Welcome to Theme Park Insider! Join the community or log in
Theme Park Insider
Facebook Twitter Pinterest YouTube

Avoiding Parks with Magic Hours....

Walt Disney World: How important is it to avoid Parks with Magic Hours in October?

From Sue Harve
Posted July 18, 2012 at 11:08 PM
I've seen several people mention that it's good for visitors NOT saying at Disney resorts to avoid parks with extra Magic Hours....

My questions is - How important is that in October compared to the busy summer months, per say?

I'm trying to schedule what days we want to go to each park. After looking at the magic hours for each park, I don't know if the schedule I made is smart or not b/c 2 days I planned on going to parks with extra magic hours (and we're not staying at a Disney resort...)

Just my husband and I are going -- no kids... so we're able to move pretty quickly through the park. (just FYI in case that would have anything to do with your answer...)

Thoughts?...


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

From Russell Meyer
Posted July 19, 2012 at 6:39 AM
It's important regardless of what time of year you're in Disney World. If you have park hoppers, obviously you have a flexibility to correct mistakes, but if you don't, and you enter an EMH park only to find the place already half full with 30-45 minute lines for the top attractions, it's going to put a crimp into your plans without any recourse.

It's more important to take note of the parks that have early Magic Hours moreso than evening Magic Hours. You can knock out 2-4 key attractions in the first hour of park opening if you arrive before rope drop, but if there are already on-site hotel guests in the park, you lost the early bird advantage. Evening Magic Hours tend to most greatly affect Hollywood Studios and Magic Kingdom and the attendance at their evening spectaculars. Try to avoid Fantasmic on evening Magic Hours and the same goes for Wishes.

From Don Neal
Posted July 19, 2012 at 6:44 AM
Yeah, my rule of thumb is to completely avoid any parks with morning magic hours. Evening magic hours haven't ever really been that much of a problem but I still try to avoid them if I can.

From Rob Pastor
Posted July 19, 2012 at 7:43 AM
Early Magic hours greatly increase the attendance at Magic Kingdom especially. Avoid the Magic Kingdom on those days.

From Jeff Elliott
Posted July 19, 2012 at 7:48 AM
In October, particularly early to mid October, since it is off season, this is not really as important as during the middle of the busy season. The parks that have the Magic Hours will be a little busier, but not completely unreasonable. Just remember to have a good plan from the beginning and this won't be an issue much at all.

From Russell Meyer
Posted July 19, 2012 at 1:26 PM
I wouldn't think that way Jeff. The day you assume the parks will be empty is the day you walk in and they're crowded beyond belief. After booking our resort package about a month ago, rooms in all of the resorts are few and far between during the entire month of October. While October is typically a relatively quiet month, it does appear that there will be a near full compliment of on-site guests (including the brand new Art of Animation Resort).

From Anthony Murphy
Posted July 20, 2012 at 9:26 PM
I found magical hours work best this way:

MK and EPCOT for nights
AK for mornings

Never DHS

MK and EPCOT have enough stuff to do to make it worth the trip. MK is usually pretty empty at night, allowing extra rides on Space Mountain, Haunted Mansion, and Pirates.

AK is just the kind of park that "earlier you get in, the better"

From Sue Harve
Posted August 10, 2012 at 7:21 PM
Thanks so much for your responses.... I will see if I need to make any re-arrangements to my plan/schedule :)

From Marie-Eve Landry
Posted August 17, 2012 at 6:33 PM
When we went last year (mid-october) we went on each park on the day there was EMH and there was no problem at all.

But just like one of the members said: you just can't go wrong with park hopper.

This discussion has been archived, and is not accepting additional responses.