What are the best days to go to each park?

[jjcm]

Hi there

We're off in a couple of weeks and have been trying to find out which is the best day to go to each park and cannot reallyfind anything from any websites.

I guess with the Early and Late entries to WDW there must be days when to avoid each park which would be these days (we're staying off site), however what abou the other ones - IofA, Universal, SeaWorld and the new Aquatica are those that we wish to visit.

Any suggestions please?

Many thanks

Ju

 

[Funky_dino]

i know this sounds weird but weekends r usually good days to go. U get alot of people arriving and leaving at weekends so it always seems quieter. the extra magic hours can get very busy, even busier than when the park is open during the day, only advantage is u don't have to queue in the heat etc.
With universal, esp IOA, the queues are quite small anyway. things like the hulk and dueling dragons get so many people on at once the queses move so fquick expect a bit of a wait for spiderman though.
for universal alot of the rides u can pretty much walk on, the others are done in timed intervals, things like shrek, jimmy nuetron etc, so it's just luck of the draw how long you wait really.

 

[JohnnySharp2]

I am not sure I completely agree about the weekends.
Historically they are generally busier as that's when a lot of the locals go and you do get many from the US on 'weekend breaks' too.

It mainly comes down to the time of year you are going, I think Ju you are going at one of the best times and would expect the parks not to be too bad at all.

For Universal and Islands Of Adventure if you get to the parks early you will get on most of the popular rides without too much problem.
You may have to queue for some, but it shouldn't be that bad at all.
However, the likes of Hulk/Spiderman at IOA and Shrek/Jimmy Neutron at US are all very close to the park entrance so a lot of people head for them first.

I would say the Universal parks would definitely be busier at the weekends though.

ALL the water parks are busier at weekends also - again the locals love visiting then - in addition Aquatica is packed every day at the moment, due to the fact it's new.
I would strongly advise going during the week here and getting there early too.

Sea World - for the time of year any day would probably be fine.

 

[Jakey Rowling]

i know this sounds weird but weekends r usually good days to go. U get alot of people arriving and leaving at weekends so it always seems quieter. the extra magic hours can get very busy, even busier than when the park is open during the day, only advantage is u don't have to queue in the heat etc.
With universal, esp IOA, the queues are quite small anyway. things like the hulk and dueling dragons get so many people on at once the queses move so fquick expect a bit of a wait for spiderman though.
for universal alot of the rides u can pretty much walk on, the others are done in timed intervals, things like shrek, jimmy nuetron etc, so it's just luck of the draw how long you wait really.

My experiences don't tie in with this either but this has generally been at peak time school holidays.
Weekends busier as the locals venture out, sometimes this can be countered by the school groups though.

IOA gets busy quicker than US.
Later in the day easily up to 90 mins wait for hulk, DD & spiderman 60 mins.
All the water based rides easily 60 Mins as well.

Long waits in US for Shrek, ROTM, JN, others not quite so bad.

As JS2 get there early, esp for IOA and you can do most things

We found water parks much busier at weekends also, we simply avoid them then.

We usually make one day at the weekend a park free day to recharge.

 

[topsy]

I'm not sure about specific days to go to parks, I think there's a general rule that the Magic Kingdom is busy at weekends and on Mondays, and obviously the extra magic hours can influence how busy a park is.

I will say however that if there is a special event at a particular park, it's best to avoid it! For example, we're going in June when there are Star Wars weekends at MGM (sorry, Hollywood Studios!!) so we'll make sure we go to that park during the week instead of those weekends.

As for Universal, I think that generally it seems quieter during the week. Personally I have never waited for more than 10 minutes for Duelling Dragons at IOA! It's strange because it has got to be the ride with the LONGEST queing area, but it just never gets used! Spiderman is a different story and we often go through the single riders line which makes it much quicker!

 

[kitcat1]

If you log on to www.askdaisy.net/orlando they have a section there called the busy day guide and as it varies which times you go as to the busy times that may be your best bet on finding out and planning accordingly, anyway, have a great time.

Cath

 

[Funky_dino]

We have always felt that weekends have been quieter, but then we always seem to go at different times every year, so that may change things

 

[fuse04]

My experiences don't tie in with this either but this has generally been at peak time school holidays.
Weekends busier as the locals venture out, sometimes this can be countered by the school groups though.

IOA gets busy quicker than US.
Later in the day easily up to 90 mins wait for hulk, DD & spiderman 60 mins.
All the water based rides easily 60 Mins as well.

Long waits in US for Shrek, ROTM, JN, others not quite so bad.

As JS2 get there early, esp for IOA and you can do most things

We found water parks much busier at weekends also, we simply avoid them then.

We usually make one day at the weekend a park free day to recharge.

I agree with Jakey and Johnny

 

[merlin307]

I found this site quite useful for planning busiest days - touring plans . com , then have a look at the crowd calculator

 

[fuse04]

A fellow Hampshire resident

Hi there

We're off in a couple of weeks and have been trying to find out which is the best day to go to each park and cannot reallyfind anything from any websites.

I guess with the Early and Late entries to WDW there must be days when to avoid each park which would be these days (we're staying off site), however what abou the other ones - IofA, Universal, SeaWorld and the new Aquatica are those that we wish to visit.

Any suggestions please?

Many thanks

Ju

 

[kevin_cambs_uk]

I subscribed to the TourGuideMike.com site, for about 10 quid, its tells you everything like what your after, but when you subscribe your not allowed to disclose, so I will not answer your question but I thought value wise it was out of this world, and the amount of information about Disney on his site is simply astonishing.

 

[amberandolly]

I've got 3 different busy day guides and none of them are the same! In fact two of them are so different it's hard to know which one to believe.
I've decided to stick with my touring plans one, simply because I've paid for it.
As we're hitting the parks from the 30th April, I'm hoping that all the parks will be OK - crowd wise.
It's just MGM I'm a bit stuck with - we're planning on an afternoon visit so we'll be queuing no matter what for things like TOT I think.

 

[jjcm]

Thanks guys very helpful but a little confusing!

Kitcat1 I have checked the askdaisy site - busy guide part and it only goes up to December 2007!! Where has this year gone?

The touring plans.com site - crowd-level calendar was quite informative merlin307 so thanks for that.

We'll just have to see when we get there - as long as it doesn't rain (looks like it next week Hopefully it'll clear up for the week later).

Hi ya fuse04 are you going in April hols too - there are stacks of us in North Hampshire - place will be full of Brits.

Cheers again
Ju

 

[OrlandoMagic]

Thanks guys very helpful but a little confusing!

Kitcat1 I have checked the askdaisy site - busy guide part and it only goes up to December 2007!! Where has this year gone?

The touring plans.com site - crowd-level calendar was quite informative merlin307 so thanks for that.

We'll just have to see when we get there - as long as it doesn't rain (looks like it next week Hopefully it'll clear up for the week later).

Hi ya fuse04 are you going in April hols too - there are stacks of us in North Hampshire - place will be full of Brits.

Cheers again
Ju

Most up-to-date busy day guide can be found here -

http://www.venesstravelmedia.com/id74.html

goes up to May 2008. Hope this helps!

 

[JohnnySharp2]

Thanks guys very helpful but a little confusing!

Ju, I honestly don't think - as I referred to earlier - you have too much to worry about regarding crowd levels. You are going at one of the best times of the year.
Get to the parks early , take a break, and if required return early evening are sound advice for any time of year and will help to make touring the parks easier.
In my opinion many of the parks, especially Universal will be busier at weekends but you will not see peak crowd levels such as you get at Easter, some parts of summer and December.

 

[amystevekai&bump]

Hi, I agree that because of the time of year you're going, you probably won't have any problems, but generally (and this is very general and also echoing some of what others have said before) -

Avoid water parks at weekends & fridays - locals go then (unfortunately Aquatica is going to be busy regardless as its new, so arrive early - but I would definitely avoid it at weekends)

Seaworld is a good bet most days - especially Mon and tues which coincides with some of MK's busiest days

Universal or Islands of Adventure are also good early in the week - I think its because alot of people arrive at the weekends and want to do MK first, so Mondays and Tuesdays tend to be good for Universal.

As for Mk itself, I believe I read somewhere that it attracts more visitors each day than the other 3 disney parks put together - plus it's also (I think - someone will correct me if I'm wrong! ) the smallest size wise - so it may feel busier anyway - but its more likely to be quiet (er!!) on a Fri and Sat, as people do tend to be leaving/travelling on those days.

Finally - another tip for the Disney parks is to take a look at when they have Early Magic Hours for on-site guests and plan to go to that park the NEXT day (very often they are quieter the day after a busy day )

hope that helps a little!!