2 days in MK - How to attack it?

[Wubar]

I have 2 full days earmarked for MK during our upcoming January trip. Taking our 4 year old son for his first time. Wondering if anyone has any advice on how to attack the parks during that time, my initial two thoughts are 1)a mix of rides and characters each day, or 2) attack it per land. Like one day is just fantasyland, and the other day is the rest of the lands combined.

Thanks in advice, suggestions welcomed!

 

[shellyj]

I suggest starting with FantasyLand first and FrontierLand second in one day, maybe hit AdventureLand on the way out of the park. Then TomorrowLand, Liberty Square, and AdventureLand, on the second day.

 

[LSUfan4444]

Do one day at rope drop and another day with a later arrival and stay through Happily Ever After.

I wouldn't target specific lands as much as I would target specific FP+. Not sure how tall your little one is and what attractions are your must do's but focus in on those and try to schedule them in an order than makes sense.

Like one day schedule them Jungle Cruise, Pirates and Haunted Mansion. The next maybe Peter Pan, Enchanted Tales and Pooh.

 

[neverlandsky]

Day 1 MK: RD Buzz Light year is walk on 2-3 times in a row. People mover walk on. Speedway only a 10-20 minute wait. Hit Barnstormer/Dumbo/Little Mermaid with very little wait. Haunted Mansion/ISWA/Carousel/PoTC is low wait in the morning too. FP Peter Pan, 7DMT, & BTMRR. Break.

Day 2 MK: RD Peter Pan, Winnie The Pooh, FP 7DMT if you want to do it again, PoTC, FP Jungle Cruise, FP Splash if reopened. Then hit the green shows, Tiki Room, Country Bears, Muppets, Monster's Inc Laugh floor, etc. Break

For Characters, I would do a character dining experience since it's a 2 birds with 1 stone.

 

[Danimal]

You don't want to be running all over the park with a 4 year old. Take it easy and have a plan. I'd suggest scheduling your FP for 11 AM and later. Hit Adventureland in the morning, do Jungle Cruise, Pirates of the Caribbean, Aladdins Carpets in the morning and explore a bit. Schedule FPs for Peter Pan, 7 Dwarves Mine Train, and maybe Enchanted Tales w/ Belle around your lunch break. Lots of easy things to do in the afternoon around FantasyLand that don't need a FP (Carousel, Philharmagic, Small World) and see how your little one is doing after that. The 2nd day you can get a bit later start and work your way back around the other side of the park. Start in TomorrowLand and FP Buzz Lightyear and AstroOrbiter, work your way through Storybook Circus and hit the favorites (or anything you missed!) from Day One as you work your way back out to the front of the park for fireworks. Have fun!!!!

 

[pitpat]

I like to split it straight down the middle

 

[Wubar]

Thanks all for your suggestions, I'll try and figure out what works best. I know a mid-day break is definitely necessary, but I don't want to head back to the resort, as that seems to take up too much time. Also trying to balance days where we are planning rope drop vs days with later nights (because of firework or other similar shows).

 

[Calee]

We focused day 1 on fantasyland and tomorrowland. Rope dropped and left at 6.

Day 2 we did a character meal, and focused on adventureland, liberty square and frontierland. Then went and rehit favorites in fantasyland and tomorrowland.

 

[DisneyWillow1975]

We usually divide the MK into two days as well. We've gone with our twins at a variety of ages from 7 months to 5 years, and this approach has worked well at all ages so far. On 1 day, we focus on Fantasyland and Tomorrowland. If possible I get a PPO BOG and then go to Peter Pan first thing after we get 1 adult in line for the Mine Train (for the rider switch). We then work our way through Fantasyland, including both sides of Princess Fairytale Hall. We tend to eat at Crystal Palace for a lunch break. If the boys nap, we use that time to rider swap Space Mountain (we use one of our FPs on this). We use the other 2 FPs on the Speedway and Buzz. On day 2, we hit Adventureland at rope drop and finish up with Frontierland by lunch. Liberty Square is easy to fit in on the way back to Fantasyland for any re-rides. We try to see the parade on this day, and usually end up using our Fps for one of the mountains, Talking Mickey and Enchanted Tales with Belle.

We did fireworks for the last time our last trip, and we just made sure the boys had a nice long stroller nap on the day we were staying in the park late. Normally, we are back at the hotel for close to our normal bedtime.

 

[kniquy]

If you are staying on property then you could rope drop to take advantage of shorter lines and take a good afternoon break ( i know some 4yo still nap)t your FP for the evening and plan on one night catching HEA. I really like to take a map and draw a line to plan each day to avoid back tracking and limiting walking. Usually tomorrow land and Fantasy land and then the second day Adventure and Frontier lands. Then you can hit liberty square a little on both days. Try to plan meals for each day also in those areas. I agree a pre park breakfast at BOG could get you a little advantage to hit peter pan, but keep an eye out for changes in park hours -you could have an 8am breakfast because when you book opening is 9am, but sometimes they change the opening and could pop in EMH in the AM -- just be prepared to cancel the reservations if that happens unless the breakfast is a must do.

 

[alex9179]

I've used Josh's cheat sheets the last couple of times and have had great success. If I know that an attraction won't be popular, I delete it and add in something else. The kids poop out before the plan! The first day is full of excitement, so they're usually ok for one full day. After that, they were ready for a break after lunch. We'd return to MK, or another park, for the night time entertainment and a SD FP. For MK, I do the two day plan without characters (not my kids' thing) and usually get far more than that done when their energy is high. For someone who visits once a year, or less, they work great. Frequent guests can play fast and loose.

disney-world-cheat-sheets-maps-touring-plans-and-wait-times-4