Best Time to Arrive at the Park

[dixonsontour]

We don’t park hop midday usually. We tend to do one park then break at hotel then another park evening. Swapping on Disney transport takes time. Remember you’ve got walk to bus, wait, travel time then through security and entrance again. We transferred from HS to AK at lunch on Friday and I noticed how long it took.

[dx4100]

Originally Posted by Bugs_n_Belfy

I fully agree.

My wife and I are having a "little debate" at the moment. She thinks we should make the most of EMH and park hop, I'm a bit more dubious thinking the little ones will be tired of all the transportation.

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Park hoping is hard with little ones. You could take a break back at the resort and then go out for the evening. This works with little ones.

But

In my experience the only park that really beenfifs from EMH is magic Kingdom and its the hardest park to do a full day regardless.

So from experience I would avoid EMH at the other parks and just do the MK EMH and plan a midday rest or half day at the park and half at another.

Good luck with whatever you decide

[sha9]

We stay onsite and do a variety of things. We never get there an hour before park opening and stand waiting for it to open. If it’s an EMH morning we aim to get there just after opening, we also do this if it’s a non-EMH morning and we don’t have a breakfast booked. This way we still get in early but most of the crowd is already in the park. Another thing we do depending on our dining plan is book a pre park opening breakfast so we’re already in the park at opening. The last thing is occasionally we plan a later start and just arrive in time for our first FP about mid morning.
There’s no right or wrong way. It’s whatever suits you.

[Bugs_n_Belfy]

Originally Posted by sha9

We stay onsite and do a variety of things. We never get there an hour before park opening and stand waiting for it to open. If it’s an EMH morning we aim to get there just after opening, we also do this if it’s a non-EMH morning and we don’t have a breakfast booked. This way we still get in early but most of the crowd is already in the park. Another thing we do depending on our dining plan is book a pre park opening breakfast so we’re already in the park at opening. The last thing is occasionally we plan a later start and just arrive in time for our first FP about mid morning.
There’s no right or wrong way. It’s whatever suits you.

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Don't you just wish there was a right way?!?!

We did toy with the idea of an early morning, back to the resort and then back to the park towards the evening. Another scenario we have looked at is to spend the morning at the pool (so a lazy morning) and then into the park for lunch time and spend the rest of the day there.

[sha9]

Originally Posted by Bugs_n_Belfy

Don't you just wish there was a right way?!?!

We did toy with the idea of an early morning, back to the resort and then back to the park towards the evening. Another scenario we have looked at is to spend the morning at the pool (so a lazy morning) and then into the park for lunch time and spend the rest of the day there.

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There is a right way - whichever way suits you that day .

There is definitely an advantage to getting to the park early as it’s generally quieter. It’s also cooler. The downside is that once you get over the jet lag it’s harder to get up early.

[JudyC]

The first few days as early as possible as we are wide awake anyway, but leave when tired or it's too crowded. Getting to the second week, switch it round and get there later and stay late.

[Blueste]

Originally Posted by Bugs_n_Belfy

Thanks once again for all your replies...seems like I inadvertently started a debate.

For the info, we are technically first timers to WDW. I went 3 times in my teens (many, many moons ago) and my wife went even longer ago than that. We have been to DLP for the last couple of years, but my thoughts are that WDW is so much bigger so it's a whole new ball game.

Another option we were looking at was park hopping. So we would get to a park for Extra Morning hours, do a few rides during this time before leaving when it starts to get busier and go to a park that doesn't have EMH, therefore, hopefully a bit quieter.

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Don't underestimate how long it would take to park hop. 20+ minutes to the exit, 30+ minutes to the entrance of the next park, 20+ minuted to the next attraction...and all in the Florida heat. Personally I would suck up the longer queues of the park your in. A way park hopping does work IMO is to have a break mid-afternoon back at your accommodation and then head to another park later. A couple of hours off can make you feel refreshed.

[scoobydooby]

Originally Posted by Bugs_n_Belfy

I fully agree.

My wife and I are having a "little debate" at the moment. She thinks we should make the most of EMH and park hop, I'm a bit more dubious thinking the little ones will be tired of all the transportation.

See more...

This can work well with the new FPP system if you’ve got little ones whose bedtime you want to keep normalish on most days. For example.

MK for EMH. A little kid friendly plan would be immediately to Mine Train followed by Winnie the Pooh, then Dumbo, Goofini mini coaster thing, the Carousel, Small World and Little Mermaid. Ignore Peter Pan without a FPP or go there first instead of Mine Train. Then over to Frontierland for normal opening and into BTM and Splash if little ones tall enough and up for it. Have a cool down in Philharnagic then the Laugh Floor before lunch. Hop to AK with FPP for the Safari, Navi River Journey and Lion King. Give the kids a romp around the Bone Yard, pick up a fourth FPP for Nemo and take the train to Rafiki’s Planet Watch. Day done, next to zero queues, quick swim and normal bedtime.

Works as well for including th bigger rides but I’ve assumed you’ve got little kids. If they’re older at AK book Everest, Safari and Dinosaur FPP and afternoon MK go to Space Mtn and Buzz after Mine Train and dump Dumbo and Goofini ride.

[vampiress88]

We try to get there 30mins before ak hs and EP.

Mk takes way longer. Took us just over 20mins to get from the ttc to mk.
I thought my itinerary would be out but we re adjusted.

My kids were 3.5 and nearly 5 when we went in June. The full day at mk we did was a very long day till 6 and the kids crashed soon as they got to the car. We definitely found for us, and we were offsite that we liked half days and this is what we did. We also park hopped on one day but it wasn’t planned so the kids were shattered.

I like touring plans and I use this to maximise my days. Along with getting good fast passes, understanding the child swap and using tap and grab those seems to be the best way. But what is right for one family is definitely not for another hence the debate earlier in the posts.

I would have thought that doing the EMH would be the best thing if onsite. I’m alway offsite so haven’t done much research into it so am not sure what rides actually open in this time frame but others will be able to tell you that.

I agree. I think that wdw would be a different ball game to dlp and there’s always lots of questions to be asked and you’ll have loads more before May too.
But that’s why we are all on here. A lot of us like answering questions and talking Disney.

[may]

Originally Posted by JudyC

The first few days as early as possible as we are wide awake anyway, but leave when tired or it's too crowded. Getting to the second week, switch it round and get there later and stay late.

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We tend to do it like this.First half earlies, second half lates . We figure that gives us resting time in each day rather than scheduling rest days as such. Doesn't always work that way though.