Which Early Morning Hour park to skip?

[LaurenS]

We need to skip seeing one park on its early morning hour day. Here's our group: grandparents (60's), DH, me, DS(9), DD(6), and DS(1). I know DH and DS want to do Test Track. DS might want to do Tower of Terror, Rock 'N Roller Coaster, Dinosaur, and Primeval Whirl, but probably won't decide until we get there. Which early morning hour do you recommend we skip and why? (Skipping MK is NOT an option!)

 

[Pugsley]

I’d vote for skipping AK’s early entry, since you can easily do that park in a day without it. Since you’re especially interested in Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl, I’d suggest doing them in the morning, but it takes a little while before they start getting crowded. Then if you want to you can do the Safari, Kali and Bug later with Fastpasses. And while you’re waiting for your Fastpass times, you can do the nature walks and the shows. If you aren’t able to get there until the afternoon and you’re only interested in Dinosaur and Whirl, you could just get a Fastpass for Dinosaur and ride Whirl while you’re waiting for your Fastpass time.

 

[Pugsley]

One more thing… I see that people are voting for Epcot, and I agree that there’s not as much to do there during EE (it will be more important when Mission Space is open). BUT, I think it’s really nice to go to EE there because it gives you an extra hour to finish up Future World and then you can get started on World Showcase when it opens at 11. And you need at least a full day at Epcot if you’re going to do the WS.

 

[DisneyKidds]

Skip Epcot. There is next to nothing open there for EMH. Your DH and DS can either get fastpasses for Test Track, or do the single rider line if they don't mind being in a different car. Don't schlep the whole family to Epcot just to ride Test Track when there are other ways to have two people in your party ride it without a wait later in the day.

All the other parks have much more open for EMH that can really help you get a jump on the day. MK EMH is great. At MGM EMH can help you get many major rides done before the shows start (Little Mermaid, Playhouse Disney, Beauty and the Beast don't usually have their first show until 10:00 or 11:00). At AK you can hit the safari early when animals might be more active, and get Tough to be a Bug out of the way (which can get long lines later in the day).

On our trip last month. EMH at Epcot was the least useful.

 

[jdaa1]

Are the parks still doing early entry for Disney resort guests? Someone had told me that this has been discontinued. If they are still doing early entry, is there any sort of schedule, so that we can plan ahead? We're going the last week in July.

 

[DancingBear]

jdaa1, see here:

http://www.wdwinfo.com/wdwinfo/earlyentry.htm

 

[jjohns]

but could also have gone for MGM.

It depends a lot on what rides the group needs to do. I find Epcot has very little available for EE - Spaceship Earth, TT, Universe of Energy is about it. TT is the only one *really* worth getting up early for.

MGM has Star Tours, RnR, ToT for EE. If those aren't on your list, why bother. And, one consistent hit with our kids - HISTK Playground - doesn't open until 10 (at least in October that's the case).

EE at AK is important, I think. So many people say this is a half-day park, but for the life of me I don't know how it can be if you see some of the shows (Lion King, Flight of Paradise, and Tarzan) along with Safari, the jungle walks, Kali, Dinosaur and Dinoland.

HTH, Jeff

 

[DisneyCP2002]

I would skip Epcot's EE because you can do most of it in a regular day with the exception of Test Track.

 

[karen1]

Definitely don't waste time at EE at Epcot!!

 

[lentesta]

The statistician we use for the Unofficial Guide indicates that EMH at the Animal Kingdom is least likely to provide you with wait time savings. That is, the total amount of time you spend waiting in line may be *more* during an EMH day than a non-EMH day at the AK. Using that criterion, it's obvious which park to skip.

Hope this helps.

Sincerely,

Len

 

[MulanMom]

You note that the two rides in AK that your family would be interested in are Dinosaur and Primeval Whirl. You can easily accomplish multiple rides on these if you do the earliest PS for the Breakfastsaurus character breakfast. We had an 8:10PS when the park opened at 9, and had that area of the park to ourselves for at least a half hour. It was still pretty empty when we went to explore other areas of the park.