How many days at each park??? Opinions please!

[AprilJ26]

This will be our first trip to WDW. It will be DH, DS(5), and myself. I have been trying to plan out our days at the parks and was just curious how many days everyone stays at different parks. Here are my plans so far (feel free to give me some diff. ideas if you feel like it. )

Saturday March 14 - arrive at POP around 12 or 1:00, get settled, then head to MK to watch parades and fireworks. Depending on crowds, we might ride a few rides.
Sunday - Epcot
Monday- MK
Tuesday- DHS
Wednesday- Epcot
Thursday- AK
Friday- ???? possibly MK, but I will let my DS decide.
Saturday- We are leaving this evening and hadn't planned on any parks this day. We will probably do DTD and some resort shopping. We might upgrade our tickets to add another park day.. what do you think?

Ok, I know this is long and I am so sorry! My main question is: Do you think we should allow 2 days for Epcot - or a different park? Any suggestions???

 

[LadyZolt]

Actually, I think your plan looks pretty good! You've left some time open, so if you decide you need more time at EPCOT, you'll be able to add that. There is so much to do, you cannot do it all in one trip anyway, so I wouldn't kill myself trying to see and do everything. Do some research on each park and make a list of your "must do" things, then your "nice to do" things and then see how many you can do comfortably. I think you're off to a great start! Have a wonderful time!

-Dorothy (LadyZolt)

 

[dakjoskaimiksmom]

With a 5 yr old, I'd say get as much MK time as you can. But that's just my opinion.

This is my 2nd trip, and with my 1st we only had 1 day per park. Between my slow-moving mother, my son's love of Big Thunder Mountain Railroad (I think it's called), and a 2 hour rain shower, we didn't get to see a whole lot.

My son was 6 and he liked Epcot just fine--until he saw what MK was all about. LOL

This trip, I'm taking my 2 middle kids (6 and 7), so we're doing Epcot first, then MK for 2 days. At the end of the week we'll do MK again for our last day.

 

[jblrn2b]

Looks good to me.

 

[eventamy]

Your plan looks pretty good. We usually plan 2 days in Epcot for sure. It's my favorite park and there's just so much to do.
Our planned week (2 weeks from today) looks like this:
Saturday - fly in, DTD with ADR for T-Rex.
Sunday - Epcot, dinner at Chef Mickey
Monday - DHS with lunch at Sci-Fi
Tuesday - AK with breakfast at Tusker House
Wednesday - MK with lunch at CRT
Thursday - Epcot with lunch at Coral Reef and date night that night with DH, we're going to "Eat Around the World" and watch Illuminations
Friday - unplanned park day, we'll decide the night before, but probably a MK day (TGM says it'll be an ok day anyway) with Boma that night
Saturday - flight out a.m.

 

[creativeamanda]

I'd say 2 days at Epcot, 2 Days at MK, 1 day at AK, 1 day at HS.

That's a great plan you have, imo.

 

[jdcthree]

I'd say 2 days at Epcot, 2 Days at MK, 1 day at AK, 1 day at HS.

That's a great plan you have, imo.

Ditto!

 

[mrswh]

This might not work for everyone, but we have found that park hopper tickets and an afternoon rest time worked great for us. (We have two kids, 2 and 4.) We'd go to one park in the morning (Epcot, DHS or MK, we didn't bother with AK this year) when the crowds were light, and left in the early afternoon when the crowds are worst. Took a rest, then headed back to MK in the evening when it was less crowded. I think we got to see a lot more that way, and the kids weren't cranky and tired.

We found that MK was much less crowded in the evening, so we went back to MK in the evening several times during our trip. I'd say for a 5 year old, the only *really* interesting things at Epcot are Soarin', Nemo, and Turtle Talk with Crush. We also went on Living with the Land, and did all of this (including three times on Nemo) in 2 hours one morning. (If you don't get there early, the standby line for Soarin' will be very long.) I think the height requirement for Mission: Space is at least 44".

If you are going to spend 2 days somewhere, I'd say make it DHS. DHS has tons of stuff for your DS's age. Playhouse Disney Live!, Toy Story Mania (get there early and get a fastpass, long lines for this one), Voyage of the Little Mermaid, Muppets 3D, etc. And many character greetings - Cars, Buzz & Woody, Monsters, Inc., Bolt, Incredibles, Power Rangers, etc. The parade there is pretty fun, too. If your DS is like every other kid his age he will probably want to ride TSMM 20 times in a row, LOL.

We also go Saturday - Saturday. The past 2 years, we had always gone to DTD on the day we left, but this year decided to hit MK for one last time, and it was really fun. I'm glad we got to do that. Our flight was at 3, so we had 3+ hours at MK before we had to leave for the airport.

Whatever you end up doing, have fun!!

 

[PoohsFan1]

Actually we have the same plan as you on our upcoming March trip. The only difference is that since we are staying 9 nights, we will have a couple of non-park days. I think that since this is your first time going, the amount of time you are alloting for each park is fine, but do try to find some downtime and go explore some of the other resorts or the BW area.
Have fun on your trip either way.

 

[Disuser]

we're going to "Eat Around the World" and watch Illuminations

What a neat idea! I am going to borrow it and use it for our entire family. Thank You

 

[bangzoom6877]

We did 2 days at MK, 1 each at Epcot, DHS and AK back in July with a 1-y.o. and a 3-y.o. 2 days at MK was perfect. Felt we needed 2 days at Epcot even though we saw all the things we wanted to see. I would have liked some more leisurely and less-rushed time to just stroll around the World Showcase. We had some time there but not enough IMO. We did not care too much for AK (but that is only our opinion, many people find this to be their favorite park) so we are not going to return there unless our kids really want to go there for the thrill rides when they are older. We also felt 2 days at DHS would be better due to the number of scheduled attractions there as opposed to continuously running ones.

So, for our next trip in July 2010, with a 3-y.o. and a 5-y.o., we will be doing 2 days EACH at MK, DHS and Epcot. We will be skipping AK. We are staying 10 nights at BWV (new DVC members). We will be purchasing tickets when we book this August, and if UT is still running their ticket special where you get 4 days plus 3 days free, then we will add a third day at Epcot for the WS ONLY and more leisurely time to stroll around since it is such a beautiful park. We would not get up early that third Epcot day, just enjoy the WS and probably eat around the world! We will be walking distance so it will be very nice.

Your plan sounds great! Enjoy!

 

[Tbelle1976]

We also normally do 2 days in MK, 2 day Epcot, 1 day AK and 1 day DS. I also think that your plan looks pretty good. Keep in mind that while you are there things might change some, but it sounds pretty good to me.

 

[~Kik-Kik~]

Mk AT LEAST 3 times.

Epcot 1ce becauce of the 5 year old and it can be torture for little ones.

DHS 1ce, not a great place for kids. Catch a few shows, meet the characters, ride TSM done.

DAK, depends on your son. If he likes animals you might want 2 days, but on average it's a 1 day park and then you hop over to the MK at night.

 

[ryanmcin]

EPCOT is big and it will need 2 days if you want to see everything in World Showcase.

Magic Kingdom needs 2 days.

Hollywood Studios doesn't have much so 1 day should be enough but you will need to plan your day around the shows if you want to see them.

Animal Kingdom can be done in a day, but you will need to get there at opening if you want to do it all since the park closes pretty early.

 

[arcticdisneylovers]

We are going in Feb 2010 and my DH and DD5 (by then). We are spending 3 weeks off site at my parents home. We are planning on 4 disney days with DD. 2 MK, 1 Epcot and 1AK. We are skipping MGM because I don't think there is much to appeal to my DD. We plan to try the Crystal Palace character breakfast, Chef Mickey Dinner, Garden Grill Character Lunch and Tusker Character Breakfast. We like the character interaction without waiting in line. I am considering an extra Epcot day depending on how my DD enjoys the park. I think I'll just buy a 5 day pass for her in case we want the extra day. My DH and I will spend extra days visiting on our own while Nanny and Poppa have some quality time with their granddaughter

 

[alan_renfroe]

As others have stated, two days at MK would be great with a 5-yr-old. However, let me offer an alternative suggestion. I'd suggest you schedule an "Off Day" with this schedule. Since it's your first trip, you are not going to believe how tired you'll be! I mean, seriously....TIRED! The 5-yr-old and the grown ups might enjoy a day to just sleep in and hang around the pool. That would be my suggestion!

 

[ShepFam]

Our DS is 8 and DD 6 and they prefer to spend the most amount of time at MK. With the park hopper we might do a half day in the morning at Epcot on the extra magic hour, go back to the hotel for an afternoon break, and then a different park in the evening. And remember...there's nothing wrong with redoing your plans during your stay if you discover that your DS really loves one of the parks more than the others. So...I'd go with you have planned and be ready to make some changes if you need/want to. Have Fun

 

[1hero2princesses]

Went in Sept with a DS5,DD3, DD1. Going again Sept 2009. I am planning 2 days MK, 2 days Epcot, 1 AK, 1 Studios (this is the one I am not sure is enough). We also will do one water park. We only had 1 1/2 days at Epcot last time and it was not enough. There is so much to do in the front section of the park and my DS is really exicted this time around with Kim Possible for the countries. My kids loved Soarin and Test Track and wanted to ride them multiple times. The only thing I really worry about is my DS also really likes the studios, especially Toy Story Mania.

 

[Disneys Billpayer]

Ah yes the age old question how many days and what parks lol. I will say that we usually allow two days for Epcot. However if you have the park hopper remember you may want to split a day between the MK and Epcot on a day when MK is open later.Go to All the rides in Epcot in the first half of the day that you didnt get to do one day one and then Go to the MK. You will have almost another full day at MK that way. Besides my youngsters always liked the monorail ride between the two because it was longer. I have a 3 year old that would be happy never visiting the park as long as he was riding the monorail.

 

[Tomh]

I think that looks pretty good. We spent 7 park days last summer, and did pretty much the same thing. Two days in Epcot, one for AK, one for DHS, and we did three in MK. I would say make Friday MK for sure, and if you are leaving in the evening on Saturday, I would probably add that extra day onto the tickets, and do MK.

AK often closes fairly early in the day, so you might find time that evening to do DTD.