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Help with Next Week's Disney Trip

Walt Disney World: Headed to Florida Saturday and need your input for dealing with the Memorial Day week crowd.

From Don Neal
Posted May 25, 2010 at 6:03 AM
We decided on this trip several months back. It was kind of last minute for us. We usually plan out much further but we didn't have a lot of options for when we could go so we decided May 29th-June 7th.

So we fly from Indy to Orlando Saturday morning and plan on spending six days at the parks and a few at the beach before returning home. But now I am starting to wonder if Sunday and Monday are going to be super busy being that it's a holiday weekend. So that's where I need your help.

My proposed plan was:
(NOTE: We are not staying on-site and hoping to avoid Extra Magic Hours)
- Sunday: AK (open until 8)
- Monday: MK (open until 10)
- Tuesday: DHS (open until 10)
- Wednesday: Epcot
- Thursday: MK*
- Friday: Epcot
* Extra Magic Hours Day

But as I mentioned above, I am concerned that Monday is going to be crazy at MK and now I am wondering if Epcot would be a better park for that day since it is larger and there is more room to move about.

Here is the Extra Magic Hours schedule for those days:
- Sunday: MK (12A-3A), Epcot (8A-9A), DHS (8A-9A)
- Monday: AK (8P-11P)
- Tuesday: MK (8A-9P), Epcot (9P-12A)
- Wednesday: AK (8A-9A), DHS (7P-10P)
- Thursday: MK (8A-9A), Epcot (9P-12A)
- Friday: MK (11P-2A), DHS (8A-9A)
- Saturday: AK (8A-9P)

I know Memorial Day isn't a major holiday so I don't know how bad it could be but want to make the most of the days we are there. Thoughts?


Comments in chronological order. Most recent at the bottom. Scroll down to respond.

From Nick Markham
Posted May 25, 2010 at 6:25 AM
Definitely switch Monday MK with Wednesday EPCOT. It would work out so much better! Also, try to make use of the four hour tours since it should be busy all week long.

From Anthony Murphy
Posted May 25, 2010 at 8:00 AM
It is probably going to be crowded just because everybody can take a vacation during that time and schools are not in session in FL

Still, the old standby of showing up when the park opens is not bad, especially for AK. In regards to Magical Hours, I have never seen it be much of an issue for MK. It usually is crowded regardless!

From James Rao
Posted May 25, 2010 at 11:24 AM
Don, I generally use the Crowd Calendar on touringplans.com to determine which parks to visit on which days. It assigns a rating of 1 - 10 (with 10 being the most crowded) to each date, and then recommends the BEST park to visit on that date. For your travel dates it has the following:

Date | Crowd | Best | Notes
----------------------------
29 | 9 | AK | Star Wars Weekend at HS
30 |10 | EP | SW Wknd at HS
31 | 7 | HS | Memorial Day
01 | 9 | AK
02 | 3 | MK/EP/HS
03 | 6 | HS | Gay Days At AK
04 | 4 | MK/EP | Gay Days At HS / SW Wknd at HS
05 | 3 | EP | Gay Days At MK / SW Wknd at HS
06 | 6 | AK | Gay Days At EP / SW Wknd at HS
07 | 6 | EP/HS

Please note that "Gay Days" are not an official Disney event, however the dates are noted because crowd levels will be impacted.

"Star Wars Weekends" are an official Disney event and will also impact HS crowd levels. If you decide to attend the SW fun, check studiocentral.com for details on what to do and when during the festivities.

From Don Neal
Posted May 25, 2010 at 11:55 AM
Excellent information guys! We want to do MK and EP twice so I think our new plan should be...

Sunday 5/30: EP
Monday 5/31: HS
Tuesday 6/01: AK
Wednesday 6/02: MK
Thursday 6/03: MK
Friday 6/04: EP

I hate to wait four days to make it to MK but it sounds like it will be worth it.

From Anthony Murphy
Posted May 25, 2010 at 12:24 PM
I have been at Disney during Gay Days and it is not as bad as you would imagine. Its pretty much just big groups of dudes wearing the same tshirt. I would just stay away from the Gay Day picked parks just because they would be very crowded.

From Deidre Dennis
Posted May 25, 2010 at 7:54 PM
I'm still getting over the fact that you're going back again... Didn't you just go last year? I'm jealous :(

I don't think we're going anywhere this year and I'm going NUTS. It's just too expensive to fly from the West Coast to go where we want (Hershey Park or Orlando). I'm refusing to bite the bullet to pay over $2,000 JUST to fly.

I'm curious, what beaches are you planning to go to while down there? We want to go next Summer, possibly in August and spend 10-11 days there. Do the usual parks, heat some beaches, perhaps check out the Everglades, Kennedy Space Station, etc.

Totally off subject and didn't even respond to your question. I've gone into depression because usually by now, I'm doing a countdown until we leave...

From James Rao
Posted May 26, 2010 at 3:51 AM
Don, if you are interested, here are some "Selective" touring plans for each of the parks. Feel free to utilize them as a basis for your visits. Just click on the link provided then input the date you will be attending that park, and you will be presented with a touring plan based on my selective attraction choices.

Note One: Epcot cannot be properly accomplished in a single day, so I split the park in half and provided two touring plans.

Note Two: For best results, avoid Magic Hours when utilizing these plans.

Animal Kingdom
Epcot Day One
Epcot Day Two
Hollywood Studios.
Magic Kingdom.

From Angela White
Posted May 26, 2010 at 6:54 AM
Personally Don, I think your idea of going to Hollywood Studios on Monday is a better idea than going to Epcot - likely to be far busier.

From Don Neal
Posted May 26, 2010 at 10:09 AM
@ Deirdre: We weren't planning on going back-to-back years but our other plans fell through and we were blessed with almost free accommodations and reasonable airfare so we went for it. It has been kind of weird not having the usual 6-9 months of planning that we usually take but this is our fourth time in Orlando since 2005 and with all my previous spreadsheets and information, throwing this one together went pretty quickly. This week is dragging by leading up to it. :P

@ James: Thanks J! Appreciate it. I'll definitely check those out.

@ Angela: I am really happy with our adjusted plan. I think going to DHS on Monday will work out well for us. Thanks again for everyone's input.

From luis gonzalez
Posted May 27, 2010 at 7:46 PM
i dont agree with anthony on the gay days thing, i went there not knowing as a kid and it was very gay. i dont have any problem with gay people and their presence does not bother me but i think you should know because most people are not like me. if you have any problem being around gay people then stay away from gay day(that rhymes!)

OHH MY GOSH, LIKE SOOOOO......WORD!!!!!!

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