Which park on which day? Help!

[Alexsandra]

Hi Guys! I am having a little trouble figuring out which park to do on which day.
As you will notice in this post, I am a bit of an over planner but Disney does not make it easy with having to book everything so much in advance. I want my schedule to be set so that I can book my FP when the window opens.

I was originally only supposed to be at Disney for 4 days and already booked my ADR for those days. Then, we changed our travel plans and added 3 days at the beginning of our trip. Now my schedule is a little jumbled, especially if I want to keep those ADR.

We are going to be at WDW from March 7th to the 14th. The crowd levels will jump from moderate to high starting Saturday the 10th because of spring break. We grabbed a 5 day park ticket plus we received a bonus water park ticket when we booked our reservation. I will be traveling with my husband, two kids (8 and 10) and my parents in law. We've all been to Disney before so we are planning to visit at a more relaxed pace especially since my mother in law has mobility issues and gets tired more quickly. We also want some time to enjoy the resort. Since we've never seen the new Pandora or Rivers of Light at Animal Kingdom we want to make sure that our AK day is at the beginning when crowd levels are lower.
My options:

DAY 1: Wed March 7th
Flying in
Late Arrival at Polynesian Resort

DAY 2: Thurs March 8th
Crowd level 5/10
MK, HS or Epcot?
- I originally had planned MK on Saturday the 10th but now with my new schedule I am debating changing it to this day. I usually like to start and end my vacation with MK. Also it is the most recommended park. The only problem is that I can't get Ohana' for this day. I did get it on Saturday along with other ADR in MK. Since we are staying at The Poly MK is easily accessible with the monorail so I really want my Ohana dinner to be on the same day as my MK visit.
- HS is also a recommended park and is another option. However I have to say that for me, it is the most unappealing park for a first day visit. It's not that I don't like it (we are all Star Wars fans) but I just feel like it's a "middle of the week" park. It does remains a solid contender as it is the park that makes the most sense since it allows me to keep almost all of my ADR the rest of the week. I was able to secure an ADR for 50's Prime Time for lunch just incase.
- Epcot has EMH so it's a Median Park. It's not a bad day to visit as long as I use my FP efficiently. Originally, I had booked my Epcot day on Sunday but I am willing to switch it to this day. Epcot is a more relaxing choice since we would take the morning to chill at the resort and head to Epcot later in the afternoon.

DAY 3: Fri March 9th
Crowd level 5/10
AK day
I decided to make this my AK day as it is a highly recommended park and it's just before the Spring Break crowds arrive. That way I can see Pandora without fighting hoards of people.

DAY 4: Sat March 10th
Crowd level: 7/10
MK or HS
- As I said above I already have booked my ADR for MK on this day. I have Crystal palace at 8:20am, BOG 11:30AM and Ohana for 7:10PM. I should keep my MK day here for convenience. It's a recommended park today because of the park's early closure at 8:00PM and the fact that it is a travel day for most Spring Breakers.
- If I switch my MK day for Monday then HS is recommended on this day

DAY 5: Sun March 11th
Crowd level: 8/10
Epcot or Water park day
-I originally planned on visiting Epcot on this day but can also change it to a Water park day if I decide to do Epcot on DAY 2. It is a recommended park. Epcot is my relaxation day so will do a pool day at Resort and head to the park only in the afternoon.
-My water park day was planned on day 6 but it can easily be switched with today.

DAY 6: Mon March 12th
Crowd level: 9/10
Water Park, Epcot, or HS.
- I originally planned on taking it easy today. I choose to make it a water park day (weather permitting) to avoid the crowds. I also have an ADR for California Grill that night to celebrate my parents in law's wedding anniversary.
-If I switch my water park day to Sunday then I can either visit Epcot (recommended) or HS (Median park). I booked a lunch at Beaches and Cream so that I can have an ADR close to both those parks if I decide to do that.

DAY 7: Tue March 13th
Crowd Level: 9/10
MK day
Since its my last day at WDW, I wanted to finish with a bang! There is nothing more special than finishing off the vacation with fireworks with the Castle in the foreground. I also have ADR for Crystal palace (which I will cancel if I go on Sat.) and BOG (which I will change for Liberty Tree Tavern if I go Sat.) and CG for dinner (which I will cancel if I go on Mon.). I still plan on visiting the park early and going back to resort in the afternoon for a rest and then heading back to the park for the evening.

Confused yet?

 

[Grammy4Lizzy]

You should move your AK day to later in your visit. It is easier to get FP later in a visit than the first couple days.
Easter is on April 1 so you will not have the most crowed of weeks since a good portion of schools take the week before Easter off.

 

[Alexsandra]

You should move your AK day to later in your visit. It is easier to get FP later in a visit than the first couple days.
Easter is on April 1 so you will not have the most crowed of weeks since a good portion of schools take the week before Easter off.

So which day do you recommend i move it to?

 

[Grammy4Lizzy]

I think Monday or Tuesday. It seems after 5 days you chances of FP inprove. And go directly to that day when you start your passes.

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

You should move your AK day to later in your visit. It is easier to get FP later in a visit than the first couple days.
Easter is on April 1 so you will not have the most crowed of weeks since a good portion of schools take the week before Easter off.

Why is it easier to get fast passes later in a visit than the first couple of days? This is confusing me because regardless of whether it's early in her trip or not it's later in someone else's trip. I'm missing something obvious, I'm sure. Lol

 

[Alexsandra]

Why is it easier to get fast passes later in a visit than the first couple of days? This is confusing me because regardless of whether it's early in her trip or not it's later in someone else's trip. I'm missing something obvious, I'm sure. Lol

Same here I don't understand since I will be booking my FP in advance at the 60 day mark???

 

[Alexsandra]

You should move your AK day to later in your visit. It is easier to get FP later in a visit than the first couple days.
Easter is on April 1 so you will not have the most crowed of weeks since a good portion of schools take the week before Easter off.

Sorry I misunderstood I thought you were talking about moving around my schedule for logistics. I don't understand why I would have trouble getting FP? I have a reservation so I can book my FP 60 days before I arrive.

 

[CrazyHare]

You want the AK later because of the 60+ length of stay fast pass bookings for resort guests. So when you start booking the beginning of your trip, you are fighting with people that booked the middle and ends of their trips before you. (And their middle and last days are the same day as your first day). So it is possible that you will not find a fast pass for Flight of Passage until the end of your trip. And if you do find one at the beginning of your trip, it will be later in the day.

That’s also why someone suggested that you book that one first, even if it is at the end of your trip. Book your hard ones, no matter which park or day, first. Then go back and fill in the rest of the times each day.

 

[Alexsandra]

You want the AK later because of the 60+ length of stay fast pass bookings for resort guests. So when you start booking the beginning of your trip, you are fighting with people that booked the middle and ends of their trips before you. (And their middle and last days are the same day as your first day). So it is possible that you will not find a fast pass for Flight of Passage until the end of your trip. And if you do find one at the beginning of your trip, it will be later in the day.

That’s also why someone suggested that you book that one first, even if it is at the end of your trip. Book your hard ones, no matter which park or day, first. Then go back and fill in the rest of the times each day.

Oh that makes sense!

 

[Haley R]

I would move your MK day to that first day. Magic Kingdom seems to always feel more packed to me than the other parks and it seems to have the most to do. Lower crowds would make it a better day IMO.

 

[Alexsandra]

I would move your MK day to that first day. Magic Kingdom seems to always feel more packed to me than the other parks and it seems to have the most to do. Lower crowds would make it a better day IMO.

Great! Thanks

 

[LISAMWDW]

I personally have a rule, never ever visit MK on a Saturday.

 

[Alexsandra]

I personally have a rule, never ever visit MK on a Saturday.

I would usually agree to avoid MK on a Saturday but if I base myself on easywdw.com, Josh recommends a MK visit on that specific Saturday. In his words: "Frankly, Magic Kingdom is the most recommended Park on Saturdays during spring break because each Saturday during this time period has seen lower waits than other days during the week over the last two years. And that’s good. There are probably a number of reasons for why this is, but it’s likely due to increased staffing and the fact that many people visiting for a week are traveling and don’t make it out to the Most Magical Place on Earth. Also note that wait times are only going to increase as the overall crowd level increases, making today an attractive day to visit."
I still think I will change out my MK day for Wednesday because of lower crowd levels but I thought I would share the info.

 

[Klayfish]

I'm going to take a very different approach than most others here, but I wanted to throw it out there.

I agree with the FP+ strategy regarding AK, simply because they're hard to get for the Pandora rides. So that makes sense to me.

But beyond that, my honest opinion is that it doesn't really matter. Do what you want. I'm not at all a believer in the crowd calendars, just far too many variables for them to really have any true measure of accuracy beyond a wild guess, IMO. Even if they were accurate, so what? Sure, major holidays are one thing...MK on Christmas Day or New Years Eve is a madhouse. But other than that, just my own opinion, the difference between Epcot crowd on a Tuesday vs. a Thursday is something you'd never notice. Frankly, when we're in WDW, I easily lose track of what day of the week it is. Even if were marginally busier on Thursday instead of Tuesday, I just don't see a reason to make that be the deciding factor in your trip. If you and your family want to schedule a water park day and then MK the next day, go for it.

I fully understand everyone has different styles. We do make "plans" ahead, but we're very much more the freestyle type. We prefer to go where we want, when we want. But no matter how detailed you like to plan, I do feel that you should plan your vacation based on what's best for your family, not what someone is guessing a crowd may or may not be like.

 

[Haley R]

We are doing MK on a Saturday on March 3 because the whole rest of our trip Cinderella's Royal Table is being refurbished. That is the ONLY day we can go so we have to go then, but we are also doing DAH so I'm not worried. Our trip is Feb 27-March 4, but we can only do parks Feb 28-March 3.

 

[Alexsandra]

I'm going to take a very different approach than most others here, but I wanted to throw it out there.

I agree with the FP+ strategy regarding AK, simply because they're hard to get for the Pandora rides. So that makes sense to me.

But beyond that, my honest opinion is that it doesn't really matter. Do what you want. I'm not at all a believer in the crowd calendars, just far too many variables for them to really have any true measure of accuracy beyond a wild guess, IMO. Even if they were accurate, so what? Sure, major holidays are one thing...MK on Christmas Day or New Years Eve is a madhouse. But other than that, just my own opinion, the difference between Epcot crowd on a Tuesday vs. a Thursday is something you'd never notice. Frankly, when we're in WDW, I easily lose track of what day of the week it is. Even if were marginally busier on Thursday instead of Tuesday, I just don't see a reason to make that be the deciding factor in your trip. If you and your family want to schedule a water park day and then MK the next day, go for it.

I fully understand everyone has different styles. We do make "plans" ahead, but we're very much more the freestyle type. We prefer to go where we want, when we want. But no matter how detailed you like to plan, I do feel that you should plan your vacation based on what's best for your family, not what someone is guessing a crowd may or may not be like.

Honestly, every time I plan a trip, I get a little obsessed over making it "the perfect trip". I find it worse with Disney trips because of all the decisions I have to make ahead of time regarding which park, restaurants and rides we want to do on which day. Usually, for any other vacation, we plan a tentative schedule and then once there we follow it loosely and make changes along the way. At Disney I find it harder to make last minute changes as I loose restaurants that I booked months ahead of time or first Tier FP that are not available last minute.

I do agree with you that in the end it makes little difference which park I choose to visit because once there I do end up going with the flow. If a park is more packed than usual, I change my touring plan around or I head back to the resort for an afternoon break or a swim.

For now, I think I will wait to cancel any ADR and determine which park to visit based on the FP I can get. Like you said, if I can't get FP for FoP on my DAY 3, I'll try for later and plan accordingly.

 

[Alexsandra]

We are doing MK on a Saturday on March 3 because the whole rest of our trip Cinderella's Royal Table is being refurbished. That is the ONLY day we can go so we have to go then, but we are also doing DAH so I'm not worried. Our trip is Feb 27-March 4, but we can only do parks Feb 28-March 3.

At least it's before March Break begins. Anyway, no matter the crowds, with a good touring plan MK on a Saturday is totally doable.

 

[Haley R]

At least it's before March Break begins. Anyway, no matter the crowds, with a good touring plan MK on a Saturday is totally doable.

I completely agree! We did a Saturday this year and had ridden almost everything by noon.

 

[Klayfish]

Honestly, every time I plan a trip, I get a little obsessed over making it "the perfect trip". I find it worse with Disney trips because of all the decisions I have to make ahead of time regarding which park, restaurants and rides we want to do on which day. Usually, for any other vacation, we plan a tentative schedule and then once there we follow it loosely and make changes along the way. At Disney I find it harder to make last minute changes as I loose restaurants that I booked months ahead of time or first Tier FP that are not available last minute.

I do agree with you that in the end it makes little difference which park I choose to visit because once there I do end up going with the flow. If a park is more packed than usual, I change my touring plan around or I head back to the resort for an afternoon break or a swim.

For now, I think I will wait to cancel any ADR and determine which park to visit based on the FP I can get. Like you said, if I can't get FP for FoP on my DAY 3, I'll try for later and plan accordingly.

With the ADRs, I get it. We bring in all of our own food, so I don't have those concerns about having to plan around the meal, but I do understand the challenges there. Beyond that, why worry about what specific rides you want to go on? Go with the flow. There are currently two FP+ that are near impossible to get last minute...FoP and NRJ. Beyond that, any other ride in WDW is available same day. Some are harder than others...7DMT, FEA...but even they are available last minute if you're willing to do a bit of work.

Again, if you WANT to plan every last detail because that's your style, then absolutely do so. But I just never feel like we must. We stay offsite, so we only have a 30 day window AND can only book 7 days worth of FP+. So it's a far greater challenge for us in using the FP+ system. However, we ride every single e-ticket ride, without doing rope drops either. Many of them we ride over and over and over.

 

[Haley R]

With the ADRs, I get it. We bring in all of our own food, so I don't have those concerns about having to plan around the meal, but I do understand the challenges there. Beyond that, why worry about what specific rides you want to go on? Go with the flow. There are currently two FP+ that are near impossible to get last minute...FoP and NRJ. Beyond that, any other ride in WDW is available same day. Some are harder than others...7DMT, FEA...but even they are available last minute if you're willing to do a bit of work.

Again, if you WANT to plan every last detail because that's your style, then absolutely do so. But I just never feel like we must. We stay offsite, so we only have a 30 day window AND can only book 7 days worth of FP+. So it's a far greater challenge for us in using the FP+ system. However, we ride every single e-ticket ride, without doing rope drops either. Many of them we ride over and over and over.

I don't think NRJ is that hard to get a FP for last minute. Maybe harder than some, but not even close compared to FOP. I've heard a lot of people have been able to get NRJ pretty close to their trip. I would think 7DMT is harder to get than NRJ, but I may be wrong.