Need Help Planning Which Park on Which Day

[Soccermom12]

My DH, DSs(14,11 and 9), DD5 and I, have a Disney trip planned for this August 7-14. We have always gone at the end of August/early Sept. The crowds have always been very manageable. How are the crowds early to mid August?

We normally spend 7 to 9 days in the parks, so we don't worry about how busy a park is because we can always go back another day. This year we are spending one day at Legoland, and one day at the Space Center, which is cutting into our Disney time. I am trying to plan our week and am having a hard time figuring out what park to goto on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. The parks we want to do those days are AK, DHS and Kennedy Space Center. Anyone have any ideas? Are the parks more crowded on the weekends?

Thanks!

[faline]

Early August is quite a bit busier than later August and weekends do tend to bring in local crowds as well.

In doing your planning, I'd suggest you also look at extra magic hours. It sounds like you only plan to visit one park on any given day. I'd probably avoid the park with extra magic hours in the morning. You can certainly get quite a lot done in the extra hour but it also tends to drive crowds up in the park for the remainder of the day. You also don't mention if you're staying at Disney so I can't tell if you're eligible to take advantage of the extra magic hours.

Animal Kingdom tends to close early so I'd plan to arrive at opening and stay until you've accomplished all your park objectives.

If you're staying on Disney property, I'd suggest getting to Disney Studios at opening, return to your accommodations mid-day and then head back to the park later in the day.

Traffic getting to the Space Center would probably be lighter on the weekends. I've only been there once and we didn't even spend a full day there so I really can't be helpful on the best day to visit.

I realize I didn't respond with visit this on that day as you requested but simply provided you with some general guidelines to consider when firming up your plans but you also need to consider whether you are staying on Disney property or off-site and have park hoppers or not.

[Soccermom12]

Thanks for the info.....I never even considered traffic driving to the Space Center!

Yes, we are staying on-site. We never have park hopped before - we usually pick one park, get there at opening and stay til 6ish. We might have to consider hopping this trip though....

[ImagiAsh]

You may also want to check out Intercot's Info Central: When to Visit. It gives a historical outlook on the busiest days for each park.

Magic Kingdom: Monday, Saturday, Sunday
EPCOT: Wednesday, Friday
Disney Studios: Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday
Animal Kingdom: Monday, Tuesday, Friday

[sherriepaul]

To avoid crowds, avoid the parks having extra magic hours, also search on line for disney calendar for when you are there and all kinds of calendars pop up from different websites that tell you suggested parks to go to, ones to avoid, also most of them give you a times of the parades and fireworks and such. hope this helps!

[j2k]

You may also want to check out Intercot's Info Central: When to Visit. It gives a historical outlook on the busiest days for each park.

Magic Kingdom: Monday, Saturday, Sunday
EPCOT: Wednesday, Friday
Disney Studios: Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday
Animal Kingdom: Monday, Tuesday, Friday

I wonder if the historical outlook remains the same year round or if it is differs based on the seasons and activities happening.

[j2k]

A split day plan might work best for us.

[ibelieveindisneymagic]

As for the Space Center, we've been on a summer weekend, and during the week and didn't notice a difference in crowds, although there was "Space Camp" during the week that we had to move around a couple of times, but it wasn't a big factor at all in the trip. I agree with Faline that you might as well go on the weekend, since traffic will be lighter and the trip a bit quicker.

I would plan a long, full day for the Space Center, there is quite a bit to do and look at, so it can take as long a time, or as short a time as you want.

If it was us, I'd go to AK one day, we usually spend about 3/4 of a day there, head back to the resort and then to DH for the evening. DH loves seeing it all the lights at night, and doing ToT at night. Crowds usually do lessen a bit once Fanstasmic starts (if you're not seeing it of course).

The next day, go to Kennedy, and then back to DHS the next day for the rest of the park.