Animal Kingdom or Epcot?

[nikki071406]

Which should we spend a full day and which only a 1/2 day? My girls are 4 and 6. Just asking for some opinions bc I keep second guessing myself.

 

[Kimosabe]

AK certainly has the half-day-park reputation, but with kids at 4 and 6, I would almost lean toward AK over EPCOT for the full day. If you really look at everything available at AK for them to do, you could fill the day pretty easily.

Might also depend on which half of a day you're planning to spend at the other park. If the lunch/dinner half, then you've still got a shot at finding some good food in EPCOT (one of the few selling points for me of that park), and you could still enjoy some of the kid-friendly rides in Future World, particularly if you're timing some FastPasses properly.

 

[akaler2010]

Many people will disagree with me, but I LOVE Animal Kingdom and can easily spend a full day there. I also think it's great for kids those ages. I know I always disliked Epcot as a kid because I thought it was too boring.

 

[kmv]

AK: My daughters LOVE EE, the Safari ride and Nemo. Then we add the few other attractions in there too. We get all that done early afternoon and usually leave before 3pm.

Epcot: My daughters don't love Epcot but the older one loves TT and Soarin'. We do a few other things there and leave right after lunch.

So, for us, we could do both parks in one day with our kids if needed! But we usually do them on separate days and go back to the resort and swim, then go to a different park at night or to DTD on those days.

(My DD are 9 and 3)

 

[williamscm3]

Id do one full day in AK and half day in Epcot. On our last trip we did 2 full days at AK...there is a lot to see and do there and our family loves animals so we definitely prefer AK

 

[Meldev]

Are your kids really into animals? Last trip my girls were 2,4 and 6 - we didn't go to AK so I can't comment directly on it- however I was blown away by Epcot and how much they loved it!
Our longest park day ended up being Epcot! I'd say half day AK and full Epcot hands down.

We do plan to visit AK this time - it'll be our first stop! But have another full day top to bottom at Epcot because of all the stuff we didn't get to see last time despite our long day there!

 

[lahobbs4]

Ours will be the same age when we go this time and we are doing Epcot. They love Turtle Talk, the Nemo ride, the aquarium, Living with the Land, meeting Duffy and the character spot is really good there! Also, they enjoyed themselves in their strollers while we spent a good part of the day at the World Showcase. We walked at a pretty leisurely pace and they just looked around. It was our most relaxed day, actually! (and the food at Epcot is the best of any park, IMO!)

But, it just depends on the kid! Ours are pretty go-with-the-flow and are just happy to be out of the house

 

[nikki071406]

Thanks for all the opinions

 

[Altoqueenkelly]

I'd do a full dat at Epcot. The world showcase has dozens of characters and lots of things that your girls will like to do.

We get bored quickly with AK and there are less things that my DD likes to do there, so we always plan a half day, more like a 9-2 grab lunch and head to DTD, kind of day

 

[KutlessRock]

I would say full day at animal kingdom. My family has never really gotten the whole appeal about EPCOT. We enjoy it but the world showcase can get really boring, really fast if you have young kids and aren't looking to spend a lot of money. My sister and I always loved animal kingdom. I love animals while she doesn't, but there is just a lot to do. It is a BIG park so to fully enjoy it and see the things your kids would like I think it would be more enjoyable in a day. The wilderness explorer program seems really cool, too, and I think is geared to kids that age

 

[Missymouse18]

If you had older children I would definitely say Epcot, as this is my favorite park. But with children under 10, I would go with a full day at AK, especially if they are animal lovers.
If you do the half day at Epcot, I would suggest the second half of the day so as to not miss Illuminations. It is spectacular.
Hope you have a magical time with your children!

 

[smile4279]

I think it depends on your kids. Our last visit, my oldest were 7 and 5 and loved Epcot! They loved the interactive game for the world showcase, the hands on interactive stuff in Innoventions, not to mention the rides. My kids love seeing how things work, discovering new places and learning new things, so Epcot was a great fit for them.

 

[Altoqueenkelly]

We've found Epcot's World Showcase to be some of the best character interactions and sightings...

 

[ktlm]

My DD (8)'s favorite park after MK has always been EPCOT. Tons of things to explore, tons of Princesses and other characters, Nemo, Turtle Talk with Crush, Living with the land, Soarin, the Donald Duck boat ride inside Mexico, Journey into Imagination, and more. We spent 1 day there from open to close when she was 2, and that was not enough time. Since then, we have spent 2 days there on every trip. Also at there age, they might love the Phineas and Ferb missions at EPCOT. The 4 year old is a little young, but will probably love tagging along with your 6 year old doing them. They are really fun, they get a commicator and follow clues in the countries and they actually trigger some pretty cute special effects with the communicator. DD went absolutely nuts over those missions when she was 6 (DH did too- I had to pry the communicator out of his hands to make him let DD have it!).


As far as AK, DD has never really cared much for it. No Princess presence at all except for Pochahontas. It is generally a half day park for us. Until last fall, she was always begging to go back to MK or EPCOT by noon. They did start a Wilderness Explorer badge accumulation booklet deal last fall, and at age 7, she did really enjoy that. That did keep us there a while longer. They have explorer missions they do where they learn about things and collect badges. I think the booklet has about 30 different sticker badges they can get. I think one of the reasons DD has never been really thrilled with AK, aside from the fact it has no Princess presence, is that we have a really good zoo at home. She does not want to spend her time looking at the same animals we have at home, when she could be doing "Disney" things. If your girls love animals, and you don't have a decent zoo at home, they might really love it there.

Even so, if we only had 1 1/2 days for both parks, EPCOT would always be our pick for the full day. Another thing to think about- I don't know if your 1/2 day is morning or evening, but World Showcase at EPCOT does not even open until 11:00 a.m.

 

[Mrsjvb]

Which should we spend a full day and which only a 1/2 day? My girls are 4 and 6. Just asking for some opinions bc I keep second guessing myself.

those are my two favorite parks and not only do we do a full day in each, we plan on doing TWO full days at each.

so I am no help in assisting you in downsizing one or the other...

 

[MrsDuck]

I vote AK for your half day.