Would you do Early Entry?

Thanks for the info!

chaysmom- you make a great point about how more people are affected by the time change at WDW in ways that make them want to sleep in which can make early entry a better choice. I am still a year off but there are so many more decisions to make at WDW and I know absolutely nothing. All my DL experience isnt worth a hill of beans at WDW. Ugh I hate being a newbie!

Quellman-I am such a know nothing since things are so different between the coasts. In DL you get 1 Magic Morning day if you have a 3 day park hopper or more ticket at DL and you get early entry to 1 park every day if you are staying at a disney resort. I guess this isnt the case with WDW. I originally said I want the park hopper since I always park hop-several time a day even- at DL and I didnt want to be limited in my dining choices by not having a park hopper. My travel agent asked me if I would make use of park hopping as much as I think I will so as to feel like it was money well spent since its not so easy to do at WDW and I may decide that park hopping wastes too much park time. I think I'll stick with my park hopper just so I dont feel like limited since I hear a lot of people say that HS and AK are half day parks.

To me, neither is a half day park, especially for a first time trip. It's people who have been over and over and over and over again that just go to the parks to hit the big attractions/rides that tend to think this. I would refrain from buying hoppers, and then once you're there if you decide you want them, you can get them. They're the same price whether you buy it now, or the day you are there and decide you want to do it.

As for the time change, I don't find the 3 hour difference between the west and east coast to be that bad. I've never been jet lagged from it, or found it hard to adjust. It's much easier than adjusting to European time change. But, the best thing to do is force yourself to be on local time as soon as you arrive.
 
I know some people hate getting up early on vacation (and for you even worse and you're 3 hours behind), but I would recommend it. I was AMAZED this year when we went to 3 AM EMH at the amount of people pouring in about 10/11 as we were heading out. The parks were already getting crowded, and there were many, many more coming in. If you can't make AM EMH, I wouldn't go to that park. We would go to that park, ride as many rides as we could, then head to another park. It was PERFECT, we got so much accomplished.
 
Knowing who you are traveling with makes a huge difference in my opinion about your question, but I have one more: where are you staying? If you are at a monorail resort, or an Epcot resort and will be using the International Gateway, that can make a difference in the answer to your question.

With a 14-year-old, I would absolutely do morning EMH at least a few times on your trip, and especially at MK. The amount of attractions you can get done in even that first hour will shock you. Also, if you chose to start tin Tomorrowland, for example, you could make a counter-clockwise circle, and from 8-9 get Buzz, Space, then keep your circle going and do a couple of choices in Fantasyland, Teacups, Pooh, maybe 7DMT, Peter Pan, all in that first hour or so, then continue the circle by being at the Tangled bathrooms very close to the rope drop (only Tommorland and Fantasyland are open for EMH, there is an internal rope drop at the bridge to Adventureland, Fronteirland, and before Haunted Mansion in Fantasyland when rope drop happens for all guests at the front gate). Near 9:00 or just after, having already ridden 6 or so rides, walk to Haunted Mansion, then make your way through Liberty Square and hit up BTMRR and Splash. With this tour plan, you are likely to get through all of those things by 10:30, having to wait in very, very few lines. At about 11:00, you'll see the crowds start to thicken. I like to make our fast passes for around this time, or head into Adventureland for Carpets, Jungle Cruise a Dole Whip, and as is tradition...Enchanted Tiki Room. We head out of the park by about 1:00 when it is the most crowded, and either eat lunch or head back to the resort for some swimming and a break. After our break, we hop back out most often to a different park to spend the evening.

This is just an example of a touring plan that has worked well for us in the past. We don't always do this, so,STIMES we spend the entire AM EMH in Tomorrowlamd then headed across the hub to Adventureland, or all of our early time in Fantasyland and headed right to Fronteirland, but the concept is the same. A lot can be accomplished in those first couple of hours. I don't think that can be understated, especially since although I'm sure you've read WDW is huge, with DL as your reference, I don't think you can appreciate the size or the crowds until you are actually experiencing them. You can go to Josh's site and see examples of a rope drop/EMH touring plan that he actually vidoes and you can see how much he gets done like this.

With all of that being said, I think being in the parks late also has it's advantages. We are advocates of Park Hoppers, because as previous posters mentioned, the early EMH park can sometimes be more crowded (because people without Hoppers start there and can't switch). Avoiding crowds at EMH parks is really a recommendation for the people that can't or won't take advantage of them. With Hoppers, just go to a different place in the evening. Nighttime hours are also fabulous...rides have lesser and lesser lines as time gets later and much can be accomplished in the evenings as well.

Additionally, our touring group is me, my husband, and our 11-year-old. For a week at a time, she has no problem getting up for EMH, touring until 1:00, taking a few hours to swim and relax, then heading out in the evenings until late, and repeating the process the next day. We do take a couple of "break days" where we spend the early part at TL or BB and don't get up as early on those days, then go to Epcot in the evening for Pm EMH to eat dinner, see Illuminations, and spend time walking out. And we'lol also have another "break day" where we may sleep in, spend some time at DS, then go to MK in the evening for Celebrate the Magic, Wishes, and evening EMH. Are we tired at the end of our 8-day-trips? Yep. But we do fine during the week with our breaks and we can sleep when we are at home. I don't want to waste any of my time at the World sleeping.
 
Thanks for all the input! I will be staying at Port Orleans French Quarter. My budget cant work out for a monorail resort, or any of the deluxes really. I picked POFQ because it is smaller and quieter and has its own bus most of the time. Plus you still get the perks of staying at riverside, like use of their pools and Disney Springs is just a boat ride away.

The maps make it look closest to Epcot and Hollywood Studios and both of those also seem to have a lot dining options that we are interested in so I was thinking of doing some dinners there and staying when they do night time EMHs.

It sounds like doing the AM EMH is huge for Magic Kingdom. I'll need to be sure to take advantage of those. We aren't big fans of massive crowds and as it is we avoid Disneyland during peak times when they have been known hit capacity. Doing AM EMH and then park hopping sounds like a solid plan.
 



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