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14 minutes ago, reubenray said:

 

Epcot will also have early hours for one day while we will be there.  Is this worth getting in early for it.

If you don't have FP's, probably your best shot for SOARIN, TEST TRACK and MISSION SPACE without a long wait.

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There are different theories about what the best strategy is for morning Extra Magic Hours (EMH).  Whether or not they're "worth it" for your party depends on what park you're talking about and what you are hoping to accomplish there.

There is a popular school of thought that it's a smarter strategy to avoid the park that has EMH's and instead go to one of the other parks at its regular opening time.  The thought here is that EMH's draw a much larger crowd than a regular park opening morning, and the other parks will be less busy at opening time as a result.  Also, parks that have morning EMH's will get crowded earlier in the day and tend to stay crowded.

However, during busy times of the year, all of the parks will be crowded at opening, and the fact that only WDW resort guests will be admitted to the EMH park can be an advantage.

If you're not visiting at a busy time, or if you have young children, or you plan to tour at an easy pace, or your party isn't interested in riding the headliner attractions multiple times, then EMH's may not be for you.

But, if you are visiting at a busy time, or if there are headliner rides you want to ride more than once, or you're visiting Epcot or DHS where the FP+'s are tiered, and your party is able to go hard, then EMH's are the way to go.

TCD

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4 hours ago, Tri-Circle-D said:

There are different theories about what the best strategy is for morning Extra Magic Hours (EMH).  Whether or not they're "worth it" for your party depends on what park you're talking about and what you are hoping to accomplish there.

There is a popular school of thought that it's a smarter strategy to avoid the park that has EMH's and instead go to one of the other parks at its regular opening time.  The thought here is that EMH's draw a much larger crowd than a regular park opening morning, and the other parks will be less busy at opening time as a result.  Also, parks that have morning EMH's will get crowded earlier in the day and tend to stay crowded.

However, during busy times of the year, all of the parks will be crowded at opening, and the fact that only WDW resort guests will be admitted to the EMH park can be an advantage.

If you're not visiting at a busy time, or if you have young children, or you plan to tour at an easy pace, or your party isn't interested in riding the headliner attractions multiple times, then EMH's may not be for you.

But, if you are visiting at a busy time, or if there are headliner rides you want to ride more than once, or you're visiting Epcot or DHS where the FP+'s are tiered, and your party is able to go hard, then EMH's are the way to go.

TCD

Would 9 days from now be a busy time?

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Well, exactly 9 days from today is Sunday, November 6th.

That's going to be a busier Sunday than normal because they're running the Wine and Dine Half Marathon that morning, and it goes through Epcot and Animal Kingdom.  Transportation could be wonky in the morning.

After the 6th, I would predict that crowds shouldn't be too bad during the week.

But, if you have a lot of things on your "must do" list, being at the parks when they open (aka rope drop) and EMH's should be part of your plan.

Animal Kingdom is pretty easy to handle with the FP+ system.  If you want to ride Test Track, Soarin' and Frozen Ever After at Epcot on the same day, you need to be there at rope drop and have a good plan.

TCD

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We've found the couple of weeks after Halloween and before Thanksgiving to be pretty good as far as crowds go. Our typical stay is to arrive on Sunday and leave on Saturday. This tends to miss the Florida crowds that show up for the weekends making for a nice stay in our opinion. You will still need FP's to skip long waits on the popular rides or as others have said get there for rope drop or EMH and go straight to those you wish to ride (or ride more than once if you have FP's). We like Soarin and Mission Space so for us EMH would work so we could ride them more than once.

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13 hours ago, reubenray said:

Is there anyway to find out how long a particular ride will last.  An example is the Safari ride at Animal Kingdom.

I don't think I've ever seen anything official on the duration of particular rides, but for what it's worth, I looked up Kilimanjaro Safaris on Wikipedia and it's showing the duration as 22 minutes.  I'd have to guess that's from the time you sit down until you get off the truck, but again it's Wikipedia so... your mileage may vary.  ;)

Also FWIW if you do early EMH at Animal Kingdom, the animals tend to be more active early in the day, so I usually recommend hitting up the safari as early as you can.

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4 hours ago, BradyBzLyn...Mo said:

I don't think I've ever seen anything official on the duration of particular rides, but for what it's worth, I looked up Kilimanjaro Safaris on Wikipedia and it's showing the duration as 22 minutes.  I'd have to guess that's from the time you sit down until you get off the truck, but again it's Wikipedia so... your mileage may vary.  ;)

Also FWIW if you do early EMH at Animal Kingdom, the animals tend to be more active early in the day, so I usually recommend hitting up the safari as early as you can.

That's true.  Last time I rode it was one of the first rides of the day.  The animals had been lured out with food and we saw a lot of them   The ride can be longer if you are in  lucky truck that needs to wait for a rhino or ostrich, etc to get out of the road.  Just an extra added feature to hope to see.

Riding just after a rain storm is pretty good too.

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The giraffes are my favorite. To get a great close up look, think about going to Animal Kingdom Kidani Village resort for lunch at Sanaa. There is also a viewing platform there. In my experience this is the best view and you can stay as long as you like. There is also a cast member there who can tell you more about all the animals you see. 

And BONUS ... Sanaa is a great lunch and a nice mid day break.

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On 10/28/2016 at 9:45 PM, reubenray said:

Is there anyway to find out how long a particular ride will last.  An example is the Safari ride at Animal Kingdom.

Touring plans has info on ride length.  Here is the page for AK

https://touringplans.com/animal-kingdom/attractions/duration

Many of us like the easywdw.com page for touring plan suggestions.  

I like to get to AK early, ride EE (my kids like to ride it a few times), then wander over to Kilimanjaro Safari and ride it in the early morning.  The theory is that the animals will be more active then.  I don't know if it is true, but I have always enjoyed that ride. :D

 

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13 hours ago, Friend of a Fiend ... Pam said:

The giraffes are my favorite. To get a great close up look, think about going to Animal Kingdom Kidani Village resort for lunch at Sanaa. There is also a viewing platform there. In my experience this is the best view and you can stay as long as you like. There is also a cast member there who can tell you more about all the animals you see. 

And BONUS ... Sanaa is a great lunch and a nice mid day break.

Great tip - and Sanaa is delicious!

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