Parks More Crowded on EE Days???

[dizcrazy]

Am trying to plan our February trip and, as usual, am over-thinking again!!!

Do you think that the parks are more crowded on early entry days? For example, if Sunday is early entry day for MK, should we head to Epcot?

In the past, we got to the Early Entry park 30 minutes before the early entry time, did some rides, and then headed to another park by 11 to eat lunch there. Hoping to avoid the crowds.

Now I wonder . . . does it even matter? Am I heading out before lunch for no reason?

Any one have any thoughts?

 

[sharonk]

If you don't mind getting up early, go to the EE park for the first hour or two, then leave as soon as it gets crowded enough to make you uncomfortable.

If getting up early is a chore, then skip the EE park altogether and just head to another park that day.

Sharon

 

[dcmbshafe]

We have followed your strategy before because it is theoretically sound and it has fit in well with some "down time" for the kids. I believe the Unofficial Guide talks about this in a little more quantitative terms with respect to park capacities and average occupancy rates. At the end of the day, I would suspect that it is a marginal impact that may or may not cause the park to get from "empty" to "crowded" to "packed" (you can pattern your own definition here as everyone has a slightly different opinion).

In February, I would expect the parks to fall somewhere in between empty and crowded. In this situation, I wouldn't think the impact of EE is likely to substantially alter the average wait times you'll experience over the course of the entire day. We will be going around Easter, during which the parks will be close to packed the whole time. I am guessing that the EE parks will reach capacity and close quicker than the non-EE parks and this will likely impact our touring strategy.

Anyway, I haven't given you any concrete answers, but this is how I tend to think about it.

 

[NCombs]

You might consider purchasing the 2005 Unofficial Guide to WDW. It made a great addition from the 2004 version by adding in a day by day expected crowd levels chart. The rating is from 1 to 10 with 1 being empty and 10 being full. For example, I'm looking at June 4-11 and it giving me a rating from 6-8 on the days during that time. It also lists day by day which parks to avoid and which are the best to be at. Of course, it's based on prior years activities and what expectations are in the next year but I thought it was a great schedule.