AK & DS - how much are we really missing?

[HayGan]

As I sit here planning our December trip I am once again faced with deciding whether or not we should do AK and DS. Our kids are 6 and 4 and love the rides. Shows are ok with them but they would be perfectly content with sitting on one of the mountain rides or Soarin all day. So I pretty much decided to take DS out because there really isn't much there in the way of rides for them. Then looking at AK, the only rides that they would really be interested in are Kali River Rapids and Dinosaur. We have a great local zoo that we go to regularly so seeing the animals really is nothing new for them. We have a ride just like Kali at our local amusement park (that we go to several times a year.) I would really like to see Festival of the Lion King but it kind of seems like a waste to go there just for that. I wish I could go by myself for a day and see that and ride Everest!!!

I guess what I am asking is "are we really missing anything but not seeing these parks now?" I'm sure we will see them when the kids are both big (and brave) enough to ride all the rides. It just seems like we might feel like our time was better spent at MK or Epcot. (BTW, we have passes left over from last year to cover all our days this year but we don't have hoppers.)

 

[mmeb144]

Well, AK is an awesome place to take the kids. Sure, it looks like a souped up zoo, but it's more than that. You could do this park one day, and go back and enjoy your resort in the evening. Go to bed early on your vacation. (I know, it's unheard of at Disney.)

As for DS, I like to call it MGM, my kids really loved it at those ages. There's the Honey I shrunk the kids playground, Star Tours, well, you get the idea. Don't forget Fantasmic! in the evening. It totally rocks! You could make an ADR for the 50's Prime Time cafe for lunch or supper. MGM has the coolest themed restaurants.

Marie

 

[susykt4]

My kids are 5 and 3. We spent a day and a half at Animal Kingdom during our January trip. My kids are normally not into shows (especially DS3 who could ride BTMRR 5000 times in a row) but they both enjoyed Lion King. The safari is a lot cooler than a regular zoo because you are driving among the animals. Our truck had to stop for several minutes while 3 rhinos chased each other back and forth across the road. The characters at AK are great, as is the bug 3D movie. My kids could play for hours at the Boneyard.

We had 8 days in the parks and spent only 1/2 day at DS, mostly just doing character greetings and watching the parade. The kids enjoyed the Honey, I Shrunk playground and the Muppet 3D movie. Our previous trip a year before, the kids were TOTALLY bored with all the shows.

Depending on how many days you plan to spend in the parks, AK and DS could both potentially be skipped. My kids love AK, but they like Epcot more and MK the most.

 

[HayGan]

Thanks for the input! I know that we definately won't be doing all 4 parks. I think that we may do AK the morning of our MVMCP. DH may take some convincing (he swears there is NO way he is going to the parks all day for 6 days in a row) but we will see who wins

 

[Allison]

Here is my experience-AK is the favorite park of my 3 kids. They asked to spend 2 days there on our June vacation.

 

[lovmy2girls]

The AK is one of our favorite parks. The bird show is great and the new EE ride is great too. There really is so much more to see there than just the rides.

 

[rigs32]

You'll never know if you don't go. Why don't you split a day between them? There is definately enough to fill that much time. I would think your kids would love Fantasmic, too.