Adventureland or Tomorrowland -- Advice Needed

[Chuckles70]

My DH, DS (8) and DS (7) and I will be in WDW for 7 days April 27-May 4. We will be arriving at MCO at 1:55 pm. After we check-in at Pop Century and have a quick bite to eat we are heading to the Magic Kingdom.

This is our first visit so as I'm doing my planning I don't know which land to visit on a late afternoon -- I think we'll get there around 5:00 pm. Would you suggest Adventureland or Tomorrowland?

 

[Ashes8380]

My DH, DS (8) and DS (7) and I will be in WDW for 7 days April 27-May 4. We will be arriving at MCO at 1:55 pm. After we check-in at Pop Century and have a quick bite to eat we are heading to the Magic Kingdom.

This is our first visit so as I'm doing my planning I don't know which land to visit on a late afternoon -- I think we'll get there around 5:00 pm. Would you suggest Adventureland or Tomorrowland?

I'm not a commando planner, so this may not be right for you, but I would just pick the land that your boys are most excited about! Do what you can do, ride a few things, get in a good disney mood, and then hit the park full on the next day. I find that on the first day there's certain things I have to do right away, even if they're not the most practical. I'm usually a Philarmagic first kinda gal, if arriving midday.

 

[Minnie824]

On our first day, when we arrive in the afternoon/evening there are a couple of our 'first rides' we try to hit that we can get in w/out long lines. Almost always we head to Pirates first. Then we head over to Haunted Mansion. I would suggest adventurland first. The rides there will most likely have shorter lines, and we also just like the atmosphere over there more. Always good to start out with some pirates.

 

[C U AT DISNEY]

I would go to Adventureland first.. You can hit a couple good rides at that time of day.. Tomorrowland is usually more busy then that side of the park... Either way you will have a great time..

Another thing to consider is heading to DD to do your shopping to get that out of the way.. Plus you won't use a full day ticket being in the park for only a couple of hrs.. Do your shopping have a nice dinner and then go to bed early so you can get up and hit the parks in the AM......


James

 

[g-dad66]

We arrived at MK at 4:15 pm on August 1 and went straight to Adventureland. We caught the last Capt. Jack Sparrow Pirate Tutorial of the day at 4:25. (I ran and got Big Thunder Mountain Fast Passes while others watched the show.)

Then we rode Pirates of the Caribbean, Magic Carpets of Aladdin, and Jungle Cruise with virtually no waits. Climbed up and down the Swiss Family Treehouse, then headed over to Frontierland to use our Big Thunder Fast Passes. And we were through and out of the park by 6:30, with no need to return to Adventureland on our later full day at MK.

The problem with Tomorrowland is that both Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear are likely to have substantial waits, with late Fast Pass returns (if Space Mountain even has any Fast Passes left by that time of day).

 

[PrincessBetsy]

I would definitely go to adventureland first, especially since you have 2 sons. I always love to start off my trip with pirates!!

 

[avic77]

I plan to do basically the same thing, mainly to watch Spectro and Wishes on our arrival night.
I am just going to wander around and soak in the atmosphere. See the things i was too commando to see last time. Like the wishing well and the sword in the stone... i never even saw them last trip

 

[Absolutely Disney]

Hmmm. I think you should just play it by ear. Adventureland and Tomorrowland are both equally wonderful. Whichever one you choose, be sure to visit the other during your trip. Don't leave out the rest of MK, either!
Have fun on your trip!

 

[Ryoo4]

adventureland... POC cant be beat!!!

 

[ShannonMB]

I'd do Adventureland first also! Maybe see what the situation is at the Jungle Cruise first and get a FP for that if necessary. Then you can do all the other stuff in the area while you wait for your FP time. I think the Pirates will put your crew in the mood for a great vaca!

 

[Tomh]

I would do Adventureland, as my experience with Tomorrowland is that many of the attractions, especially Space Mountain, the Tomorrowland Indy Speedway, and often Buzz Lightyear, tend to build up long lines pretty fairly early on in the day.

We do several days at MK. I try to do Adventureland one morning, and Fantasyland another morning first thing before the lines build up. We also hit up Splash and Big Thunder on one morning, as we can get a couple of rides in quickly, and gather some FP's for later.

 

[jayandstacey]

Agree with the advice. I'd do/consider these things, in this order:

1. Do I want to "burn" a park day for only a few hours? It costs the same (one day's admission) if you show up at 8am or 5pm.
2. Assuming you do, is MK the right park? For April 27, it seems MK is open until 10pm. But there are no Extra Magic Hours that night, and MK is open the latest of the parks. That means you'll probably have the largest evening (park hopper) crowds.
3. Assuming MK is the right park (and I think it is, especially for a first trip), I'd head to Adventureland first, but take my time. Soak in main street, the sights, sounds, smells. Gasp as you come out from under the train station onto main street the first time - it is always breathtaking, but there's only one first time.
4. I'd work adventureland as others have said. FP the jungle cruise, ride Pirates, see the tiki room. Be sure to watch "wishes" the fireworks show. After the fireworks, Tomorrowland might empty out a bit - but you'll be back to MK on another day.
5. If you don't get to Tomorrowland, make it your first stop, EARLY, on the next day you come to MK.
6. Stay until 10pm - the last hour or so should see diminished crowds, and the park is beautiful at night. You're paying for the whole day, so might as well stick it out.

Give strong consideration to #1. You might be tired from the travel and can just check out the hotel pool that afternoon, saving a bit of $$. Also, mornings are when you'll get the most out of a park - And you'll want to be well rested for the next day. I'd consider an early bedtime and then go to either Epcot for early magic hour 8am, or to Animal Kingdom at 9am, with plans to stay through the evening Extra magic hours. Either way, those are long days that start early and have LOTS of walking!

have fun!

 

[jayandstacey]

Also, know that Adventureland and Tomorrowland are only a 6 minute walk from each other. It isn't efficient to criss-cross the park, but it really isn't like a "one or the other" type of thing.

More important is to have a sense of what the rides are, how they load (ie, how long the lines are, and what that means) and what to expect. Many of the rides you can't see at all from outside - which is different from most theme parks - and it can be useful to know something about what's inside so you don't waste time in lines you don't want to be in.

What you might do is treat MK as a single unit, and discuss what rides they might want to hit. 7 and 8 year olds can be on the fence - maybe they don't like coasters, maybe they don't like the dark - so it helps to know what rides they REALLY will like and make sure you hit those, ideally at a time (or in a way) that doesn't involve a huge wait.

So that might mean that coming to MK on the 27th is more about getting Fast Passes for Buzz Lightyear, then heading to ad ventureland.

And BTW, one tip of my own: Buzz Lightyear is a really fun ride, and one that is really geared toward riding multiple times (since you are shooting and getting a score and getting better each time, vs Pirates, which is just a show). I find that generally it empties out near park closing. I think the reason is that it is more of a family ride, and at 10pm, the younger kids have left. The older kids are riding Space Mtn, Big Thunder Mtn and Splash Mtn. And Buzz loads continuously, so it can quickly dispatch with a lot of people. A number of times we've gone to Buzz near closing and ridden many times in a row.

 

[dougsmom98]

I agree with the other posters who suggested Adventureland. I have gone there in the late afternoon and never have waited very long for anything. I also agree with jayandstacy about Tomorrowland clearing out towards the end of the night. That is when we tend to do things like the Speedway, the Laugh Factory, Astro Orbiter, Stitch...that have crazy long lines during the day. I know you have boys and you might not think you need to or want to go to Toontown, but my boys have always liked it and we tend to do that late at night too. The teacups and Dumbo also have shorter lines later at night too.

 

[syudelson]

Whichever you choose I would try to pick up at least one FP if still available(or hit a FP attraction that has low lines JC?) -- to hit all the FP attractions in your full day can be difficult because those almost always have long lines and you can only have one FP at a time. Also, I wouldn't worry about "wasting" a ticket on a partial day - the difference between a 6 day and a 7 day ticket for my family of five(one infant) was only $12. That's pretty cheap for a night of entertainment -- we can't even go to a movie for that.

 

[jayandstacey]

Whichever you choose I would try to pick up at least one FP if still available(or hit a FP attraction that has low lines JC?) -- to hit all the FP attractions in your full day can be difficult because those almost always have long lines and you can only have one FP at a time. Also, I wouldn't worry about "wasting" a ticket on a partial day - the difference between a 6 day and a 7 day ticket for my family of five(one infant) was only $12. That's pretty cheap for a night of entertainment -- we can't even go to a movie for that.

Good point. I'm used to buying 10 day non expiring, then saving extra days for the next trip. So my math works out differently and my tradeoff is a full day on the next trip. Under normal tickets, $12 is a deal and I'd do it.

 

[RllngRckBrw]

Another vote for Adventureland. I think it has shorter lines on the "good" attractions. Pirates, Haunted Mansion, and BTMR are usually pretty short (comparitively speaking) and BTMR usually does not run out of fastpases as fast as Space Mtn.

 

[DISman13]

I had a similar situation. Had problems with the room getting ready on our first night in mid October and didn't get to MK until just after 5. Was a crowd level eight day and I was shocked how much we got done.


Rode Pirates twice (not in a row)
Ate
Haunted Mansion
Small World
Carosel of Progress (because it started raining)
Jungle Cruise
Splash Mountain
BTMRR
Watched Wishes
Winnie the Pooh
Snow White
Got a spot for Spectro about 20 minutes early
Peter Pan

This was for an eleven PM closing.