Take into account that it can be difficult to RD the next morning after the late MK evening. It can be a good time for a pool/DS day or a less demanding park like AK.
This. We intentionally take it easy the day after MK EEH. On our last trip that involved buying LLMP at Epcot and not attempting front of pack EE. It made for a much more relaxing day. Had our park time not been limited that trip, we’d have made it a resort day. (We only had time for one of those, it was a 5 nt pre cruise trip)
I will say having done it a lot now that EEH at MK is imo the best way to knock out big rides there if you’re already staying deluxe. On that mentioned trip, back in September, we were at the GF and flew in on Wednesday morning. We took it easy, had dinner at Enchanted Rose then watched HEA from the room and walked over to MK afterwards for EEH. We got literally every headliner done outside Tiana (not available during EEH), and most of the B tier too. Nothing was more than a 10 min actual wait, including Mine Train and Tron. It was a very late night though—we got back to the Grand at almost 2am, and that was with taking the boat which dropped us off right at our building. If we weren’t staying at a monorail resort it would have taken longer. So definitely factor that in. But the only thing we needed to do at MK when we went back was Tiana and the rest of the shows.
Epcot is another story; I find EEH not nearly as good there bc of the nature of the park. Only 3 headliners right now, which are all very spread out, and everything else is a walk on during the day. Granted I have not been since Guardians dropped the VQ, that was the only thing I would use Epcot EEH for. I’m curious to see how it shakes out on next month’s trip.
Re: EE, to really maximize it if you want to do headliners you need to be front of pack and that’s going to necessitate getting up early. Esp if you are using Disney transportation. No way around that. It’s much, much easier if you’re trying to rope drop a park you can walk to though, which is why we nearly always split with a Crescent Lake resort. But if you’ve got folks who aren’t willing to get up early enough, don’t even waste your time. Buy LLMP and SP for the headliners, sleep in, aim to arrive near the start of EE and target secondary attractions, and accept that you’ll need to play the refresh game. But I still would prebook your first LL on MP for park open so you can start tapping in ASAP and booking rides.
And I would still purchase LL for Guardians regardless if that’s important to you, even if you are willing to maximize EE. Where you’re staying at matters a lot for Epcot EE—if you’re at a Crescent Lake deluxe you’re at a huge disadvantage trying to rope drop Guardians. Bus/monorail/driving you’re better but still have to get up early enough to be front of pack if you don’t want to waste your whole EE in that line. We begin our May trip at BWI and plan on rope dropping Remy and Frozen and buying SP for Guardians. But when we rope drop from Poly our last full day, we’re still buying it and doing Soarin instead.
