We will be visiting at the end of June, and our crowd levels have just jumped way up (would probably not have booked if we had known they would be this high, but que sera). So, we are battling time zones and are unlikely to be rope droppers. We already have FPs for 7DMT, BTMRR, PP, Soarin - the must-dos (we actually have 2 days at MK and the same FP rides for both days, kiddo really likes them).
We do plan to swim and rest/nap mid-day, and will be staying on-property so we will have access to EMH two nights, at MK and Epcot, on the 9-level days, then it’s supposedly going to be less crowded the rest of our stay.
On these 9-level days with night time EMH, is it just going to be miserably crowded after, say, 7pm if we head back to the parks? My understanding is that crowd level is kind of a mid-day thing, what’s it like in the evenings? We were at WDW for 7-level days in January and I was honestly not at all bothered, so excepting the heat/humidity, will it be similar at night on these 9-level days, do you think?
Crowd level is average wait between 10-5. night time touring is very popular with liners in the busy summer season Esp the night emh hours Many do late emh instead of rd its personal preference.
How big of a time zone shift are you talking about? Usually it’s toughest going from west to east, as you are effectively losing hours of sleep and having to get up earlier than you are used to. My general advice is, where possible, to adjust yourself to “Disney Time” several days in advance of your trip by getting up and going to sleep at the time you would have to in order to make RD. For example, if you would be getting up at 6:00 and going to bed at 10 “Disney Time”, then if you live in LA you would be getting up at 3 and going to bed at 7 (spread the shift across several days and it is much easier). Sounds crazy, but it beats having jet lag on your vacation when you could be otherwise enjoying the World.
This also works for people who are on the east coast who are not used to getting up early - although there is no time change, there still is the equivalent of jet lag if you are used to getting up at 8 and going to bed at 12 and then switch to a RD schedule.
If I couldn’t make rope drop, and I was touring with a child who’s not likely going to fare well late into the night… I would pass on the EMH days. I don’t know what days you are going, but as an example… I’d do MK on the day Epcot has it’s morning (usually Tuesday I think) and Wednesday. I’d do Epcot on the day MK has it’s morning EMH (usually Thursday).
Thanks for your thoughts. For a bit more info, we just went to WDW in January, and this is a sort of quickie and last family vacation before DS5 starts school this fall. So we’re only planning to hit MK, EP, and HS, and get about 2 days at MK. We’re staying onsite and could use EMH. Our crowd calendar looks like this, with the parks we were planning to hit in bold:
Thurs, June 25 (arrive 10am) - MK 9 (EMHam, open to 1am), EP 9, HS7
Fri, June 26 - MK 8, EP 9 (EMHpm, open to 11pm), HS 7
Sat, June 27 - MK 6 (EMHpm, open to 2am), EP 6, HS 5 (EMHam)
Sun, June 28 - MK 7, EP 8, HS 5
We liked hitting MK on arrival day, and we do have FPs for 7DMT, BTMRR and PP on Thursday.
Maybe it’s worth the cost to upgrade to park hoppers? If we were to park hop, what would you suggest as a strategy for which parks when?
Hmm - some interesting choices here. I would not go for PH, as it is short trip and you would probably only use it once or twice - save your money for a nice TS meal or something. The one potential PH day that jumps out at me is Saturday - RD HS mEMH, back to the resort for a good rest, and then MK for the evening, but that would be hard on a 5-year old.
Keeping MK on Thursday, another plan would be to avoid the eEMH parks, so Friday HS 7, Saturday EP 6, and Sunday MK 7. You have the same total CL for the three days, but you avoid hitting a “9” park.
Also, no AK? Can’t go to WDW without visiting AK! 
Agreed with avoiding EMH…
So, how do I change my Fast pass park?
I don’t remember the specifics, and can’t go through the motions to refresh my memory without active tickets… but it must be fairly easy to do through MDE. Someone else can probably answer that better.
Here is a blog with lots of info on scheduling FPP - it is probably covered in there. http://www.mritty.net/disneyblog/?p=175
For what it’s worth, at 36 days I was able to get FPs for 7DMT, Soarin, etc. (the big-ticket rides) with lots of time options on what are now ID’d as level 9 days. I’m not sure why predicted crowd level isn’t correlating to availability of FPs, even with only on-site guests having FP access at this point, I wouldn’t expect to have 8 options for 7DMT on a crowd level 9 day.