Arrival day help

[TIME4DIZ]

Family of 4, 2 parents and 2 teens. Fair estimates have us getting to the Poly and ready to hit the parks by noon. The question is:
Which park do you recommend for arrival day (and why)?

 

[Robo]

You need to provide the LENGTH of your stay,
and the kind of tickets that you have.
That can make a huge difference in how you use your time.

 

[jina]

Regardless of length of stay and tickets, f you're staying at the Poly, I'd probably hit MK first since you will see it when you check in, I'd be disappointed if I saw it from the check in and then went somewhere else. Although... I guess if crowd calendars predicted a much higher crowd level at MK than EP for that day, I'd walk to the TTC and take the monorail to EP instead - basically take advantage of the monorail immediately to get immersed into the magic.

 

[TIME4DIZ]

You need to provide the LENGTH of your stay,
and the kind of tickets that you have.
That can make a huge difference in how you use your time.

Sure thing. We will be there 8 nights with a 8 day park hoppers. We have been a few times over the past few years. We have plenty of time to hit our ‘must do’ list during the week. I’m Just looking for opinions regarding the best park for an arrival day/PM half day.

 

[DisneyOma]

We usually hit EPCOT the first day. For some reason we always ride Spaceship Earth first. It's become a tradition. but even if it wasn't, we'd still do EPCOT first because we don't stress about making our FP+ times for that first day, and the EPCOT ones seem pretty easy to get, manipulate, etc. Plus, we do half of world showcase the first night. We tend to drive down, and it feels good to do all that walking after 20+ hours in the car

 

[StratMan]

We don't get to go very often (our 3rd trip in 10 years will be next month) but we absolutely have to hit the Magic Kingdom first. When I was planning Fast Passes for this trip, I polled the family on this very question and it was unanimous. The Magic Kingdom is just the heart of the whole place. As jina said, you'll also see it from your hotel when you check in. It's a no-brainer for me.

 

[MainMom]

We like Epcot for arrival day. I tried to change it to AK this trip and the kids protested.

 

[Tksolomom]

I would say MK, but I don’t know what park you are going to the next day. I am also not sure of the time of year you are going. If the park closes early for a party, then I would say to go to your next favorite park. I hope you have a wonderful trip!

 

[TIME4DIZ]

Funny- the suggestions are MK and Epcot & prior to posting I asked my kids where they wanted to go first and one said MK while the other said Epcot. I’m leaning MK- lots of FP options and HEA seems like a good way to start the week.

 

[MainMom]

Funny- the suggestions are MK and Epcot & prior to posting I asked my kids where they wanted to go first and one said MK while the other said Epcot. I’m leaning MK- lots of FP options and HEA seems like a good way to start the week.

I like to go to Epcot because of the tiered FP. I can get one of the tiered rides that day and another a different day.

 

[disneylover102]

It depends if you have park hoppers or not and how many days you have. My personal preference is to start and finish with MK because it is the main park and is our favorite. Sometimes it doesn’t work out that way though- I’d probably rather finish with MK than start off with it, if I couldn’t do both (That way the trip ends on a great note.)

 

[Mickey's Best Girl]

Magic Kingdom

Always The Magic Kingdom first.

Because it’s The Magic Kingdom.

 

[kniquy]

I would lean towards Epcot. I agree with one of the PP who mentioned the tierd FP issue and being able to get one of the tier 1 out of the way. Other than that, you could use it as a hit HS for a 1/2 day. We had a thought process to selecting out first day -- like you we will be arriving and able to hit the parks at noonish. I originally planned for HS (as the trip is in April with lots still closed) but this is my 4DD first trip and we didn't want to initiate her with ToT as her first ride, so we switched to Epcot -- and this works out best because of no TS plans our first night, Flower and Garden is going on so we can start sampling food, and we will start off with a nice gentle Friends with Nemo ride. We will tackle Future world this day and then world showcase on our full day. So it really depends on the goals of your trip and how many days you want to spend in each park.

 

[MischaOz]

We’ve been going to HS first the last couple trips because my daughter’s favorite rides are RnR and ToT.

 

[kitkat4622]

We usually do HS first because we only do that park once during our trip. this time we are staying 9 nights and we still only plan on HS on arrival day.