Why should we skip EE parks ?

[Ron G]

In our planning , we had scheduled our days based on which park opened early. We are staying on-site & thought that the extra hour in the am would give us a bit of a head start on the crowds. I have heard that there are 2 schools of thought when it comes to this. Please help us out with some suggestions as to what has worked for you. Bottom line.... we want to have a great time & hope to avoid long lines at the parks.

P.S.
We do plan to leave the parks for midday swim/breaks.

Thanks,
Ron

 

[Eeyore2003]

Personally, I think EE is a wonderful time to get those headliners in quickly. Most of the time I take advantage of EE, take my afternoon break, then for the night time show, I look up which park is "historically" LEAST crowded that day and do the night time shows at that one. Don't know if that really makes allot of difference, but I certainly would not go back to the EE park.

If you just can't take advantage of EE for a day. This vacation I'm not doing EE at Animal Kingdom. Then I do it on a day when it's "historically" least crowded, get there upon opening and quickly do the headliners. Both have worked, but I like taking advantage of EE when I can.

 

[dbail2]

We loved EE when our children were younger and could get up early and be at the park before it opened. We would always be ahead of the crowd and it was great but now my DDs are 16,15 and 10. It is very hard to get them up early so last year I gave up and started doing non EE parks. So it all depends on how your family is a getting up early....

 

[tnkrbell]

I think EE is great if you are going early and doing as much as you can before the park opens then leave to another park or the pool!!!

 

[buckeye]

A piece of advice for doing EE: If you plan to do it, plan to be at the park at least 1/2 hour to 45 minutes before the park opens. That can mean catching the bus or other transportation BY 7:15. If you wait and plan to stroll in right at EE (8:00) you'll find that you've missed the opportunity to just walk right on the rides. So, what I'm saying is, if you do it, do it right.

We are big fans of EE!! It's a great feeling to leave MK by 11:00 a.m., having done a TON of major rides with no wait, as you watch HUNDREDS of people just streaming in the gates. Then you can swim, eat, rest and go to a different park later in the day!!

Good luck in you planning!

 

[webray]

We always took full advantage of the early entry hours..never had problems with the crowds during they day..as we had all the popular stuff out of the way before anyone even entered the park..then were on to the other things..still no lines to speak of because everyone else was waiting in the long lines at the popular stuff.

Always worked great for us..I can't see not taking advantage of this perk.

 

[shatzjsl]

Reasons not to do EE from someone who just got back:

- The bus lines for EE were three times as long as the others. We always got on the first bus. Some in EE lines couldn't say that.

- We got to sleep later and didn't have to rush getting ready.

- Went to Epcot on non EE day and walked onto everthing except for TT and MS. Crowds in WS were sparce.

- Went to MK on non EE day and longest line was 20 min. We saved the big rides for E-night and lines then were about 2 min.

But that's just my opinion.

 

[sweet maxine]

I agree with shatzjsl, and we only tried EE once during our stay of 2 weeks we just returned from. We tried EE at MK, but actually didn't arrive until about 8:20. It was closer to 8:30 by the time we made it off the FW boat, through bag check and ticket counter. By the time we got to Dumbo the line was 30 mins. long, and people were already pouring into the park from the main entrance for non-onsite folks. I felt it was not really an "early magic hour", but instead an "early magic half-hour". We were disappointed in that one thing, and decided to just sleep a little later, then go into a park that was not having EE for that day. We mistakenly went to AK on EE day, though much later in the day, and it was awful!

Shatzjsl, I think we did the exact same thing as your family. The E-ride night (6-21) was soooo much fun! No waits!! I told my kids to save the big rides for that night, and we had a blast!

I felt that Epcot never really had any lines on any day. I'm guessing people aren't going there for the attractions as much, but just wandering around. We went on the Mexico boat ride so that we could have just a bit of "Small World" during our trip.

 

[Chicago526]

No mater what, DO NOT go to a park on an EE day if you will not be at the gate 1/2 to 1 hour prior to the EE opening time.

However, that being said, I've read a lot of reports lately from those that have tried EE and the lines are just as long or longer than a normal day, even though they get to the park at or before the EE opening time.

I've also read that some now go to the park the day AFTER EE day. So if MK's EE day is Monday, they would go Tuesday. The theory being that so many people went on the EE day, that there will be fewer people in the park the day after.

It seems to me that it is now better to skip EE altogether and just go at the normal opening time the day after EE for the particular park you're interested in. If your kids are "that" age, go straight to Fantasyland and do the rides there first. Then head to the other big rides you want to do elsewhere in the park, making good use of Fast Pass (FP for short). Learn the FP system. Use it. Love it.

You still want to be at the park 1/2 to 1 hour prior to opening, though, so you're still catching the bus from the hotel first thing. Also, if you have a car, consider driving to the park since parking is free for resort guests. This will help to avoid long lines for the busses at the hotel for park opening.

 

[SpecialK]

We were there in June, and while we tried to take advantage of EE, it was just too hards on our 2 DSs after a couple of days. So we started going on non-EE days at opening and found it to be very manageable. We usually left the park between 11:30 and 12:00. I'm hoping to take advantage of EE on the next trip when the boys are a little older.

One thing we didn't care for was being trapped in the crowd waiting for the "opening ceremony" at MK. No shade-no air. DH and I flet we could both do without that. (Though I know some people love it.)

 

[dgaston]

In April I did my own test of EE vs non EE days on a Wed and Thurs. On Wed I headed to Tomorrowland, rode Space, got FP for Space, did Buzz twice and rode TTA while waiting for 10:05 FP. I was off Space the first time at 25 after the hour.

On EE Thurs, I didn't get off Space until 40 minutes after the hour. I have decided to do parks on non-EE days until I have grandchildren who need to ride Dumbo! LOL

 

[fargas]

I love the early entry. But like the others have said, you need to be there by 7:30, that way you miss the crowded buses and you get an extra start on those who arrive at 8:30. Usually, the first half-hour is all quick walk-ons, and then the crowds start rolling in. The key is to get as much done in that early-entry area before it gets crowded and then head to say, Adventureland, right at 9:00. You'll have it practically to yourself for about an hour.

 

[HaleyB]

EE is great if you need it. That will depend on your party and dates. We found it was a must for MK, a good idea for MGM, not really needed for EPCOT, and better not to do at AK. I don't think we would have had as much fun if we had tried to make it to EE every day- it is a vacation after all.

Oh, and in our two week stay we did EE at everypark at least one time. We never had a problem getting on a bus. We always made it to the bus stop by 7:10 and always made it to the park in plenty of time.

Off topic a bit, but if you can manage to go to AK on a rainy day it is great- the animals were all very active and there were NO lines- for anything...