Tips For Visiting The Parks on a Busy Day - How to Get The most Done
Disney’s Magic Kingdom Park on a busy day (Photo Credit: Jonathan Holt)
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Spring break is currently here, and that means that the parks are insanely busy! Spring break and the week between Christmas and New Years are traditionally the two busiest weeks of the calendar year for Theme Parks, and it’s easy to see why. Theme parks have been steadily growing in the popularity over the last decade or so, which means when school and work gets out, the masses flock to all the parks, not just Disney. Taking a look at the wait times just the other day, it was hard to find a popular attraction with a queue time of less than 90 mins!
So what do you do when you just have to plan a visit to your favorite theme park during one of the busy peak seasons and inevitably you find yourself at the parks with massive crowds and insane wait times? Here’s a few of our tips to make the most of your busy theme park day!
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Arrive Early
The Polynesian Resort At Walt Disney World During Sunrise (Photo Credit: Jonathan Holt)
Most theme parks have an option for early theme park admissions! If you’re staying on-site in one of the resort’s hotels, chances are that you’ll be able to get into the park a little bit earlier than everyone else! Every now and then, some resorts, like Universal Orlando, even offer this feature for select tiers of their annual passes as well! Check the official website for whichever resort you’re booking your trip to and see what their current early entrance offerings are!
What if you’re not staying at a resort hotel? Our advice stays the same! Get there as early as possible - even if you’re not able to take advantage of early admission! Most theme park guests take their time to get to the parks, so be sure to get to the parks as early as possible to catch a handful of attractions before the lines get super long. As the saying goes, the early bird gets the worm.
Don’t get distracted by the new and shiny
Speaking of lines getting too long. When you arrive early, don’t immediately rush to the newest, most popular attraction (unless its wait time is as low as everything else at the time). Typically the newest, most popular attraction is where everyone will head to as soon as the park opens. If you join the masses, you’ll end up spending all of your early admission time on one attraction. Our advice is to head further to the back of the park and start there! Yes, it will take a lot of self-control to walk past so many exciting rides, but trust us - we’ve got a plan for you to experience those later!
After arriving near the back of the park, its free rein! Choose whichever attractions suit your preferences the best. The idea of moving to the back instead of going for the most popular attraction is that if you move to an older, more established attraction, you’ll be able to knock out multiple rides/attractions before the crowds pick up; whereas, if you followed the masses and waited for the latest, greatest thing right up front, you might wait less than normal for that attraction, but you’d waste all of your early admission time on one attraction instead of multiple. By the time you got off that one, big attraction all the massive crowds will have already entered the park and driven up the rest of the wait times.
So to recap: get there as early as possible and visit some of the older, more established attractions to make the most out of the lower wait times.
Stay Late
The Incredible Hulk Coaster At Universal’s Islands of Adventure During Sunset (Photo Credit: Jonathan Holt)
Obviously, if you’ve spent your hard-earned money to be at a park on a super busy day, then you want to make the most of it. One way to do that is to stay til the very last minute. However, this has more advantages to it than just squeezing every last second out of your day. As you’ll read about below in our next section, the busiest time of day is mid-day. That’s because the crowds that enjoys waking up early and getting to the park at rope-drop are still at the park and haven’t begun to leave yet. Meanwhile, the crowds that enjoy to get their rest, relax, and get to the park whenever it suits them (and possibly even stay until park close) are also beginning to arrive. This means that during mid-day (noon-3pm or so) will be full of both types of crowds at the same time. However, as time moves on and the day progresses, more and more people from the opening crowd will begin to leave. With less people in the parks, that means the wait times will begin to drop. The longer you stay in the parks, the more you’ll see waits fall.
This is when we suggest you start looking at those attractions you skipped over in the morning. Although the wait times might be slightly higher now than they were in the morning, hopefully you’ll have been able to knock out so many more of the other attractions, that it will afford you the time to be able to wait for the bigger attractions now. However, if that one huge attraction never drops its long wait time, don’t worry! Save that one for last. Focus on the other attractions you still haven’t done, and plan to come back to that main ride.
Save the Biggest for Last
To squeeze every second of the day out of your visit, one strategy that we often implement is the one we just talked about - saving the biggest for last. Once you complete everything that you want to do, or feel like you must do, go ahead and get in line for your most-anticipated attraction! We often wait until the last 30 mins of the park being open to enter this queue. Don’t worry! Unless stated otherwise by the park, the ride’s queue line won’t close until the moment the park does, and once you’re in line, you’re in! They won’t force anyone to leave.
Mid-Day Relaxing
Mardi Gras Food Booth at Universal Studios Florida (Photo Credit: Jonathan Holt)
One of our biggest sleeper (no pun intended) tips is in regards to that big mid-day rush! What do you do when the park is at its busiest? Well, don’t forget to take it easy and rest! Theme parks can be very exhausting, especially in Florida with all that sun! Remember to take a break and enjoy the atmosphere of the park, and there’s no better time to do that than during the mid-day rush. The parks are full of so much more than just rides! Take this time to experience some of the great entertainment that the parks offer. See a stage or street show! Take a moment to explore some of the neat, immersive themed shops and restaurants. Go interact with some of the great walk-around/meet-n-greet characters! There’s so much to see and do that doesn’t involve waiting in long lines for roller coasters. During spring break, most parks have special events going on. For example, Universal Studios Florida has Mardi Gras! Take some time to explore the Mardi Gras atmosphere. Dance with some of the parade characters, grab some amazing food, and check out the Mardi Gras tribute store! During Christmas, see all the Christmas decorations and check out some of the great Christmas themed stores!
Get the Full Experience
Visiting theme parks during the busy season can definitely be stressful, but hopefully these tips will help relieve some of that stress and help you go in with a solid game plan! This strategy for enjoying the parks isn’t just about being able to knock out all of the rides you want to do in one day, but it’s also about being able to enjoy the experience of visiting such a magical place. Let us know in the comments below if these tips helped you in any way, or if there’s any tips that we missed! Share with us some of your favorite park-going strategies! And don’t forget to check out this article here for tips on enjoying your day even when the park is too busy for rides.
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