Watching the MK opening show vs being on the rope

[BubblyTrip]

I have two days in MK. I'll be alone with DS (with a stroller).

Day 1 is AM EMH not recommended park (8/9 crowd).
Day 2 is recommended (8/9 crowd).

If I put us in good view of the show, do I put us at a disadvantage for maximizing our RD advantage?

Would it be smart to prioritize getting as close to the rope as possible on the first day (EMH) and then try to have a better show view for the second (no EMH)?

I'm a little fuzzy in remembering the exact layout. I've looked at Josh's pictures where he talks bout how the crowd builds, but it's still not crystal clear in my head (I am not a spacial thinker!)

 

[fbb]

Depends on when you're going and if you have FP+.

Personally, I would let the five year old watch the show. You'll still get lots done as the crowd goes many different places at the MK.

Once the Mine Train opens it may be different.

 

[MamaBear58]

Opening show?

 

[NinaBella]

Opening show?

YouTube.Com

 

[BubblyTrip]

Depends on when you're going and if you have FP+.

I have FP, but not using until the evenings.

Fantasyland day one (PP first), Speedway and Buzz (as many times as we can do it) day 2. Not doing meet and greets.

 

[disneyerin]

Definitely make time for the opening show! There's no crowds (yet), you just arrived, and it's like this magical welcome!!

 

[Carrie in AZ]

I would be as close to the rope as possible! Does your DS want to watch people dance and sing or does he want to be going on attractions? What we have always done with our DDs is get to Fantasyland as soon as possible and park the stroller, then just do one attraction after the other and we've usually been able to get it all done in about 45 mins or so then collect the stroller where we left it and then move on. I have not done this in a while, though, so it may not be possible to do all of FL in one swoop now that there are so many changes with FP+, etc. but that is what I would try to do if I still had a young child in a stroller.

My goal would be to get to the action as soon as possible.

BTW, have you or your son ever seen Philharmagic? We skipped it on a trip but when we finally saw it on another subsequent trip, we all loved it, including my DDs who were your son's age when we saw it. Thought I would mention it!

 

[BubblyTrip]

I would be as close to the rope as possible! Does your DS want to watch people dance and sing or does he want to be going on attractions?

BTW, have you or your son ever seen Philharmagic? We skipped it on a trip but when we finally saw it on another subsequent trip, we all loved it, including my DDs who were your son's age when we saw it. Thought I would mention it!

He wants to do it all! But rides are our priority. I was thinking if he could glimpse the show one day that would be sufficient, but I wasn't sure which day was better.

But if it will make a significant time difference, I'd likely skip it both days.

And yes, I do have Philharmagic on my list for this year. We skipped it last year, but I've since read so many good things about it. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[SmallWorld71]

JMO - I would watch the show and I would do it on the first day. It's such a fun way to start a day at the MK.
You can position yourself in a pretty good spot so that you can see but still be able to get in an entrance relatively quickly. This is what we did on our last trip and I don't think we lost a significant amount of time. We headed straight to the fairies (it was fairy week) along with plenty of others and ended up seeing them at about 9:10. So, I guess you could say we lost about 10 minutes compared to if we had been at the front.
I think you'll be fine setting aside one day to see it. It's not like you're headed to Anna and Elsa. The MK crowds disperse pretty well due to a high # of attractions. (The exception might be if the Mine Train opens.)