Overthinking days to visit each park?

[Scrappingjen]

I have been there and it can be totally overwhelming for Disney Newbies. We are going on our first Disney trip in June so its been about a year or researching, reading, watching videos. Here is my .02C

What are your most looking forward rides? Are those hard to get FB? If so put those days at the end so when you can book FB you book those rides first. You will be 60 + days out Ex for us like everyone else it was FOB. I booked that first at 60 day + 3 after we check in then planned around that FB. That day is our AK day.

Agreed that MK will more family fun with a 6 Yo.

You can also book some breakfasts that get you farther into the park before it opens, if no early EMH. Example Akershus gets you right by the Frozen ride so if you eat at 8:00am you can ride with out a FB. Tusker House gets you right next to Safari ride. Garden grille gets you right next to Soarin.

 

[Louie7080]

I love night time so I try to use the late EMHs and skip the early morning ones and parks that have morning EMH that day because we don't like getting up that early - but that is us, if you like mornings more then you'd want to do a different strategy. I also think you should spend more time in MK and less in HS, unless of course your child is a die-hard Toy Story fan and would want to spend most of a day in that land. Good advice I have heard is to have a hard plan for a few hours a day but make the other part of the day very flexible so if you want to change parks, go back to the hotel for a rest, eat a leisurely meal, etc.. you can decide that last minute. While I generally agree with the advice to do what you want, if you haven't been there how would you know what you like so I think crowd scorcing info has some value.

 

[MrInfinity]

I'm a fan of simplicity. There's a ton of info out here but much of it is related to optimizing this or that or reducing Disney World to specific must-follow strategies. Make sure to talk to friends or people at work too because in person you get a very different focus! You definitely don't need to hit up crowd calendars or itineraries. Your days look fine! You're doing EMH two mornings, which seems perfect. You're hopping 1 or 2 days and doing some nights! I think you have it mixed up great.

At the Magic Kingdom -- I'd plan your departure day for Tomorrowland and Fantasyland where you FastPass things like Space Mountain and the Mine Train... And then do Frontierland and Adventureland the other (full) day. This way you haven't run around the whole park both days. Pick a restaurant you want to do in each section and book those on the relevant day.

At Hollywood I'd hit up Toy Story both days to utilize your Fast Passes there, but also see some of the shows at night. These will be shorter days for you.

Is your 6- into roller coasters and 44" tall? Ours is a whole family of thrill-seekers. This will affect how you pick your Fast Passes.

 

[ErinTwinmom]

What if you don't have Park hopper? Do you still recommend EMH if you can get there 30 minutes prior to opening?

No I don’t, because the EMH park will get more crowded than the regular park over time, so while you get a nice morning it slows down the whole day. I have toured both ways and if I wasn’t hopping I’d for sure set my schedule away from morning EMH.

 

[nco91590]

I went last year for a short trip during peak Spring Break time with a 6yo and a 4yo. We always did rope drop, stayed for lunch, hit maybe one ride around 2p and hightailed it back to the resort for swim/rest/wine (for me.) We usually went back out at around dinner time and hit a ride or character meet and greet. Despite the short park hours, we were able to hit MK three times and Epcot twice.

Looking back on it, we really did a ton of rides. And we were pretty low key about everything. We just did the three FPs per day and scheduled them after 11am, waited in some of the shorter lines in the morning.

I would guess that December won't be nearly as insane as our trip was. I never do EMH because I couldn't get all four of us out the door before 8:30am, and my kids turn into monsters after 9pm.

 

[srpresto]

I highly recommend the plan for breaks mid to late afternoon. Even if you think your child won't need a nap, you might - or just a chance to cool off. I tend to plan my mornings heavily and play my afternoons by ear (what fastpasses can I get and what has low wait times on MDE).

I agree with other posters that you will probably need more MK time. Also, since you won't be able to do everything (and you won't), figure out what matters most to your family. Is it parades, shows, fireworks, thrill rides, or more gentle rides? And how long are you willing to wait for them? What is too scary for your 6 yo? youtube videos of rides might be a huge help if you have questions about how dark or thrilling a ride is.

For some of us planning is part of the fun, so personally I like making touring plans, but I don't rely on them in the park, they are a guideline, not an itinerary.

 

[PrincessWithABlaster]

What if you don't have Park hopper? Do you still recommend EMH if you can get there 30 minutes prior to opening?

We don't do hoppers and we still usually do 1 or 2 EMH days. Looking at historical crowd levels sometimes it's true that EMH days are more busy sometimes it's not so I don't worry about it too much. We have yet to go on an EMH day and felt like it was a mistake. True that they might be busier than another park that day, but I haven't found them to be totally out of bed for the overall crowd levels for the weeks we've gone.

 

[dchronister]

If you plan to use EMH, if morning, you have to be there early before park opening to get any use out of it, don’t show up at 8:30 for an 8:00 park opening, your wasting time, also if you attend late EMH, the later the better. But same thing applies, if you leave at 11:30 when the park closes at 1am for EMH, you are using the EMH wrong, you need to stay to the very end to get quality out of it, also, the later you can stay in a park, the fewer people there. I can remember when EMH would run till 2 am or later, those were the best, you could ride things, SM, SplM, BTM, over and over. But those days are gone, don’t know if they will ever return or not, doubt it! We go a lot in dec and my personal advice would be to not do park hoppers and buy a tix for a Christmas party. A lot of people don’t think you get your $ out of a party, but everyone should do it once. Also, it will be your only opportunity to see a night time parade, and the Christmas parade is awesome! They may be bringing back a nightly parade to MK, but if so, I don’t know when. Also, look at the hours of the parks, if they are closing at 7/8pm, I consider those early times and won’t buy PHs when the hours are like this. I use my Christmas party day if we are wanting to hop somewhere for a half day! Or rest, if we are pooped out, but you can enter MK at 4pm on your party day even though the party doesn’t start till 7pm. These are just my thoughts. That week is usually a decent week to go, just use your FPs on the most popular rides you want to ride and that will cut wait times. But don’t spend that saved time riding a bus to somewhere else. You can easily spend an hour by the time you leave a park, wait for the bus, travel on the bus, and then get into another park, you don’t want to do that several times a day. Say... an hour to get to MK, an hour to switch parks, and then an hour to get back to your room, it adds up.

 

[maybethisyear]

I see Tuesday is the only day you have for MK. The park will close at 6 for the Christmas party. It won’t be as busy during the day, but you will mis HEA fireworks.

Oh my goodness! See, this is why I didn't try to make these solid plans. I will take a long hard look at that. THANK YOU!

 

[maybethisyear]

So couple things i noticed.

First off it is busy pretty well all year round now but your dates are decent crowd wise. Plus xmas decorations are great and the weather is very comfortable as long as you dont intend on swimming.

Now as for parks.

Skip the emh and the park hopping. Its not necessary and involves lots of transfering time from park to park. This would be ok if you planned on afternoon breaks anyway but it does not seem you are.

Roughly just hit the park that had emh the day b4. So if magic kingdom had emh tuesday then visit wednesday since the resort guests already did it the day b4.

Speaking of mk. Its a beast. Tons of attractions. And the best park for ur 6 yo. You only have 1 full day there. It requires 2.

Also habe your fp reserved and done by 12 or 1 pm. Then use your my disney experience app and get a 4th 5th etc fp as the day progresses.

If you want low lines learn the fp and get to park early. Like pre park open early.

Also be aware mk closes early on many days for xmas party. Plan accordingly.

Also i may be biased but maybe skip hollywood studios. Not much there for your 6yo.
Time best used with more magic kingdom or even animal kingdom. Ak is nice to take more relaxed. Take time on trails or hit the boneyard play area for however long yoir 6yo wants.

Check out easywdw.com for more detailed advice and keep posting on these boards. Tons of disney addicts here.

Gl new dizzer.
Welcome to our obsession.

Thank you for the detailed thoughts. You gave me so much to think about. I need to rework a lot of this plan I think.

 

[maybethisyear]

regarding EMH. Overall I think it looks like a solid plan. It doesn't appear that you have much park hopping planned, so I wouldn't add that until when/if you decide you need it (this can be done at any point in the trip). Also, it's a good

We're going with free dining, so park hopper was mandatory. We don't necessarily plan on using it a lot, but I do like that if we don't like a park or get overwhelmed we can take a break then go somewhere else.

 

[b52hbuff]

We plan our mornings based on EMH availability. Our touring plan is basically, arrive at EMH park 30-45min before open. Rush headliner/E-Ticket attractions until about 10AM. FP+ kick in at 10, 11, and 1PM. A sit-down lunch is scheduled around 12:30. After our 1PM FP+, we either ride A-D Ticket attractions, watch shows/parades or go back to the hotel.

 

[Greenfield1984]

Thank you for the detailed thoughts. You gave me so much to think about. I need to rework a lot of this plan I think.

Np. Plz dont hesitate to keep the questions flying. Its why these boards are here.

Also despite my admirably seemingly rigid only one way to do things previous reply im actually very open and flexible.
Many ways to tour these parks and gotta find the right strat for you.

Basically the only info you provided led me to believe low lines is your no 1 priority.

Thats mine as well.

I tailored my reply with that in mind.

So if that is you then again. Arrive 30 min b4 park open. Every day. You can get short waits for headliners out of the way and fp the rest of them. Saving low wait rides to do at your leisure rest of day.

Which is why again i say learn how to maximize fp. Not just how it works but Find out which rides you should fp, which should be ridden first thing in morning and what has lower priority.

Easy wdw again does a good job at giving you a basic idea that you can taylor to you.

But dont make the mistake of having a plan you wont deviate from.

Sometimes a 6yo just wants to sit and eat a mickey bar. Let that happen.

If you miss something just come back in a couple years .

If you need tips on making more affordable and more frequent trips i and the boards can help with that as well.

Because you will come back.

Oh yes...

You will be back...

 

[djc9699]

I would use morning EMH at the parks IF it fits with my other plans. You can do so much in the morning. Just an example - on Christmas Eve last year we arrived around 6:30 for a 7:00 EMH. By 11:00 we had done EVERY attraction in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland except Stitch, 7DMT and ETWB. We only did one meet and greet - Ariel with an immediate walk in. We then went to our ADR, did 2 FPs, watch the 3:00 parade and did our last FP. We were able to get additional FP for Peter Pan, Winnie the Pooh, 7DMT, POC, and Magic Carpets before our FW desert party that night. Starting early allows you to get tons of things done before the park gets crowded.