How to decide park days

[my523]

We are not going on our trip until December (early weeks, so not as busy). Should I make park reservations now? How do I even begin to decide what days to go to which park?
We plan to get 6-day tickets. We will go to all four parks, at at least Magic Kingdom twice. All our children are under 10 yrs old. My family has never been and I haven’t been but once in middle school (over 20 yrs ago)!

 

[CaptainAmerica]

You can't make reservations until you buy tickets, and I wouldn't buy tickets this far in advance.

There are three main schools of thought.

1. Some people absolutely feel the need to go to Magic Kingdom first, full stop. These people tend to visit the parks in "release order" (MK, Epcot, Studios, AK), but none of the rest of the order is as important as Magic Kingdom first. They don't feel like they're truly on a Disney vacation until they're strolling down Main Street, USA for the first time.

2. Some people like to try to time which parks are going to be most or least crowded on certain days. This used to matter more when morning Extra Magic Hours for on-site guests used to be 60 minutes at one particular park each day, but now it's 30 minutes at all four parks every day, so a lot of that fluctuation is gone.

I'm here --> 3. Don't bring little kids visiting WDW for the first time to Magic Kingdom first. It will almost certainly be their favorite park, it's the most kid-focused and high-energy, and it can burn kids out and prevent them from enjoying the other parks if it's the first thing they see. I recommend taking kids to Magic Kingdom last, and visiting the parks in reverse-order of kid friendliness.

If I'm you, I'm doing:

Epcot
Hollywood Studios (or Animal Kingdom)
Animal Kingdom (or Hollywood Studios)
Magic Kingdom
Epcot or Hollywood Studios, whichever you liked better or felt like you needed more time in
Magic Kingdom

If you were to get Park Hopper tickets, then I'd go:

Animal Kingdom, hopping to Epcot
Hollywood Studios
Magic Kingdom
Epcot, hopping to Hollywood Studios
Animal Kingdom, hopping to Epcot
Magic Kingdom

 

[Gehrig1B]

I don't think it matters much as even though early December may be less crowded it will still be crowded. Locals visit on weekends so I would avoid Epcot and MK on weekends if you can. Also, check to see which nights any Christmas parties may be held. If it is an After Hours party it will not affect crowds much, if it is a party with an early park closing that would be a good day to attend MK as crowds will be lower.

I also believe, when crowd levels are high, park hoppers are worth every penny. It really doesn't take any more time to hop to another park as it does to wait in a queue for an E-ride. Hopping allows flexibility and you don't have to worry about where your dining reservations are...

We like to rope drop, leave to avoid afternoon crowds (maybe see the Christmas decorations at other resorts), then hop to a less crowded park in the evening. Also, Genie+ works better when hopping as you can begin stacking Lightning Lanes at 2:00 for the rest of the day... just rope drop with early entry to the first park. Of course, if staying off property, you will not get early entry and rope dropping, other than MK, will not do much good as lines will already be very long.

 

[Wood Nymph]

I always avoid MK on Mondays and usually Saturday.

I usually go to MK on a Tuesday because most people go on Monday.

I try to avoid the park that is open for extra late hours and go to that park the next day because it will be less crowded that day - usually.

 

[sponica]

I burn out in MK so i like @CaptainAmerica's strategy.

I think we're really only starting in MK this time because we're at the Poly and the other part of my party won't be there until the following day...

We're epcot people, so until our kids can walk the entire trip, they're being pushed along in the stroller through the world showcase.

 

[godfather927]

Recent thrill data shows a significant difference in MK crowds between Sunday and Monday. Seems counterintuitive, but that's what the data shows, and even if the MDE wait times are skewed conservatively, as long as they are all skewed by a proportional amount, it still shows a relative bump in crowds on Mondays.

 

[wvjules]

You can't make reservations until you buy tickets, and I wouldn't buy tickets this far in advance.

Why would you not buy tickets this far in advance? My tickets are purchased and park reservations made. Not sure why anyone should wait?

 

[CaptainAmerica]

Why would you not buy tickets this far in advance? My tickets are purchased and park reservations made. Not sure why anyone should wait?

I don't buy anything nonrefundable until my dates are set in stone. The earliest that would be for me would usually be when Southwest releases their fares for my dates. Even if I don't fly Southwest, I wait and see what their rates look like before I book with another airline.

I've had lots of situations where delaying a trip by a week or even just switching my arrival and departure by a day or two saves hundreds of dollars on the flight. This wasn't a problem with park tickets until they started requiring that you link them to specific days.

 

[Kazi7]

To the OP, if Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party in the Magic Kingdom returns this year, you should definitely consider how it will affect your choice of days at MK. On party days, MK closes early to "regular day guests", so you would miss the usual nighttime entertainment on those days, if that matters to you. (Unless you plan to attend the party, which costs extra.) Some people prefer to go to MK on a party day because it's usually less crowded (since it closes early). Non-party days at MK are busier, but you get longer hours including the normal evening entertainment.

 

[AnnaS]

We are here now. We come back in October and just started to make our park reservations. It only allowed me to make 4 days out of the 7. Will each day open up as the days pass by? or am I doing something wrong We have AP.

 

[legler2250]

There are so many different factors that come into play when deciding on which parks to attend and in what order. A lot of this has to do with your family size, ages, crowd tolerance, and general preferences. The strategy I like to use, no matter which park attending, is simply slow down and enjoy all the interesting details that the surrounding environment have to offer. In my opinion once you see the magic in all things, the decision on which parks to attend become rather arbitrary. However this opinion / strategy might only work for a few people =)

 

[Kazi7]

@AnnaS: If you are staying onsite now and have your October stay added to MDE, I think you should be eligible to book all your days as an onsite AP holder, but I know sometimes AP holders have reported running into a limit of total days booked even if they are onsite.

 

[RoseGold]

I went first week of December 2021, and it was absolute madness crowded. I will never go back in that time period, and if Disney stays that crowded, I won't be back at all.

Who knows what the tickets or rides or strategy will be by then. It's clear that Genie+ needs some work.

I do think there is an argument to buy tickets sooner than later, because they always increase in price. BUT they are non-refundable and that is a long time away.

 

[loves to dive]

First, it is possible to get refundable tickets, I do it through the Frog all the time.

Second, I usually choose my park days based on where I'm staying. If I'm doing a split stay and know I'm moving over to an Epcot resort the last part of my stay, I knock MK and AK out during the first part since I would have to ride a bus to AK no matter where I stay and since I no longer stay at the monorail resorts, would still need to ride a bus there. Then I just randomly pick days. My arrival day is always at Epcot since I arrive between 1 and 3 and there is usually a Festival and I'm usually hungry from driving for 7 hours. I always have hoppers so it isn't as important which park is which day because I know I'm going to a different one at night.

 

[my523]

Recent thrill data shows a significant difference in MK crowds between Sunday and Monday. Seems counterintuitive, but that's what the data shows, and even if the MDE wait times are skewed conservatively, as long as they are all skewed by a proportional amount, it still shows a relative bump in crowds on Mondays.

What is “thrill data?” Is that something I can look at to plan. Sorry, being first trip I’m new to this.

 

[Westerner]

https://www.thrill-data.com/
a free service that pulls wait time and lightning lane data provided by disney, universal and others and compiles it so you can research.

 

[tkd lisa]

I don't see a meet thread for the 2022 eastern Caribbean Christmas cruise so I thought I'd start one

I'm here --> 3. Don't bring little kids visiting WDW for the first time to Magic Kingdom first. It will almost certainly be their favorite park, it's the most kid-focused and high-energy, and it can burn kids out and prevent them from enjoying the other parks if it's the first thing they see. I recommend taking kids to Magic Kingdom last, and visiting the parks in reverse-order of kid friendliness.

This is great advice. I'd also add that certain days of the week are overwhelming crowded at mk, largely because of people who do mk first. I don't do mk on Sat or Monday for this reason.

Last thing is to check for special events. Dapper days is moving to early December and will greatly affect crowds. They also film the Christmas parade, usually the first part of Dec, and a lot of main street is blocked off.

Enjoy! It's my favorite time to visit wdw.

 

[my523]

This is great advice. I'd also add that certain days of the week are overwhelming crowded at mk, largely because of people who do mk first. I don't do mk on Sat or Monday for this reason.

I understand what you are saying about not doing MK first. However, we will be at the Poly...and I wonder if when the kids see that castle upon arrival, they will be constantly asking when they are going there. Our ticket days will be Sunday-Friday.

I went first week of December 2021, and it was absolute madness crowded. I will never go back in that time period, and if Disney stays that crowded, I won't be back at all.

Oh, no! Hopefully that was just a "everything is opening back up" bump in crowds.

 

[my523]

We will in parks Sunday - Friday. Our dates are flexible. Would you recommend any other arrival/departure date options? I assumed this itinerary avoided Saturday crowds.

Sunday - MK
Monday - HS
Tuesday - Epcot
Wedneaday - AK (or rest day?)
Thursday - MK
Friday - HS or Epcot (or AK?

Thoughts? I am clearly still struggling some. Help appreciated!
I know the Holiday party may also change this, but would like a rough idea to go ahead and reserve park dates while I’m thinking about it.

For sure MK twice, and it’s between HS or Epcot twice (my kids aren’t super into Star Wars and we wouldn’t do RnRC or ToT if that helps). I have all girls, so princesses are a big deal.

 

[MinMou]

There used to be websites with crowd calendars that said which parks would be most crowded each day. With the new rules, those sites are not posting them, except for Touring Plans, but they charge for those except for close in dates. Most of them used general rules to make them up: 1- MK will be the most crowded on weekends and on days people first show up at WDW. 2-Epcot most crowded on Saturdays because of the restaurants and during their festivals 3- Parks that have early hours for the resorts will be more crowded those days. But expect everything to be hit or miss until Disney opens more rides and restaurants.

Captain America repeated advice that we had been told about saving Magic Kingdom for last for little kids. I found that as long as there was something to look forward to at each park, we could go to any park. We did take our 4 year old to MK first, because he saw it out the window when he woke up, and there was no way I could tell him for 3-4 days we were going elsewhere. He was VERY into the characters, and there was someone he wanted to meet at all the parks. BUT... that was our vacation. You need to figure out what's best for your group, because that will give you your best trip