What days would you spend in each park?

[jessg]

So we will be there 11/30-12/07 plan on doing a park on arrival day even if a few hrs in the afternoon and possibly doing on on departure day in the am. We are driving and will be stopping to sleep approx 5 hrs from destination on our way there and approx half way on our way back so that way could maximize our trip and not over tire. We have 7 park days and will possibly bump to 8 days in order to be able to enjoy both arrival and departure days a few hrs. Obviously both Arrival and departure days will be SATURDAY so which parks would you do which days. We dont mind not doing MK on arrival and dep days since that park is obviously busiest on weekends. And we want to enjoy the night show/fireworks at each park at least once sooooo what would you do throw me your ideas out there. We will be mostly eating off property and bringing in lunch and snacks with the exception of a few in park snacks and or quick service meals. We are 4 adults and 4 kids no teens

 

[Magical2017]

It used to depend on crowd calendars. Now it depends on park hours, EMH, and when we get certain FP, like FoP. This past trip, our FoP FP were for the end of the trip, so AK was one of the last parks that we visited. Park hours do have an impact on our planning, because if we are going to stay until MK closes, we either want to do a resort day or sleep in and do a half day the next day. If we do attempt to RD, it would be after a resort day so we can feel rested and ready to go.

 

[theone74733]

Like the previous poster mentioned, a lot depends on party/non-party days, EMH, park hoppers, and some golden rules (ex: not going to MK on Saturdays & Mondays).

If you don't have park hoppers, you could try something like this:

Sunday MK - Most days on Sundays from August - December are party nights so you tend to have less traffic as you have to be out of the park by 6:00 pm with no nighttime fireworks. Also, everyone goes to MK on Saturday so usually Sundays are slightly lighter in traffic.
Monday Epcot - Seems like everyone else heads towards MK or the park that has EMH. Epcot is always my go-to park on Mondays.
Tuesday Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom - Pick whichever park that doesn't have the EMH between Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom.
Wednesday MK - Unfortunately, I think the Christmas Party happens Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday during the middle of the week so this is your opportunity to watch HEA fireworks. Also, not sure if you are staying on-site to take advantage of evening EMH. You could squeeze the fireworks on one of your Saturdays instead and choose a different park.
Thursday Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom - Pick whichever park that doesn't have the EMH between Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom.

 

[Zooey]

Like the previous poster mentioned, a lot depends on party/non-party days, EMH, park hoppers, and some golden rules (ex: not going to MK on Saturdays & Mondays).

If you don't have park hoppers, you could try something like this:

Sunday MK - Most days on Sundays from August - December are party nights so you tend to have less traffic as you have to be out of the park by 6:00 pm with no nighttime fireworks. Also, everyone goes to MK on Saturday so usually Sundays are slightly lighter in traffic.
Monday Epcot - Seems like everyone else heads towards MK or the park that has EMH. Epcot is always my go-to park on Mondays.
Tuesday Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom - Pick whichever park that doesn't have the EMH between Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom.
Wednesday MK - Unfortunately, I think the Christmas Party happens Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday during the middle of the week so this is your opportunity to watch HEA fireworks. Also, not sure if you are staying on-site to take advantage of evening EMH. You could squeeze the fireworks on one of your Saturdays instead and choose a different park.
Thursday Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom - Pick whichever park that doesn't have the EMH between Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom.

If you rope drop morning EMH is that still the right park? I see you always avoiding it but we plan on doing each EMH morning. I also got good fast passes those days.

 

[Zooey]

Like the previous poster mentioned, a lot depends on party/non-party days, EMH, park hoppers, and some golden rules (ex: not going to MK on Saturdays & Mondays).

If you don't have park hoppers, you could try something like this:

Sunday MK - Most days on Sundays from August - December are party nights so you tend to have less traffic as you have to be out of the park by 6:00 pm with no nighttime fireworks. Also, everyone goes to MK on Saturday so usually Sundays are slightly lighter in traffic.
Monday Epcot - Seems like everyone else heads towards MK or the park that has EMH. Epcot is always my go-to park on Mondays.
Tuesday Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom - Pick whichever park that doesn't have the EMH between Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom.
Wednesday MK - Unfortunately, I think the Christmas Party happens Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday during the middle of the week so this is your opportunity to watch HEA fireworks. Also, not sure if you are staying on-site to take advantage of evening EMH. You could squeeze the fireworks on one of your Saturdays instead and choose a different park.
Thursday Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom - Pick whichever park that doesn't have the EMH between Hollywood Studios or Animal Kingdom.

If you rope drop morning EMH is that still the right park? I see you always avoiding it but we plan on doing each EMH morning

 

[theone74733]

If you rope drop morning EMH is that still the right park? I see you always avoiding it but we plan on doing each EMH morning

I usually try to avoid EMH because that park is usually more crowded for the rest of the day than on an non-EMH day. I would recommend EMH if you have park hoppers and can jump to another park later in the morning. Now, I recommended MK on a evening EMH day since Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party at MK takes up four days of the week. If you were planning on seeing Happily Ever After and didn't have park hoppers, Wednesday with the evening EMH would be the lesser of two evils than on Saturday or Monday. Also, I enjoy the evening EMH more than the morning ones. However, YMMV and it can be different for everyone.

 

[Klayfish]

It truly doesn't matter. Go where you want. The parks are generally busier on the weekends, which is true across the board for all 4. MK is the busiest of all 4, regardless of day. Therefore, MK on a Saturday is going to be the busiest park/day combo.

Beyond that, IMO it makes no difference where you go. IMO, there's no way to say Epcot is going to be less crowded on a Tuesday and AK less crowded on a Thursday. I also don't think EMH makes any difference. We don't do EMH since we stay off property, so we don't even look to see what parks have it and what don't. So when we show up to HS at 10:00am I have no idea how long the park has been open. There's no question we've coincidentally gone into parks that had EMH, but I couldn't tell you the difference when I walked in.

My suggestion is to pick the parks you want to go to on the days you want to go. I don't think you'll notice an appreciable difference, outside of the fact that weekends are busier.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

I agree with @Klayfish but with one exception. Since you're going during Christmas party season, MK will be noticeably more crowded on non-party days than party days. So to maximize MK time I would suggest doing one day on a party day to take advantage of the lower crows, and another evening/night on a non-party night (assuming you want to see HEA).

 

[KenHutch]

We do not hit the parks on arrival or departure days but we do hit every park for a minimum of 2 days each and I schedule a pick your own day which is usually Magic Kingdom for a 3rd day. On our next trip my daughter has suggested the 3rd day just be Star Wars for me.

 

[Tiggerlover91]

It truly doesn't matter. Go where you want. The parks are generally busier on the weekends, which is true across the board for all 4. MK is the busiest of all 4, regardless of day. Therefore, MK on a Saturday is going to be the busiest park/day combo.

Beyond that, IMO it makes no difference where you go. IMO, there's no way to say Epcot is going to be less crowded on a Tuesday and AK less crowded on a Thursday. I also don't think EMH makes any difference. We don't do EMH since we stay off property, so we don't even look to see what parks have it and what don't. So when we show up to HS at 10:00am I have no idea how long the park has been open. There's no question we've coincidentally gone into parks that had EMH, but I couldn't tell you the difference when I walked in.

My suggestion is to pick the parks you want to go to on the days you want to go. I don't think you'll notice an appreciable difference, outside of the fact that weekends are busier.

But to them it DOES make a difference, which is why they asked.


Just go with your plan and see how that works. You're simply not going to know until you get there. I DO EMH and if it coincided with my trip dates and the parks I'm in, I'd do the AM ones. Since those don't, I'll be doing the evening ones at EPCOT and MK on our June trip.