Can you have too much time in MK?

[Aflyingbuttress]

We've got a 9 day trip coming up Oct 29-Nov 6. We'll have 7 full days with no travel and I'm trying to plan out our itinerary. I'm curious to get peoples opinions on where you can spend too much time.

I was originally planning 3 days in Magic Kingdom, 2 in Epcot, 1 in Hollywood Studios and 1 in Animal Kingdom. But I'm not particularly interested in most of Hollywood Studios and I feel like using FastPasses there is a waste. So I'm contemplating not going there or doing a rope drop day and just seeing a couple of things without FastPasses.

We're taking our 4 year old so I imagine the Magic Kingdom won't get boring. What I really want is to be able to take our time and try to minimize wait times at attractions as much as possible, leaving plenty of time for wandering, eating, and random entertainment, followed by afternoons in the hotel pool and F&W weekday evenings for dinner.

Would any of you get bored going to Magic Kingdom 4 days out of 7 on a disney trip? Any suggestions on how we can best use our time so we don't feel frantic and rushed?

 

[Disneylover99]

Rope drop MK to get a ton done and go to MK every other day.

 

[adisneyaunt]

To me, never too much time at MK but realistically I think you can easily break up the park to sections/areas and return over several days using FP to see/do what u want.
AK is a great park for kids imho and id likely do 2 there instead. The shows are wonderful, entertaining, engaging and of course the animals... Walk thru area, Safari , just so much that's enjoyable!
Have a magical visit!

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

Realistically, how early do you have to get to MK for rope drop? We're staying at Caribbean Beach Resort. What time do we have to leave to make it there?

 

[Party.Of.4-NY>>>FL]

Ha ha. I had to laugh because your trip sounds like a carbon copy of our 9 day trip in December with DD8 and DS2

We're planning on visiting MK on arrival day, then 2 full days in the middle of the trip followed by a "rest day" and MVMCP all night. Totally agree with taking your time in MK. We figure our 2full days there we will tour commando style and hit it hard, then the other 2days take it easy, stroll around the park walking 4-wide with our arms locked together taking up entire sidewalks(ok, just kidding about that part) spend time shopping on Main St., get the kids a haircut at Harmony Barbershop, and eat as many sweet snacks as possible.

 

[NeuroCindy]

For me, yes, it would get boring or at least redundant. However, I'm an adult that often travels alone. With Children I think you'll be fine. I just wouldn't do those days all in a row.

 

[ENJDisneyFan]

I don't think it's possible to have "too much" MK time, especially with a 4 year old. That said, I think your original plan of 3 MK, 2 EP, 1 HS, 1 AK sounds perfect. I personally wouldn't skip HS, even if you only spend 1/2 day there it's worth the trip if you've never been. You could always plan the HS day for later in your trip and decide last minute if you want more MK time or if you're ready for something new.

 

[mrzrich]

Make FP at DHS for that morning. That way you can ride Toy Story without stress, FP Star Tours and one other thing. If you decide to hop to Mk later that day its not a problem, MK has so many attractions that most rides still have FP available for FP #4, #5, #6 and beyond, even late in the day.

 

[ChrisLyne]

See I'd do it the other way around, if I was only doing a half day at HS it would have to be the afternoon so we could see Fantasmic in the evening!

There's definitely enough to do at MK to fill 4 days but I think you'd be best doing 3 and keeping the HS day (but that's just me, personally I always schedule more time in MK but never skip any of the parks).

 

[DisneyCAL]

I think your plan sounds fine. With that many days I would even not do HS in order to have a relax by the pool day in the mix. 3 days at MK with kids is great. We did this our last trip and ended up doing the park in sections. Got a lot done and had time to relax midday. Our line up was, MK/AK&epcot/MK/Universal/Epcot/MK.
I would suggest Travel/MK/AK/MK/HS-rest/Epcot/MK/epcot/Travel.

Don't worry about too much of a certain park. If thats a favorite then it's important. You can take the multiple days there to break it into parts which will help you be able to slow down and take it all in, not to mention help the feet.

 

[Zippa D Doodah]

I find that for me it works best to not have two or more MK days back to back, but it is my favorite park by far. One time when the kids were young we did MK three days in a row. The first day was magical, the second day was wonderful, the third day I felt like was showing up for work.

 

[Frozen2014]

We found Hollywood Studios a good one for young kids as there are lots of younger shows..Disney Jr, Little Mermaid, Muppets, Beauty and the Beast, Sophia and other Disney Jr meet and greets, Toy Story, etc. and Fantasmic if your little one won't be scared (depends on the kid). Personally I wouldn't dismiss it.

 

[Babydreamz]

There's never too much time at the parks! There's never too much time anywhere at Disney! I know I'm not alone when I say I could live there for the rest of my life. DH would probably leave me though.

With a 4 year old, they definitely won't get bored at MK. This past April, my 4.5 year old want to go on Small World repeatedly. The standby line was about 20-30 minutes, but I went on the app and got us FPs and got on almost immediately. Then as soon as we scanned our bands, I went right back on the app and get us another set of Small World FP. We did this again and again until said 4.5 year old fell asleep.

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

Ok, lots of great suggestions here. I'm having such a hard time deciding mostly due to these darn FPs. If it weren't for them I'd just wing it. Such a hard life, huh? lol

There are a few things I would like to see at HS that I think our daughter will love. Part of the issue is that I have some mobility issues and my daughter has never done anything like this so I am concerned that if I plan full days in the park one or neither of us will make it. If I had to sacrifice something it would be HS, so I feel like if I make FP reservations there I will lose that flexibility. Which is silly I suppose.

Also complicating matters is that we have bibbidi bobbidi boutique reservations for the Friday morning and I want to get princess pictures in MK with my daughter in the afternoon. So we lose one rope drop day. Then Saturday is the last day and it sounds like Epcot will be a mistake for that day and crowd levels will be high at MK. Maybe I will do HS the last day as a rope drop and FP those, then break mid-day and go to MK for the late night since it is open until midnight that night.

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

We were also thinking about doing the Fantasmic Dinner package which includes VIP Fantasmic seats so that could solve the Fantasmic issue.

 

[shalom]

Personally I wouldn't dismiss it.

I didn't expect much of HS, but it turned out to be the favorite park for one of my younger ones. Who is actually too old for some of the stuff Frozen2014 listed, but I wanted to agree that HS has a lot of appeal for some and I would at least give it a shot.

If you don't go down Sunset Boulevard (Beauty and the Beast, Fantasmic, Tower of Terror, Rock 'n' Roller Coaster), IMHO Hollywood Studios is the easiest park to do from a walking standpoint. There may be more doubling back now the Streets of America are shut down, but on a bad walking day our last trip, I skipped Sunset Boulevard, and it felt like it was just a short loop to see everything. Although I do schedule to minimize walking, and I wasn't there with a four year old to derail my schedule! But if you don't do Sunset Boulevard, it's a pretty compact park, I think. And walking out to Fantasmic to end the day isn't as bad as going down in the middle of the day and then doing considerably more walking after.

 

[LilyWDW]

For me, yes, it would get boring or at least redundant. However, I'm an adult that often travels alone. With Children I think you'll be fine. I just wouldn't do those days all in a row.

What they said.

I love Magic Kingdom, but by day 3 I would be running out of things I want to do. I usually do one full day at MK (usually a party day since I go in the fall), one other early morning with a breakfast until whenever, and then an evening just for fireworks. I wouldn't personally skip HS, but there are still things there that I enjoy like ToT and Star Wars stuff.

 

[kangamangus]

We are going to be there at the same time as you! Our loose plan is Sunday MK all day hopping to Epcot at night to see illuminations, Monday HS in AM with MNSSHP on Halloween night, Tuesday all day at AK with evening at Disney springs, Wed all Day at Epcot, Thursday is our HS day, Friday MK all day and then for our last day we like to do all 4 parks for approximately 3 hours each. I love the Magic Kingdom but it wouldn't feel like a complete trip for me if we didn't do all 4 parks so I wouldn't personally skip HS, if it doesn't interest you or your group then yes I would go to MK another day.

 

[Klayfish]

You're overthinking this, honestly. The FP+ is a benefit, not a burden. I don't think HS is worth skipping, it's a wonderful park that seems to be getting a bad rap right now simply because it has construction going on. Lots to see and do there, even for a 4 year old. Use the FP+ to get on what you want to and then use standby for the rest.

If you have mobility issues, get a scooter and let your child ride with you. Lots of people do it.

MK is far and away my favorite park, but could there be "too much" of it? I suppose. We did a 17 day trip, and maybe 5 of them were MK, perhaps 6, I don't remember. In 9 days, I'd say after 3 days in MK, we'd be doing repeat things...which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

Pick the parks you want to go to, use FP+ to your advantage and just have fun. Stop worrying about it.

 

[AngiTN]

Yes, we can. But we are unique in that we don't hold MK at a higher level of regard than the other parks.
We consider them on equal ground and enjoy them all equally.
Now, that doesn't mean that it takes the same amount of time to do what we enjoy in a given park just that MK doesn't rate higher
We don't feel we have to start or end our trip at MK, anything like that.
3 days at MK would be more than enough for us.
While I don't love HS I do love several things there and can't imagine skipping it with so many days there.
We need 2 days at Epcot to enjoy everything they have
We are also strange ones that can easily take 2 days at AK, if not 3. We tend to spend a lot of time animal watching. If I want to stand for 30 min to watch the Gorilla's play I want to do that and not rush off to the next attraction just to fit it all in.