Need help in choosing the park

Kennedy Space Center

If you really don’t want to do mornings there is a new ticketing option where tix are less $ but you can’t access the park until noon (I think…). Just mentioning if you want to stay on your normal time. I too noticed the lower CL for Good Friday and Easter Sunday, as we’ve sort of thought of going then (but probably won’t.). I also noticed that actual Halloween has less CL than other days around it. I can’t really speak to why but if you check many kinds of crowd calendars you might get a better idea—undercover tourist, for example, is another one besides TP that people on here talk about.

Not sure what you want to see/do at KSC, but a half day may not be enough time. If you only want to see the shuttle, then half a day is good.

Here’s my recommendations - if you want details / reasons why I choose this order, I’ll do it tomorrow. I am home, had dinner and ready to call it a day. :smiley:

4/7/20 - Your choice… The CLs / park hours are, basically, the same.

4/8/20 - MK… a possible day to visit KSC too

4/9/20 - DHS

4/10/20 - AK

4/11/20 - Epcot… Another possible day to visit KSC too

4/12/20 - MK

This gives you two days at MK - the most popular park. You can decide which other park you want to visit a second time or even MK a third time.

Easter weekend draws fewer ppl because Florida is ranked #3 in the U.S. for the highest number of Christians per population. This mean more FL residents going to churches than WDW. I know WDW is a large International destination, but FL residents make up a significant number of visitors too.

I was not aware of the ticket which starts from noon. Could you please provide me details? undercovertourist and TL has opposite forecasts for this week.

Thanks so much. This is what I had in my mind as well. I see that this week is blocked for pass holders except platinum pass. How does it affect the wait time? Does the TL’s Crowd prediction take that into account?

If you are referring to the Mid-Day Magic Ticket, it was a limited time promotion that expired on 12/15/19.

Yes. This is already taken into account.

My best advice is to go ahead & start making a personalized Touring Plan for one or two days of your trip to get a feel for what to expect in terms of queue waits.

I’m sorry, I was not aware that mid day magic was limited time. I thought that was a new ticket category. Oops.

1 Like

Sure, I will do. I am assuming I wont enter the parks at rope drop, any advice to counter that? I will not be leaving the park until it closes

How many days needed for Epcot and MK?

Get started on those touring plans. No joke - A touring plan has been proven to save you up to four hours of time not standing in queues. With a touring plan you’ll be ahead of 90% of the people just wandering aimlessly asking, “What do you want to do next?” and then walking into a queue that is 90 minutes long. Later in the day that same queue may be only 15 minutes, but they won’t know that.

MK = At least 2. It the most popular park, so the queues can be longer & there’s so much to see / do - especially if you have kids.

If you have any questions about making a plan or want me to review it, please, let me know. Helping people like this is how I pass the time until I can go back to Disney again.

Epcot = Right now Epcot is undergoing major construction. They are adding in multiple new rides and show. Sadly this means its a construction zone and a lot of attractions are unavailable. During the time of your trip I’d say only one day is needed. Unless… you are “foodies”. The World Showcase is a wonderful exhibit of cultural displays. However, it’s made purpose is a way to eat & drink foods from around the world. You can spend a whole day just doing that.

1 Like

Everyone is different… We live in California so I understand the challenges of the time zone change when going to WDW. And then, some of us are not morning people. But you really can get more done in the first 90 minutes by RDing than you can probably do the remainder of the day. Rest when you get in to Florida, and go to bed on EDT and not PDT that first night. Last month, we RDed 2 days out of 7. We have a 19 and 21 year old to roll out of bed. Actually, we gave them the choice to RD with us or not. And if you can, alternative between late nights out and RDing. We couldn’t RD the next day if we stayed for fireworks the night before. And neither did we park hop. This was our second trip to WDW. It can take time to get around, especially by bus. WDW is not Disneyland. You cannot walk from one park to another. WDW is very spread out.

We had a 7 day pass, 2 days in each park except AK. We like AK more than HS but with the HS uncertainties, we went to HS for 2 days. The only day we wished we had a park hopper was our last day. We went to HS and wished we could go to AK for the afternoon and evening. :neutral_face:

Even with a good TP, you need to manage expectations if you are not RDing on high CL days.

You really should read up about what there is to do in each park and project what your family may want to do. Then, you can better decide how many days in each park works for your family. My kids were 12 and 14 on our first trip to WDW. They loved Epcot. We actually spent a lot of time in the World Showcase. Last month, all of felt like we could have used another 1/2 day in Epcot. Of course, we were there during the Festival of the Holidays. There was so much more to do, see, and eat!

Then, also consider your family’s touring style at Disney. We, for the most part, have commando style touring. We like to open and close the park. Nobody could do that during our December trip! We are all older. :grimacing: We also love to ride our favorite rides, particularly headliners, over and over with RDing and Fast Passes. It was hard to do at WDW.

This can be a slippery path! There are many things you can pay extras for to make your experience better. You need to determine what type of experience you want.

I do consider the projected CLs, park hours, and EMHs when picking my park days. And then I work ADRs around them. But at 180 days out, they are just projections. Even at 60 days, the CLs may not be refined that much. They were refining CLs up to 2 weeks before my trip. Of course, RoTR opened a couple of weeks before our trip. That didn’t help. Nevertheless, CLs are projections. Our first HS day was projected to be CL 5. It was actually CL 1!. Our second HS day, CL was projected to be CL 10 and it was CL10!

Finally, going to KSC takes time. It is more than 2 hours in travel time round trip. It also takes time to get around on the bus on KSC property unless you are just doing the stuff in front. My family enjoys KSC. We went in 2012 and also last month. Both times, we were there only one day. But we felt one day wasn’t enough time last month because of the new Atlantis exhibit. Are you keeping a car the entire time you are in WDW? The resorts charge for parking. If you don’t keep a car the entire time and need to go rent a car, that takes time.

1 Like

Yes, I will be renting a car. Say if I go the park at RD and come back around noon, how long does it take to reach the hotel and go back? My kids are 10 and 5. I will be using a stroller for the 5 year old. Is there a way to help 10 year old getting tired by stroller or some other means?

Depends on which park you are at and which hotel you are at. Again, it takes time to get around once you decide to leave.

At MK, you have to take the ferry or monorail back to the Ticket and Transportation Center and then probably take the tram back to your car, depending on where you are park. (Take a picture of your parking space number and the name of the lot you are parked in!) From the time you get to monorail/ferry to your car, it can take anywhere from 30-60 minutes, depending on the lines. At MK, the resort bus might be better. At the other parks, I’m guessing it might take 15-20 minutes to get to your car, once you get to the parking lot and depending where you are parked. In general, the rule of thumb is to allot 60 minutes to get anywhere on WDW property.

Depending on how big the 10 year old is, he might be able to sit in the stroller here and there!

We all get tired in the Florida heat and humidity. Schedule regular sit down breaks in air conditioned places and hydrate!

And I wouldn’t recommend going to the park everyday. A day off from walking and standing that much would be a great relief! Last month, we were walking between 25,000-30,000 steps each day in the park, according to our iPhone’s health app.

1 Like

Thanks. Is it advisable to use car or take shuttle from the resort?

If you are not staying at a monorail resort, then I would take the bus to MK.

The other parks, if you RDed, then driving or taking the bus would depend when the bus was coming when I leave the resort!

There are lots of people sharing their experiences and helping out here. And I wouldn’t have been able to have such a great trip last month without them. So peruse and ask lots of questions.

I wrote a couple of posts based on your questions and information here that you might find helpful:

Florida Visitor Toll Pass

CLs

1 Like

I don’t think Swan is a Monorail resort. Take bus to MK and ferry to Epcot and HS?

Swan is not a monorail resort. But you can actually walk or ferry to Epcot’s International Gate entrance and HS. There is no need to drive. That would help cut down on travel time. I would ferry, if you want to reduce the number of steps but that would depend on other factors when needing to get back and forth between the park and resort. The Swan and Dolphin hotels are the furthest from the park entrances at the Epcot Area Resorts.

And since you are at Swan, I would really reconsider needing a car for your entire stay.

1 Like

Sorry if this is naive. Can I enter via International Gate Entrance or should I go by the regular entrance?