Sept Park Recommendations- EasyWDW or KennythePirate?

[DisneyWillow1975]

Hi! I'll be in WDW the first few days of September, and am trying to finalize my plans so I can make ADRs soon. I've been reading the September park hours, EasyWDW's recommendations and KennythePirate's recommendations and they seem to contradict each other. Which site has been more reliable lately? We'll be in the park 2 1/2 days- September 1 through 3 (morning through lunch only on the 3rd). We'll be visiting Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom on Thursday and Friday, and I'm really struggling with the Magic Kingdom. EasyWDW has it as not recommended on Thursday but KTP has it as recommended on the same day. Am I just reading one of these wrong? If it matters, we aren't interested in the evening entertainment at all- we'll have two 4 1/2 year olds and will be focused on their favorites for the most part (train, Tiki Room, Speedway, Dumbo, princesses, Crystal Palace, Festival of Fantasy parade, Anna/Elsa if they are still in the MK, Tusker House, Kiliminjaro, Boneyard, Festival of the Lion King, and child-swapping any mountains/scary rides for our particular preschoolers). We're staying onsite, but may not be able to book FP+ at 60 days due to the tickets we'll be using, so we will need to focus on taking advantage of the morning hours and touring efficiently.

 

[KT0191]

Easywdw. He has pretty much always been spot on for me all of the time. I also love his cheat sheets he provides. He tests them regularly to see how they play out and they're always very sufficient. I really can't recommend him enough. Soon, he will have his full crowd calendar out and will explain why what park is better/why it's not for every single day of the month..which I love.
Although, I've never tried KtP's calendar before.

 

[brockash]

Hi! I'll be in WDW the first few days of September, and am trying to finalize my plans so I can make ADRs soon. I've been reading the September park hours, EasyWDW's recommendations and KennythePirate's recommendations and they seem to contradict each other. Which site has been more reliable lately? We'll be in the park 2 1/2 days- September 1 through 3 (morning through lunch only on the 3rd). We'll be visiting Animal Kingdom and the Magic Kingdom on Thursday and Friday, and I'm really struggling with the Magic Kingdom. EasyWDW has it as not recommended on Thursday but KTP has it as recommended on the same day. Am I just reading one of these wrong? If it matters, we aren't interested in the evening entertainment at all- we'll have two 4 1/2 year olds and will be focused on their favorites for the most part (train, Tiki Room, Speedway, Dumbo, princesses, Crystal Palace, Festival of Fantasy parade, Anna/Elsa if they are still in the MK, Tusker House, Kiliminjaro, Boneyard, Festival of the Lion King, and child-swapping any mountains/scary rides for our particular preschoolers). We're staying onsite, but may not be able to book FP+ at 60 days due to the tickets we'll be using, so we will need to focus on taking advantage of the morning hours and touring efficiently.

Are you sure you're looking looking at this year's hrs (2016)? I haven't been able to find credible 2016 sept. hrs. yet. Disney has recently changed their EMH schedule (for years, MK used to have am EMHS on Thursdays which is most likely why they were not recommending the park that day), but this year, they've changed that and Thurs.s are just a regular day at MK now, so it'll probably be a recommended day for MK. If you do have the 2016 Sept. hrs, could you post a link. TIA!

 

[Lirael]

If you do have the 2016 Sept. hrs, could you post a link. TIA!

Not that person but here: http://media.disneywebcontent.com/StaticFiles/ParkHours/WDWTravelAgent_september.pdf

 

[DisneyWillow1975]

Thanks, Lirael! Here are all the links I was looking at last night:

https://media.disneywebcontent.com/StaticFiles/ParkHours/WDWTravelAgent_September.pdf
http://www.easywdw.com/easy/
http://www.characterlocator.com/?p=cal_index&mo=09&yr=2016&cweek=1

I will try to be patient and wait for Josh's detailed blog about his recommended parks, since he may answer my question there, too!

 

[NH-to-FL]

easyWDW just released its preliminary September 2016 calendar. It starts off acknowledging that there are still a lot of unknowns.

I have found easyWDW to be fairly accurate but then I don't watch KtP that much.

I think you already are on to the key to success. Morning hours. Arrive prior to rope drop and get to your top wants in before the crowds build. 7DMT is doable at rope drop without a FP+ if you arrive before rope drop and are willing and able to maintain a reasonable pace to keep up with the crowd down Main Street.

This might be a bit of a challenge if you choose Friday for MK as the preliminary calendar shows MK EMH opening at 8am. Since you are on site you could get a lot done in Fantasyland in that 8-9 hour but it does make for an early get up and get going.

I confess I have been leaning more towards easyWDW's recommendation of avoiding morning EMH parks. I might suggest you do MK on Thursday the 1st and AK on Friday.

Good luck with your planning and wishing you a magical trip.

 

[walker0829]

I was a bit torn using EasyWDW last Sept for the first time. In 2014 I went to whatever park had the morning EMH and felt like even though it got busy, that extra hour allowed me to do a few extra rides. The EasyWDW parks that were recommended seemed to get busy quicker than I expected.

As an example: In 2014 we did EMH for AK and was able to do Safari ride at RD, and then EE a few times before the line even started backing up. Last year we went on the most recommended day, were already in the park finishing at Tusker House prior to park open. Did the Safari's but by the time I got to EE there was already a 20 min wait. The whole week was off like that. The main benefit I saw to no early EMH is getting to sleep a bit longer.

 

[crazymomof4]

Thanks, Lirael! Here are all the links I was looking at last night:

https://media.disneywebcontent.com/StaticFiles/ParkHours/WDWTravelAgent_September.pdf
http://www.easywdw.com/easy/
http://www.characterlocator.com/?p=cal_index&mo=09&yr=2016&cweek=1

I will try to be patient and wait for Josh's detailed blog about his recommended parks, since he may answer my question there, too!

I just checked the official WDW site and it doesn't seem that there are any posted park hours beyond Sept 1st. I'm just wondering what the sites listed above base their Sept schedule on? Do they get info from WDW ahead of the public? (not being sarcastic. honestly interested in knowing)

 

[newdeal]

I have been on many many trips and have used easyWDW many, and many times I have not used it. I can say that to me, as long as you avoid the EMH parks you will be fine. That is the biggest key

 

[AtlantaDisneyDreamer]

I have been on many many trips and have used easyWDW many, and many times I have not used it. I can say that to me, as long as you avoid the EMH parks you will be fine. That is the biggest key

That is true for the daytime hours for sure. But those night EMH can be outstanding. We got so much done at MK from 10-12 am last week during EMH. Much more than we got done in a two hour daytime stretch- and we could actually walk through the park at a normal pace, unlike in the terribly congested daytime hours at the "most recommended" park.

 

[newdeal]

That is true for the daytime hours for sure. But those night EMH can be outstanding. We got so much done at MK from 10-12 am last week during EMH. Much more than we got done in a two hour daytime stretch- and we could actually walk through the park at a normal pace, unlike in the terribly congested daytime hours at the "most recommended" park.

we have little kids so we leave the parks at dinner time, eat and then go back to get them ready for bed. At this age we would never stay for evening EMH and that makes it especially important to avoid those parks for us