Is Saturday too crowded to really enjoy the Magic Kingdom?

[cnmiranda]

Hello, my parents will be arriving in Orlando tomorrow night. They really want to watch MK's parade and fireworks but were wondering what to expect crowd wise. This will be their first time to visit Disney and really want them to be able to relax and enjoy all the attractions. Should they spend the day at Magic Kingdom or perhaps go to another park and return to the MK for the shows, saving MK rides for another day? Weather does call for thunderstorms, I told them to get their ponchos ready Thank you so much for any input!

 

[BadgerBruce]

Quite often when we go Spectromagic is only done on Saturday nights, so we do fight the crowds and go there in the evening. What we like to do is go to Epcot that day and then take the monorail to the MK late afternoon/early evening for the parade & fireworks.

 

[MinnieGi]

When we go (value season) Spectro is only shown on Saturday nights. We are usually arriving this day so we enter MK in the early evening. Yes, it is more crowded than other days, but our mission is to maybe get on a ride or two and see the fireworks and Spectro. Going in knowing that we will do the other attractions another day makes us handle the crowds very well. We're not "rushing" like everyone else seems to be.

On our trip first week in Feb. we actually had the most magical Sat. evening at MK. We entered the park to huge crowds all lined up for the first Spectro parade. We strolled Main St. and entered Fantasyland and stood in line for Dumbo. Only about a 15 min. wait. As we were in the Dumbo waiting area we saw Tinkerbell take her flight and then the fireworks started as we were boarding Dumbo. The awesome fireworkds show continued as we rode high in Dumbo. It was so awesome we felt like we were in the Disney commercial! We followed Dumbo with IASW and the carousel and then headed to Main St. for a spot to watch the 9:00 pm Spectro. Had some popcorn while watching the Spectro parade and just enjoyed the magic in the air as we knew this was just the BEGINNING of our fabulous vacation week! To top it all off we left the park after Spectro and there was a bus waiting to take us back to AKL. How perfect!

OK, sorry so long. Point is make sure your parents get over to see Spectro and the fireworks, it is worth it!!

 

[cnmiranda]

Thank You so much BadgerBruce and MinniGi for your advice! I was so busy putting together my parents trip I completely forgot about the "park hopper pass" aspect. They will spend the day in Epcot as suggested and then head to MK via the monorail around 5 in order to see a little of the park and settle in for Spectromagic which begins at 7:00 (yes, Sat is the only day this week). Again, a sincere thanks! I never would have remembered this on my own and I know the day will go much more smoothly. I'm so excited for them I wish I could see their faces when they get there = )