1st trip - how many times to each park?

[dc1969]

Hi everyone!

We're planning our first trip to Florida in a few months and were curious how many days we should plan at each park. After watching the DW dvd and browsing various videos & sites, we're pretty confident that 1 day at Hollywood Studios, 1 day at Animal Kingdom and 2 days at the Magic Kingdom will suffice. We're stuck on Epcot though and aren't sure if we'll need 2 days or 1. Any insight as to how much there is to see/do?

We'll have our 4yr old daughter and 11yr old son with us on this trip and we've been to DisneyLand already, which is why we know 2 days will be enough for us at MK. We're also going on a Disney Cruise

Thanks for the input!

 

[Swim Spence]

We always spend 2 days at Epcot! With your kids age, I would maybe do 1.5 days at Epcot and 1.5 at Hollywood Studios!

 

[hedberg1661]

So it depends on how fast you want to go and how much you want to do.

AK - One day no problem.
DHS- 1-2 days depending on how much you want to ride/see. Could be done in 1 day though.
MK - at least 2 days. There is a lot to see and do there.
EC - Everyone has trouble with this. I would say 1.5-2 days is good. Future world can be done in a day easy however, the world showcase is quite large and to really get it done you could spend almost a day just doing WS.

Now when you say you are spending x days at each park keep in mind time for food, transportation, etc.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

When we went to disney 2 years ago, we tried to do Epcot in 1 day. Let's just say with the Florida heat and my feet killing me I was not a happy camper and found myself exhausted. Plus I was so tired we really didn't get to see all that world showcase had to offer.

We are going to disney in 64 days and I have planned 3 days at magic kingdom, 2 at Epcot (1 day future world and the other world showcase), and then 1 day for Hollywood studios and animal kingdom. Hope this info helps! I will never make the mistake in doing Epcot in 1 day ever again lol

 

[dc1969]

Awesome, thanks! I was thinking 2 days at Epcot but just wasn't sure lol

 

[timfromjersey]

We had our first trip (for the family...I had been before) this August, and going back and looking through the pictures, anytime there was downtime we ended up at Epcot. (We had hoppers)

Of 6 park days we spent 2.5 at Epcot. Kids always found something to keep them busy there, and they loved world showcase more than I anticipated.

Kids were DS14, DS12, and DD10.

As for the 4 year old, it might not stack up to the Magic Kingdom, but you should definitely do Ellen's, Spaceship Earth, and Figment if she gets bored. Also, 4 is a great age for innoventions, perhaps you can split for a bit & stay there with the little one while one of you and DS11 do thrill rides.

Have fun!

 

[Holly Quinlan]

I would do 2 days in Epcot. I spend 2 days there and still didn't get to see all of world showcase.

Sent from my iPhone using DISBoards

 

[WendyZQ]

We're also going for the first time this spring (with our two boys, 6 & 10). We'll be there for a week, and I was also debating how many days for which parks. I ended up getting 5 day passes. Allowing for 1 day off from parks (resort day or some DTD). I've got 4 park days scheduled with ADRs, etc. I left our last day wide open and told the kids they can pick which park to return to.

Not sure how leaving it up to the kids would work with a 4 and 11 yo, but leaving it open could give you a chance to see what the kids like the best.

 

[Moonwolf]

I agree with everyone. 1.5-2 days at EPCOT would be best. My family would always try to do it in one day and we always end up rushing by at least half of the countries without getting to explore them. That was one of my major memories of my trip when I was younger (not getting to poke around the countries) and one of the main purposes my brother has in wanting to come with me on my next trip.

 

[KelleyK75]

I am planning our trip in March and thought I could get by with one day at Hollywood Studios, but now I am doubting myself. With an ADR, Jedi Training and 3 fast passes, I am not sure if we'll see anything else. You might want to check everything out there and make sure you'll have enough time with 1 day.

 

[ZoZo]

Such a hard questio to answer - every family is different! My recommendation for first-timers is to plan to spend at least one day in each park, then decide what your family liked best and go back to those parks.

Don't lock yourself into anything too specific ahead of time. You may just find that a park you think you'll really like might not end up being your favorite - you might just be surprised! Personally, AK and MK are tied for first place, with Epcot third, and DHS a distant fourth (if it wasn't for Toy Story Mania, I might just skip DHS altogether!). But that's just me, everyone likes different things!

 

[KelleyK75]

Such a hard questio to answer - every family is different! My recommendation for first-timers is to plan to spend at least one day in each park, then decide what your family liked best and go back to those parks.

Don't lock yourself into anything too specific ahead of time. You may just find that a park you think you'll really like might not end up being your favorite - you might just be surprised! Personally, AK and MK are tied for first place, with Epcot third, and DHS a distant fourth (if it wasn't for Toy Story Mania, I might just skip DHS altogether!). But that's just me, everyone likes different things!

I agree with this. Last time I went my nephews were younger, and we spent the majority of the time at MK and AK. But this time, a lot of the stuff we are going to want to do seems to be at HS. And before I started planning this trip, I thought we'd spend most of our time at MK. So you might want to get the park maps and the My Disney Experience App, and go through it with your kids and see what you guys are all interested in. I also watched the planning DVD with my nephews and they picked out things on there that they liked.

 

[dc1969]

We're pretty sure on most of it. We are going to US too, so HS and what is has, really isn't a huge draw for us. But yes, now that I know we're going to buy a 6 day pass, nothing is ever set in stone, but we needed to know if it was even worth buying the 6th day!

There will definitely be some splitting up with the kids, such a big age gap, we kind of have to!

 

[ktlm]

We do 2 days MK, 2 days EPCOT, 1 day DHS, 1 day AK. EPCOT has been DD (7)'s favorite park other than MK since she was 2. We learned after her 1st trip we definitely needed 2 days there. We go to DL too, and when we are at DL the only thing she ever complains about missing about WDW is World Showcase at EPCOT. Your kids could probably spend an entire day doing Agent Perry (from Phineas and Ferb) Missions in EPCOT World Showcase. I'm guessing your 11 year old DS will probably like them even though he is older, as I had to basically pry the communicator out of DH's hands and make him give it back to DD. I think he had as much fun as she did.

 

[ArwenMarie]

I think Epcot is best done in at least two days. Part of the reason is that it is such a big park, very spread out, so you spend a lot of time walking. Its best broken up into half of FutureWorld and half of World Showcase on day 1 and then the other halves on Day 2.

Have fun planning

 

[Gumbo4x4]

For us on our first trip (with 6 and 11 year old girls), Epcot was the only park we couldn't "do" in just 1 day. Even in MK, we did everything WE wanted to do in 1 day; some things twice.

It's different for everyone obviously, but if you have the time, you'll probably want a second day at Epcot.

Now having said that, I'll repeat my "normal" first timer advice. Do ALL the parks once before going back to any of them twice. Who knows? Maybe your family needs 1 day each at MK, DHS, and Epcot, but 3 days at AK. And you won't really know your personal preference until you've done it. We predicted ours incorrectly