Struggling with Planning - just curious what people would do

[NewbieMouse]

I know there are different schools of thought on this, so I am just curious what portion of people fall into each camp. We have two 12-year olds and are early risers, hate waiting, don't mind walking, not big on shows/parades, have few ADRs, and like to take afternoon breaks. I'd love to see what people would recommend.

 

[Hezzy04]

We usually just decide which park we prefer each day, and go there. We don't worry about if there are EMH or not. Sometimes we purposely go to a park without early hours and make and early ADR...sometimes we avoid early hours because we want to sleep in a little later. Sometimes we go to early hours and hop later. Just depends on what we want to do overall.

We never do evening EMH since we travel with my young daughters.

 

[daisy_77]

We usually hit EMH in the morning and stay there until lunch. We then head back to our resort for swimming and naps. We usually head back to the recommended park (easywdw.com) for the rest of the day/evening. It works for us every time.

 

[book_junkie]

When we stayed at resorts we did EMH, then hopped when it got crowded. We got a lot done in the first few hours, then took a break and closed out another park. We never tried it with the Magic Bands or FP+ however.

 

[alliecat523]

We usually just decide which park we prefer each day, and go there. We don't worry about if there are EMH or not. Sometimes we purposely go to a park without early hours and make and early ADR...sometimes we avoid early hours because we want to sleep in a little later. Sometimes we go to early hours and hop later. Just depends on what we want to do overall.

We never do evening EMH since we travel with my young daughters.

This. Almost exactly. Only exception is we will do EMH in the evening since my daughter is a little older.

 

[NewbieMouse]

This. Almost exactly. Only exception is we will do EMH in the evening since my daughter is a little older.

So you would say the evening EMHs are worthwhile? How old is your daughter?

 

[alliecat523]

Depends on the park. We love MK and go multiple times. Epcot would be worth it too. HS prob not for us and we're not fans of AK. My daughter is twelve and strives to see how late she can make it each trip. Lol

 

[ellie05]

Early EMH are usually one hour and that will take away from being at the other park at RD plus the time you loose hopping. Most touring plans will discourage you to try to go to EMH in the morning for a good reason. We do take advantage of late EMH but usually when they are after 11 pm. Love going to the MK and leaving when the park is empty.

 

[NewbieMouse]

Depends on the park. We love MK and go multiple times. Epcot would be worth it too. HS prob not for us and we're not fans of AK. My daughter is twelve and strives to see how late she can make it each trip. Lol

Our daughters are 12, too. In the evenings there will be an Epcot EMH (9-11 pm), MK (11pm-1am), and HS (9-11 pm). MK would probably be the most useful but 11pm-1am - Yikes!

 

[hurricane]

You should definitely take advantage of the EMH but don't feel like you must if it doesn't fit in your schedule. Last night DHS was open from 8pm to 10pm, my boyfriend and I returned to the park about 9 and found no lines. It was nice, got right on Tower or Terror.

 

[5kidsmommy]

We love taking advantage of emh, both morning and evening. We usually do the park until it gets to crowded around lunchtime and then head to lunch or the resort to swim and then head back in the late afternoon. I enjoy the slower pace of emh in the morning especially at MK, we can do the rides like Peter Pan without wasting a fast pass, we usually save our fast passes for our afternoon park. I know it doesn't work for everyone but that's how we do it. We've been enough times though that we don't stress about doing everything.

 

[LuckyBelle81]

I don't know that we've ever gotten much use out of AM EMHs but that's because we can't ever seem to get to the parks as early as we want. In theory it seems like a good idea. I think any time we have actually gotten to benefit from them (meaning we got there for the last 15 mins of the hour or something) it has been a good opportunity to get ahead of the rest of the crowds. Our plan is usually to stay at that park for a while (if not the whole day) once the EMHs have ended.

PM EMHs have been good for us. We have split up and had one of us stay at the park with whichever kid(s) want to stay and the other go back to the hotel with the other(s). On our last trip we had grandparents so we actually got to use EMHs for date night and that was nice. The last time we were there it was Nov so the parks were closing relatively early so it was good to have that extra time.

I have to say that I'm a bit conflicted about the best way to plan and I know there are a million different views on what to do and why to do it that way. Years ago we would just pick which park we were going to on which day and that was it. But now with the ADRs and FPs you have to plan so much more. Our last trip was essentially filling in gaps between ADRs and FPs with park time and we will definitely NOT do that again. I usually LOVE schedules and planning but having to have every day planned to the last detail took a lot of fun out of our trip and left us feeling like we didn't do everything we wanted to do. We even added an extra day in the park once we were down there bc we just felt like we were missing things. And even after doing that the trip still feels like it was rushed.

My best advice (and my plan for our next trip) is to make a "must do" list and plan everything else around that...make the trip features that Disney provides work for you instead of spending your trip working for them.

 

[NewbieMouse]

I usually LOVE schedules and planning but having to have every day planned to the last detail took a lot of fun out of our trip and left us feeling like we didn't do everything we wanted to do. We even added an extra day in the park once we were down there bc we just felt like we were missing things. And even after doing that the trip still feels like it was rushed.

I think this describes me very well. In "real life", I would certainly be called a planner, but to have to plan each day too specifically due to FP+ and ADRs I find very stressful. I am inclined to plan the FP+ for late morning/mid day at the first park, as then I feel I will have the ability to still have some flexibility, in that we can go where we want after the break rather than feel like we need to follow our FP+ reservations. I'm just torn on where to start the day. I have never been to Epcot or AK, and have only been to HS waaaaaay back when it was MGM studios. Hence I am also unsure what we will enjoy most. Quite honestly, most of our favourite rides seem split between HS and MK.

 

[Marlyn]

I only go to evening EMH, so we go to a different park then head over to EMH park for the evening.

 

[goofy4tink]

I tend to go to the park that had EMHs the previous night. I get there at opening, do what I want to do. Then I head to a second park later in the day. I usually make FPs for that second park.
I use evening EMHs when it's really hot/humid during the day.

 

[leebee]

I would suggest that you pick your park by anticipated crowd level, and go from there. We never go to rope drop; for it to be an effective touring strategy, you really should be at the park almost an hour before scheduled park opening (depending on season), so if the park opens at 8, you need to be there by 7:15, meaning be on a bus at your resort by 6:45, necessitating getting up at 6am or earlier to shower/dress, eat, and get to the bus stop on time. Getting up early every morning on vacation can get to be a drag, quickly. We have also found ourselves to be big fans of the evening magic hours; crowds are smaller, temperatures are more agreeable, and there's something special about being in the park "after hours." There was nothing better than being the only ones walking on the path between Haunted Mansion and Splash Mountain at 2am; it was like MK was our own private park! However, you can't burn the candle at both ends for several days before someone crashes and burns!

We've been to WDW dozens of times, so I know how we best travel, but with FP+ and ADRs, things are a little different. On our last trip, I used touringplans.com to help me decide what order to see things in, as well as for FP+ times. This worked very well for us, especially at HS. I basically told the program what we wanted to see, what time we wanted to start, balanced between waiting in line and walking quickly (my top speed is "stroll"), and when it gave me a plan, I moved things around so that they were in order of location, so we wouldn't be running all around, criss-crossing the park. I think our FP+ were for ToT, TSMM (DD rode RnRC as a single rider), StarTours. The plan worked really well for us, and we ended up getting a 4th FP+ for Great Movie Ride. It really helped me think things through, and worked as well for MK and AK. We had 2 days at Epcot as we were there for F&W, so a plan wasn't really necessary.

Please don't sell short the evening shows. Disney's fireworks are spectacular, and I'd hate to think you are coming all the way from Alberta and might not see them! Also, Beauty and the Beast and Festival of the Lion King are really fabulous shows- you shouldn't miss them! The parades at MK are spectacles unto themselves- they barely qualify as parades, per se, so don't rule out the afternoon parade, either.

SO.. not sure if it was helpful, but I'd go more for park days by crowd level, then plan accordingly as to your family's touring style.

 

[alex9179]

We pay no mind to the benefits of EMH at this point. We follow the advice to visit the most recommended park at opening and enjoy the morning. We are so worn out after dinner that getting up at 6 or staying late isn't realistic for us with our kids. And, they are normally early risers! Not so at WDW. Um, I've never been one, but I'll power through if I have to.

We've done long park days with them and we all end up relying on grit to eek out the best of the last couple of days. Our next trip will be park-lite. Mornings for rides, pool and naps at the resort, dinner and playing the rest of the evening by ear. I'm building in at least one day of no travel/park. It will be our first summer trip and staying at BC/YC for the kids' pool fascination. Hopefully, we'll be able to stick to a more relaxed visit. I tried last time and the kids were all about maximizing park time. I have over a year to encourage them that it is the right choice for this trip! Jedi powers, activate!

 

[NewbieMouse]

We pay no mind to the benefits of EMH at this point. We follow the advice to visit the most recommended park at opening and enjoy the morning. We are so worn out after dinner that getting up at 6 or staying late isn't realistic for us with our kids. And, they are normally early risers! Not so at WDW. Um, I've never been one, but I'll power through if I have to.

We've done long park days with them and we all end up relying on grit to eek out the best of the last couple of days. Our next trip will be park-lite. Mornings for rides, pool and naps at the resort, dinner and playing the rest of the evening by ear. I'm building in at least one day of no travel/park. It will be our first summer trip and staying at BC/YC for the kids' pool fascination. Hopefully, we'll be able to stick to a more relaxed visit. I tried last time and the kids were all about maximizing park time. I have over a year to encourage them that it is the right choice for this trip! Jedi powers, activate!

I have certainly considered this; picking one main park and then just playing it by ear - maybe staying for a whole day and then going back to the hotel for dinner/pool time, or taking a break and then going back. I think that's why I'm leaning toward pick a park to start at, get my FP+ there, and then see how we feel as they day progresses.

 

[NewbieMouse]

Please don't sell short the evening shows. Disney's fireworks are spectacular, and I'd hate to think you are coming all the way from Alberta and might not see them! Also, Beauty and the Beast and Festival of the Lion King are really fabulous shows- you shouldn't miss them! The parades at MK are spectacles unto themselves- they barely qualify as parades, per se, so don't rule out the afternoon parade, either.

One of the reasons we avoid the shows is I have zero patience for "staking out a spot". Fantasmic I have seen at DL. I have looked at some of the special experiences, and most are pretty expensive (especially considering the CDN $$). But the Illuminations Dessert Party I could manage. Do you think it's worth it? Again, I'm not staking out a spot for anything and am loathe to waste a FP.

 

[Eastern]

Now that my kids are older, we don't especially enjoy the morning EMH. We usually choose the parks with evening EMH.

I will still go to a park with morning EMH, but later in the day. For ex. I wouldn't arrive at MK at 10 or 11am on a morning EMH day because it will be packed by that point.