Suggestions for avoiding long lines and busy days at the park

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Sean&Karen

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I would like to say I knew how to do this before visiting Disney but I had to find out the hard way, so I am hopping someone can learn from my mistakes. I normally travel in the non-peak seasons and because of this I get the pleasure of not having an overly crowed park. However on days that I would visit Magic Kingdom or Epcot I would still have a wait of over 30 to 60 minutes for some rids. I thought this was the “Norm” until I over heard a cast member telling an older couple that they should avoid MK or Epcot on Mondays/Tuesdays because most of the visitors to Disney visit MK or Epcot then.

He suggested we check out Animal Kingdom or Disney-MGM on Monday and Tuesday and then if we have the park hopper option on our passes we can go to MK or Epcot for the fireworks and laser show that night.

On my next trip down I tried what this cast member suggested, I ended up going to Disney-MGM on Monday, Animal Kingdom on Tuesday (went over to MK for the late night fireworks) Epcot on Wednesday and Magic Kingdom on Thursday. All I can say is WOW…. We had no lines, the park wasn’t overly crowed and I had a great visit. We had the park hopper option added to our passes so we were able to catch the fireworks and laser shows at the larger busier parks or go to the park that had the extra magic hours and spend some time with Mickey and Minnie :)

A suggestion for a Monday to Friday itinerary:

Monday - Disney-MGM or Animal Kingdom
Tuesday Animal Kingdom or Disney-MGM
Wednesday – Epcot or Magic Kingdom
Thursday – Magic Kingdom or Epcot
Friday – whatever park you liked the most (Magic Kingdom will be very busy)

Remember to get the park hopper pass as well, Animal Kingdom is a ½ day park and it’s nice to hop over to Epcot or MK for the fireworks to finish off the day. :)
 
And some say to avoid the parks with EMHs on, unless you can go early and leave at peak time. ; If MK has an extra magic hour, we make sure we're at the gate when it first opens, and then disappear before lunchtime - for some reason, it really gets crowded at midday, but even with emh early in am, can still do most rides in fantasyland relatively quickly.
 
We generally avoid the park that has EMH in the morning's for sure, although we will head over for EMH in the evening and it usually works out very well. ; Nothing like heading onto Splash Mountain at 11:00 pm, what a great feeling!

The one comment I would like to make is about AK.....for us it is more than a 1/2 day park, as a matter of fact, we usually use about 1 and 1/2 days there. ; It is all in all about what your interests are. ; There is a lot to do at AK and if you take most of it in, it is easy to take more than one day. ; IMHO ; : )
 
Wow MC, I am going to half to spend more time at AK then, just to give it a chance :)
 
"Sean" said:
Wow MC, I am going to half to spend more time at AK then, just to give it a chance :)
Click to expand...

Well, ya know, with that new camera and all there are loads of pics to be taken at AK. ; We always find that by the time you hit the big attractions, Expedition Everest, Kali Rapids, Safari, Tough to be a Bug, Dinosaur, then see shows like Nemo, Lion King, Pocahontis, Flights of Wonder, then still have time to watch the small performances that are around and also walk through the gardens and the other trails with the animals.....well.....as you can see, there is a lot to do. ; ; My favourite is the Lion King show, if you haven't seen it.....WOW! ; It is awesome!
 
Try as I might, I'm not an AK kinda gal. ; I LOVE Lion King, Kali River Rapids, the Safari ride, and the jammin' parade - it's worth the trip to see Lion King all on its own. But I find Tricera Top spin a bad imitation of MK's Dumbo (yeah, I know, so is Aladdin at MK), and the primevial spin awful. ; Anytime I've tried to eat there, it's been a bit of a nightmare (yes, I appreciate that straws might hurt the animals, but drinks for kiddies without them are accidents waiting to happen). I've done the Dinosaur ride many times, not Everest yet (kiddies too small, and child swap wouldn't work on this ride as DD8 didn't want to ride it). ; We've seen the Pocahontas show (which was good, just not as good as I thought it should be). ; But truth be told, I just don't like the flow of the park at AK, and trying to move around the place when its crowded is a nightmare - everyone gets jammed up together and "stuck" (esp. when, say, LK is getting out). ; I always make at least one trip (although not usually a full day) to AK each visit, but can't wait to get back to MK. ; This last time I thought I'd give it a better go, and we had EMH staked out for the evening - only to get caught in the worse torrential rainstorm of our stay. ; We were so soaked, we caught a bus back to our hotel, dried off, and went back to MK.

So, my tip for avoiding long lines - go to AK when it's crowded at MK, and come back to MK later. ; (Okay, AK affecionados, I know you disagree. ; But, AK just ain't for me.)
 
  • Wake up early
  • Eat a good breakast
  • Get to the park before opening
  • Have a map
  • Have a plan
  • Make ADRs (Advance Dining Reservations)
  • Hit the most popular rides first
  • If traveling with a large group, splitting up may be a good idea
  • Become a master of the fast pass
  • Rent a stroller for the little one(s)
  • Know what is being refurbished to avoid disappointment
  • If Disney says "Wait time is 45 minutes" it's probably only 30
  • Stay hydrated. Buy a couple of Camelbaks
  • Have Fun

My favorite park. So far.
 
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