Veteran July visitors...

[DLBDS]

What is your advice for touring the parks this particular month?? I was planning to follow the suggestions of easywdw.com and go to the most recommended "green" park each day at RD. After that... ??. Not sure how to tour parks anymore (with the implementation of FP+) or how best to schedule FP+.

I want to take advantage of the mid-day heat by eating some lunches at TB (saving $) instead of TB in the evening. I'll have parkhoppers for the 2 of us. We've never done EMH before but I'm wondering if we should... just the EMH then move on to the "green" park for that day. We've missed RD at the "green" park by now but this would be ok because of FP+, right? I read that park hours are extended this month but it doesn't look like it's by much to me. I was hoping for more in the 10:00 range for EPCOT and DHS... like MK. DHS closes at 6:00 one night in the middle of our trip! I've never really paid attention to the monthly hours for each park so don't know what's normal and what's extended. It was never an issue before. I would just love to be in the parks more AFTER the sun goes down to avoid the more intense summer heat.

Any threads I can be directed to would be appreciated. Any advice or tips as well. Once I think I have a sorta-kinda plan formulated for a certain day, I see something that makes me question the whole thing... then I'm back to square 1. Where's the throwing-my-hands-up-in-frustration smilie?! My head is swimming...

 

[preemiemama]

My first question is if you are staying on-site or off. That will make a difference in the advice I give. Second is when in July you are going since the week around the 4th is really busy and would also have some alternate suggestions.

We have only ever gone in June or July- typically in mid-July (10-20 range). There are BTGs in full force in July, so something to be aware of. We did not see them as much last summer (we went at the end of June), but my thinking is that FP+ would actually help with them!

When we plan, I typically follow the green recommendations from Easywdw- that is where we go for RD. We did not do am EMH- just the regular RD park. We do as much as we can without FP (last year we had FP starting around 10-10:30 am, but I would probably change that if our afternoon park was Epcot and make a FP for there later in the day so I could actually have one for TT or Soarin). We stay in the park and do as much as we can until it gets busy around noon. I typically follow Josh’s advice (loosely) in terms of what to hit in the am before the crowds build. Mostly I make the rides he says have crowds that build early a priority or use FP for them.

Then we eat lunch and head back to the hotel where we swim and nap and recharge- and make additional FP reservations if we have already used our 3. (MK is the easiest to get additional ones!) This really helps with the heat and the crowds- it is so oppressively hot and so crowded you really need some type of break. A sit down meal like you suggested would also help. There is no way I would try and just “power through” the whole day non-stop.

We head back out around 6 or so and eat a later dinner, usually in a different park. Most of our meals seem to be in WS in Epcot, so one night we plan Rose and Crown to see Illuminations, and 1-2 others we plan to be out by 8:30 or so to get in line for Soarin. They will let you in the line up until 9:00, and they usually exaggerate the wait time to discourage people. We had about 15-20 minutes wait at the end of the night when we did this.

After that, or instead of that, we head back to MK and go on what we can there. Typically in July it is open until mindnight or later, and there are 2 parades. We stick near Fronterland and ride Splash/Thunder during the fireworks and 2nd parade, then go back through Fantasyland if we have things we missed and want to do- that clears out pretty well after fireworks!

Typically, Epcot closes at 9 pm, AK at 8 or 9, DHS at 9 or 10, and MK around midnight or 1 am. I remember there being further extension of the hours as it got closer to our trip last year, and a couple nights they even announced at 10 pm that they were staying open until 1 am- so it can happen in MK spontaneously as well.

Hope that helps you some with your planning!

 

[dprincessmom]

We are summer visitors (and have done July a couple of times) - for us the key in July was rope drop first half of the trip at most recommended parks. Hit everything we wanted to do and then head to the resort/water park anywhere to stay cool.

Half way thru the trip we switch to late nights and evening magic hours. The hours that are posted now typically get extended closer to the month and you could see EMH to midnight or later. We sleep in, hit the pool and then head to the evening EMH park at 4 or so and then close the park down. Set your FP+ for later in the evening and then hit the short(er) lines and AC attractions while the crowds are still there. They will disappear after the fireworks and you can hit the headliners. The later the hours, the shorter the lines.

We also make certain to take a couple of cases of water with us and stay hydrated, use sun screen and expect crowds.