Animal Kingdom or not?

[disneyforme]

I am taking my DS2.5 to Disney this week. Would anyone recommend that we visit AK for a 1/2 day and MGM for the other 1/2? Trying to hit the spots he might really enjoy. He does love animals and thought he might enjoy the safari. Please make suggestions...

 

[becca011906]

So how many days do you have in disney? are you doing a full day at MK and EP? I would think that if you are just wanting to hit the attractions for your ds then you can prolly hit them at both parks in 1/2 a day if you are going to spend a WHOLE day at the parks like 9AM-9PM. The safari is great if you actully see the animals. He would prolly like the bugs life thing if he doens't scare easily. My kids got a kick out of the 'bat cage' thing... i know there was more but can't think of them right now...
as for MGM you could prolly spend less time there then AK with his age if you were skiping all the big kid/ adult stuff like the TOT, RRC, ect. My kids really love the mupets 3D the buzz light years pizza planet, and play house disney show, also fantasmic is a GREAT show for the kids, we always go there about 1.5-2 hours before and get front row seats... not required but good! HTH!

 

[disneyforme]

Thanks! We have 3 day park hopper passes. We will do the parks on Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday. Yes, we are more interested in doing things he might enjoy than we are for ourselves. We are going to SeaWorld on Friday. I was planning to do MK on Thursday and go back on Sunday if we need to. If not, we will do Epcot on Sunday. I was planning to do the split day of AK and MGM on Saturday. Any suggestions for a change?

 

[DisneyArk]

Yes, I would recommend a 1/2 day at both. That's what we did the first time we took the boys to WDW (they were 1.5 and 3.5 years old). But this last trip they really LOVED AK and chose to go back on our extra day. The Lion King show at AK is great. My boys love the Tarzan Rocks show, but it is VERY. VERY loud.

Good luck

 

[It's A Happy Day]

My .02...
If I only had 3 days of parks I would do full day at MK, full day at Epcot, and I would pick 1 of the 2 other parks. Whichever you think your child would enjoy more. I do like AK but think that if you can see animals closer to home then you might save it and do a zoo at home. I prefer AK over MGM and I think my kids 3 & 4 would like AK better too. I would rather leave the other 1/2 day to return to MK or Epcot to get that extra dose of Dumbo, Peter Pan, Etc. vs. trying to squeeze in all of the parks. I say this only because you may not get to everything in both parks if you limit yourself to 1/2 day each - on the same day. Plus AK is better in AM and both AK and MGM close earlier than other parks - and schedules of parades, shows, etc. may prevent you from getting to see everything you want to see. This way you could hop to Epcot or Magic Kingdom (whichever closes later) and still get in a lot more time instead of rushing to finish a 2nd "new" park.

 

[MayMom]

Personally, I think MGM is better for a small child than AK. They have so many nice, cool shows and the characters that a 2 1/2 year old knows and loves. My DS loved MGM as much as the MK.

 

[crisi]

And we skip MGM with small kids. AK is their favorite park (my daughter said its better than the MK - second on their list is either waterpark) but we didn't enjoy MGM nearly as much.

Its going to depend on your kids. We can easily spend two days at AK (and can fill a full day at MGM as well - even if we prefer AK). We can also spend days at Epcot and days at MK.

 

[utahkennedys]

I personally think trying to split those 2 parks into one day would be tough. AK is BIG to us, lots of walking between attractions. DD3 loves AK though, especially the Safari. We love MGM for DD as well, she has been going from about 8 months on. We love the shows like Little Mermaid, Muppets, Playhouse Disney, etc. The only problem is that the shows are staggered, so it's hard to fit them into a tight schedule, criss-crossing the park. I guess if it were me, I would pick one park and save the other for another trip. I hate going between parks though, maybe it's just me (especially with a toddler in a stroller)!

 

[crisi]

I personally think trying to split those 2 parks into one day would be tough. AK is BIG to us, lots of walking between attractions. DD3 loves AK though, especially the Safari. We love MGM for DD as well, she has been going from about 8 months on. We love the shows like Little Mermaid, Muppets, Playhouse Disney, etc. The only problem is that the shows are staggered, so it's hard to fit them into a tight schedule, criss-crossing the park. I guess if it were me, I would pick one park and save the other for another trip. I hate going between parks though, maybe it's just me (especially with a toddler in a stroller)!

Our "split" park is Epcot. We do something in the morning, and Epcot in the evening. Future World is never too busy in the evenings (except Test Track and Mission:Space - and I'm sure Soarin' now) but those aren't kid rides anyway. We can see Spaceship Earth and the Living Seas, Tour the Land, See both Imagination Attractions, etc, without any problems late afternoon at Epcot - and the food is good when its dinnertime. Plus the park is always open "comfortably late" for kids.

The kids are old enough now to want Test Track and Soaring (and my son is tall enough for Mission:Space) so we will spend one morning there this year. But if I were doing your touring schedule, you'd do mornings in MK, MGM and AK, then finish up each day with two or maybe three things at Epcot. Plus, transportation to Epcot from anyplace except MK is easy (or easier) - with the International Gateway to MGM and the monorail to the MK, its the "hub park."

 

[SqueakyMouse]

My 2.5 yo dd and almost 5 yo ds LOVED AK during our May visit. It was second only to MK. They easily could have skipped Epcot and MGM. Every child is different. Give AK a try and see what happens.

 

[Tink&Belle's Mom]

I am with those who suggest skipping MGM and just doing AK, then hopping to Epcot or MK for the evening. When my youngest DD was 2.5, she slept through almost everything at MGM (except for the parade, which was getting ready to start as we arrived). We plan to skip it altogether this Sept. with my DS, now also 2.5 yrs. We'd love to see Fantasmic again, and there are a few characters you can see there that are much harder to find elsewhere; I just can't see going for only those two reasons at this stage in our family. Just my take on it, of course.

 

[5kwallace]

We took DS for his 1st trip to WDW at age 2.5. He enjoyed MK, AK and MGM. If I had to cut out a park it would be Epcot. It was our experience that there was more for him to do at AK and MGM (and MK) versus Epcot. AK is a more slower paced park which we enjoy. MGM has Playhouse Disney, Muppets 3D, Little Mermaid Show, Beauty and the Beast Show and tons of characters. My DS loves Monsters Inc., Toy Story and the Incredibles, JoJo Circus-all these are found at MGM.

 

[cwnhokie]

Our kids loved the boneyard in AK. They were looking for it again at each park we went too. They liked the lion king and tarzan shows also and safari. That's about all we did at AK. They also loved Playhouse Disney at MGM and meeting all the characters - Power Rangers, Jo Jo, The Incredibles, etc. Pizza Planet was probably one of their favorites of all of Disney and it's just an arcade, we could do that anywhere. I agree it would be hard to split the two in one day but it probably could be done. The thing is they have totally different atmospheres it would be culture shock. MK needs a full day at least. IMO you could skip Epcot at that age. It has some nice things but not a lot. We went for a couple of hours one evening after a second day at MK. I did wish we spent more time there, but I also have a 4 year old and I think he would have like collecting the stuff at the Kidcot stations. I don't know how much help I've been, it really depends on what he is into. I know how hard it is to go and not at least see all the parks once.

 

[cwnhokie]

I just got a vote for MGM, but DS2.5 was in the living room playing and started yelling "come here, come here, you see this" I went in and on Playhouse Disney they were showing a commercial for the Playhouse Disney show. He was hopping up and down and yelling "I see that show, I see that show!" It's been 3 months since we saw it, I guess he really liked it.

 

[Colinsmom]

DS's favorite parks at 2.25 years old were, by far, AK and MGM. He loved the close contact with the characters (MK had ridiculous lines for Mickey, MGM had one person in front of us) and the kid-oriented shows (Muppets, Little Mermaid, Playhouse Disney, Lion Kind, Safari). AK did have some overlap with our local zoo, so if I had to pick one, it would probably be MGM (and we did do a whole day at MGM, against our original plan, even though we only had 3 days in the parks).

 

[rt2dz]

My kids favorite park is AK. We have to start there and spend a whole day there. Last time we were there they were 4 & 15 months. Of course, my kids are thrilled to death to go to the zoo and hate to leave.

My opinion would be if you just have three days, would be to do 1 day at MK, 1/2 day at AK (do morning and start with the Safari, better animal viewing the earlier in the day, and end at Dino land. Don't miss FOTLK) and then finish at MGM (especially since it stays open later). Then spend day 3 doing whatever you might have missed/want to re-do. My kids like, but really mostly just tolerate, Epcot at this age. There just isn't much there for real little ones (Turtle Talk is good for them though). When we do Epcot, we always split it with another park because of this.

But be willing to be flexible. Follow your toddlers lead. Doing all half days, switching parks might work better. Example-- doing MK one morning and MGM in the evening then AK the next morning and MK in the PM might work better. Then you could do a half day at Epcot and another half day at your favorite park. Check the hours of the parks you will be there (get the most bang for your buck) to help you decide. Since you have hoppers, if you stay onsite this works especially well when you can get there for early entry, leave when the crowds get heavy and switch to a less crowded park (one that won't have EMH in the evening). Besides, for us, we find the time to switch parks is a better break than going back to the hotel for a nap.

 

[dtsaos]

Personally, I would upgrade to 4 day hoppers and skip sea world. I was never very impressed w/SW although it has been a while since I've gone. My sister and her family ds6 and ds 3 went in feb. and thought it was overcrowded and not "all that". Good luck deciding! just wanted to add that since I don't know where you're staying I can't say for sure, but it can be a big hassle to visit another park like SW especially with a toddler.

 

[Cruz Family]

I agree with 5kwallace. Even though I love Epcot there really is not a lot to do for a child that young. If it was me I would do MK one day and start the other two at AK and MGM (both I think are much better suited for a 2 1/2 yr.old). Then hit Epcot one evening (great resturants!!!) and leave the other evening open for what ever you want to go back to. (this is why I have to go to WDW for at least six days each trip) Well good luck! Melissa

 

[DeanDoug]

Your plan seems about right to me...
we brought our daughter (just shy of 2) to WDW in the spring and she loved it. We did AK one day... actually more than 1/2... we got there around 10am, did the safari, lunch, and ran a little bit more...

MGM took less time for us... just about 1/2 day... we met JoJo and Goliath, went to playhouse Disney, Ariel, and a few other things and then left for a nap in the room... it was very manageable.

Enjoy your trip!

 

[tiggersthebest]

I found there was less to do at epcot than AK or MGM, my daughter loves animals and also loved the playhouse disney show and the great movie ride, the mupper vision 3-D.

5 1
Proud to be a Christian
Too many times to list as a kid
Once I “grew” up:
1997 Fort Wilderness (summer); Coronado Springs Christmas
1999 Wilderness Lodge (Spring); Fort Wilderness Christmas/New Years
2002 Polynesian
2003 Caribbean Beach
2004 Took a break after having a baby
2005 Going to Port Orleans Riverside
2006 Back to Poly!!!