WWYD?? Saturday in October...Epcot and AK on a Saturday...

[kristenrice]

Start at AK and hop to Epcot after 2?

...or...

Start at Epcot and hop to AK after 2?

Here are some details:

1) 2 adults a 16-year-old...at AK, at least 2 of us MUST do FoP and the teen has to ride EE. We love the safari and can do it multiple times.
2) Since we are staying at AKV for the second half of our trip, I have a park pass for AK for our departure day. Our flight is scheduled for 7pm so we plan to leave AK at 2pm on Monday. We will have about 4 hours on that day to do a few things.
3) We LOVE the F&W festival and we are staying the first 2 nights at the Riviera. We are already planning to "hop" to Epcot after 2pm on our HS day (Thursday) since we have only a few things at HS we want to do.
4) Since we are planning to "hop" to Epcot so much already, I'm not sure I want to book a park pass for the day there, BUT, considering it is a SATURDAY that we are talking about, I think it may be advantageous to get there early and then get to AK later in the day when people have started to clear out. In my very limited experience, I have found that my shortest standby waits (actual waits, not posted waits) for FoP were in the last 2 hours of the day.

I think I am leaning towards booking Epcot and then hopping to AK for the last 2-3 hours of the day. Opinions??

 

[Marionnette]

Start at AK and hop to Epcot after 2?

...or...

Start at Epcot and hop to AK after 2?

Here are some details:

1) 2 adults a 16-year-old...at AK, at least 2 of us MUST do FoP and the teen has to ride EE. We love the safari and can do it multiple times.
2) Since we are staying at AKV for the second half of our trip, I have a park pass for AK for our departure day. Our flight is scheduled for 7pm so we plan to leave AK at 2pm on Monday. We will have about 4 hours on that day to do a few things.
3) We LOVE the F&W festival and we are staying the first 2 nights at the Riviera. We are already planning to "hop" to Epcot after 2pm on our HS day (Thursday) since we have only a few things at HS we want to do.
4) Since we are planning to "hop" to Epcot so much already, I'm not sure I want to book a park pass for the day there, BUT, considering it is a SATURDAY that we are talking about, I think it may be advantageous to get there early and then get to AK later in the day when people have started to clear out. In my very limited experience, I have found that my shortest standby waits (actual waits, not posted waits) for FoP were in the last 2 hours of the day.

I think I am leaning towards booking Epcot and then hopping to AK for the last 2-3 hours of the day. Opinions??

Epcot on a Saturday can get extremely crowded but I would rather be there in the morning than in the afternoon/evening because the crowds will just build after 2 PM. And doing AK second will give you a chance to see Pandora as evening approaches. My vote is for Epcot->AK.

 

[Akck]

With Epcot opening much later, you’re better off starting at AK. Since you’ll be there in October, you can get in the park early and FOP will likely be one of the open rides. It sounds like Touring Plans believes you’ll be able to get a lot accomplished during early openings, likely similar to last year say September-December time period.

 

[Akck]

Just reread your post. Are you asking about Saturday or your departure day? My post above was for your Monday departure.

 

[kristenrice]

Just reread your post. Are you asking about Saturday or your departure day? My post above was for your Monday departure.

Saturday....our departure day (Monday) will definitely be at AK. I don't like to venture far from "home" in case there is a delay of some sort. I do not like cutting it close regarding transportation and I figure there is less margin for error when we are talking about a 5 minute bus ride.

 

[Tom_E_D]

How long of a day do you have the stamina for? For the first two Saturdays in October, AK's hours are 8-7 while Epcot's are 11-9. You can get a lot more done by starting at AK at 8 and ending at Epcot at 9 than you can by starting at Epcot at 11 and ending at AK at 7. That's potentially 13 hours vs. 8 hours. Of course, the hours may change between now and then.

 

[CarolynFH]

On a Saturday in October I’d rather go to Epcot early and AK later, especially since you plan to hop to Epcot on some weeknight evenings. I try to avoid Epcot on F&W Saturdays.

 

[glocon]

Agree with Tom- you lose too many hours starting at EP and ending at AK. You’d have about 3 hrs at EP, then say about an hour to transfer to AK, leaving you with about 4 hours at AK. That’s a pretty short amount of time in each park!
The other way around, you’d have 6 hours at AK, an hour to transfer them about 6 hours at EP. Way more park time. Also you could see the EP fireworks this way.

 

[ars0525]

Since you are at Epcot other nights, do you want to see AK at night? You will have your departure day to start at AK so that's an early morning.

Yes you will get less time in the parks, but I think starting at Epcot & then going to AK might be the way to go. And you can always hop back to Epcot (or another park) after AK closes.

 

[MomOTwins]

I would avoid EP for F&W on a Saturday evening at all costs.