A parks WWYD? with Poll

[mshanson3121]

So... this is prompted by another thread I was reading on a different board. And it's sort of a two-part question.

I see people saying that AK or HS is a half day park, while EP is a full day or two day park! So PART 1 is: I'm curious as to whether you think we'll want half or full days at these three parks, based on interests/info: Kids will be 8 & 5, and are not big on rollercoaster/thrill rides.They love animals.

At AK, I can see the kids doing the safari, all the trails, the Wilderness Explorers thing (this is soooo up their alley), and probably most of the rides with exception of Everest. The dinosaur one might be too scary, too. They would also do the shows. To me, I really can see AK being a full day.

At HS, I can see them doing basically every show there is, and probably all rides except ToT and Aerosmith.

At EP, I can see them enjoying the World Showcase, a few of the shows, Test Track, Turtle Talk, The Seas, Innoventions, What If lab, Figment, Gran Fiest, Phineas and Ferb Adventure, Spaceship Earth, definitely Mission Space for my outer space loving son, maybe Soarin' but not sure.

So, now, with all that in mind, PART 2 is: how would you spend your days? We have 7 full days in Florida. We have 5 day basic passes to Disney, and passes to Discovery Cove and Sea World. I personally would like to keep the 7th day free, so if we need a rest day or maybe if we want to go to the beach, do something non-theme park etc...

 

[dachsie]

Even if you find that you dont spend a whole day in a park, you will get some rest time built in. For 5 days I would do one at each park and an extra at MK, but then I would add a 6 day and do 2 Epcot and 2 MK days

 

[tooh8ful]

I agree with the PP. We have ALWAYS spent a full day, rope drop to close, at AK.
I would also do 2 days each at MK and EP. When I was a kid I hated EP, now its my favorite.

 

[HopperFan]

"2 days at MK, 1 day at HS, AK, EP, 1/2 day at DC and SW (same day)"

No way would I consider this. You spend a lot of money for your Discovery Cove day and it is a true special experience that you'll want to stay for the entire day. We open and close it, meals, snacks, many rounds of the lazy river, lots of in and out snorkeling, aviary, meeting the special animals (check schedule often is done earlier in day) and if you are doing the dolphin that could be later in the day ..... and at the end of the day we are pooped. Ready for a peaceful dinner, pajamas and bed.

SeaWorld, while it may seem like it doesn't have a lot to do and you could be done quickly - doesn't work like that. First the exhibits are spread very far apart and you will be doing lots of walking. Second their show hours are changed each day and you will find you may have to stay longer than you thought in order to be able to see each of the shows. While your day may be leisure and less pushed than a Disney day because there is much less, it will take timing and walking to do it.

PS - I voted no spare day but it doesn't mean you can't build some relaxing/pool time in the middle of your days. Ticket price changes at that point are not much and doing partial days is more relaxing and less frustrating that trying to cram all in at MK.

 

[North of Mouse]

I would do 2 - MK, 2 - Epcot, 1 - AK, 1- HS, 1/2 ea. DC & SW - no off days!

Yes, that's a full week, but having tickets for DC & SW as well as Disney is planning too much in one week, JMO

Yes, to me, you would be short changing SW big time to limit it to less than a day, but then I'm more of a Disney person, with the little time you have allotted.

 

[Planogirl]

Instead of days off, you could look at half days off. We like to go to some themepark most days but we don't necessarily stay the whole day.

 

[soniam]

2 @ MK, 2 @ Epcot, 1 @ DHS, 1 @AK, 1 rest day, preferably in the middle

I am not a Seaworld fan, so I wouldn't go there.

We're doing 7 days in March but going to Universal for 3 and WDW for 3.5. However, this is not our first WDW visit.

 

[Mikie]

I feel like we *almost* do disney justice when we do 6 full park days - no days off and honestly not enough rest throughout - we come home worn out! I have to vote 2 MK and 1 each everywhere else; cost-wise though, I'd probably do only one of discovery cove OR sea world and add the extra disney day at only $10 each.

 

[mshanson3121]

I feel like we *almost* do disney justice when we do 6 full park days - no days off and honestly not enough rest throughout - we come home worn out! I have to vote 2 MK and 1 each everywhere else; cost-wise though, I'd probably do only one of discovery cove OR sea world and add the extra disney day at only $10 each.

There's no savings, as your ticket to Discovery Cove gives you free 14-day Admission to Sea World and Aquatica

 

[mshanson3121]

Instead of days off, you could look at half days off. We like to go to some themepark most days but we don't necessarily stay the whole day.

I imagine that may be the case for us too. I know for sure we won't spend a whole day at SW, though probably most of it. And who knows, maybe we won't be at HS for a whole day either. Even at MK, what we plan on doing (since it's going to be hotter than Hades) is probably go at RP till lunch, then go back to our house for a rest during the afternoon heat/crowds, have an early supper, then probably head back from 5-9. If we did spend the whole day then it would be a morning till suppertime type thing, and we would be back at the house by 5 or 6 every day, and have all evening.

 

[Nancyg56]

I am afraid you are going to miss a lot of everything with your current plan. Sea World alone is a full day, and you are adding DC so that is another full day IMO. I think you are trying to pack too much into a week's trip.

If this was my trip I would skip SW/DC altogether and plan then for another trip whe I could enoy them. I would take that ticket money and apply it to my WDW tix, add two days, and hoppers. That way you could hit a park on your arrival evening, have dinner and maybe a few attractions. IMO, MK and epcot require at least two visits, and DHS and AK close to a full day.

 

[happymommy]

I agree that you're planning way too much for a week.

I'd do only Disney for a week - I've been more times than I can count, and still haven't done everything. And, Epcot is my family's favorite park (since my kids were 2 and 4), and we end up there most evenings to stroll around and have a drink & food. We always park hop.

We've done a week of Seaworld & Discovery Cove (we had Super Grover passes that year). We loved DC! Got there early, and were the last ones to leave literally! Seaworld really wasn't our favorite - we won't be back. That week, though, we enjoyed a lot of down time at our resort swimming & went to Wonderworks a couple times too. It was a laid back trip.

I'd save SW & DC for another trip. And, I'd do 7 day park hoppers.

 

[mshanson3121]

I am afraid you are going to miss a lot of everything with your current plan. Sea World alone is a full day, and you are adding DC so that is another full day IMO. I think you are trying to pack too much into a week's trip.

If this was my trip I would skip SW/DC altogether and plan then for another trip whe I could enoy them. I would take that ticket money and apply it to my WDW tix, add two days, and hoppers. That way you could hit a park on your arrival evening, have dinner and maybe a few attractions. IMO, MK and epcot require at least two visits, and DHS and AK close to a full day.

There isn't going to be another trip. This is it. I have to laugh sometimes, how people always assume that people have the money/ability to do more than one Disney trip, lol. (Not just your comment, I see that a lot on the Disney boards "Just save that for another trip!"). But at any rate, we already have tickets bought for SW and DC. My son is fanatic about ocean animals, so... these two places will probably rank as high for him, as Disney.

We do definitely plan on doing a full day at AK and HS. I agree - I think they are more than half day parks.

But we're also not people who are concerned with seeing every little thing there is to see at these parks. We are perfectly happy just being able to experience them - so anything we get to see is great. If we don't see it all - who cares? At least we got to go.

 

[StirlingSilver83]

I would definitely do 2 MK, 2 Epcot and then 1 each at HS and AK. I don't like taking days away from my Disney days. Once we are in Disney that's it lol. I even added a couple days at the start of our vacation at an off site hotel so we can do sea world and dtd.

 

[Nancyg56]

There isn't going to be another trip. This is it. I have to laugh sometimes, how people always assume that people have the money/ability to do more than one Disney trip, lol. (Not just your comment, I see that a lot on the Disney boards "Just save that for another trip!"). But at any rate, we already have tickets bought for SW and DC. My son is fanatic about ocean animals, so... these two places will probably rank as high for him, as Disney.

We do definitely plan on doing a full day at AK and HS. I agree - I think they are more than half day parks.

But we're also not people who are concerned with seeing every little thing there is to see at these parks. We are perfectly happy just being able to experience them - so anything we get to see is great. If we don't see it all - who cares? At least we got to go.

Oh. Well in that case, go for it! You won't see everything, but that would be impossible no matter what. I would take some time to make a list of your "must do" at each park and then com up with a touring plan so you do not waste park time trying to figure out what next. If you have hoppers that will give you an opportunity to hit a park in the evening after AK closes and mybe after your DHS day. It Is about 65 per person for the entire ticket package. If this is not an option, see how much ading days on costs, because it may be less money and you could hit a park after your SW day, if only for dinner.
Have fun!!!!!

 

[Meriweather]

When we go for only a week we do 2 MK, 2 Epcot, 1 DHS, 1 AK and a day off, but it adding DC and SW that would be the 7th day....no days off.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

Can you add hoppers? AK closes a few hours earlier than the other parks, so on your AK day, you could then go over to Epcot or HS and get some things done.

We weren't crazy about AK or epcot. We are huge animal lovers, we go to the local zoo at least 6 x a year, make donations to various animal organizations, and make a point to stop at a new zoo on every vacation. AK didn't have the wow factor I was hoping for. Aside from the safari, we really didn't see many animals.

Our epcot day was drizzly and chilly, so we may have just had a bad day to go, but there were very few characters and shows, and we were a little bored with Illuminations. Had it not been for the candlelight processional reservations, we would have left epcot early on.

 

[seelyt2]

I voted "other". We don't go to Sea World or Discovery Cove as my husband has no interest. Maybe one day. Our kids don't even know they exist which is kinda sad, really, but by all means go! Have fun!

Any how, my thought is that in choosing how many days you decide to spend in each park will likely depend if this is your first trip or not. The more you've been to the parks, the less likely you are to feel that HS and AK are full-day parks since (in my family's opinion) we don't feel that we need to re-do a lot of the stuff we've already done in AK & HS. Perhaps if it's your first time they can be full-day parks if you want to see everything. While the opposite is true (for us), in MK and Epcot. We can re-do and re-do and re-do and be totally satisfied in staying all day there and go back again the next day to do it all over yet again! We LOVE those two parks (MK is our favorite).

We've been something like 8 times so now. Generally speaking, we do MK and Epcot twice, and AK, HS and DTD are three-quarter days for us. We park-hop, too, so that helps spread things around to get the fireworks/night time entertainment in when we need.

 

[tweak89]

For us (my wife and I) MK is probably the only true 1 day park. The rest are generally half day parks. Epcot can occasionally go almost a full day depending on our goals for that day.

It's that way for us as we have made several visits over the last 6 years. We are more ride oriented, so other than the park closing shows, most shows are of little interest once we've seen them. We like to ride the rides and people watch.

Our upcoming trip will buck that trend, though, as we are bringing my niece and nephew along and neither have been to any WDW parks.

 

[mco65]

In the past we have done 6 park days. 1 at each and an extra day for MK and HS. our next trip, I have only booked 5 park days, we will do 1 day at each park and likely use the 5th for MK... but time will tell. I also booked the Water Parks for the 1st time... hoping to get 2 days at the water parks.