5 days - which park on day 5?

[SFMommy]

We are taking our first trip to WDW over Thanksgiving 2015. We will have 5 full park days (Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday).

Which parks should we do on which days? And what should we do on day 5? Are either of the water parks open in late November? I was not going to hop, just 1-park per day.

Thoughts? Thanks!

 

[dayvewc]

Double check easywdw for crowd calendar recommendations. But I'd suggest you repeat Magic Kingdom.

 

[dwbrewster]

Magic Kingdom, no doubt.

 

[GatorMama]

Definitely check crowd calendars. You will be in very heavy crowds and I'd want to make sure you'll be in the park with the lowest crowds each day.

 

[msmama]

Usually I would say to decide on your favorite and repeat but since you are going at such a busy time it's probably best to have an idea. Still Id pick a park but know that it's changeable if everyone agrees!

 

[SFMommy]

Magic Kingdom, no doubt.

So even though MK is similar to Disneyland (which we have been to) and the other parks are so much more unique? Is that because there is so much to do in MK compared to the other parks? Are the other parks easy to do with 1-day each?

 

[soniam]

So even though MK is similar to Disneyland (which we have been to) and the other parks are so much more unique? Is that because there is so much to do in MK compared to the other parks? Are the other parks easy to do with 1-day each?

There's a lot more to do and see at MK than DL IMHO. Even though some rides are repeats, i.e. Space Mountain, some are actually different, i.e. Pirates, Winnie the Pooh. Some of just fun and you don't mind repeating them at both parks. There are also just a bunch of rides at MK, in addition to shops, food, and shows.

It also depends upon what you like to do. If you like thrill rides, then DHS is good, since it has Rock n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror; however, it doesn't really have that many other rides. If you like shows/musicals, there's a ton of them at AK and a decent amount at DHS. The World Showcase at Epcot is really cool, and I could spend pretty much a whole day there; it doesn't open until 11am though. However, DS8 can only do a half day in WS. I think MK is the best all around park and really has something for everyone. That's probably why it's a good repeat, but it's hard to do everything in a day and there's a lot of cool stuff to repeat.

As for time in each park, our first time, we spent 2 days at Epcot, 2 at MK, and 1 each at DHS and AK. We did do naps though on the Epcot and MK days. Now, we've been there and done that, so we don't do every attraction. DHS and AK are half day parks for us. We don't do water rides and don't like the musicals. DS is just starting to get to where he wants to do some of the bigger thrill rides, but DH and I don't really like much beyond Space Mountain.

 

[redhotariel]

I would probable not do MK on the holiday. I would maybe do Epcot, or Hollywood Studios on Thanksgiving. Then maybe MK on friday, whichever park you didn't do Epcot or DHS on Saturday, AK on Sunday, and I would probably plan to do MK on Monday. However, you may find that you want to do one of the other parks again, in which case do that! Whichever one you want to do twice, do that again on monday!

 

[MikeTheMonster]

I think everything depends on where you are staying and how you are departing the Orlando area. If you are staying at one of the Monorail hotels (GF, Poly, Contemporary) that I would definitely do the Magic Kingdom. If you are staying at a different hotel, then I would do one of the other parks. When we go to the Magic Kingdom on our last day, we always have to account for the fact that it takes longer to get out of the park and get back to our non-Monorail hotel then the other parks whether you are using Disney Transportation or your own car.
If you are driving home, once again I would recommend the Magic Kingdom as you will not be on a time schedule. However, if you are flying home, it would be easier to go to one of the other parks as we have found it takes the longest to exit the Magic Kingdom. We usually return home on afternoon flights at Orlando airport. We have found that we need to leave a park three and a half hours before our flight in order to have time to get back to the hotel, pick up our bags, and then get to the airport and deal with all of the checking-in and security there. We usually choose Epcot on the last day because we find it is the easiest park to exit and get to our rental car in the parking lot.

 

[mrsR123]

I would say MK kingdom hands down. Use a crowd calendar to decide which two days will be best-- it might not be the last day of your trip.

FWIW, we found very low crowds at MK on Black Friday 2013. YMMV.

 

[RebeccaRabbit]

We also like to close out our Disney vacation with MK usually - but only IF that works with the crowd calendar recommendations. I personally would go with lowest possible crowds over any other consideration, because we'll have a better time in any park with shorter lines and fewer people.

Epcot would be a really nice vacation closer, to me. You could savor that last meal at a great restaurant! Epcot is currently my DD's favorite park (she likes all the interactive stuff). Whether or not this makes sense for you will depend on how your family feels about this park - it does have fewer "ride" rides than MK, but more other type of stuff (food, street performers, exhibits, ... and obviously beverages ).

 

[MickeyMinnieMom]

I'd repeat MK -- it's what we always do on our last day... we get there early and hit a few favorites one last time... and maybe grab a final Dole Whip...

 

[CynBeth]

Because it is a busy time I would get a Park Hopper since DHS and AK are not all day parks for some people and so you could do both on the same day or split days with MK and EPCOT to have some more time at those parks. Holidays in case you were not aware Holidays Around the World and CP begins on Black Friday at EPCOT. Make sure to see Osbourne Lights at DHS and take time to resort hop.