As of now, our day to sleep in and tour AK in the afternoon/evening is an EMH. Since our trip is in June, I realize it’s subject to change.
IF it stays as this, how would the parks be after 1pm? Can we still do a sleeping in touring plan sufficiently?
We arrived later in the day for AK during an EMH day. However, that was when they were doing a bunch of special EMH’s for that park. That being said, it was busy when we arrived around lunchtime. We had our FPs, ADR, and knew what we wanted to see, so we didn’t really feel the weight of the crowd. We did have some issues getting seated at Y&Y, and I think a few other families with kids did as well, but we were persistant and got seated. They were seating people strangely and there seemed to be a lot of walk ups.
Our FPs were FOP/ Safari (split party), EE, and Dinosaur. I got an extra FP for EE without issues. We saw FotLK, stopped for photopass pictures, and did 3 character meets. We left around 8pm.
Can you still do a TP - certainly. You just have to accept the fact that the park may be more crowded and adjust your expectations accordingly. Personally, I would try to get FPPs for FOP, EE, and KS and an ROL dining package (if you want to see the show) and then see what the other lines look like.
In October I did AK at 1:00 on an EMH day. It was also one of the first really nice Fall days on a weekend so there were lots of locals enjoying the park. So it was busy. We still had a great time. A couple of thoughts:
I would not spend time on an ADR unless you have other days there. I also would not assume you can ride all the major attractions (especially both Pandora) unless closing is later than 8:00 and even then it might be tough. To me, AK begs to be exlpored, so be sure to ake some time for that! It definitely thins out as the day goes on.
This will be our 2nd day there (failed to mention this!). Planning only to use our FPs, hit up whatever we haven’t already seen/done the 1st day, and ROL.
With that said, we were planning on booking Yak & Yeti (never been) - would a ROL package at Tusker be better? We’ve been there but only for breakfast. Tiffins is not a good option for us, as it takes up 2 credits on the DP.
I really enjoyed eating at Tusker House for lunch. The food was good, and not the normal buffet fare you can find at other places. If you want to see RoL, then you don’t lose anything by getting the package. I’ve never been to Yak & Yeti, so I don’t know how it compares to Tusker House.
I’m not a fan of either CMs or buffets, but I really enjoy TH. Y&Y is OK, but TH would get my vote.
If this is day 2 I think afternoon is a great idea. The park is very different from morning to evening. I regretted not having a set seat for ROL so package sounds good.