How much time in each park?

[KitKate]

We will have 7 day hopper passes with a table service meal each day, most for dinner, plus 2 character breakfasts (CRT and Chef Mickey).

Can anyone tell me how much time you usually devote to each park? We also want to spend one day at the water park.

We intend to go first thing in the mornings and return early-mid afternoons to our resort for swim and nap, then dinner and we could return to the parks for some of the evening. I am travelling with my 7 year old daughter. Tks.

KitKate

 

[cancer_survivor_06]

We leave our resort about 10am and stay all the way through evening EMH's, except for when we stayed at the Poly b/c it didn't take long to go to and from our resort to the parks.

 

[mickeystoontown]

We spend all day long in each park. If we get tired, we simply find a semi-quiet spot and buy a snack. We've been doing this since our son was 1 and he's about to turn 10.

 

[KitKate]

I was also really looking for how much time in total you might spend at each park, for my planning purposes. That is, 1 1/2 days at MK, 1 day at Epcot, 1/2 day at AK etc. etc. Thanks

KitKate

 

[MelodyMack]

Assuming this is your first trip and you want to do EVERYTHING, this is what I would budget:

Magic Kingdom - 2 days
Epcot - 1 1/2 to 2 days
MGM - 1/2 to 1 day
Animal Kingdon 1/2 to 1 day

If you aren't really interested in everything you can get through MGM and AK in 1/2 a day easily.

HOPE THIS HELPS!

 

[cancer_survivor_06]

We usually spend 7+ days in the parks so I devote 1day to each park based on which park has evening EMH's then after that I keep in mind which parks have evening EMH's. I do purchase hopper passes but don't like to feel like I have spent half of my day going back and forth between parks. Roughly we spend 2days in MK 2days in Epcot and we finish AK and MGM in one day each. We do go back to MGM on an off day and just do characters and let DD6 ride her favorite ride ToT and for the rest of the time we do MK and Epcot.

 

[mrzrich]

It depends...if this is your fist trip?

If it is, you will require more time in each park than I do.

I've seen all the shows, so I know which ones I want to stop and see again...I pass on most of them now, making MGM a park I often skip entirely in some trips.

I've seen the characters, and I won't stand on line to see them. If there's a couple of people waiting I'll wait, but its not worth a long wait to me. Thats why we book character meals so they can come to us! But you may want to take more time on characters than I do.

I also know the lay out of the parks like the back of my hand and know the transportation pretty well too, so that saves me time too.

That said in 7 days with one at the water park

2 MK (one day at rope drop. one day sleep in, smell the roses, get there when you get there, see whatever you feel like)

2 Epcot (same as above...one day at rope drop. one day sleep in, smell the roses, get there when you get there, see whatever you feel like)

1 AK (If you arrive at rope drop, you can probably see everything you want to by 3...the parade is at 4 if you want....then you can hop to Epcot of MK for Fireworks or missed attractions after dinner)

1 mgm (book the Fantasmic dinner package)

1 Water Park Go on a week day when locals are at work...again you can stay here till late afternoon then take in some fireworks at a big park after dinner.

 

[NeverlandClub23]

We usually always have the same WDW schedule.

First Day - Magic Kingdom (night wherever EMH's are)

Second Day - Epcot (night if we feel like it wherever EMH's are~walking all day at Epcot kicks our butt!)

Third Day - Animal Kingdom (leave in the afternoon and go to wherever EMH's are)

Fourth Day - MGM (leave in the afternoon and go to DTD or wherever EMH's are)

Fifth Day - water park/Disney Quest/whatever we feel like that night

Sixth Day - Magic Kingdom (night wherever EMH's are)

Seventh Day - Usually Epcot again or whatever park we don't feel like we got enough of

We usually arrive late in the afternoon and spend our arrival night at DTD, spend our first day at Sea World (we get free tickets and it's tradition), and then our second full day is always at MK. On our check out day we usually go to DTD or go to whatever park we feel like going to that day for a few hours.

We do two TS meals a day. Usually lunch and dinner. We either do both in the same park and then go to another park after dinner, or we eat lunch TS at whatever park we're at that day and then plan a dinner TS at one of the resorts so we can just head over to the resort when we leave our day park and then go to the next park after dinner.

 

[DisneyWorldWisher]

With seven days and a water park I would do it like this....

Day one - Magic Kingdom
Day two - Epcot
Day three - Disney-MGM Studios
Day four - Water park/rest day
Day five - Animal Kingdom
Day six - Epcot
Day seven - Magic Kingdom

Have a magical trip.

 

[The Sweetness]

If you had an 8 am TS, a 2 hour break (also a 1.5 hour ride(round trip)and a TS dinner, Thats alot of non- attraction time. Also sounds very relaxing. I'd do 2.5 days at MK, 2.5 at Epcot, 1.5 at MGM, and a day at AK maybe 1.5Really Id sooner do 3 at MK and epcot, and 2 at MGM/ AK

ining and travel times take awhile

 

[Dogslider]

We have 3 boys, 16,5 and 3. We were there in October and going this November. Here is a loose idea of our schedule. We usually spend 8 days in the park. Start out around 9am, return to hotel to nap, shower or swim around 2/3:00. We head out to eat TS around 6:00 ( we eat CS for lunch) and finish the night wherever we are. We have been to Disney several times and that helps not feeling rushed. It also helps knowing the layout of the parks, so study their maps before you go!

Day 1 arrive in afternoon... MK.... eat in park
Day 2 MK in the morning, hotel.... TS
Day 3 AK until 3/4 hotel..... TS
Day 4 Epcot For whatever reason, we don't do the countries, have tried a couple times, but it just hasn't caught on yet.
Day 5 MGM we get done there early 12/1:00. Hotel and rest until party (Halloween or Christmas) at MK
Day 6 Later start AK.... hotel .... DD
Day 7 We wing it, and hit whatever park(s) we feel we want to do again
Day 8 We always end our trip at MK in the evening, hopefully with a 2nd party!

Some people believe that all of my planning is overkill, but.... I don't want to get party tickets and be at the park late and have breakfast resises the next morning. The key to planning, especially with kids, is to be flexible!

I for one love AK, I always felt rushed through it with DH and 16 yr old. We now have custody of our 2 grandchildren and the 5 yr old and I hung out for hours on the trails, we stood and watched the gorillas alone for almost 30 min. It all depends on if you are going for the most bang for your buck (once in a lifetime trip) or the level I feel I have gotten to to, just hanging out enjoying whatever comes your way.

Have a great time!

 

[battlecat533]

This was our sched last month ...of course we have already resrved this december for our next trip (1st time i have gone in 20 years now it will be every year...I love being grown up with a job to pay for it)

1st day...arrive then right to MK
2nd day - MGM (got there at rope drop) and did fantasmic package
3rd Day - MK with xmas wishes (we went at rope drop)
4th day - Epcot (we got there early for breakfast and took a nap midway) then did illuminations
5th day - Animal Kingdom (at rope drop) but were gone by 3 and did DTD
6th day - MGM at rope drop did some rides then toured all the hotels
7th day - Ohana Breakfast hit MK to say goodbye and were gone by 2

 

[bopper]

2 days for Epcot
2 days for MK
1 day for AK
1 day for MGM

 

[skier_pete]

If you aren't really interested in everything you can get through MGM and AK in 1/2 a day easily.

Sorry, but you cannot get through MGM and AK in 1/2 a day easily. You can if you ONLY go for the rides and ignore the shows. If you want to see the shows, then you better plan on a full day. That said, 1 day at MGM and AK is enough. Don't miss the Festival of the Lion King at AK! It is the best!

SkierPete

 

[KitKate]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I am definitely going to be incorporating them into our schedule. As a first timer, it is hard to imagine what actually happens in the parks.

 

[Disneyof3]

We always give each park 1 full day and MK 2 days and that seems to fit into our schedule every time. We've never been over 5 days though at a time.

 

[GoofyBaby]

We spend all day long in each park. If we get tired, we simply find a semi-quiet spot and buy a snack. We've been doing this since our son was 1 and he's about to turn 10.

Absolutely! We always open and close the park! I can never get enough Disney!

 

[KeepSwimming]

Sorry, but you cannot get through MGM and AK in 1/2 a day easily. You can if you ONLY go for the rides and ignore the shows. If you want to see the shows, then you better plan on a full day. That said, 1 day at MGM and AK is enough. Don't miss the Festival of the Lion King at AK! It is the best!

SkierPete

Sweetie, I SAID "If you aren't really interested in seeing EVERYTHING..."

And as someone who has gone to both these parks for half days and seen quite a bit both times, I stand by that. Of course you can't do EVERYTHING at WDW, even if you have a 10 day vacation.....

Enjoy your day!

 

[Thumper_ehhhhh]

We do the EMH we get to the park before opening and close it out. We plan our stays according to the Emh. We also plan to have our first day at the magic kingdom. We plan our meals for that park and book in advance. We usually go for 10 nights 11 days. 3 days we usually book our meals in a resort so it doesnt matter what park we go in. We usually end up where the kids want to go those days. When we get tried we talk the kids into taking a break we buy them a icecream or something so mommy and I can rest. It's amazing the kids just wanna keep going. If the parks get to crouded and hot we usually leave and goto one of the water parks then head back to the park later. Enjoy your trip.

 

[ransom]

When we make our plans, we first plan one day for each park. If we have additional time, we plan another day for Magic Kingdom, then another day for Epcot. If there's only one more day than that, we plan half for Animal Kingdom and half for MGM. That would fill up 7 full days.