The second step for planning your Disney trip, after purchasing your park tickets and signing up for your My Disney Experience account, is deciding which parks you will want to go to on which days. This allows you to begin making dining reservations (180 days in advance of your trip) as well as Fastpass+ reservations (30 days in advance of your trip, 60 days for resort guests).I am actually approaching our upcoming August trip a little differently than my family usually does. Historically, my family has visited in January and stayed at Caribbean Beach. We've usually followed the extra magic hours given to resort guests, where certain parks open early or stay open later. But, in looking at August, those trips are usually the absolute busiest.
Although my mother-in-law is the one making the major decisions, I love planning and so have been helping however I can. I spent an evening sorting through the major online crowd calendars and put together a spreadsheet of which parks will be busiest on which days for our trips. This is for the five days that we will be at the parks, and will vary depending on what days you will be visiting.
Wednesday
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Thursday
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Friday
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Saturday
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Sunday
|
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Extra Magic Hours*
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Animal Kingdom
|
Magic Kingdom
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Epcot
|
HS & MK
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Animal Kingdom
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Magic Kingdom Hours (MK)
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9:00am - 10:00pm
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8:00am* - 10:00pm
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9:00am - 10:00pm
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9:00am - 12:00am*
|
9:00am - 10:00pm
|
Epcot: Main Entrance Hours
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9:00am - 9:00pm
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9:00am - 9:00pm
|
9:00am - 11:00pm*
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9:00am - 9:00pm
|
9:00am - 9:00pm
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Epcot: World Showcase Hours
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11:00am - 9:00pm
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11:00am - 9:00pm
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11:00am - 11:00pm*
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11:00am - 9:00pm
|
11:00am - 9:00pm
|
Animal Kingdom Hours (AK)
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8:00am* - 6:00pm
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9:00am - 6:00pm
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9:00am - 6:00pm
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8:00am* - 6:00pm
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8:00am* - 6:00pm
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Hollywood Studios Hours (DHS)
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9:00am - 8:30pm
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9:00am - 8:30pm
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9:00am - 8:30pm
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9:00am - 8:30pm
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9:00am - 8:30pm
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DHS, Epcot
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AK, Epcot, MK*
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AK, MK
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AK*
|
MK
|
|
Epcot, MK
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AK, Epcot
|
AK, DHS, MK
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AK*, Epcot
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DHS, Epcot
|
|
DHS, Epcot, MK
|
AK, DHS, Epcot
|
AK, DHS, MK
|
AK* Epcot
|
DHS, Epcot, MK
|
|
Epcot
|
AK, DHS
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All
|
AK, Epcot, MK
|
DHS, Epcot, MK
|
|
AK*
|
DHS
|
Epcot*
|
Epcot, DHS, MK*
|
DHS
|
|
AK*, DHS
|
DHS, MK*
|
Epcot*
|
DHS, MK*
|
AK*, MK
|
|
AK*
|
MK*
|
Epcot*
|
DHS, MK*
|
AK*
|
|
AK*
|
MK*
|
None
|
DHS
|
AK*
|
As you can see, the parks with the Extra Magic Hours are usually the busiest. But, that time before the park opens to the rest of the crowds is CLUTCH. So, right now our plan is to start out the day at the park with the extra hours, ride the big rides before the crowds descend, then head to one of the lower anticipated crowd parks. We'll also be squeezing in a little Downtown Disney time at some point, maybe heading there after the day we plan to spend most of our time at Animal Kingdom.
Next steps, dining reservations and daily touring plans!
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