Rethinking my plan. Any advice for us?

Walt Disney World Crowd Calendar
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Hi Everyone, I’ve been watching these forums and everyone has such great advice! I’m hoping you can all help me out, too. I’m SURE you can. :smile:

We’re headed to WDW in October, and will be visiting parks the 19 - 22. I originally though we’d do this:

Friday will be a MNSSHP day, so we’ll only go after 4.

I’m reconsidering the crowd levels, though. If we do this:

How much worse is Magic Kingdom - Wednesday, a non-party day vs Thursday, a party day? If we go Wednesday, we might stay after 7, but I don’t think we’d take advantage of EMH.
However, if we do the second option, we can take advantage of EMH at Epcot.
In addition, I don’t know if we’d use the EMH for Animal Kingdom. It’ll be after a late night.

My ADR day is coming up soon, and I’m trying to plan our days out, to know when to schedule a few meals. We’d like to do BOG (breakfast) and probably 'Ohana, on the full Magic Kingdom day.

Oh, there will be 6 of us. 2 grandparents, active, in their 60s, and 2 kids, 8 and almost 4. So, we’ll probably want to do an afternoon rest as many days as we can.

Um… anything else that would factor in here? What do you all think? Either of these options look better than the other? Is there a different way to organize?

Thanks in advance for any/all advice!

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I’d go for the CL 3 and the short hours @emcglone! I think you can do everything before 7pm if you arrive at RD with these lower crowds. But it really depends on 100% commitment to RD. If you think you can’t make it, go for the higher crowds/longer hours.

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I always opt for lower crowds over EMH. Rope drop is early enough without getting there even earlier lol.

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Wow! It surprises me that everyone would go with the shorter days.

I’m not so worried about the early RD days - we’re morning people anyway. (The kids are always up before 6. Can’t they PLEASE sleep in?!)

I’ve been wishing for more Epcot time… I’m just not sure it’s worth fighting the MK crowds.

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Looks solid to me. You are also being wise by avoiding Epcot on the weekend during Food and Wine.

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Are there three party nights? Am I reading that right? What night time shows do you want to see? Do you want to see Wishes? Will you stay for RoL when AK hours change? I say make you plan based on what you want to do. Last October it was crazy- every single day. This week again, the crowd levels are off. Decide what you want to see and make a good plan!

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Thanks everyone for the great advice!
We’ll want to do RoL for sure, and of course the party events. But, regular Wishes, and Illuminations, we can do another trip. I think there are only 2 party nights when we’d be able to go, Thursday and Friday. But, it seems like MK is closing fairly early on the other nights. Maybe it’s just because hours aren’t posted yet?

We went in Oct 2014, and crowds weren’t bad (Thanks TP), but it sure sounds like Oct 2015 was MUCH worse.

Definitely avoiding Epcot on the weekend! We’re looking forward to Food and Wine… even my kids will enjoy the food.

So, if I do plan for MK on a non-party day, When would you suggest popping over to 'Ohana? We’d like to see the Festival of Fantasy parade, just after a rest at the hotel, but the rest of the afternoon/evening would be flexible.

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We are going at the same time 10/15-21. Though I don’t have advise for you because it will be our first time. I’m opting for shorter days and lower crowds, I feel we will probably be wore out by 7 anyway. Of course if we were going on the longer days we would be able to take a mid-day break.

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Look at the actual crowd levels from last year. Last year on Mondays and Wednesdays in October when there was no party MK crowds were horrible. I think they were a few that that even reached crowd level 10 . I would definitely go on the day that has the shorter park hours.

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I talked to the rest of the folks that are coming with us, and they all agreed with everyone here! The smaller crowds are a better choice, even if it means we have a day at Epcot without an afternoon break.

I wasn’t too worried about MK, we’ll have plenty of time there, and will probably be done by 7 anyway. Epcot is hard, though. I just don’t know how much time we’ll want to spend, there. I’d been doing the same calculation in my head, @tntjacobs… afternoon break, late night, crowds. It’s a lot to plan out, 6 months in advance!

As an aside, ADRs this week! I’m excited!!

Ok… last question. Does anyone do an early pre-RD breakfast at Epcot, to get onto a ride before the crowds… similar to what’s done at MK with 7DMT? My mom asked, last night, and I guess I’d never paid any attention to whether it’s even available.

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You could do an early pre park breakfast at the Garden Grill to try to get on soarin right away. I haven’t ever really heard of people doing that but I’m sure it would work. The restaurant is just upstairs from the ride in the same building.

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I agree @emcglone, I am having the same problem with Epcot, really need two days with breaks but we are going to try to squeeze it in one, no breaks. I have a free day planned so if we can’t do it then we can go back but I’m betting DD7 and DD9 will want the extra day to be at MK.

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FWIW, we did that in December with breakfast at GG and then hopped on Soarin’ immediately. Worked well - good breakfast & short line. I’m guessing since GG breakfasts only started late last year & Soarin’ shut down in January there wasn’t much window for many people to do it.

In general, while walking through an empty Epcot is cool, it doesn’t have the same Magical feel as walking down an empty Main Street USA towards the castle that you can get at MK.

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Does your group consist of anyone that likes to sample food and drinks, or are they chicken nuggets and Pepsi? Do they enjoy talking to random folks from all over the world or are they the keep to themselves and only speak to CM’s when they have to kind? Do they like to shop? Do they like to stop and watch the street shows?

Future world can be done in a couple of hours, but World Showcase seems to depend on the people. Some just rush through it stop in one or two shops and are done. We’re the opposite. We love to go in all the shops, stop and see a few of the shows, have snacks and imbibe a few drinks, chat with the visiting CM’s from other countries… We normally have one day where we start in Future World and make our way through World Showcase, and another where all we do is World Showcase. Our next trip is quite a bit longer so we’ll probably add a third Epcot day.

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We could SO easily do 2 days at Epcot. We love all the science-y stuff in Future World, and can spend hours and hours just exploring there. At World Showcase, we’re not big shoppers, but the shows, the food, the atmosphere are all so much fun. We’re all adventurous eaters, so we’ll spend a lot of time at the F&W booths. Plus, the kids really enjoyed doing Agent P, last time. We only did one stop, but I’d love to do more this year.

So, for me, it’s about what we have to cut out of our Epcot day. I’m jealous that you’re looking at three days there, @Outer1!

I’m going to have to look into GG for breakfast. That may just be too much food for us… a buffet, and then F&W booths all day… but that’s what vacation is for, right?! :smile:

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Not sure the last time you’ve been but remember they closed one of the innoventions buildings so may not take as much time in future world as normal.

We aren’t huge shoppers but I LOVE the Mitsukoshi store in Japan. We always end up spending way too much time, and probably money, there lol.

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I am facing a similar planning issue 2 weeks before you. I have enough time for 2 days at MK so I think we will do one Party day and one non-party day.

My decisions are based on the touring plan calendar. As noted above it was way off last year so I’m a little dubious.

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@NoCutsies, That’s what we’re planning, too. I think we’ll have plenty of time at MK with a full day (RD to 7pm) and a party day (4pm to whenever we drop). I’ve put together personalized touring plans, and it looks like we’ll have plenty of free time for breaks, naps, etc. I’m nervous about the calendar, too, though. It seems like days of 3-6 crowds are so low, compared to last year.

We’re skipping Hollywood Studios this year, but as new things keep getting released, I’m starting to wish we had another 2 days to spend. One there and a second Epcot day. Next time, I guess!

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