Animal kingdom or Hollywood studios

[frenzy70]

IM going on a mommy daughter trip with my 10 year old . Due to work we will be arriving Monday afternoon and leaving Friday morning. Tuesday we'll be at magic kingdom , Wednesday at universal but haven't decided about Thursday. I'm looking for advice which was your favorite Animal kingdom or Hollywood studios? We will be coming in March and my daughter isn't in to roller coaster type rides if that makes any difference. I've been to both a while ago but only in summer which wasn't comfortable at Animal kingdom while she hasn't been to anyone but the magic kingdom. Please give advice I could use it!

 

[brandigregory]

I prefer Hollywood Studios because it is cool to check out all of the unique things. I view Animal Kingdom as a nice zoo...really nice zoo...but prefer DHS. She may like Epcot which I don't see on your list! We are going for 8 days and will do 2 MK, 2 Epcot, 1 DHS and 1 AK! Epcot is awesome

 

[Dano13]

Hollywood Studios ..... Hollywood studios .... Hollywood studios.

Animal kingdom does nothing for us and it is a huge, hot park. We really, really tried to like AK this past trip but after doing the Safari ride we were basically all looking to leave.

studios is a fun park. We love toy story midway mania, he great movie ride, tower or terror, Fantasmic is an awesome display, and we love lights motor action show.

Epcot is still our favorite but DHS is rivalling the MK for second. And you could boat from DHS to epcot in under 30 minutes too.

 

[hunan6]

Gonna go AK on this one. My reasoning might be foolish. Most rides can be matched from one to the other. What puts AK over the top for me is Flame Tree BBQ.

 

[olwyngdh]

With a 10 yr old, and a mommy and me trip, I would do AK. It is more laid back with all the trails to explore, there are still thrill type rides, there is great food--Tusker House character meal is wonderful!--there is the Wilderness Explorers program, you can pet animals and learn about vet care out at Conservation Station, the shows are fantastic....It is my 12 yr old's second favorite park, and it is a CLOSE second to Epcot!

 

[niffer5150]

each has the benefits. i suppose it'd depend on the kid and how long you want the day to be. i asked my kid which she'd choose and she said HS just because it doesn't close as early.

 

[texasroni75]

If someone had asked me this question last year, I probably would have said AK. But, we found out during our last trip (last September) that our "tweens", ages 9 and 12 at the time, wanted to spend a LOT of time at Hollywood Studios. I can't tell you how many times they went on TOT, Star Tours, the Great Movie Ride, and Muppets - and they never tired of it. Our last day of the trip was a "decide which park you want to go to again" day, and they picked HS.

You might want to check the refurb schedule for your trip dates, when making your decision - it could sway you one way or the other if some attractions you wanted at the parks aren't available during your trip. Plus, as previous poster mentioned, HS hours are longer, so you'll get more time in the park.

 

[mort1331]

Tough one as there is only 1 roller coaster at each park, but AK might win it with me and my dd. She loves shows and there are more there with IMHO the best show in DW. Lion King and it has a new theater. The bird show,nemo, safari is always different from minute to minute and as long as she is ok with Dinasour.

But then DHS has TSM,endless possibilities of ST, Muppets, Indiana Jones, Lights Motor Action, and the chance that Frozen might be staying, Beauty, Fantasmic, the one ride alot like, but puts me to sleep The Great movie snore.

Ah dont ask me I cant choose.

 

[nkereina]

We're only two adults but we prefer DHS. We love Sci Fi and think RnRC, ToT, Star Tours and TSM are some of the best rides on property.

We enjoy AK and think it's the best themed park, but after we've done the Safari, EE, and Dinosaur, there's not much else to go on. We do enjoy the trails and a few of the shows, but it would depend on how your kid feels about that stuff.

I do disagree with whoever called it a "zoo". In fact, I think if you go there anticipating a zoo, you'll be disappointed. There's not really a lot of animal exhibits - you see a few of them on the walking trails and the Safari, and if you take the train to Rafiki's, you can see some goats and reptiles. But other than that, there's no animals on display. The rest is taking in the detailed theme in each section.

 

[kam1011]

Hollywood Studios (x10!)

My kids are a little younger, but just starting to get to the age where everything at HS is awesome and we spend a good day and a half there.

 

[robndani]

You said she's not a roller coaster kid, so probably TOT and RRC won't interest her. My 11 year old sister doesn't like HS, mostly because she's not into Star Wars, Indiana Jones or the Muppets! She did like TSM, but not enough to pick that park again.

I would say Animal Kingdom. Although HS does have Characterpalooza, which is cool. AK has Tusker House character meal, which is great!

Oh boy, I'm no help!

 

[frenzy70]

I prefer Hollywood Studios because it is cool to check out all of the unique things. I view Animal Kingdom as a nice zoo...really nice zoo...but prefer DHS. She may like Epcot which I don't see on your list! We are going for 8 days and will do 2 MK, 2 Epcot, 1 DHS and 1 AK! Epcot is awesome

I didn't consider Epcot because some people have told me it wasn't a popular option with kids. I've never went also . What are your favorite things there?

 

[robndani]

Epcot is actually our favorite too! Exploring the countries, Test Track, Soarin... So much to do!

 

[MataHari22]

I would probably go with Animal Kingdom. When my niece was little I had to pick one park for a day trip and we went with AK, and she really enjoyed it. If you've never been to WDW one of the things you can do is look at the descriptions of the rides at each park and see what you think is interesting, and then maybe watch some videos of the rides on YouTube and see what looks like the most fun for her.

 

[jsf1975]

AK can be pretty much completely done in one day while HS is hard to do it all because of many lengthy shows. My daughters are 9 and 11 and during our last two visits in 2011 and 2013 liked AK better. EPCOT shouldn't be ruled out either.

 

[ruadisneyfan2]

I didn't consider Epcot because some people have told me it wasn't a popular option with kids. I've never went also . What are your favorite things there?

What??!! You need a better source of info. My kids LOVED Epcot since they could start remembering anything and they are teens now.
I would suggest looking at all the attractions at each park on Disney's website and see what appeals to you.

What we love at Epcot:
Spaceship Earth, our #1 fav
Test Track
Soarin'
Figment
Mission Space (more kids than us)

There's also Ellen's Energy Adventure
Living with the Land
Nemo
Turtle Talk with Crush
still more smaller attractions


Even if you're not into seeing all the countries in World Showcase there are so many awesome attractions in Future World at Epcot.

We have a 1 night stay in Sept pre cruise and our flight doesn't arrive until 4:30 pm. We love Epcot enough to get a 1 day ticket and since it has EMH til midnight, we can still cram a few hours of fun.

 

[staceyrhood]

What??!! You need a better source of info. My kids LOVED Epcot since they could start remembering anything and they are teens now.
I would suggest looking at all the attractions at each park on Disney's website and see what appeals to you.

What we love at Epcot:
Spaceship Earth, our #1 fav
Test Track
Soarin'
Figment
Mission Space (more kids than us)

There's also Ellen's Energy Adventure
Living with the Land
Nemo
Turtle Talk with Crush
still more smaller attractions

Even if you're not into seeing all the countries in World Showcase there are so many awesome attractions in Future World at Epcot.

We have a 1 night stay in Sept pre cruise and our flight doesn't arrive until 4:30 pm. We love Epcot enough to get a 1 day ticket and since it has EMH til midnight, we can still cram a few hours of fun.

Same here, Epcot has always been my sons favorite park, he's 7. And now my daughter (almost 2) loves it also. I could not get her out of the seas last week!

 

[LovesTimone]

I would vote for Epcot, there are more things to do there for the both of you. As far as rides, the only one I would stay away from is Mission Space, for us that's the only really thrill ride. Soarin, and Test track for us really aren't thrill rides. You could check out U tube for POV video to show her to see what she thinks. When my DD was 10 she loved World show case, back then I think it was Kim Possible tour thing, now I 'm not sure who the host characters are, But DD loved this, also she loved the checking out the stores, one year we got different candy, from each land. Also the fireworks on the world show case are really good.


If I had to pick one of the others, I would go AK - Lots to see and do there. You can also upgrade your last day to PH and head over to one of the other parks that stay open later. My 2 nieces just did this the last full day they were there, I think it was around 12 to 15 dollars, each ticket to up grade for 1 day. or you could head back to the resort for a swim, then to DTD for the evening.

Have a wonderful mom and daughter trip