Please weigh-in on my plans for our first visit

[SFMommy]

I have narrowed down our daily plan to the following 3 options. The number of days at each park and having a day at the Kennedy Space Center are set for our family. It's just a matter of which park which days. This is the first week of May...May 1-7. We do not have hopper tickets...just 6-day base tickets.

Plan #1 came about when I thought it best to skip all EMH, since we don't have hopper tickets.

Plan #2 came about when my DH said why aren't we doing morning EMH if we are staying on-site.

Plan #3 came about when I started researching EMH and thought that maybe EMH at MK was the most worthwhile morning EMH.

I would love any input and thoughts! Thanks!


Plan #1 - no EMH
Sunday - Epcot
Monday - HS
Tuesday - MK
Wednesday - AK
Thursday - pool/resort day, MK at night
Friday - KSC
Saturday - Epcot


Plan #2 - most EMH
Sunday - Epcot
Monday - HS
Tuesday - pool/resort day, MK at night
Wednesday - KSC
Thursday - Epcot (a.m. EMH)
Friday - MK (a.m. EMH)
Saturday - AK (a.m. EMH)


Plan #3 - only MK EMH
Sunday - AK
Monday - Epcot
Tuesday - pool/resort day, MK at night
Wednesday - KSC
Thursday - HS
Friday - MK (a.m. EMH)
Saturday - Epcot

 

[mrzrich]

Do you know about?

http://www.easywdw.com/may16-v2.jpg

Josh tells you which park for which day and gives you the rationale for his choices.

http://www.easywdw.com/easy/calendars/may-2016-walt-disney-world-crowd-calendar/

 

[mrzrich]

I'm partial to plan one. See the castle for the first time in the light of day.

 

[tstidm1]

With How old your Kids are, I would do a full two days in MK. In general, I would go against the EMH hours especially if you can't get your family up in time to be at a park by 7:30 AM. Maybe do MK as Saturday even thought it will be Busier and the Pool Day evening on Thursday as Epcot because your not going to be there at the Peak hours of the park.

 

[sharonabe]

Putting those early EMH days at the end of your trip could backfire on you. I think you'll find you get a little more tired each day, and getting up gets harder and harder. Is there any way to put them at the beginning of your trip instead? Morning EMH at MK is a pretty good one to try for, so if you can't get early ones earlier in your week, I might try Plan 3. Just know you'll want to make the night before an early to bed if you can.

 

[g-dad66]

I think these are some relevant considerations:

1) Are you early morning people? If arriving for morning EMH is going to be a struggle, then it might not be such a great idea. (You certainly don't want to arrive at something like 8:30 for an 8:00 EMH, because then you will have lost half of the potential benefit of the early start.)

2) The morning EMH will certainly be your least crowded hour of the day, and you can get quite a lot done during that hour. However, for the rest of the day that park will be busier than it will be on a non-EMH day.

3) If there are popular rides that you want to do multiple times with minimal wait, then yes, I would recommend morning EMH so that you might ride the ride 2 or 3 times before regular park opening. (Our grandkids usually want to do this at Everest and at Test Track.) However, for first-time visitors, you probably don't know if there are attractions you will want multiple rides on.

 

[Alesia]

Plan 1 is the better plan, but I would switch Sunday and Wednesday.

Do not go to a park with EMH if you don't have park hoppers. By lunchtime it will be so much busier than the other parks that you'll get much less done, even with that extra hour.

 

[amylevan]

Plan 1 is the better plan, but I would switch Sunday and Wednesday.

Do not go to a park with EMH if you don't have park hoppers. By lunchtime it will be so much busier than the other parks that you'll get much less done, even with that extra hour.

I was essentially going to write this exact post.

And for the record, my family absolutely loved KSC.

 

[DizDaD7]

I have narrowed down our daily plan to the following 3 options. The number of days at each park and having a day at the Kennedy Space Center are set for our family. It's just a matter of which park which days. This is the first week of May...May 1-7. We do not have hopper tickets...just 6-day base tickets.

Plan #1 came about when I thought it best to skip all EMH, since we don't have hopper tickets.

Plan #2 came about when my DH said why aren't we doing morning EMH if we are staying on-site.

Plan #3 came about when I started researching EMH and thought that maybe EMH at MK was the most worthwhile morning EMH.

I would love any input and thoughts! Thanks!


Plan #1 - no EMH
Sunday - Epcot
Monday - HS
Tuesday - MK
Wednesday - AK
Thursday - pool/resort day, MK at night
Friday - KSC
Saturday - Epcot


Plan #2 - most EMH
Sunday - Epcot
Monday - HS
Tuesday - pool/resort day, MK at night
Wednesday - KSC
Thursday - Epcot (a.m. EMH)
Friday - MK (a.m. EMH)
Saturday - AK (a.m. EMH)


Plan #3 - only MK EMH
Sunday - AK
Monday - Epcot
Tuesday - pool/resort day, MK at night
Wednesday - KSC
Thursday - HS
Friday - MK (a.m. EMH)
Saturday - Epcot

Not bad , all 3 are good, but As a pp stated MK would be high on my list to visit multiple times too.
My suggestion would be MK 1st, Then Epcot, *( these are usually the parks we'd definitely visit multiples ) Then I'd do AK. Wed,I'd shoot for KSC, ( so it breaks it up )Thursday would be the resort day/ HS * with all that's going on construction wise, & things that aren't there anymore, this would be the park to split with-IMHO.
Then Friday back to MK, and end w/ EPCOT...

The only EMH would be for Sunday, but honestly I don't think that will matter,because you're going at such a great part of the year...Weather wise & crowd wise, you should have no problems, seeing & doing everything you need to.
Here's another link that will show you some busy times and stuff.

http://**************.net/2014/09/25/disney-world-crowds-in-2016/

 

[SFMommy]

Do you know about?

http://www.easywdw.com/may16-v2.jpg

Josh tells you which park for which day and gives you the rationale for his choices.

http://www.easywdw.com/easy/calendars/may-2016-walt-disney-world-crowd-calendar/

Yes! I love this site. Plan #1 is based on Josh's suggestions. It's just my DH mentioning EMH that has me questioning if we should add some EMH mornings.

 

[SFMommy]

Not bad , all 3 are good, but As a pp stated MK would be high on my list to visit multiple times too.
My suggestion would be MK 1st, Then Epcot, *( these are usually the parks we'd definitely visit multiples ) Then I'd do AK. Wed,I'd shoot for KSC, ( so it breaks it up )Thursday would be the resort day/ HS * with all that's going on construction wise, & things that aren't there anymore, this would be the park to split with-IMHO.
Then Friday back to MK, and end w/ EPCOT...

With How old your Kids are, I would do a full two days in MK. In general, I would go against the EMH hours especially if you can't get your family up in time to be at a park by 7:30 AM. Maybe do MK as Saturday even thought it will be Busier and the Pool Day evening on Thursday as Epcot because your not going to be there at the Peak hours of the park.

I forgot to mention that we have specifically chosen 1.5 days at MK, 2 EP, 1 HS, 1 AK and 1 KSC because we have been to DLR parks multiple times and will definitely go back a lot more since it is relatively close to us. We've decided to skip MOST attractions at MK that we have been on at DLR. I know...gasp...that there are differences in the attractions. But for our family, we would rather focus on completely different experiences (like AK and Epcot) that we don't have in California. That's why we are a little light on the MK days...we are completing skipping half of the attractions!

The only EMH would be for Sunday, but honestly I don't think that will matter,because you're going at such a great part of the year...Weather wise & crowd wise, you should have no problems, seeing & doing everything you need to.

That's what I'm hoping for!

 

[SFMommy]

Putting those early EMH days at the end of your trip could backfire on you. I think you'll find you get a little more tired each day, and getting up gets harder and harder. Is there any way to put them at the beginning of your trip instead? Morning EMH at MK is a pretty good one to try for, so if you can't get early ones earlier in your week, I might try Plan 3. Just know you'll want to make the night before an early to bed if you can.

I think these are some relevant considerations:

1) Are you early morning people? If arriving for morning EMH is going to be a struggle, then it might not be such a great idea. (You certainly don't want to arrive at something like 8:30 for an 8:00 EMH, because then you will have lost half of the potential benefit of the early start.)

In general, yes, we are very early risers and have no problem getting to early EMH. At DLR for Thanksgiving, we woke up at 5:45 a.m. to be at the gates at 6:30 for 7:00 a.m. EMH! Very worthwhile to us to wake up that early and get to ride so many things while everyone else is still asleep!

HOWEVER...we will be coming from the West Coast. So I anticipate that it may take us a few days to get onto East Coast time. That is why I had the EMH days later in the week. I thought we might sleep-in a little the first day or two. Hmmm....

 

[mchelle77]

Definitely at least utilize the MORNING EMH ... evening ones might be used more by those with park hoppers, but I've never gone in the morning and had it be crowded. You can easily fit several attractions in before the general public gets in. On our next trip I'll be using the EMH for the evening on our SECOND MK day, just to get a FP for Wishes and MSEP. (We'll be at Ohana for a 5pm dinner so it makes sense for us to do a half day there)

 

[sharonabe]

In general, yes, we are very early risers and have no problem getting to early EMH. At DLR for Thanksgiving, we woke up at 5:45 a.m. to be at the gates at 6:30 for 7:00 a.m. EMH! Very worthwhile to us to wake up that early and get to ride so many things while everyone else is still asleep!

HOWEVER...we will be coming from the West Coast. So I anticipate that it may take us a few days to get onto East Coast time. That is why I had the EMH days later in the week. I thought we might sleep-in a little the first day or two. Hmmm....

I didn't pick up that you are west coasters, so you're probably right in those first few days need to be later rather than earlier. You might want to switch and take advantage of the LATE EMH, and keep your bodies more on their regular time frame, but you won't get as much done in those late EMH as you do in the early because in May, they just aren't that late and most people can/will stay up for them.