Park hours advice needed!

[Allyfe]

So, the July park hours are up (Horrah).

But now I need to properly start planning...which is good but i’m not sure how to use them.

We are onsite, and so i’m Not sure if we should try and use the early opening hours. Am I right in thinking that to take advantage of an 8am opening we would need to be there by 7.30am?

My other question is surely the most recommended won’t be the least empty because it will be extra full because it is most recommend? Maybe that is just Dibb bias (although I have no idea how newbies could plan without it!)? All advice welcome!

[halloweenbaby2]

Hi I have used the guide the last two trips and found it really useful and accurate.
It uses historical crowd data to help recommend which parks will be busy or not.
We stay onsite and will use early EMH at the beginning our holiday as we'll be up early anyway.
I tend to look at which is most recommend and book our ADR's and fast passes around those to build our daily plans.

[Nimbus]

Originally Posted by Allyfe

We are onsite, and so i’m Not sure if we should try and use the early opening hours. Am I right in thinking that to take advantage of an 8am opening we would need to be there by 7.30am?

See more...

Yeah, I'd recommend getting to the park a good 20 minutes before EMH starts. So arriving at 7:30am sounds about right. And using morning EMH is generally a good idea, if you don't mind getting up early. The park is usually at it's quietest during that early hour.

Originally Posted by Allyfe

My other question is surely the most recommended won’t be the least empty because it will be extra full because it is most recommend? Maybe that is just Dibb bias (although I have no idea how newbies could plan without it!)? All advice welcome!

See more...

Two things:

1. Being "most recommended" does not mean it will be the most empty (I assume you mean most empty, not least). MK will always be busier than any of the other parks (on average it has nearly twice as many visitors as the other parks), so just because it's recommended does not mean it's quieter than the other parks.

2. You assume that everyone is using the DIBB's busy day guide to plan which park they go to. Not even everyone on the DIBB uses the DIBB's busy day guide, and DIBBers make up a tiny fraction of park-goers! Most guests don't use a busy day guide; some probably don't even know such a thing exists (although that's getting less and less true as time goes on).

Remember that it is just a guide. Don't assume it's 100% accurate (it isn't!) and don't feel that you have to stick to it.

[Allyfe]

So sorry for the slow thank you for the helpful info! Christmas got in the way.

So, initially I had planned
(Day 1 arrive)

Day 2 MK (9am opening, Crystal Palace around 10.30, parade 3pm, go to hotel and collapse/relax)

Day 3 Epcot (9am opening, garden grill lunch)

I'm now wondering if we should swap them to something like this:

Day 2 Epcot arrive 7.30am (8am EMH, garden grill approx. 10.30am - FPs mostly after brunch, stay till we want to go)
Day 3 MK arrive 7.30am (8am EMH) 1pm GG lunch (relax/collapse in AC), 3pm parade

But my one concern is when we would need to leave to try and get a bus to get to Epcot on day 2 and MK on day 1? I'm getting worried about the buses (from SSR), having heard of massive waits.

I should also add, we were planning to take some cereal and plastic bowls/spoons to cover the early morning munchies!

Any thoughts/advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[Allyfe]

Or, for FPs, should we aim to do one before brunch, put in two after, and then see if we can pick up any more? Can we book a FP for 9.45, say, and still get a 10.30 breakfast reservation? (assuming that we choose an attraction close to the restaurant)...

If we get a brunch booking towards the end will they want to boot us out or will we miss out on the best food? Thanks