Which park on Saturday?

[Amy Jenkins]

I am planning my trip to Disney World and Universal Studios for my Honeymoon next year May. We will have 5 full days in Orlando, from Tuesday, May 5th, to Sunday, 10th (not including Sunday as a day as our flight out leaves at 17:35).

I have the following baseline itinerary, after checking the crowd calendar at Undercover Tourist:

• Tuesday - Universal Studios, full day
• Wednesday - Epcot, full day
• Thursday - Magic Kingdom (have a reservation at Be Our Guest at 19:45). This day does have Extra Magic Hours though - is this a huge factor with regards to crowds?
• Friday - Universal's Islands of Adventure
• Saturday - Hollywood Studios (have a Star Wars galactic breakfast reserved at Sci-Fi)

Is this a sensible itinerary? Is Hollywood Studios a good bet on the Saturday? As we are from South Africa, we plan to skip Animal Kingdom as we go on safaris frequently and often see the African animals.

Here's a link to the crowd calendar I used.

Thanks very much.
Amy

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

Are you staying on Disney property? Because you might want to take advantage of the extra magic hours.

Your schedule sounds good. I would have switched your Epcot & Magic Kingdom days to avoid emh if you arent using them but rescheduling Be Our Guest is probably gonna be impossible so I would worry about it much.

Also keep in mind Hollywood Studios may have emh on Saturday plus it is a weekend so it may be more crowded. (switching this day & Epcot may be better as Epcot is the best at handling weekend crowds, imo)

 

[TXDisney]

We like Hollywood Studios on busy days bc the only rides we really enjoy that have long lines there are TT and Aerosmith, if you fp those and get there early you can do everything you want. MK and Epcot are the ones I'd stay away from on a Saturday.

 

[Amy Jenkins]

Thanks for the advice! No, we aren't staying on Disney property. Do the EMH make a big difference to the crowds? I actually have reservations for Be Our Guest for both the Thursday and the Friday night. Should I rather do MK on the Friday night, which has no EMH? Undercover Tourist reports MK as green, low crowds, on Friday. Why is this though? Surely the nighttime activities, such as the fireworks, will be busy on Friday due to locals?

 

[Tuvalu]

The first week of May is a great time to visit. Yes, MK tends to be busier on Thursdays due to morning EMH, but at that time of year it's not a huge difference. Fridays in May (both MK and Epcot) tend to have a lot of local school groups but the kids are chaperoned and usually well behaved.

Your schedule should be fine as is. But DHS will be very busy on Saturday due to the Star Wars events.

 

[stevehousse]

The first week of May is a great time to visit. Yes, MK tends to be busier on Thursdays due to morning EMH, but at that time of year it's not a huge difference. Fridays in May (both MK and Epcot) tend to have a lot of local school groups but the kids are chaperoned and usually well behaved.

Your schedule should be fine as is. But DHS will be very busy on Saturday due to the Star Wars events.

Hollywood studios Star Wars event don't start until the next weekend. No Star Wars for that Sunday except character meals. (I will be in th world May 5-12, MK on thursday too!)

 

[Tuvalu]

Hollywood studios Star Wars event don't start until the next weekend. No Star Wars for that Sunday except character meals. (I will be in th world May 5-12, MK on thursday too!)

Thanks for the clarification. I assumed since the OP has a character breakfast ADR that Star Wars Weekends would have started.

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

Thanks for the advice! No, we aren't staying on Disney property. Do the EMH make a big difference to the crowds? I actually have reservations for Be Our Guest for both the Thursday and the Friday night. Should I rather do MK on the Friday night, which has no EMH? Undercover Tourist reports MK as green, low crowds, on Friday. Why is this though? Surely the nighttime activities, such as the fireworks, will be busy on Friday due to locals?

Imo, emh morning hours definitely make a difference at HS. There aren't many rides so waits tend to be longer anyway. I would switch Epcot & HS days but you should be fine everywhere else.

 

[stevehousse]

Thanks for the clarification. I assumed since the OP has a character breakfast ADR that Star Wars Weekends would have started.

Ya they started the character meals early this year. I have star wars dinner on Wednesday May 6th!

Speaking of ADRs, have you found it way easy to find times? I typically go in May or Nov, and this year I have had so much success with ADRs, even Cindy Royal Table still has tons of times popping up. Only place I can't get into is Be Our Guest, but we will just do lunch...

 

[Amy Jenkins]

Ah, thanks for that, I didn't even see that HS had EMH that Saturday. But I see that there is also the International Garden & Flower festival on at Epcot over this time, will that not make things busy - especially on the Saturday?

I also couldn't get a reservation for Be Our Guest, but wanted one enough to purchase a watch at wdwtools.com and managed to get one when someone cancelled I see that there are still reservations for Cindarella's Royal Table, but I had to choose between the two and I just love Beauty and the Beast.

 

[PrincessNelly_NJ]

Ah, thanks for that, I didn't even see that HS had EMH that Saturday. But I see that there is also the International Garden & Flower festival on at Epcot over this time, will that not make things busy - especially on the Saturday?

I also couldn't get a reservation for Be Our Guest, but wanted one enough to purchase a watch at wdwtools.com and managed to get one when someone cancelled I see that there are still reservations for Cindarella's Royal Table, but I had to choose between the two and I just love Beauty and the Beast.

The festival will bring extra people to Epcot but Epcot does a great job eating crowds. Plus it isn't as big a draw as the Food & Wine Festival.

I would choose a crowded Epcot over crowded Hollywood Studios, because the studios only have about 5-6 rides so waits will be higher vs Epcot's 10-12 rides plus exploring all of world showcase.