Should I plan around EE days?

[il-gander]

How worried should I be about our itinerary including 3 EE days? (This is a potential problem for us as we are staying offsite and thus cannot take advantage of the extra hour.) We've agreed as a family on the week's itinerary and I'm reluctant at this point to change it. However, I know that the crowd level will have a major impact on our ability to experience as much magic as possible.

Our itinerary for May 31-June 8 is as follows:
Sun- MK
Mon- AK
Tues- SeaWorld
Wed - Epcot
Thurs - flex day (mostly likely MK)
Fri - beach
Sat - MGM

I believe Sun, Mon, and Sat are all EE days. These were the days we chose for a variety of reasons prior to learning about EE. Of course, the June hours being as reduced as they are for MK has made this even more difficult to plan. We have some evening PS's that would make it difficult to change as well. We will have 5 Day Park Hoppers, but I don't think we'll be likely to park hop much. We're much more likely to spend the entire day at one place and then go back to crash at the hotel.

Help! We need advice - what do you think?

Carla in Illinois

 

[tigerfanrob]

I am also curious. Would it be a good idea to go to EE at one park and hit a couple of big rides and then hop to another park before the crowds hit? Has anyone done something like this?

 

[blanq]

I just got back from WDW (May 7th-14th), and we were able to take advantage of the Extra Magic Hour as we stayed on site. At the beginning of our trip, our experience was that crowds were higher at the parks offering the Extra Magic Hour, although ride times were not always too bad. The MK on May 8th, and AK on May 9th I thought were really crowded. MGM on May 13th was great, however. If you are offsite and cannot take advantage of the Early Magic Hour offered to onsite guests, I personally would not do a park that had EMH during summer hours as I expect it will be even busier.

 

[MinniMama]

I would avoid the EMH parks like the plague- they are always the busiest park the CMs say have told me they always order way more products for those days and they are their most crowded- if you are at resorts go early and then leave by 11:00 or so that is what we do they are only good for the first 2 mhours also I would not bother with EMH for Epcot not much open there. So since you are offsite plan around the EMH parks. The exception would be if the night parade and fireworks are only offered on a EMH day then go just to see the parade and get a spot early.

 

[MinniMama]

If possible switch parks Monday with Sunday and Saturday for Friday then you'd be all set.

 

[cindala]

Since you are staying offsite, they won't let you in until the regular opening time, so by the time you get into the parks, it will already be crowded. I would try to plan around the EE days.