Average time it takes to visit each park?

[marriedmarylander]

People say they park hop... then some people tell me a water park and and regular park is too much in one day? What do you usually do regarding visiting parks and water parks? Do you allocate one full day to one park (regular park or water park) and that's it?

I was wondering what is about average time you take in each of the parks? Also DH and I do not have children, and are 25 years old. We are pretty active. So we don't have little ones to fuss, won't have to go on all the little kid rides, we don't walk slow, etc.

We have 5 full days in Disney. I was thinking 4 to see parks, 1 to do water park. Do PI on one of the nights, and DQ somewhere as well. Should we do 5 days of the parks and then squeeze the water parks, PI, and DQ? What is better - 4 days or 5 days if we also want to do water parks, DQ, PI (Plus Pack).


Also, in our current plans below , is there away for us to squeeze in BB and DQ? I figured DQ is only a few hours, we could do that after AK. BB and TL both look cool - we like water slides but I would also like a nice wave pool, too.

Day 1
Arrival
MGM - Fantasmic at 9 PM

Day 2
Animal Kingdom - extra evening Magic Hours

Day 3
Magic Kingdom - extra evening Magic Hours

Day 4
Epcot - extra evening Magic Hours

Day 5
Typhoon Lagoon
Downtown Disney, Pleasure Island

Day 6
Islands of Adventure
Departure

 

[dvcmomdeh]

I'm not a travel agent by license. But my heart is in the right place.

I would say, due to age, lack of children etc, and I'm guessing this won't be your last visit. You should do the following:

First let me say I love animals. But hate that you can't get hands on and that they are caged (more or less). I'd skip Animal Kingdom. We usually take a newbie family with us to Disney every year. I'd still say skip it and my husband argues the points. He likes the meercats on the safari and loves to get our friends SOAKED on the Khali River Rapids. The only reason I give in is because we have a friend that works there and we wouldn't get to see him otherwise. I make DH take me out to eat while there.

Day 1
Arrival
MGM - Fantasmic at 9 PM (I recommend getting the dinner package, this way you are guarantee an awesome seat).

Day 2
Water park (Blizzard, it's worth going for the theming to each water park. Get to the gates 30-45 minutes early, the casts put on a cute show) in the morning (8-1 is enough time to get french fried) . Magic Kingdom in the afternoon and evening till closing, see the fireworks this night.

Day 3
Magic Kingdom - extra evening Magic Hours. If you skip the fireworks on this night you can get in some extra riding time. Splash, Big Thunder are awesome in the dark.

Day 4
Epcot - extra evening Magic Hours (this is a not to be missed park especially if you like the idea of browsing in international shops, each country has an underground ride)

Day 5
Typhoon Lagoon in morning (revisit something you want to see at one of the parks in the afternoon)
Downtown Disney (will only take 3 or 4 hours) Pleasure Island (doesn't close till midnight or 1:00 a.m.)

Day 6 (Never been)
Islands of Adventure
Departure


Hope this helps.

 

[marriedmarylander]

Thanks for the suggestions.. However my DH is already complaining about going to MK.. he hates the little kid stuff. I personally don't want to go to MK two days either. The only reason he is going is to go to AK and IOA. So we can't skip AK at all. I actually really want to see the safari. No matter what the reviews.

Also, I can't see going to MK all during the day and into the night for EMH. I was thinking we could go to BB until around 3PM, relax, MK around 6PM , eat dinner, then ride rides until midnight... perhaps catch the fireworks show, too.

 

[kimwim8]

I don't know that I'd do 2 water parks. Yes, the theming is nice, but they are both water parks.

Spend time at Animal Kingdom. I don't know if it'll take you all day, but enjoy it at a leisurely pace. It's a great place to just soak in the atmosphere. And don't miss the Festival of the Lion King show. It's awesome. You will still probably have time to either do Downtown Disney or Disney Quest that night.

I don't know if you like thrill rides, but MGM has some really good ones...so make sure you get over there.

Magic Kingdom isn't all about the kid rides, but if you're gonna do it during EMH, you will probably be able to see most of what you want to see. When DH & I went (pre-kids) we were able to zip around the parks with no problem.

You'll easily spend all day in Epcot. Just the World Showcase takes a long time if you go into each country.

Have a great time at IOA. We haven't been there yet. I don't think my kids would enjoy it yet (6 & 3) and I'd rather go with just DH & I so we could go on all the roller coasters.

Have a great time!

 

[Pinnochio]

You don't need EMH at AK to see the good stuff you could actually see it all in half a day. So if you wanted to do TL in the morning and then stay at AK for the evening, you could go to another park on the day you wanted to go to TL.

 

[Disneyonmymind]

I think your plans are fine. We also went the first time without kids and didn't even visit MK. We knew we'd soon be back with the kiddos. Anyway, I'm glad you are visiting AK. Although some people dislike it, my whole group loves AK. We prefer it over MGM, actually.

One thing - get plenty of rest before you go cause you're going to need your energy. Your trip will likely leave you exhausted afterwards.

Jackie

 

[EsmeraldaX]

We typically take 2 days at MK, 3 days at Epcot, 1.5 days at AK and 2 days at MGM on a long trip.

Shorter trips; for our upcoming May trip for instance, we will be doing :

Weds. May 18th Arrive at AKL around 6 pm, and head to MK about 7:00 pm and go to EMH (evening) at MK on day 1 (we should arrive in the park at 7:00 if all goes well) Stay till it closes, then go to PI and stay the AC until we get sleepy. It probably won't be an all nighter. We'll just pop in for a drink and then head back to AK

Thurs May 19th The next morning we are going to Epcot and doing the Segway tour. We may take a midday break and walk over to Boardwalk and then come back for EMH at night; then pop over to the AC again

Fri May 20, we will probably do park opening at MK (emh) and stay for a bit, then pop over to MGM & stay till Fantasmic then shop downtown and hit the AC

Sat May 21, EMH morning at AK. We'll probably spend the early morning here and then go back to the hotel for some relaxing and pool time and then maybe go back to AK in the afternoon; AC and downtown at night

Sunday May 22, Sleep in a little, then hit the pool, Maybe pop back over to MK to re-ride a few things, then do EMH at night at MGM to re-do a few things; and of course we have to visit the AC at night.

Monday; Check out of AKL and store luggage; EMH at Epcot. Hang out at Epcot all day until we leave for the airport. Our flight leaves at 6:30 pm.

Of course, weather and crowds could change this. We are not commando type park people. This will be our 3rd trip in the span of 15 months and bring our amount of days spent at WDW up to 21 within that time span. If we miss a few things, it's not the end of the world. We're going to plan on doing stuff this trip we did not get to do in Dec. like Fantasmic and AK.

We don't even have any PS this time.