1, 2, 3 or all 4?

[scanne]

When you plan your WDW trips, do you always plan on visiting every park or do you plan trips around certain parks??

I always plan to visit each park, AK usually only one day per trip. MGM and Epcot at least 2 times per trip and the MK takes up most of our days. We also plan 1/2 a day at Downtown Disney. We don't do the water parks yet because our kids are very young. But I'm sure as they get older, we'll be planning water park time as well.

I don't feel a trip to WDW is complete without visiting all four parks. I cannot imagine NOT going to MGM or Epcot or especially the MK. AK can be done in 1/2 day, but we like the afternoon parade so we make a day of AK and stay inside the cooler areas as much as we can.

Just curious as to what most folks do and why. Thanks!

 

[MickeyNicki]

If we go for a weekend we just do Epcot and MK. If we go for 4 to 5 days we hit them all but split AK and MGM into one day.

 

[goofyboyzmom]

We don't do the waterparks either. And we usually only spend half a day MAX at Animal Kingdom, if we go.

 

[ms.ojo]

Wow AK is one of our FAVORITE parks. And w/ EE and the new Nemo show...even better! It's DEF a full day for us! When the kids were smaller we didn't do Epcot. But now, ds7 and dd4 LOVE that park as much as we do!

So when dd was 1 and ds4 we did 3 parks....but last few trips, it's been all 4 w/ extra days at MK. Personally I could do MGM in 1/2 day as long as we saw Fantasmic! of course we're not into TOT or RnR so that makes a huge difference.

 

[mickeysgirl17]

Right now, I have a 3 day trip planned in May and I'm skipping AK. We're only going for 3 days and although Dh and I have park hopper, my mom and brother don't, so we're just gonna stay together and do the 3 parks- 1 per day.

 

[marlynnp]

Always all four, but then I've never gone for less than a week (well, at least not since there have been more than 1 or 2 parks, lol)

 

[Samismom]

We always hit all 4 parks,a nd this year hope to get to the water park too. You would be surprised how much they have even for young kids. We took my dd whens he was 2 and she loved it.

 

[arielsleepingbeauty]

We ususally hit all the parks, but this year I have decided to cut out AK. We spend the least amoutn of thime there. My children enjoy MK the most. This year I would also like to spend more time in Epcot. I want them to try to learn to say hello in all the countries.

 

[reefnut]

i always do all 4 parks when we go. its just me and my girlfreind and we go during the off season so one day ar each park is enough time for us. we also do 1 day at sw and 1 or 2 days at ioa and us

 

[crzyred]

we always do all 4! even epcot...even though it's not my favorite i still go to it. haha it does have its good points! but i just feel if i'm spending money to go, why wouldn't i go to all the parks? i feel like i'm betraying disney if i don't do them all. besides that each park is so different and exciting and they each have their good points!

 

[jcc0621]

We usually do 1 each for AK, MGM, and Epcot and spend the rest of time at MK. We usually do Ak in a half day (DS not old enough or tall enough for some of the rides yet) and then spend the rest of day either at the pool or head to DTD or Boadwalk for a relaxing evening.

 

[Mickey1122]

We generally hit them all nowadays. We went to AK right after it openned, and we were a bit dissapointed. We skipped it on our subsequent trips until we decided to give it another chance. The foliage had grown is quite nicely and we were pleasantly surprised. We generally do AK in a morning, leaving around lunchtime. That pretty much does it. We spend maybe one morning and one evening in MGM, and split the rest of our days between MK and EPCOT. Water parks are not on our to do list unless it's a very long trip, so we use the time wisely. We have a carefully crafted system tht works very well for us, developped through years of going to the parks.

 

[kennezgirl]

WOW. I am surprised. We have TWO DAYS planned for Animal Kingdom during our upcoming trip. Do you think that is too much? We were only there for a day on our last trip and we rode Dinosaur, Primeval Whirl, the Safari, saw The Lion King and It's Tough to be a Bug. That took up most of our day and we didn't even get to see any of the other stuff like the trails, Flights of Wonder, and so on. I was under the impression we missed a lot and that the areas we missed were kind of like a zoo????? Now we also have to throw in Everest.
Let me know if we should change this plan?

Thanks so much!

Oh..and our other days are 1 at MGM, 2 at Epcot, and 2 1/2 at MK.

 

[libinatorsmom]

We are planing on all parks... and hope to hit both waterparks as well (might just do one if we feel like we are missing the other parks too much)... We have planned a full day for each park (granted this is our 1st WDW trip) - we also have one evening and a full day open to repeat whatever we decided when we are done there... I am guessing we will go back to MK and say goodbye to the princesses...

 

[DLo]

We only go for 4 days when we go but always hit all 4 parks. We haven't made it to the water parks but usually go in late fall when it is cooler plus we just don't have enough time. AK has definitely grown on me over time. Each year we discover something new - like the animal trails. We used to rush through AK to get to another park and missed some great things. I am the only one who likes ToT and RnR so sometimes the rest of the family leaves me at MGM to go back to the pool. I can't imagine going and not going to each park atleast once. (love the park hopper )

 

[MariaEllerºoº]

We always hit all 4 parks. AK is definitely a full day park if not more. MGM can be done in half a day. That's our least favorite park. MK and Epcot are definitely two full days. I personally could do without the waterparks, but now that the kidlets are teenagers we have to go to at least one of them for a day. Downtown Disney I usually leave for when we check out of our resort to head home. Last day shopping spree before we hit the road. The adults hit Pleasure Island at least one night during the trip. Our first day at Disney we spend touring the resort we're staying at, enjoy the pool, tour other resorts and such. We also do this one day during the middle of our vacation as a day to relax.

 

[ransom]

We wouldn't go to WDW if we couldn't spend at least one day at each park!

Since WDW is either a plane trip or a 24-hour car trip away from us, it wouldn't make sense for us to go there for less than a week, so it's not a dilemma for us.

 

[DLBDS]

We stay at least 7 nights (sometimes more) and I always plan to tour all 4 parks. We don't do the water parks though.

 

[GC&S]

We go for 6 or 7 nights so we always do all 4 parks. We also do park hoppers so we usually do 2-3 parks a day. I can't imagine going and not visiting all four parks!

 

[newholidayx2]

This coming April Im planning on

Fri - few hrs MK (lunch), few hrs EpCot (WS)
Sat - AK headliners, EpCot (WS)
Sun - EpCot headliners, Off Kilter
Mon - EpCot tour, Off Kilter
Tues - EpCot tour, Off Kilter
Wed - EpCot tour, Off Kilter
Thurs - MK headliners, Off Kilter
Fri - MGM headliners

see a pattern?