller coasters so that will save us some time by not waiting in lines for those. We really would like to do only one show per park, not sure which ones? We really want to see spectro magic and wishes fireworks. We have park hopper passes so we can go to one park during day and another at night but most parks seem to close aroudn 9pm and we have dinner reservations most nights at 7:20 except Hoop De Doo at 5 pm....Any suggestions as to what days are the best to visit MK, AK, Epcot, MGM to avoid long lines????????????

You can check in and if your room isn't ready yet, you can swim. Just pack your suits in your carry on.

You can sign-up for Tour Guide Mike for the best planning advice and best days to visit. Or you can check out The Unofficial Guide's site for their best days. TGM and UG differ sometimes...but UG site is free. TGM is around $20...but well worth it. He has some amazing advice.

Can't help much here...we never are able to fit shows in...I know that at AK Festival of the Lion King is best. MK and EP...don't really have any shows like that. Cinderellabration...my boys didn't care to stand there and watch that.

Again, join TGM or check out the UG site for best times to visit what parks. TGM will even tell you what parks are best for the day and what parks are best for the night. Have fun!!

 

[flynnmnstr]

We bought 5 day hoppers because the price difference was so minimal that it was worth it to us to be able to go to the parks Thursday afternoon. We are gong to Epcot that day; its an EE day at MK that day so we thought that we would either go to Epcot or the Studios. Our DS 4 actually loves Epcot. He loves strolling around the countries looking (playing with everything) at the different gift shops- Germany is his favorite with the trains; the outpost with the drums comes in a close second). In Future World- Living Seas is a place he would spend hours in. I think he's going to like Soarin also. Also he loves the water playground on International Gateway- Bring a suit and towel!!! We llike the counter service restaurants at Epcot so its always our first choice on the first day since no one wants to sit for long after a plane flight.

 

[jezebella]

All I have to say is good luck. It's been absolutely mad down here lately and crowds have been higher than they have in years. I'm speculating that it has to do with that $1500 advert they keep playing over and over all over the country. To be honest....I haven't seen crowds like this for nearly 15 years.

 

[HydroGuy]

The free advice for best days is given on the page: http://www.touringplans.com/BestDays.htm

I like the $20 paid advice on TourGuideMike better: http://www.tourguidemike.com/

 

[brock]

MK are busiiest on Mondays....
ALso, if travelling with little ones I would wait and do MK later in the week, maybe your second or third park....what we found is when they were young, we went to MK the first day and then AK, Epcot and MGM weren't quite so thrilling to them.
Have fun!

 

[shellgirl]

Thanks for the info about Trains in Germany. My 4 year old loves trains, so he will enjoy that. We arrive on Thurs. afternoon so we are trying to decide on what to do that day. We have the waterpark fun passes but don't know if we will fit that into our schedule if we don't go on Thursday when we arrive. I guess I thought 4 1/2 days would be enough to see most everything but now I am second guessing that. I read on a site that Sat. was the best day for MK but I thought that would be one of the busiest days. With Grad weekend going on they will close at 7pm on Friday and Sat. night so we won't have a really long day. Do you think Friday or Sat. will be the best day to go to MK? My schedule so far is Thurs.-water park/Mk for parade and fireworks,Friday-AK/MGM ,Sat.-MK, Sun.-Epcot,Mon-Kids choice of favorite Park or water park. Is this all doable? I have dinner reservations on 3 of the 5 nights and the rest we are just going to wing it.........

 

[brock]

Hi Shellgirl,
I think with a 4 year old you might want to re-think doing 2 parks in one day.
Either drop mgm or ak....that's a lot to take in and he may get overwhelmed and just "lose it"
Save the 4th park for your next trip.

 

[kirbsam]

Hi Shellgirl,
I think with a 4 year old you might want to re-think doing 2 parks in one day.
Either drop mgm or ak....that's a lot to take in and he may get overwhelmed and just "lose it"
Save the 4th park for your next trip.

i respectfully disagree with this. with a 4 year old it is important to take a few hour break during the day. this is a perfect time to unwind and gear up for a couple of hours in a new park. you are certainly better off than staying all day at the same park. just my two cents.

 

[shellgirl]

I think we plan on doing Animal Kingdom that day and most people we have talked to said they only spent 1/2 day in that park. We will probably take a break and then go back to the pool at our resort and eat a large lunch/dinner meal at the food court and then go to MGM for the late afternoon until closing! We did not make any dinner reservations this day since we are using two TS credits for Hoop De Doo on Sunday. We have left Monday open as a free day to do whatever so the kids will either choose to see another park again or go to the waterpark. If he has the energy to stay for the show then we will if not then we go back to bed. He will fall asleep anywhere if he is really tired!