Selecting Park Days

[Frozen2014]

We purchased our Disney tickets awhile ago for a trip for this summer but never selected our park days. It seems like a lot to figure out way in advance. I have a bunch of questions:

1. Do the parks typically book up? We are coming the week leading up to labor day weekend.
2. If we select now, is it easy enough to change days? Or once we pick a park, are we locked in?
3. Our last day is a Friday so it would be nice to end with Magic Kingdom. However, I believe that Fridays in August have typically been Halloween party days? If so, I should assume the same for this summer? i.e. don't want our last park day to end at 7pm
4. Will Epcot be crazy on a Friday (I think there will be Food and Wine Festival going on)? That would be our alternative.
5. Our first park day will be a Sunday. Is Sun=Magic Kingdom, Mon=Epcot an ok choice? MK an Epcot will be the two parks we are repeating makes sense to put them at the start and end of our trip.

Sorry....many questions. Thanks in advance.

 

[Meglen]

We purchased our Disney tickets awhile ago for a trip for this summer but never selected our park days. It seems like a lot to figure out way in advance. I have a bunch of questions:

1. Do the parks typically book up? We are coming the week leading up to labor day weekend.
2. If we select now, is it easy enough to change days? Or once we pick a park, are we locked in?
3. Our last day is a Friday so it would be nice to end with Magic Kingdom. However, I believe that Fridays in August have typically been Halloween party days? If so, I should assume the same for this summer? i.e. don't want our last park day to end at 7pm
4. Will Epcot be crazy on a Friday (I think there will be Food and Wine Festival going on)? That would be our alternative.
5. Our first park day will be a Sunday. Is Sun=Magic Kingdom, Mon=Epcot an ok choice? MK an Epcot will be the two parks we are repeating makes sense to put them at the start and end of our trip.

Sorry....many questions. Thanks in advance.

1. Depending on the time of year yes they can fill up and be sold out. Such as these last few weeks many have shown up without park reservations and have been turned away even with valid tickets.

2. You can change your park at anytime the only issue is if it's busy and almost sold out you might modify or cancel and by the time you pick the new park it's sold out. Keep an eye on the charts if you plan to change them as you get closer.

3. As far as I can remember summer do not have any parties. So everything will be an after hours type thing so no closing early.

4. Weekend at any park will be more crowded. Just plan for crowds and leave enough time and energy to handle it.

5. Same answer as #4.

 

[CaptainAmerica]

1. Not months in advance, but you could run into some weirdness within a few weeks of the trip. It's extremely unlikely that EVERY park would fill up on a given day.

2. Yes, very easy.

3. Last year, Disney switched the Halloween Party from a "parks close early" day to "after-hours with parks closing at a relatively normal time." We don't know for sure whether this change is permanent, but it's expected to be.

4. I avoid Epcot evenings during F&W as a rule, especially Friday and Saturday.

5. I usually don't do MK first with kids since the rest of the parks can feel like a letdown, but otherwise that seems fine.

 

[Frozen2014]

Thank you both. We probably should just decide on our parks then soon and can always change (unless busy). We are looking at last week in August so I think most schools in the US have started up again (we're Canadian so don't start until after labor day).

I believe recently, they started the parties in August? If so, then that hits our trip.
If the Halloween party ends up being into the evening, then maybe we should select

• Thurs: Epcot
• Fri: MK

Do you remember what time MK closed on a park day? Ignoring closing time, it would be nice to finish our trip with MK

In terms of not wanting disappointment if we start with MK....I'm not worried with that. It'll be our first time vising HS since Star Wars so I think our DS especially will be amazed. And first time visiting Animal Kingdom as we skipped that park last time...and don't mind a bit of a quieter day in the middle.

 

[parasail_of_congress]

Regarding the Halloween party, yes, before covid the parties did take place on Friday evenings and started in August. There hasn't been word yet as to whether these will return. TP currently shows MK closing at 6pm on August 19, which is part of the time we will be there. You would think that Disney would announce this sooner rather than later if they expect people to purchase tickets for it.

 

[Frozen2014]

Regarding the Halloween party, yes, before covid the parties did take place on Friday evenings and started in August. There hasn't been word yet as to whether these will return. TP currently shows MK closing at 6pm on August 19, which is part of the time we will be there. You would think that Disney would announce this sooner rather than later if they expect people to purchase tickets for it.

Thanks. Will keep an eye on Touring Plans and assume the same for our date (which is actually Fri Sept 2)
PS - Just checked and TP does state MK hours as 9pm-6pm