Use EE or follow Unofficial Guide Advice for touring?

[mickeyfan0705]

Hello!

Okay, after hearing so many people giving kudos to the Unofficial Guide to Disney, I bought one today and haven't been able to put it down! Lots of good advice.

However, the days it suggests are the best days to visit the differnet parks in the summer (we are going last week of June) are NOT the EE days. Has anyone else followed this advice and found those parks less crowded? Or do you find that you get more done using EE? I plan on breaking up all of the parks, other than Epcot as it is not my family's favorite (sorry), into two days.

I hear so many people saying 'use EE' and yet so many saying 'follow the Guides Advice'. Help, I'm confused on what to do! Thanks!

 

[HaleyB]

I think the parts people are so attached to are the touring plans not which park which day. They do have advice on EE and touring plans (do the EE rides until 10 minutes to regular open and at that point be at the first attraction on the plan. Skip the things you did w/ EE or do them again!).

Much depends on when you go. If it is a very busy time of year, or not so busy time... also how many days you have and if you have tickets that let you park hop.

What we plan to do is EE and touring plan as long as possible, then park hop when it gets to be too much.

 

[jaysue]

Are you staying onsite?

thanks
jaysue

 

[sm4987]

I always do EE and have never seen it terribly crowded and have found it easy to do a lot in a short amount of time.

 

[mickeyfan0705]

Yes, we are staying on property (Caribbean Beach) and will be there for 9 days.

I think we might take advantage of the EE are couple of times, but I don't want the kids to get totally run down by getting up early every day.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[dcmbshafe]

I don't have the Unofficial Guide in front of me, but I seem to recall that they are making several different points about this. All other things being equal, they will cite which parks will be the most crowded on particular days of the week. I believe they will also say that the EMH park will be the most crowded on that particular day. But I don't really recall them saying you should avoid doing early entry.

Anyway, we are going in May, which isn't as crowded, but we still plan on taking advantage of EMH b/c our entire family are early risers. We will be going to the EMH park, then leaving late morning to return to our hotel for a break, then hop to a different park for the afternoon/evening. I am a big fan of EMH - during the less crowded times it "extends" the day by an hour, which is cool b/c the parks usually close earlier - during the more crowded times, you can get in a lot before the bulk of the crowds arrive.

 

[Disney Debbie]

Originally posted by mickeyfan0705
Yes, we are staying on property (Caribbean Beach) and will be there for 9 days.

I think we might take advantage of the EE are couple of times, but I don't want the kids to get totally run down by getting up early every day.

Thanks for the advice!

Don't know how old your kids are - but it is well worth getting up early every day even if you don't do EE. We are not normally early risers AT ALL. But we always get up early at WDW because it's so much less crowded and cooler in the early hours. We then always leave during the hot part of the afternoon - when it's also the most crowded and take naps or lay out by the pool. The only time we slept in on our last trip was when we went to E-Night the night before and didn't get in until 2:00a.m.!! But we find we tend to get to bed earlier then normal since the parks usually close by 9 or 10 when we're there.

 

[Disney Debbie]

Sorry - didn't really address your original ?. When we do EE we go there until it starts to get crowded and then change parks. That's pretty much the advice in the Unoffical Guide. We rarely follow the actual touring plan because we sort of do what it says anyway - we get the biggies over first thing, get fast passes whenever possible and go back to resort for a break in the afternoon.

 

[lentesta]

Hey Mickeyfan0705,

If I was going to get up for an EE morning, it'd be for EE at the Magic Kingdom. I've avoid EE at the AK - you could end up waiting longer in line overall. The Studios and Epcot are probably toss-ups. If your family is going to wake up on their own early enough to be at the park when it opens, EE doesn't hurt. But I wouldn't drag anyone out of bed for it at those parks.

Hope this helps. Thanks for reading the Guide!

Sincerely,

Len

 

[HaleyB]

Hey Len,
I see you are going in 25 days, didn't you just get back?

So with AK, is it that it is most crowded on EE day, or that it is most crowded in the morning? or both, maybe...

Is this advice in general, or specific to OP dates?

I was wondering if same goes for 1st week of June.

Last question (don't hold me to that). Is one EE day better than the other for the parks that have two? I was thinking maybe the MK-TH was better than Sun and then I had second thoughts and thought Sun would be better because it is a travel day for so many people...

 

[lentesta]

Hey HaleyB,

Yes, I just got back less than two weeks ago. Such is the life of a researcher. We had some media interviews that we didn't get to finish, and we need to finish re-riding all the rides to make sure the descriptions in the Guide are accurate. Hopefully we can get all of that done in three days in April. Oh, and I think I'm staying at the Contemporary for the first time. Should be fun.

The thing with the AK is that on crowded days with EE, more people go to the park than can be accommodated on the attractions. We had our statistician analyze data from the park, and he's the one that noticed it. You'll end up waiting (on average) around 40 minutes more in line during a comprehensive tour of the park.

By "crowded" we mean holiday periods (e.g., Christmas, Easter and July 4th). That is, we have specific data from those dates that backs up the findings. Hazarding a guess, I'd say it also applies to the OP's date of "the last week in June." And I wouldn't take my chances on any week duing summer, either.

I'm not sure whether one EE days is better than the other, but we've already asked our statistician the question. Once he answers, I'll get back to you and update the 'Best Days' on the website. It takes us a while to do this kind of analysis, but we'll have it done prior to your trip. If you don't see something posted in the next 30 days, drop me a line.

Sincerely,

Len

 

[mickeyfan0705]

Thanks, Len (and everyone else)! We've definitely decided to do EE at MK. We thought about doing AK, also, but maybe will switch that to MGM instead and just make sure we are at the parks the rest of the time at opening on the days that are 'usually less busy in the summer'.

Thanks again!