AK and Epcot in one day? (what do you think about our schedule btw)

[ilusionista]

So I'll be at the World this week! I can hardly believe it yet. So anyway, last time I was there, I didn't visit Animal Kingdom. I don't think it has that many attractions though, but anyway, let's see, our plan is, based on Undercover Tourist's calendar:

Thursday 15: Universal Studios both parks

Friday 16: US both parks

Saturday 17: Break, shopping, etc because of high crowds

Sunday 18: Animal Kingdom and Epcot later for the fireworks and some rides (as both parks don't have many rides or so I've seen)

Monday 19: Hollywood Studios

Tuesday 20: Magic Kingdom


The other possibility would be thursday 15 go to HS (as it will rain apparently) and leave the next US visit for the original monday 19 visit to HS.

Is this schedule fine? or is it better to swap it around somehow? I'm not very interested in watching Fantasmic, but I'd love watching illuminations again, although I'm willing to sacrifice it if it's necessary.

Also we'll drive from Miami to Orlando on Wednesday 14, so maybe we could go to a Park instead? Or is it too crazy? We'd have less than half a day though.

Thanks guys!

 

[ilusionista]

bump? anyone?

 

[savannie]

In my opinion, HS and AK are half day parks, but you really need a whole day for Epcot. Also, some stuff at Epcot closes early, even when the park is open late. I might would split Epcot up. Do AK one morning then World Showcase and illuminations that night. Then hit Future World Monday morning before going to HS.

 

[SplashMo]

Epcot is the perfect park for high crowds if you want to use that day. Arrive early and rope drop TT and FP+ SOARIN and then walk the countries.

If you do the AK/Epcot. Get your FP+ reservations for SOARIN later in the day and illuminations. Try and single ride TT at Epcot. Walk the countries...

 

[msmama]

In my opinion, HS and AK are half day parks, but you really need a whole day for Epcot. Also, some stuff at Epcot closes early, even when the park is open late. I might would split Epcot up. Do AK one morning then World Showcase and illuminations that night. Then hit Future World Monday morning before going to HS.

I agree with this.

 

[DisneyKidds]

We rarely spend all day in either AK or DHS. You could do AK/Epcot on the 18th and HS/Epcot on the 19th. That's what I'd probably do. You can rope drop AK and get all the biggies done with short lines early, then explore a little and do a couple other attractions/shows. When done there you could head to Epcot. Same deal at DHS, if you get there a good 45 minutes prior to stated opening and are waiting up by the tapstiles it's possible that you can knock out TSMM, RnR, ToT and Star Tours in a couple of hours (we did it in one hour on Dec 30!), leaving you plenty of time to explore and do a few more rides/shows before you head to Epcot.

What is your FP+ situation. Heading to Epcot in the late afternoon or early evening is great if you can snag a FP+ for Soarin' one day and Test Track another. You'd also want to FP+ Spaceship Earth and Mission Space.

 

[RustManFan]

if you think AK is about rides you can do it in half a day. But if you think it is about the animals and shows you cannot. We stay park opening until park closing. You could then head to Epcot for the rest of the night time hours.

BTW....AK is now my favorite park even if only ride I do is the safari

 

[Moonwolf]

if you think AK is about rides you can do it in half a day. But if you think it is about the animals and shows you cannot. We stay park opening until park closing. You could then head to Epcot for the rest of the night time hours.

BTW....AK is now my favorite park even if only ride I do is the safari

This. And it also applies to EPCOT as well. If you are just going for the rides you can do them in half a day but then you will be skipping out on some other experiences. Some people skip them because they've done them before but if it's your first time I recommend taking your time.

For AK seeing the animals/shows and exploring the park is great fun. At EPCOT you'll miss out on the WS pavilions if you just focus on the rides. You can walk by the pavilions rather quickly but if you actually want to see them you really need to take some time to go into them (And a lot of them are bigger/go further back than they appear from the outside).

 

[Kellykins1218]

We always do AK & Epcot on the same day. We go to AK early. Epcot is boring for us so we only need a few hrs. We save our FP+ for the evening & then watch Illuminations.

 

[Baptist]

I think doing AK/Epcot on one day is not a bad idea. You don't really have many park days, so allocating one park day to AK is unrealistic. I would rope drop AK and use your fast passes at Epcot later in the day.

Note, I would do this on Monday, instead of Sunday (flip/flop your HS day). Sunday is extra magic morning hours at AK. That means it will be crowded. We always stay onsite, but avoid morning magic hours most of the time.

OP, where are you staying?

Enjoy Universal as well. You don't necessarily need 2 days there. We arrived at rope drop and stayed until it closed and did a ton (including riding each main Harry Potter ride twice).

Other advice, don't go to the park on your travel day. Just relax at the hotel and get ready for the fun. If you had annual passes or a free day at Universal that would be different. Otherwise, just relax.

Have a great time!

 

[ilusionista]

Thanks everyone for their advice. We were planning on seeing La Nouba too but for that we can't see wishes on Tuesday as that's the only day we can go to La Nouba.

We were planning on buying a camera tomorrow Thursday morning, then heading to HS. Then Friday universal, resting saturday, sunday the ak and ep combo, Monday magic Kingdom (unsure about this as it says high crowds) and Tuesday repeating Universal cause we like the rides a lot. What do you think? I'm really concerned about crowds and all, plus seeing illuminations and wishes, and la Nouba on Tuesday. If there is a way to fit it in, tell me! Also tomorrow we really must go buy the camera so roped drop is not an option unfortunately. Thanks.