MK on Saturdays in December...avoid???

[alicenwonder99]

The hours for MK on Saturdays in December are very late. I'm looking at Sat, 12/10 and it's open until 11pm. We probably wouldn't stay that late because my children go to sleep before that. Do you think we should just avoid MK on that date? I was going to go to DS that day, but I think we're going to go on one of our half days (the Studios isn't a full day park for us).

Here's our 2 different intineries:

Itinerary 1:
Friday 12/9 (arrival day...get to airport at 3pm) - DS until closing
Sat 12/10 - MK
Sun 12/11 - AK, Hoop de Doo at 7:15pm
Mon 12/12 - MK
Tues 12/13 - Epcot
Wed 12/14 - leaving this day, no parks

Itinerary 2:
Friday 12/9 (arrival day) - Epcot until closing
Sat 12/10 - DS
Sun 12/11 - AK, Hoop de Doo at 7:15 pm
Mon 12/12 - MK
Tues 12/13 - Epcot
Wed 12/14 - leaving this day, no parks

This is a trip with myself and my 2 younger children (7 and 5). We won't be doing ANY roller coasters, and we would have skipped DS but my son loves the Power Rangers. Also, we go to WDW every year, so it's no biggie if we don't get to see everything (our next trip will be planned for Oct 2006).

Mary

 

[KIRSTIN'S MOMMY]

We'll be there the same time! We arrive on the 8th and leave on the 12th. The 11th is dd's birthday so we're doing MK and MVMCP that day, but when we went last year for her birthday it fell on Sat. We did MK that day and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Used FP and some touring plans and it was manageable. Have a great trip!

 

[speakupjc]

My philosophy is that the largest crowds will be where the late hours are so we stay away and go elsewhere.

 

[missymagic]

Saturday is a big arrival day in the afternoon so many tend to start at MK because you can stay later. They say it sets the mood for the trip! Me I dont like to go there on Saturday because their are usually other days less crowded.

I will be there the same time also. Dec 7-11 and MVMCP on the 8th!!!!

 

[Eponine1]

I will also be going around the same time (3--11). I did these same dates last year and both Saturday's at the MK was crowded! I'm going to try it on Sunday this time around (11th only)

Also, last year on Monday when the MK was opened until 9pm, (or8??) It was PACKED! I couldn't believe it. You might want to try the MK when the park is only opened until 6pm, it might work out better.

Good luck!

 

[FourFlans]

We'll be there same days (4-11) and had planned to do MK on Saturday. Have lunch at the castle that day, so we'll at least start day there. This is our first trip so I'm having a little trouble planning the whole week's itenerary--the tips here help. Only days I'm really worried about are the MK days--Thursday and Saturday according to my rough plan.

 

[Hopefully]

Four Flans,
Who is in your Party? Children? Ages? Are you early risers who will be at the park at opening? The answers to these questions may help us to offer advice.

 

[FourFlans]

Wow, thanks for the offer to help!

It's four of us--myself and DH, and two DDs 8 and 5. We'll be there for an entire week, and we're not anxious to be scheduled to death. We start our week with Seaworld on Sunday (actually, grandparents will be with us Sunday-Thursday). Have already booked Epcot CP for Tuesday and MVMCP for Thursday. Also have the lunch at the castle on Saturday. Have 7 day hopper passes, so we can scoot around at will. First trip for DDs and DH (and first for me since 6th grade so it will be all new).

Original plan:
Sunday--Seaworld
Monday--DS
Tuesday--Epcot
Wednesday--AK
Thursday--MK
Friday--DD8 and DH going to Discovery Cove; me and DD5 will do whatever her little heart desires
Saturday--MK
Sunday--get up and start the drive back to NC

Any suggestions?

 

[PortieOwner]

Check the Unofficial Guide crowd blog. I think they say avoid the MK on Saturdays.

Portie

 

[magiroux]

Actually, the UOG blog says that Saturday is a good day for the MK for the same reason missymagic says it's a bad day for MK. It is a traveling day and their belief is that people don't waste a half day admission at a park. They rate Saturday no higher than 4th on the "days park is most visited" and that is Epcot & AK.

The weekend I'm there (Dec 2-4), I was planning to do MK on Saturday but based on reports of people that have been there during the same time frame, I may re-think that.

 

[exwdwcm]

We will be there 3-11th.....we plan to go to MVMCP on the 6th and MK during the week, but since we leave to go home early morning on Sunday the 11th, we like to end our stay with a few hours at the MK- so we will be there probably that Sat night....even if there are crowds, we just like ending our trip there. We'll have already seen everything we want to earlier in the week, so the crowds shouldn't bother us too badly.

 

[KIRSTIN'S MOMMY]

There's a MVMCP the night of the 11th so the MK closes at 6pm.

 

[Eponine1]

Eventhough the MK will be busy on Saturday (like last year) I will probably end up there on the 3rd because our flight just got changed to leave at 12:30 pm which means we will be at WDW by 4:30 pm

So, since the park is opened late, I will most likely go there. Again, it's the same reasoning most people are probably using.

However, on that Monday, I'm off to MGM instead Since we will be there for 9 days, no need to rush this time around.

 

[PortieOwner]

Actually, the UOG blog says that Saturday is a good day for the MK for the same reason missymagic says it's a bad day for MK. It is a traveling day and their belief is that people don't waste a half day admission at a park. They rate Saturday no higher than 4th on the "days park is most visited" and that is Epcot & AK.

The weekend I'm there (Dec 2-4), I was planning to do MK on Saturday but based on reports of people that have been there during the same time frame, I may re-think that.

Yep, you are right. Some Fall weekends they show MK as a bad park on Saturday but most weekends it is a good park to visit.

Portie

 

[lentesta]

Hi folks,

Thanks for mentioning the Guide! Just a quick clarification: our recommendation for Saturday as a generally good day at the MK is based on the wait time statistics we've collected at attractions throughout the park this year. It's not a belief or opinion, but a conclusion from the data. If the data showed something else, we'd change our recommendation. We can talk about why Saturday is a relatively slow day, but I don't think there's much uncertainty, based on the data, that it's one of the least busy days of the week. Certainly not one of the top three busiest.

Clearly, other people have different theories, one of them being that Saturday is one of the busiest days. But if that's true, then there'd have to be a pretty good explanation as to why the lines aren't as long on Saturdays as on other days of the week. (Do people not ride rides on Saturdays? If so, why not? And why only on Saturdays?) I've never heard a decent explanation for this, nor seen any actual wait times from the park that would support this theory. It seems to me to be one of those "gut instinct" things that doesn't hold up under scrutiny.

Also, note that Saturday is a pretty slow day at all the Disney theme parks, not just the MK, again according to our data. This fits in well with our "Saturday's a travel day" theory (i.e., something that affects all four parks), but poses problems to the "Saturday's busy at the MK" idea, since that doesn't explain why Epcot, MGM, and the Animal Kingdom aren't busy as well. Specifically, it doesn't address why a population of many tens of thousands of people would disproportionately pick the Magic Kingdom to visit, and on only Saturday instead of Sunday or any other day of the week. Again, I'm fairly certain that's an unlikely event, and there'd have to be an extraordinarily good explanation, with lots of support data, before it could be accepted. And I've not seen any of that.

As to why Saturday is slower, I think that's more of a gray area. I think we've backed ours up with enough support to be pretty comfortable with it. The Department of Transportation's summer travel survey seems to back it up, as does Consumer Reports' research on hotel occupancy rates. I'm not aware of any comparable organizations or data that have a different conclusion, but if anyone does, feel free to throw 'em my way.

Thanks again for mentioning the book!

Sincerely,

Len

 

[PortieOwner]

I have to ask...it seems like lines this year are higher than the previous years and I wonder if this is due to increased economic growth and activity. Has anyone approached you to suggest that the crowd blog could be a good measurement of economic activity and possibly even a leading indicator of economic growth?

Are there any economic variables (unemployment rate, interest rate, M1, M2, etc.) explicitly included in the crowd prediction equations?
Portie

 

[jllittle999]

OP
Itinerary 1:
Friday 12/9 (arrival day...get to airport at 3pm) - DS until closing
Sat 12/10 - MK
Sun 12/11 - AK, Hoop de Doo at 7:15pm
Mon 12/12 - MK
Tues 12/13 - Epcot
Wed 12/14 - leaving this day, no parks


Your Itinerary 1 may have a slight flaw. 12/9 is the end of Pop Warner week and they usually close MGM early that day for a party. How early? I am not sure but I don't think you will get their before the park closes.

Just a thought!!