Marathon Weekend 2019

[lhermiston]

Hey everybody... sorry not to post 336. but I had a quick question for all you WDW experts. We don't visit often enough to know the best tips for which day to visit what park, etc. I am going to pick up the EasyWDW book this summer - this seems like the one everyone raves about. But in the meantime - even if you're staying on-property, do you all generally avoid the parks that have EMH in the morning? This seems to be a tip I hear about often. How does Marathon Weekend complicate things (if any)? We will be there 7 days, and since we don't go very often we want to maximize our time there. We are signing up for Dopey. As we approach the 180 day window in a couple of months I was preparing to make some ADR's and wanted to get an idea of which parks are recommended for each day we are there. Thanks in advance!

My understanding of the “avoid EMH” tip is the park with EMH tends to have more people/be more crowded, even if people don’t take advantage of EMH.

Here’s where I’ll pitch touringplans.com. They have a crowd calendar as part of their subscription and I’ve used that when planning my last two trips. Your mileage may vary and others on these boards might tell you differently, but I’ve had good luck with their services.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

I found the EMH advice depends on how you do the parks. We tend to go for the morning only so for us it doesn’t affect our touring plans around the park. An EPCOT EMH doesn’t affect us either as most of the time we aren’t going to do rides but rather enjoy whatever festival going on.

 

[Bree]

Hey everybody... sorry not to post 336. but I had a quick question for all you WDW experts. We don't visit often enough to know the best tips for which day to visit what park, etc. I am going to pick up the EasyWDW book this summer - this seems like the one everyone raves about. But in the meantime - even if you're staying on-property, do you all generally avoid the parks that have EMH in the morning? This seems to be a tip I hear about often. How does Marathon Weekend complicate things (if any)? We will be there 7 days, and since we don't go very often we want to maximize our time there. We are signing up for Dopey. As we approach the 180 day window in a couple of months I was preparing to make some ADR's and wanted to get an idea of which parks are recommended for each day we are there. Thanks in advance!

EMH should really be avoided if you are staying offsite or possibly a local like me. The reason for that is because by the time the general public is let in the turnstiles there are already lines for the rides due to resort guests being let in early. I prefer Touring Plans over any physical book. Things change so much at WDW that it’s easy for a book to have outdated and incorrect info. Touring plans also has an app that I prefer over MDE for ride wait times.

 

[rteetz]

EMH should really be avoided if you are staying offsite or possibly a local like me. The reason for that is because by the time the general public is let in the turnstiles there are already lines for the rides due to resort guests being let in early. I prefer Touring Plans over any physical book. Things change so much at WDW that it’s easy for a book to have outdated and incorrect info. Touring plans also has an app that I prefer over MDE for ride wait times.

I agree with this. I used the touring plans app for the first time in March and really liked it. The only time it was wrong and the posted wait time was right was Flight of Passage.

 

[ChipNDale86]

Hey everybody... sorry not to post 336. but I had a quick question for all you WDW experts. We don't visit often enough to know the best tips for which day to visit what park, etc. I am going to pick up the EasyWDW book this summer - this seems like the one everyone raves about. But in the meantime - even if you're staying on-property, do you all generally avoid the parks that have EMH in the morning? This seems to be a tip I hear about often. How does Marathon Weekend complicate things (if any)? We will be there 7 days, and since we don't go very often we want to maximize our time there. We are signing up for Dopey. As we approach the 180 day window in a couple of months I was preparing to make some ADR's and wanted to get an idea of which parks are recommended for each day we are there. Thanks in advance!

Just my 2 cents....but I think people get WAY too caught up in crowd calendars etc. It's going to be crowded no matter which park you go to. Will it be slightly less crowded at one park compared to another...probably. Are you really going to notice that much of a difference (especially considering you can only be in 1 park at a time so you can't really compare)...probably not. Our plan is usually to book our ADRs based off which places we really want to eat at depending on availability and then make park plans (FP+, etc) based on where we're going to be for those meals.

I think if you base everything on what you *think* is going to be the less crowded park you're just going to add more stress to planning and then be more likely to be disappointed/frustrated when it feels like the entire city of Orlando is at Animal Kingdom even if the entire state of Florida is currently at the Magic Kingdom.

 

[lhermiston]

Good morning, runDisney all-stars! Thanks for the solid participation in last week's Sundays are for Disney.

Now that the Disney love fest has come to an end, let's flip the script: what is most overrated at or about Walt Disney World?

I think Be Our Guest is the most overrated restaurant at Disney World (granted, there are LOTS we haven't tried). For all the hype, our experience there was FAR from memorable for any good reasons.

 

[Dis_Yoda]

Illuminations

 

[FFigawi]

3. The rooms at the Grand Floridian

 

[PCFriar80]

4. Frozen Ever After

 

[Dis_Yoda]

5. Mickey Caramel Apples

 

[hotblooded]

6. Soarin’

 

[PCFriar80]

7. ...Dwarfs Mine Train

 

[Princess KP]

8. ‘Ohana

 

[hotblooded]

Good morning, runDisney all-stars! Thanks for the solid participation in last week's Sundays are for Disney.

Now that the Disney love fest has come to an end, let's flip the script: what is most overrated at or about Walt Disney World?

I think Be Our Guest is the most overrated restaurant at Disney World (granted, there are LOTS we haven't tried). For all the hype, our experience there was FAR from memorable for any good reasons.

I had dinner there once and my meal was lukewarm and bland. The atmosphere reminds me of a high-volume cafeteria despite the table service.

 

[CDKG]

Now that the Disney love fest has come to an end, let's flip the script: what is most overrated at or about Walt Disney World?

9. Test Track

 

[CDKG]

10. HS's Fantasmic! and it's cardboard boat

 

[lhermiston]

I had dinner there once and my meal was lukewarm and bland. The atmosphere reminds me of a high-volume cafeteria despite the table service.

The first night we tried to go, we waited for an hour past our ADR while a cast member insisted we’d be called shortly, only to discover someone had stolen our rez. They gave us some quick service vouchers and said they’d try to get us in another night.

So, we got in another night and got put in the giant, cafeteria looking room. It was empty except for one other table, who got seated RIGHT NEXT to us. On top of all that, the food was very underwhelming.

 

[rteetz]

I had dinner there once and my meal was lukewarm and bland. The atmosphere reminds me of a high-volume cafeteria despite the table service.

I think that’s the problem with how they have a quick service breakfast and lunch and then table service dinner. I much prefer dinner to lunch there. I’m interested to see how things change when they go two credits and have the new dinner menu.

 

[rteetz]

Illuminations

 

[rteetz]

11. Toy Story Mania