Advice on planning our first trip!

[Amanda0126]

Hello! I am planning our first Disney trip as a family! We will arrive on 9/24 at AKL and stay through 9/28. We plan to do AK on Monday 9/26. I've read multiple places that AK isn't a "full day" park, so based on that I thought we would come back and rest at the resort for a few hours and then head back out to MK for the evening. (We plan on being there on 9/28 for the day, just thought we could get some extra time.) I just saw that it is a 7 on the crowd calendar for that day and wondered if this was a good plan after all. It seems like since the MNSSHP is the evening before, it would make the day after more manageable crowd wise. (But what do I know since this is our first trip...lol.) Would it be a good idea to avoid MK that day or should I ignore the crowd calendar numbers? Also, do you think that AK isn't really a full day park? TIA!

 

[tsme]

AK can be a full day. You could go to AK in the morning, head back to your hotel for a few hours to rest or go to the pool, then go back to AK for night festivities.

 

[mullii5]

Agree with the previous comment....AK can be a full day. It's a wonderful "strolling" park with a lot to see. Our most recent trip was our first opportunity to see AK at night and it was wonderful. I would recommend the safari right before dusk...after it gets too dark, it's a little difficult to see the animals. Expedition Everest at night is awesome.

Lines are shorter at rope drop....take an afternoon break....go back at night.

If there is a half-day park, it's Hollywood Studios. I'm sure you've read this elsewhere but rope drop is the key (with all of the parks). If you're at the park for rope drop, you will get so much done and not feel as stressed.

Have a great time!! You will love it.

 

[Amanda0126]

Oh man, I didn't realize that about HS. I scheduled all our fastpasses for Sunday 9/25 there. That's the night of MNSSHP at MK. Oh well....lol. We will try to get everything done MK on our original day and during the EMH that day. Thanks!

 

[amycakes]

In our previous trips we always enjoyed AK for a full day.... 9-4 or 5. We would not rush and enjoyed all the nooks and crannies, shows, nature trails etc..... although we never did make it to the Conservation area or the Flights of Wonder... trying to slot them in for our upcoming trip! Also, we would have lunch at Tusker House to break up the day. Now that they have evening offerings, we may leave in the afternoon for a bit as I really can't see us being able to fill the time from 9am-10pm.

The MK is more than a 1 day park imo so you may want to sacrifice time at AK to have more than 1 day at MK... Epcot is pretty big too. I guess it all depends on what is more important to you and how quickly your family can get around.

Have a great trip!! And don't forget to book your fastpasses!

Edit: I see you have booked fastpasses ... We have Star Wars junkies in our group and we will enjoy HS for a full day... looking forward to the new Star Wars fireworks and Fantasmic is a great show!

 

[glvsav37]

congrats on your 1st trip.

there are a lot of factors that you need to weigh first before you decide how many days. etc.

1. how long are you staying? if you have the time, stretch the parks out. If not, focus your schedule to the locations you want to be at, don't try and hit's all just for the sake of hitting's all.
2. Where are you staying? Some parks will lend them selves to visit more often based on their proximity to the resort. Getting on buses, or parking cars eats into time more then some think.
2. What is the family make up?
--little kids that need naps and strollers? plan your days around naps...so maybe a park in the am and then back to the resort. Then a PM park close to the resort. Having strollers on the disney buses are a pain b/c you have to fold them up.
--Bigger kids who are self sufficient? just adults? lots more freedom to roam

Don't underestimate how large the property is and how long it takers to go from place to place.

 

[Amanda0126]

Good tips! We only have 4 park days, so we planned fastpasses early in the day at each park, with the plan of coming back to the resort to rest a bit and then going back out for the evenings. We're staying at AKL, so I guess kind of far out from most things from what I've read and will eat up a little time with travel. Our kids by that time will be 9 and 12, so hopefully we will have a little more stamina than ones with littles.

 

[tigerwolf]

I don't feel like AK is a half-day park. We have no kids, but DH and I did the Wilderness Explorer challenge last year and it took us a good while to get each of our books filled up. I felt like we stopped and looked at more than we normally would, and interacted with a lot of different CMs in doing it and it filled up our day. If it's still available I highly recommend it to augment your AK experience.

 

[mjkacmom]

If you get to the parks at rope drop, don't waste your fast passes during the first couple of hours, when lines are short.

 

[Andrea Wright]

I think if you have a star wars obsessed kid (or spouse!), HS is a full day park! For us I think it will be. Lots of breaks, I'm sure. But in order to do Jedi training, all the star wars activities, ride, M&G, and see the star wars fireworks, we're going to be there from open to close!