Unofficial Guide says MK on Saturday--REALLY?

[Meredith'sMom]

The Unofficial Guide lists Saturday as one of the best days to visit the Magic Kingdom. Anyone here agree or disagree? Why or why not?

Thanks for any and all advice!!!!

 

[beattyfamily]

I absolutely DISAGREE! I've experienced MK on Saturdays and it's very very crowded even in off season.

Ask any locals and I'll bet they'll tell you the same.

I avoid Saturdays at all costs unless I want to experience Spectromagic at night.

One Saturday in the beginning of December we walked in at about 11:00a and it was wall to wall people, like nothing we were used to and we went to do Fastpass for Pooh and the come back time was 5:00p!!!

 

[CarnotaurDad]

I definitely disagree with this. That is a day that a LOT of locals will go to MK with their kids. The weekends are much better for something like Epcot and/or AK.

JMHO.

 

[rkrivas]

I agree about disagreeing! Whenever we plan our itineraries, that's one of the unspoken rules -- avoid MK on Saturdays!

 

[Bob P]

We have always found the MK to be most crowded on Saturday, no matter what time of year! But if that's the only day you can do it, go for it and enjoy!
Bob

 

[39CINDERELLA]

stay away! don't listen to them! don't do it!...LOL

 

[Poohbear123]

I have been there on Sat. but leave at about 11:00am when ALL the locals start piling into the Park! I than, go back about 6:00pm to watch Wishes!

 

[Meredith'sMom]

Thank you everyone. This is precisely what I expected. Of course, I am a native Floridian (now in PA) who always went on a Saturday. I got the sense that DH did not believe me over the Unofficial Guide though. Looks like I'll be showing him this thread tonight. We still may go to MK on Saturday, since my Mom (who's accompanying us for the first 6 days of the trip) will be gone and we'll be with our infant daughter alone. MK has the greatest number of rides we can all go on together w/o the baby swap. Although, maybe we should just plan for a stroll around the World Showcase instead.

Thanks again!

 

[henrylovespooh]

I thought I read that the UG recommended MK on Sundays - that's what we did and it was good. I just did see that they recommend Saturdays in the summer only for MK - maybe the locals stay away at that time, but I wouldn't risk it. I don't have too many rules about avoiding certain parks, but I never do MK on a Saturday.

 

[pixie08]

I say saturday is pretty bad in any of the parks!!! We use it as a resort day..if you have to go to a park make use of emh and fastpass!!

 

[weluvpluto]

We always go to MK on Saturdays in the summer - and we get a lot done, but we take an afternoon break too.
I think the parks are great on the weekends in the summer, locals stay away, and that is when a lot of people arrive/depart. We actually planned to stay over another weekend because I think we get more done than the weekdays.

 

[bbowers]

A few years ago I met a friend and her 2 little boys in the MK on a Saturday - and she didn't get there until almost noon. (This was one of the first 2 weekends in June.) I hadn't wanted to do it that day, but that was the only day that worked for her... and it really wasn't that bad. It definitely was not wall to wall.

 

[keishashadow]

The week before President's Day this year, for some strange reason, WDW decided to change ALL of the Magic Hours (created havoc with my dining PS requests). This was only announced a month before-hand, glad I checked the calendar.

The MK was the early entry day for Saturday. Although we were able to get most of the major attractions done and leave the park before 1:00 p.m., it was starting to get really crowded. We returned after the first parade and it was still quite busy, Fast Passes were being issued for 5 - 6 hours later.

Unless they decide to "tweak" the hours again, I'd avoid the MK on Saturday.

 

[danny1649]

Year round I would avoid,crowds tend to build early and stay that way.

 

[Micca]

Our fellow Dis-er Lentesta may weigh-in here any moment I believe what the UG may be suggesting is that Saturday is a good day to visit MK compared to other days of the week. It doesn't mean the park is empty, but compared to some of the other days, it might be better. Many Dis-ers comment that MK is SLAMMED every weekend of the year.

 

[nataliesdaddy]

The Unofficial Guide lists Saturday as one of the best days to visit the Magic Kingdom. Anyone here agree or disagree? Why or why not?

Thanks for any and all advice!!!

Let me get my UG out. Wow, you're right. But from what I can see it changes over the course of the year. It also lists mondays sometimes and that is an equally bad time to MK in my opinion.

wow I hope I am not screwed.... we have always done it by me calling concierge and asking for their advice. This year I decided to try the UG. I hope I am not fried.!!

 

[gabbygrennell]

http://www.touringplans.com/BestDays.htm

ck out the link to the ug online best days plan....
it has taken into consideration the new emh hours which were not available at print time etc...

i was looking at it, and it does have MK on some saturdays but not all!
this link breaks it down by your exact date of going to the park, not just a general this day do this park etc..

also, if you go down to the bottom of the page, there is a list of the rules they use to come up with what parks what day and it makes a lot of sense!
For instance, (right now) emh for MK is on Friday, so a large majority of on site guests will go to MK on friday. You would obviously want to avoid MK on friday unless taking advantage of emh, and sat may very well be a good day to go since many would be attending the emh at another park, and after just doing a day at MK would go elsewhere....

that being said it is also our rule to avoid all parks on sat! Sun does seem to be pretty good though as that is a big travel day for many!
Just my two cents on the issue... but ck the link, you can look up the exact dates you want to be there and see what to parks to do and what to avoid...
have fun!

 

[heidica]

My understanding of the UG saying MK is ok on Saturdays is that applies during the summer only and not the rest of the year. The theory being that locals stay away from MK on the weekend during the summer because they know all of us out-of-towners are there. But then when it is not summer the locals come out and MK gets crazy on a Saturday. I will actually being having my first experience with WDW during the summer coming up in June. We have always gone in Sept, Oct or Nov and during those trips MK was a mob on Saturdays. On some trips we had no choice but to go to MK on a Saturday because that was the only day there were fireworks or Spectro. From what I have heard, during the summer MK is crazy no matter what day it is.

 

[nataliesdaddy]

http://www.touringplans.com/BestDays.htm

ck out the link to the ug online best days plan....
it has taken into consideration the new emh hours which were not available at print time etc...

i was looking at it, and it does have MK on some saturdays but not all!
this link breaks it down by your exact date of going to the park, not just a general this day do this park etc..

also, if you go down to the bottom of the page, there is a list of the rules they use to come up with what parks what day and it makes a lot of sense!
For instance, (right now) emh for MK is on Friday, so a large majority of on site guests will go to MK on friday. You would obviously want to avoid MK on friday unless taking advantage of emh, and sat may very well be a good day to go since many would be attending the emh at another park, and after just doing a day at MK would go elsewhere....

that being said it is also our rule to avoid all parks on sat! Sun does seem to be pretty good though as that is a big travel day for many!
Just my two cents on the issue... but ck the link, you can look up the exact dates you want to be there and see what to parks to do and what to avoid...
have fun!

I went out and bought the UG the other day and much to my surprise it doesn't say avoid EMH for non resort guests ... it says it as a blanket statement. Which Thought was odd indeed. We saty at the contemporary and have used EE mornings in the past to what I though was much success...but... there it is in the guidebook... no EMH period even for resort guests. And I think I now why.

because if you are tryoing top make a full day out of touring the EMH park gets prohibitively crowded. In my experience the crowds start to get pretty large around 11 and then get ludicrous at about noon... but then according to the UG the crowds back off after about 4 due to people leaving.

 

[blossombrd]

What the UG says is that because Friday is MK's am EMH day, the day after is the day to go. I am going to be the lone one here to say that, at least for now, my plan is to go to MK on Saturday. If we find it to be crowded, we'll probably go to Epcot, which will probably be crowded because of the Flower and Garden Show. So I kinda feel we just can't win! This will be our first full day there, so we won't be ready for a break yet. Only three more weeks, YEAH!!!