Our family had a big gala at Walt Disney World this past summer to celebrate my father-in-laws 60th birthday! The unfortunate part is that due to our work schedules, as well as the kids schooling, we could only travel to the parks during the peak summer travel months. This meant traveling when everyone else was also going, which meant higher crowds. So with some simple planning, our family attempted to divert the crowds while visiting the Disney World theme parks.

1) Disney releases the park hours approximately 6 months in advance. So the first step our family takes is to evaluate which days the parks will have Extra Magic Hours. For those that may not know, on select days certain parks may be open earlier or later than normal for guests who stay in a Disney resort. So for example, on certain days you may be able to go to the Magic Kingdom an hour earlier than normal and/or they may stay open several hours later at night. The next day, maybe Epcot has extended hours.

So the key is to determine which parks will have Extra Magic Hours on which day(s). Looking at the Disney park schedule, we can get a good idea of what parks are typically open longer on which days, even if the schedule is not loaded yet for your trip.

For example, while I can not see the calendar out to next summer yet, I can get a rough idea of the schedule based on the preceding months. If I want to know which park will have Extra Magic Hours on a Monday, I can simply look at all of the Mondays that have been released. The method is far from perfect because just as soon as you think you have the schedule figured out, the next week it is totally different. However, you could probably make some good assumptions on the schedule to get you going on the planning stage.

With the Extra Magic Hours days selected, we try and select a park that will not be where the crowd masses go. If everyone goes to the Magic Kingdom, we are headed to Epcot. So plan accordingly and go where there are not Extra Magic Hours.

2) The next step is to start planning your dining reservations, which can be reserved 180 days in advance of your trip. With our park plans in line, we then select where we want to eat. With our dining options selected, we then count back 180 days from that day and schedule a reminder to call and make our reservation on that day.

Guests who stay at a Disney property get to call 180 days in advance of their trip, but can schedule 10 days of their trip. Our family does not stay at a Disney Resort, and elects to save money by staying at the Downtown Disney area hotels.

Ideally, we would only call once when all of our planned park days are known and make all of the reservations. However, for some more difficult reservations like Le Cellier Steakhouse or Be Our Guest, we will call each day to get our best chances of getting to experience the dining venues.

In Conclusion

Disney is always going to be busy no matter which park you select to visit during the busier travel periods. However, by taking advantage of not following the crowds, you can help mitigate the long wait times and possibly booked dining reservations with a little bit of smart planning.

What time saving tips do you use to plan ideal Disney vacations?

Save Money, Travel More!

Source: InACents

10/31/14 Originally published